Azerbaijan Grand Prix: The Hits/Misses as chosen by the editorial team

Top 3:

Verstappen’s soaring in the championship.

For those who had doubts, Max Verstappen showed what made him a great champion. Once again dominated by a sizzling Sergio Perez in free practice and qualifying, the Dutchman responded in the best possible way on the track. Starting third, it took him 14 laps to overtake Sergio Perez and take the lead thanks to excellent tire management (Leclerc had stopped earlier).

The follow-up? A solo ride of nearly 40 laps to claim his fifth race win of the season, his first victory in Baku. Moreover, thanks to the retirement of both Ferrari cars, he extends a comfortable lead over his pursuers with a 21-point advantage over Perez and 34 over Leclerc. The clear path to a second championship title.

Mercedes, a podium and big points

Eighth race, eighth top 5: “Mister Consistency”, George Russell, has never lived up to his nickname so well. The young British driver had another perfect weekend. Starting fifth on the grid, he delivered a very clean and serene race to secure his third podium of the season, thanks to the retirements of the two Ferraris. And all of this without ever being troubled. He is now fourth in the standings, only 17 points behind Leclerc.

For Hamilton, Sunday was a bit more eventful. Slightly less qualified than his teammate (7th), the seven-time world champion had to jostle to make his way through the pack. Due to a slightly long first pit stop, he emerged in eleventh place.

But thanks to some nice overtakes on Ocon, Tsunoda, and Gasly, and a very good pace, Hamilton manages to secure an excellent fourth place, behind his teammate. He also leaves with the honorary title of Driver of the Day as a bonus.

Gasly and Vettel on fire like last year.

Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly seem to appreciate the Baku circuit. Finishing second and third respectively last year, both drivers had an excellent race. Sebastian Vettel managed to get his Aston Martin into Q3 for the third time this season. Starting 9th, the German driver was consistently strong throughout the Grand Prix, making some impressive overtakes to secure a commendable sixth place. The only downside was a mistake at Turn 3 while attempting to overtake Ocon, which caused him to lose two positions early on in the race.

Vettel finishes behind Pierre Gasly, a surprising fifth. The Frenchman had a great qualifying session, his best of the season, starting in sixth place. Thanks to the retirements of both Ferraris and an excellent race pace, the Normand held on to fourth place for a long time. However, his conservative one-stop strategy got the better of him towards the end of the race. With much fresher tires, Lewis Hamilton overtook him, but as his engineer told him on the radio, fifth place is already an excellent result for him and for AlphaTauri.

Flop 3:

Ferrari, reliability called into question

How did Charles Leclerc go from a 19-point lead over Max Verstappen when arriving in Barcelona to a 34-point deficit after three races starting in Baku? The lack of reliability of the Ferrari engine is one of the contributing factors. Just like in Barcelona where victory was within his grasp, Leclerc was forced to retire due to a failure in his power unit.

A blow to the drivers’ championship, but also to the constructors’ championship as Carlos Sainz, too, did not see the checkered flag due to a hydraulic problem. A zero score that is all the more worrisome as the customer teams of the Ferrari engine were not lucky either this Sunday. Kevin Magnussen’s Haas and Guanyu Zhou’s Alfa Romeo also experienced mechanical issues and did not finish the race.

Four retirements from four Ferrari-powered single-seaters: the Maranello factory has its work cut out to identify and resolve the issue as quickly as possible, before the championship becomes definitively out of reach.

The porpoising, a problem that will need to be quickly resolved.

Porpoising is becoming more than just an urgent problem for some stables. Mercedes, in particular, was the main team to suffer from it this weekend to the point where Lewis Hamilton experienced unbearable back pain from the constant bouncing of his car.

Ferraris have also been very prone to “porpoising”, like most teams. George Russell called for changes, as he believes it’s only a matter of time before we witness a major accident. The Montreal track this weekend, with its long straight lines, should once again be the stage for a race full of twists and turns, in every sense of the word.

Latifi – Schumacher, same fight?

Weekends follow each other and look alike for Nicholas Latifi and Mick Schumacher. Both drivers are the only ones on the grid who have yet to score a single point this season. Beyond the purely statistical aspect, their performance on the track is starting to raise serious questions.

For Nicholas Latifi, it’s not really a surprise: the Canadian has been at the mercy of George Russell for two years at Williams, and then Alex Albon this year. He finished last in Baku, nearly a minute behind the car ahead of him, and his main achievements were a penalty on the grid (due to his team) and a second penalty on track for not respecting blue flags (which instruct him to move aside and let the leaders pass).

His repeated crashes and lack of rhythm are putting his seat in jeopardy. It is difficult to imagine Williams keeping him next year, despite his significant financial contribution.

For Mick Schumacher, the feeling is quite different. After thoroughly outperforming his teammate Nikita Mazepin last year, everyone expected to see him compete with Magnussen in a Haas finally capable of fighting for points. But it’s not the case: the German is facing great difficulties and this weekend, once again, he completely missed the mark.

Penultimate, far behind the rest of the grid but still ahead of Latifi, Schumacher will have to quickly turn things around if he doesn’t want to see his future in Formula 1 darken as well.