Azerbaijan GP Race Report

Lots of drivers were looking for positives and only finding negatives in Baku.  Sainz had secured a points position grid place but had been awarded a five place grid drop for going fast under Yellow Flags.  Norris had a fuel injection problem before he even got to the grid.  Antonelli went off on the Formation Lap and found that Leclerc did not follow immediately meaning he would end up sat at the start of the grid by himself for a good long while.

Russell and Piastri were away quicker than Lerclerc.  There was quickly some separation between the cars at the front.  Unusually, Antonelli went backwards rather than forwards off the grid, losing a place.  The Red Bulls were flying, Verstappen made up three places in three laps and Hadjar up in front of him was flying as well.  On Lap four, Hadjar got passed Leclerc for a podium place.  It would have been nice for Hadjar to get a podium but he had to give the place up to Verstappen.  Would this turn out to be the best strategy for them?

On Lap nine, a potential problem, Stroll was called on to stop his car, which he managed to do at a good place where he was right off the track; no controversial VSC would be needed.  Alonso would also retire before we were half way through the race as well.

After twenty laps Antonelli was in a position to score one point but we had not been shown one of his overtakes in full screen.  At the front however, Hadjar was calling to be let past Verstappen because he was close behind on medium tyres.

On Lap 30 I was wondering whether anyone had made a pit stop as we hadn't been shown any.  In fact, we had only watched Verstappen and Hadjar not-battle for many, many laps.  The other teams needed to do something to get some airtime for their sponsors.  Norris locked up his brakes, went wide and had to do a big loop to continue.  Not to be outdone, Albon put his Williams nose-first into the barrier, excellent promotion for Barclays (Fred the Shred is finally vindicated).  There was a Yellow Flag then a Safety Car but who was past the pit lane entry?  The question for teams was whether a Red Flag would be put out shortly and no pit stop would be needed for the whole race and a pit under Safety Car would be a mistake.  The Red Bulls would need to double-stack.  

The restart was wild: everyone was weaving back and forth to pick up heat in their tyres and it looked like Russell was taking it too far.  I thought everyone was going to get passed him but off he went.  Verstappen was ready to pounce though and passed Piastri.  Behind them it was chaos with half a dozen drivers running into each other around a corner: no one seemed to stop they just kept sliding into the next car.  I don't know how Norris got involved in it from ninth position but he was out.  The Safety Car was immediately back out with no break for Mylander.  Colapinto had been in too tight a space and ran out of braking room and into his team mate Gasly, they both slid into Norris.  Meanwhile Linblad T-boned Lawson; he was pushed off the track but manged to get going again.  Somehow lucky Antonelli got through it all safely.

Colapinto was apologising immediately.  The Alpine Team Principal was off the pit wall and across to shout and I can only imagine what Briatore will say to him and on Netflix.  I imagine his phone has "run out of battery".

With the race about to restart again, Verstappen was ready to push past Russell.  As the pack being six cars down, this was a clean start.  Antonelli was in seventh with both Ferraris, both Red Bulls and Piastri between him and his championship-challenging team mate.  Hadjar was pushing Piastri for third place and the Australian locked up and went wide where Norris had.  This dropped him back to 15th; Villeneuve called this a rookie mistake.  An awful weekend for McLaren too.  And Antonelli was up into sixth.

Then Antonelli was passed Hamilton and Verstappen was getting closer and closer to Russell and he started to panic.  Race Control suddenly said that they were investigating Verstappen for not following race director's instructions (nothing came of it).  Russell managed to pull out the crucial one second gap but with two laps to go it was down to half a second and everyone would be holding their breath for the three minutes until the end of the race.  Somehow I looked up again and Russell had found something and it was a second again.  To add to the comfort for George, there were Yellow Flags for them to get past Bottas who had put his car into the barriers on the last lap.  There was a tenth of second in it with Hadjar getting a very well-deserved podium in third.  Linblad overtook Ocon almost on the line.  The final points-scoring ten were Russell, one tenth of a second ahead of Verstappen, Hadjar, Leclerc (who had a very quiet race), Antonelli, Hamilton, Linblad, Ocon, Bearman (lots of points for Haas) and Sainz (Williams should have scored a lot more points this weekend).

