Azerbaijan Grand Prix: the 7 highlights

1. An anthology of overtaking and victory at stake: Ricciardo at the end of a crazy race (2017)

Tenth after a crash in qualifying, then 17th after an early pit stop to clear his brake ducts, nothing predestined Daniel Ricciardo to win in Baku in 2017!

But in the middle of a crazy race full of twists and turns, “Honey Badger” is going to make a crazy comeback punctuated by a masterpiece: overtaking the two Williams and Nico Hülkenberg at the end of the straight line for what will be elected as the overtake of the year!

With Vettel’s penalty in the stands and Hamilton’s troubles with his headrest, the Australian took the lead of the race and never let go of it to claim a superb victory. Memorable!

2. The Vettel / Hamilton altercation (2017)

This same 2017 edition was also marked by an unusual event that would mark the beginning of the duel between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. We are on the 17th lap, under safety car conditions so that track marshals can clean it of debris left in the twists and turns of the early laps.

The Safety car lights go out and Hamilton, leading the pack, controls the pace, extremely slow according to the majority of drivers who complain on the radio. Heading downhill towards turn 16, Hamilton hits the brakes, catching his title rival Vettel, who is in second place, by surprise.

The German, furious because he believed the Briton had intentionally carried out the maneuver, moved up next to the Mercedes and hit his counterpart’s wheel to express his discontent. Witnessing the growing tension in the title fight between the two men, Vettel will be penalized with a 10-second stop and go, a heavier penalty before disqualification.

We know the rest: neither of them will win this race after Hamilton’s surreal cockpit protection problem, giving the victory to Daniel Ricciardo.

3. The Verstappen / Ricciardo crash (2018)

In the fight for the podium against the Mercedes and Sebastian Vettel, the two Red Bull drivers are engaged in a merciless battle, much to the delight of the spectators! Daniel Ricciardo, leading on the grid, was overtaken by his teammate at the start but is showing a faster pace than the Dutchman in terms of race rhythm.

He passes him for the first time at turn 3 after a neck-and-neck battle in the first two turns. The Australian thinks he’s done the hardest part but Red Bull delivers a bad strategy that puts him back behind “Mad Max” after his pit stop. After an unsuccessful attempt on the 38th lap, the irreparable is going to be committed two laps later.

Indeed, with the DRS open and much faster than Verstappen, Ricciardo feints an overtake on the outside covered by Verstappen and dives back to the inside by hitting the brakes. Sadly, the Dutchman moves during braking and the two drivers collide violently, causing a double retirement for a disheartened Red Bull team.

The beginning of the end between the two teammates!

4. Bottas’s real heartbreak (2018)

If the 2017 edition was particularly rich in twists and turns, the following one was also! Mastering a race where his successful strategy allowed him to pass Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas is 3 laps away from winning the victory and recapturing the lead in the world championship against Hamilton and Vettel. But bad luck strikes the Finn once again.

At the starting straight line, the Mercedes driver runs over debris and sees his right rear tire disintegrate instantly. It’s a retirement for Bottas, who experienced one of his worst weekends in Formula 1, from which he will take a long time to recover.

5. Stroll’s first podium (2017)

We could practically make a top 7 of the highlights of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix just with this superb 2017 edition! With Ricciardo’s victory and the clashes between Hamilton and Vettel, the other Grand Prix event is the feat of the young Canadian Lance Stroll.

Starting 8th on the grid ahead of his experienced teammate Felipe Massa, Stroll delivers a very clean and flawless race, in contrast for example to the Force India drivers, Ocon and Pérez, who collide in front of them.

If they find themselves behind Massa and Hülkenberg at the start of the race, the mechanics will spoil the first one’s podium opportunity while the second one will crash into the famous turn 8, giving Stroll a position as unprecedented as it is unexpected.

The Canadian driver perfectly follows Ricciardo’s pace and is second just a few lengths from the end when Bottas’s Mercedes and its monstrous power leave him behind at the checkered flag, relegating him to third place.

Regardless, on that day, Stroll silenced all his critics who only saw him as a grumpy rich kid there solely because of his financial wealth. At 18 years and 239 days, Lance Stroll became the second youngest driver to step on a podium behind Max Verstappen who beats him by…6 days! Find all these statistics in our article about the key figures of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

6. The crash of Leclerc in qualifying (2019)

During the last edition of this Grand Prix, won by Valtteri Bottas on Mercedes, it was rightly thought that it would be a young Monegasque in the red car who would emerge victorious, seeking revenge after a sickening Bahrain Grand Prix for himself.

Thus, Charles Leclerc dominated all the free practice sessions and even Q1, but nothing was going to happen as planned. In his second attempt in Q2, the Monegasque significantly improved his first sector but crashed his Ferrari at the now famous turn 8, at the foot of the Old Town Tower.

Angry at himself, his damning radio message is now part of the memories of this Grand Prix. The next day, the 2017 F2 champion rises to 5th place thanks to a different strategy and also sets the race’s fastest lap record. Frustrating.

7. Pérez’s fantastic race (2016)

If this year 2016 is marked in red hot iron by the fratricidal duel between Hamilton and Rosberg, won by the latter, some drivers have still managed to distinguish themselves between the two strong men of the championship.

During this Grand Prix in Baku, Nico Rosberg delivers a master class by achieving the second Grand Slam of his career, that is, by securing pole position, victory, fastest lap in the race, and leading all the laps of the Grand Prix.

Plagued by worries, Hamilton is unable to fight for the podium, which frees up a spot for an outsider. This spot, Sergio Pérez will go get it on merit. Second in qualifying behind Rosberg, the Mexican is penalized five places for a gearbox change.

Seventh on the grid, Checo is gradually moving up through his opponents and is battling with Kimi Räikkönen for third place behind the untouchable Rosberg and Vettel. In the final lap, the Force India driver finds an opening on the Finn and is set to clinch another podium with the Indian team. So, a podium in sight with Red Bull this season? Nothing is less certain!