Azerbaijan GP Race Report

Having watched the Sprint race, I assumed the race would go exactly the same...  LeClerc would lose his pole position after ten laps, Russell would knock about a few cars, Perez would win and Verstappen would be very unhappy.

So far, the biggest surprise of the weekend was the rumours of Taylor Swift dating Fernando Alonso.

Hulkenberg and Ocon started from the pit lane, which would prove to be problematic at the end of the race.

As per the day before, LeClerc held on in the first lap, getting a good start.  It was four laps until he made the overtake, just as DRS was enabled.  Perez also made it look easy two laps later.  Hamilton and Norris pitted early on lap of 51 and it didn't work out well, coming out in 13th and 14th.  At that point De Vries, parked his car at the side of the track and the Safety Car was deployed, so those drivers both lost out.  Verstappen had just pitted from the lead (and came out 7th),  so couldn't take advantage.  Perez was hoping to pit and come out ahead of his team mate.  The top 6 ahead of Verstappen all pitted with Perez and LeClerc coming out ahead, Sainz, Alonso and Russell behind.  As the race restarted, Verstappen immediately overtook LeClerc and Alonso took Sainz.  

From this point, the race became boring.  There was an overtake for 18th; Gasly on Zhou or possibly Bottas.  Hamilton thought he could overtake Sainz for 5th and Alonso thought he could overtake LeClerc for third but didn't.  Gasly also overtook Sargeant.  With 5 laps, Norris overtook the Haas that he had been stuck behind for a very long time.

With a lap or so to go, Russell took a fairly risk-free stop to put on soft tyres and try for the Fastest Lap.  The two drivers who started from the pit needed to put on a change of tyres to comply with regulations.  Hulkenberg took his stop with plenty of time but it looked like Ocon and Alpine had forgot and then came in in the nick of time, mowing down people standing around in the pit lane.

It wasn't a thriller.  Fans of Perez will be pleased.  Verstappen wasn't as unhappy as I thought he'd be.  On to Miami...