Red Bull played the strategy game very well and it does feel that Verstappen should have earned a win so far this season.  Some drivers really earned their stripes during this race and others just didn't seem to be able to join the dots and achieve as much as they should.

Seven cars did not finish the race so it was a tricky one to either keep it on the track or avoid being collateral damage.  Norris said Colapinto should be given a one race ban for the incident, as though he has never done anything like that.

There will mechanics locked up in containers to try and fix the damage before Free Practice in Bahrain/Malaysia.  It's a triple-header with a week off before another.  Tough for the mechanics, tough for the drivers and even tougher for us F1 bloggers.

Azerbaijan GP Qualifying Report

There were a couple of issues with the Baku circuit on Friday for Qualifying: firstly, the track was still being fixed after an incident in an earlier event so it would start late, secondly there were gusts of wind that could catch a driver unaware and thirdly, it was Friday, a day early, because the race would have conflicted with an important Memorial Day in the country.

The first Qualifying session did not go well for the Championship leader Antonelli, who hit the wall and damaged his tyre, if not more of the wheel.  He had to park the car, pulling off the track to do so.  This was the very thing we needed to try and bring about some more competition for the season however he started even further back in Monza and still won.  At the very end, Williams made a big jump up to 9th and 11th and Stroll went off the track bringing out Yellow Flags.  The Williams have brought a major upgrade this weekend and are a more competitive weight.  Reminder, Sainz was third in his Williams last year at this track.  Russell was fastest and Bortoleto, Hulkenberg, Alonso, Perez, Bottas and Stroll went out.

As soon as the second session started, Linblad was off the track and had to reverse back onto it.  This track was not proving to be straight forward yet again.  With two minutes to go he did it again.  Ocon also went wide but that's not news and won't help him find a new seat for the 2027 season as it seems Haas no longer require his services (unless Cadillac want to replace Bottas with him, I don't think there's much hope and I would rather see more rookies come in).  Russell was absolutely dominant and fastest again.  Both Alpines went through and Sainz which was great news for them.  Bearman, Lawson, Albon, Ocon, Linblad and Antonelli were out.

For once Liberty played some fun radio...Norris and McLaren gave away what their plan was for the final session and was playfully corrected by his engineer; F1 bants ensued.  Both Colapinto and Norris briefly stopped on track at one point or another to bring out a Yellow Flag.  Even with flying laps from Leclerc and Piastri, Russell was fastest and secured pole position eight tenths of a second ahead of Leclerc.  Behind them were Piastri, Hadjar, Norris, Hamilton, Gasly, Verstappen, Sainz and Colapinto.  In a disappointing showing from Verstappen, who is four places behind his team mate who is returning after three races out for an injury and also sandwiched by drivers that he drove out of Red Bull but was held up by a Yellow Flag.  Hamilton will also be disappointed to be four places behind his team mate.  He pointed out that the Mercedes engine was very quick almost saying it was unbeatable.

There should be thrills and spills in the race with lots of Yellow Flags, Virtual Safety Cars and Safety Cars.  It's a beautiful, tricky circuit that promises lots and doesn't always deliver.

All the words at Baku were still "wind"; either how it affected Qualifying or how much there was for the race.  Ocon was disqualified from Qualifying, as his car failed a rear wing flexi test, so he would be starting from the back of the grid.

On the way to the starting grid, Hadjar had a hydraulics failure and Racing Bull had to work on the car to fix it on the pit straight.

The Azerbaijani anthem is really quite something and there was quite a dramatic version of it.  Sainz managed to contain his laughter whilst Antonelli openly had the giggles.  Hadjar could crack a smile too as his car had been righted.  Causing tears, was the prediction by James Vowles of Williams that rain was coming.

Continuing an awful weekend for the Driver's Championship leader, Piastri was into the wall on the first lap, bringing out the Safety Car.  He locked up and just went straight forwards.  This followed him jumping the start and then stopping, so he was late off the grid to start with.  Otherwise, the top six had remained as they were.  Luckily for Oscar, the lull for the Safety Car meant that we could watch many many replays of the events, from every possible angle and from every possible car.  

In the replays we saw what looked like Alonso also jumping the start, then the stewards looked at it.  He was given a five second penalty.  Piastri got one too and he will have to serve it at Singapore possibly.

