Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Race: 44-0 for Red Bull against Ferrari

The departure

Sergio Perez made a dream start that saw him take the lead of the race ahead of Charles Leclerc even before the first corner. After the fifth lap, the Mexican had a 2.5-second lead over the Monegasque.

Further back in the pack, it was a more challenging start to the race for Nicholas Latifi, who was given a 10-second penalty as his Canadian car was touched by a team member after the lights went out on the formation lap. A silly mistake that forced him to come into the pits to serve his penalty and put him in a distant last position.

Disaster for Ferrari

On the 9th lap, bad luck struck Carlos Sainz. The Spanish driver was stuck in the escape zone of turn 4. It wasn’t due to a piloting issue, but rather because his rear brakes simply stopped working. This incident caused a virtual safety car, allowing many drivers like Charles Leclerc to make pit stops without losing time. However, the Red Bull drivers did not take advantage of this opportunity.

Once both Red Bull cars stopped, Charles Leclerc regained the lead of the race. With a 12-second advantage on the 19th lap, the Monegasque driver seemed to truly be in control of the race. But just one lap later, this lead vanished into the smoke of his defective Ferrari engine. This is Leclerc’s third consecutive retirement this season.

The Ferrari drivers were not the only ones suffering from technical issues. Indeed, even the customer drivers of Ferrari were facing problems. This was the case for Guanyu Zhou, who retired for the third time in 4 races, and for Kevin Magnussen. The Danish driver was fighting to finish in the points. The retirement of the Haas caused a second virtual safety car.

The end of the race was marked by a small battle between Pierre Gasly and Lewis Hamilton. While the Frenchman did not pit during the virtual safety car period, the Brit did. This allowed him to take advantage of his fresh tires to climb up on the AlphaTauri. Despite a great defense from the Norman driver, he had to ultimately settle for a 5th position.

The two Mercedes therefore finished 3rd and 4th in favor of George Russell. This is the former Williams driver’s third podium finish this season. He, who has never finished below 5th position in 2022, strengthens his 4th position in the driver’s championship and is now only 17 points behind Charles Leclerc.

So it’s a beautiful revenge on last year for Max Verstappen who had to retire due to a puncture while leading. The reigning world champion is the 6th different winner in Baku, but above all, he strengthens his domination at the top of the standings. Overtaken on the 15th lap, Sergio Perez never managed to catch up with his teammate. Therefore, the winner of the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix finishes in second place.

The Red Bull double victory is extremely painful for the Maranello team. The Austrian team now has 279 points in the constructor’s championship compared to 199 for Ferrari.