Azerbaijan: the highs and lows from the editorial team

The top 3:

Implacable, Mercedes continues its march forward!

Four one-twos in as many races: it’s a historic performance currently being achieved by the Mercedes team, with this latest victory signed by Valtteri Bottas, ahead of Lewis Hamilton. No other team has ever had such a strong start to the season. Not even Williams in 1992, with an ultra-dominant car!

A conclusion not yet applicable to W10, but for now, Hamilton’s best rival is… Bottas, the new leader after this victory, all controlled, and that forceful start in the first two corners. We’ve been repeating it since the start of the season, but Mercedes is maximizing its performances. Ferrari can testify during yesterday’s qualifiers, with Vettel having jumped right into the pit-lane trap set by Toto Wolff’s team. But in race pace, Mercedes is anyway a notch above… Final confirmation in Barcelona in 15 days, on the season’s test circuit. At worst, the Brackley team is ahead of Ferrari: precisely 74 points in the constructors’ standings!

Sergio Pérez still loves Azerbaijan just as much!

Does he already have his Azeri passport in his pocket? After two podiums in 2016 and then in 2018, the Racing Point driver is having his best race of the season, again in Baku! Already the best of the rest in qualifying, starting 5th, the Mexican maximized his result as well, with 8 points for 6th place. While he couldn’t do much against Leclerc’s comeback, “Checo” held his most direct rivals, the McLarens of Sainz and Norris, at bay throughout the race.

Too bad for him, the scenario of this Grand Prix was too tame to hope for more, even though he benefited from Pierre Gasly’s retirement. But surely, Sergio Pérez gladly accepts this ranking. Indeed, he climbs back to sixth place in the championship, with 13 points, tied with Pierre Gasly’s Red Bull and Kimi Räikkönen’s Alfa Romeo. Can he start dreaming? New developments are expected on the Racing Point in Barcelona. And to think that we imagined Lawrence Stroll’s team in trouble at the start of the season! “It has been a fantastic day. I am happy we succeeded in keeping our position, now we can celebrate a good day for the team with both cars in the points.” A strong result by Baku-specialist @SChecoPerez: pic.twitter.com/jjNI5k91wg — SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team (@RacingPointF1) April 28th.

The great collective performance of McLaren!

If Sergio Pérez deserves to be in the top 3 in Baku, the McLaren team also deserves some praise. The Woking firm secured a double points finish for the first time since the previous race in Azerbaijan, 12 months ago. Given the team’s history, the statistic seems insignificant, but putting things into context, this result is a boost for McLaren. And while Zak Brown’s men benefited from Alfa Romeo’s misfortunes, let’s compare the weekend of Norris and Sainz to their Renault counterparts. With the same engine, the young Brit placed his MCL34 in Q3 and achieved the best qualifying of his young career, with a 7th place. Meanwhile, Sainz, in 11th, finished his Q2 ahead of the best Renault, Ricciardo, in 12th.

The race reversed the roles at McLaren: at the finish, Sainz took 7th place ahead of Norris. There was almost a better result in store for the 2018 F2 runner-up, who went through his pit stop a second time during the virtual safety car on lap 39, for nothing. But even in the race, the McLaren duo was far ahead of Renault’s. A sign that the chassis is holding up quite well. As a reward, the English team is now in fourth place in the constructors’ standings: the ideal spot at the end of the season!

The flop 3:

Leclerc burns a chance!

At the end of the season, we will probably remember only one moment from his weekend in Baku: that Ferrari speeding, wheel locked in the corner, before ending up against the wall during Q2. History will never tell if Charles Leclerc would have capitalized on his great start to the weekend. Maybe Mercedes would have locked the front row anyway. But yes, the young prodigy ruined everything by losing at least five places on the grid. Instead, the Monegasque driver ended up with a race against the tide, forced to extend his first stint… only to ultimately fail to make the most of his soft tires.

So yes, placing Charles Leclerc in this flop 3 might be a bit excessive, especially considering his humble apology, which shows the strength of a man. But the future star missed a chance to secure a very big result. It’s acceptable this time, with a final comeback to 5th place, but the 2017 GP2 champion must not hand over the stick to be beaten and certainly not reinforce Vettel’s leadership if he doesn’t want to face similar frustration experienced at the Chinese Grand Prix 15 days ago. Ah, the impatience of youth…

Ricciardo and Renault (again) in draft mode

Thank you for the attempt at a show! The Grand Prix was quite boring, but “the Honey Badger” shook things up with an astonishing maneuver: the bold overtake and the rear-end bumper car on the unfortunate Daniil Kvyat. The main person involved defends himself: “he panicked.” A pity for a driver of his caliber, who had not accustomed us to this kind of mishap.

The mistake is really damaging. But the worst part is that the Australian ruined Kvyat’s race on lap 30, while the Russian would have deserved at least one point. So the ex-Red Bull driver is not the only one to blame for this rough patch, we also think about his team which only gathered 12 points, compared to 35 points last year at the same time. But so far, Ricciardo seems to be suffering from the situation rather than lifting his team. We expect better, Dan!

Haas still mired in its problems

The flop was almost anticipated. But the situation has been confirmed: the American car struggled in Baku. The VF-19 couldn’t cope, still due to its tire heating issue, a phenomenon already observed in Sakhir and Shanghai. And this time, the problem struck as early as qualifying, with very mediocre times, Magnussen eliminated by three tenths in Q2, 14th, and even worse for Grosjean who was more than a second behind his teammate, 17th.

The ordeal naturally continued in the race, the team’s Achilles’ heel this season: both drivers kept falling back, despite two very different strategies. But aside from the uncooperative tires, there was also a brake problem for Grosjean, with his pedal “stuck to the floor” in his own words, leading to a subsequent retirement. Magnussen finished 13th, far from the points. Eighth in the constructors’ standings, Haas continues to slip down the rankings.