Verstappen did a great restart as always.  Antonelli got a good one and Russell fell a couple of places back.  Norris also fell back a place, losing it to LeClerc.  The cars at the back were playing an interesting game with the tyre strategy and pitting at odd times.  Albon was stuck at the back.  Having taken another stop, he came together with Colapinto and tipped him nearly out of the race.  I'm not sure why there wasn't a Safety Car.  Albon was given a ten second penalty.

The first round of proper stops arrived and there was no sign of this rain.  What Williams needed to do was sacrifice Albon, who was running in 16th, to get the Safety Car out for Sainz to get a free pit stop to get him to the end of the race.  On lap 28, Sainz came in.

On Lap 37, I noticed that nothing much had happened for a long time.  There was still only one retiree as well.  Norris did come in for his stop and it was another slow one from his team; there was nothing they could do to make amends for it this weekend.

Russell was the last driver to pit and was the only person who really made a jump through strategy; he overtook Sainz for second place.  Heartbreaking for Williams.  Then Albon reported light rain.  It never came or no one else noticed it.

Verstappen and his pit wall team were delighted with the win.  Russell was relieved.  Sainz was the happiest: "best podium in my career guys, you cannot imagine how this feels, thank you so much."  He was voted driver of the day.  All the staff from the team were there at Parc Ferme to celebrate.

If Carlos was the best, who was the worst?  Albon for being the first crasher in Qualifying meaning he started at the back and got into a lot of bother?  Norris for failing to make up a single place from 7th despite driving the best car?  Piastri?  Well, yes, him.

It was expected that the Constructors' Championship would be McLaren's this weekend and neither of their drivers delivered.  Still, we roll on to Singapore.

Russell looked appalling as he was interviewed before the podium, an awful grey shade of pale but he did congratulate Williams first.  LeClerc had been quick over the radio to check if Sainz was on the podium.  Verstappen didn't manage such manners.

Azerbaijan GP Qualifying Report

Russell came into this race weekend ill, which is something that seems to happen to him as a long season goes on.  The McLarens were the quickest cars bar driver errors, which did happen in practice.  This is the first event that they could win the Constructors' Championship at.

The first session started going well and then Albon hit the wall as he turned around the corner and came to a stop on the track, bringing out a Red Flag and stopping the session.  This was a shame for Williams as they were looking strong.  They were only out for five minutes when Hulkenberg went straight into a wall and shattered the front of his car all over the place.  He got going again though.  Off they went again and finally, they just about got to 0:00 when Gasly went off and the session finished on a Red Flag.  Out went Colapinto, Hulkenberg, Ocon, Gasly and Albon.  It turned out the Red Flag was for Colapinto, who should have been driving slower under the Yellow Flag for Gasly and ran into the wall and smashed up his car.  He got out and gave the wall a kick in frustration.

In the second session, we got three minutes in before Bearman hit the wall sideways and broke his suspension for another Red Flag.  The session had already been delayed for the walls around the circuit to be checked and fixed.  It looked like it wouldn't be who put in the fastest lap who got pole but the only driver left standing.  LeClerc had two iffy moments and Piastri another.  The wind was catching drivers out and even Stroll couldn't get daddy to pay for it to go away.  In the end it was a shocker for Hamilton, who thought he could be on for pole, who went out in 12th, with Alonso ahead of him and Bortoleto, Stroll and Bearman behind.

In the third session we had rain!  Russell spun around and Verstappen said it was too wet to be on track, certainly on the dry tyres.  It was another three minutes until the Red Flag was waved again, this time for LeClerc who went nose-first into the wall.  Antonelli said that going on the white lines was like driving on ice.  After another three minutes, Piastri went into the wall for a sixth Red Flag; he carried too much speed and went into the wall.

At the final shoot out, it looked a little wet on track so there was hope that Sainz could keep his pole (having put in the first quickest lap before the two Red Flags).  Norris was the first to try but brushed the wall.  Russell was nearly half a second slower.  Verstappen was able to do it though, putting in a purple first sector.  Was it all down to the timing a driver was sent to the track?  The top ten was Verstappen, Sainz, Lawson, Antonelli, Russell (interesting order for the Mercedes), Tsunoda (much needed), Norris, Hadjar, Piastri and LeClerc.