Azerbaijan: Alexander Albon and George Russell win

DAMS unveiled its driver line-up for the season just before the opening race in Sakhir. At the time, the French team had only confirmed Nicholas Latifi for the entire season, stating that Alexander Albon was only confirmed for the first weekend of competition. The Thai driver had not disappointed and had secured valuable points with a fourth-place finish in the first race.

This convinced the leaders to maintain their confidence in him for the second leg, in Baku. The least we can say is that they must not have regretted their decision. Indeed, the former ART driver was very impressive, clinching pole position with a margin of over two tenths on Lando Norris, the championship leader. After a missed first weekend, George Russell was eager to start his season without further delay, which he did with a third place on the grid.

The DAMS drivers were occupying both ends of the grid since Nicholas Latifi made a mistake and was unable to do better than the last time of the session. But as the lights went out for the start, the front row only featured Alexander Albon’s DAMS as Lando Norris stalled on the grid during the formation lap. This doomed the British driver to a great comeback after starting from the pit lane. In this context, his sixth-place finish is an excellent damage limitation.

Far from these considerations, Alexander Albon had to defend his first place dearly as George Russell made an excellent start, allowing him to briefly lead at the first corner before having to give way at the next corner.

Startup problems on this new generation of single-seaters were once again confirmed as Jack Aitken, who had already been a victim of such misfortune in Bahrain, was again forced to be pushed to the pits to finally start. However, luck was on the side of the ART Grand Prix driver as Luca Ghiotto forced the safety car to enter at the end of the first lap by taking the 16th corner too wide and hitting the safety barriers. This allowed the pack to be regrouped again for a restart on the 5th lap.

That’s when the strategies came into play and it was George Russell who managed to get the most out of it, pitting as soon as the tire change window opened while Alexander Albon waited one more lap. The Thai driver then thought he had lost everything since he found himself in fourth place, behind George Russell, Nyck de Vries and Roy Nissany.

But the race was relaunched when the Israeli hit the wall at the fourth turn, while defending against Artem Markelov. Just when he thought he had done the hardest by building a five-second lead over Nyck de Vries, George Russell found himself forced to defend his position. But as often, this proved to be very costly since both drivers went very wide in the first turn, causing them to lose many places.

As Alexander Albon was also far from the racing line, it was ultimately Antonio Fuoco who emerged as the leader, just ahead of the DAMS driver, while Jack Aitken was able to overtake Sergio Sette Camara to temporarily climb onto the podium.

But in front of, Alexander Albon was able to take advantage of the caution of the Ferrari protege to eventually regain the lead and not let go until the checkered flag. But behind, Jack Aitken wasn’t planning on stopping there and was finally able to overtake Antonio Fuoco, to finish second. Nicholas Latifi finished sandwiched between the two Carlin drivers, Sergio Sette Camara and Lando Norris, while the two MP Motorsport drivers, Ralph Boschung and Roberto Merhi, completed the top 8, propelling them to the front row for the Sprint race.

However, the two men did not take advantage of it the next day since their start was very average, the former F1 driver staying almost glued to the starting grid. Ralph Boschung thus saw Nicholas Latifi and Sergio Sette Camara pass by. The Brazilian did not stop there and quickly took the lead while the Canadian engaged in a tough battle with Lando Norris and George Russell, who was 12th on the grid.

Mercedes’ protege took advantage of a mistake at the first corner to make a move on his Carlin rival, before surpassing Nicholas Latifi thanks to his DRS. Just five laps from the end, he managed to get ahead of Sergio Sette Camara, who had built a lead of four seconds.

Unfortunately for the Brazilian, he was quickly demoted after finishing second because his car did not have the regulation 0.8 liters of fuel left after the race. Therefore, Nyck de Vries inherited the second place while Nicholas Latifi regained the third step of the podium that he had lost on track to the Prema driver.

Lando Norris therefore collects the eight points of the fourth place while Trident unlocked its points counter thanks to the 5th and 6th places of Arjun Maini and Santino Ferrucci. The two MP Motorsport drivers had to settle for the last two spots in the top 8, which can only disappoint them after starting from the front row.

At the championship, Lando Norris further secures his first place, with a 14-point lead over Alexander Albon. Sergio Sette Camara’s disqualification cost him dearly as he now finds himself 15 points behind his teammate. Meanwhile, Artem Markelov, shining in Bahrain, will have to bounce back quickly if he wants to keep his chances alive.