Sergio Pérez won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with a display of dominant control for Red Bull. He beat his team-mate Max Verstappen into second, with the Pole-sitter, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, taking third place in Baku. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was fourth and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in fifth. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were in sixth and eighth respectively for Mercedes.
In a largely uneventful race, the pace of the Red Bull drivers was such that they were unchallenged throughout. What drama there was played out through the timing of a pit stop under the safety car that cost Verstappen the lead and what would have probably been another win. Behind them, with the field cautious over tyre wear, a procession made for an unremarkable spectacle on the streets of Baku.
The race did end in controversy however as Alpine made a last-lap pit stop, Esteban Ocon came into the pit lane as it was crowded with personnel and photographers. It was a spectacularly dangerous incident as dozens were forced to run out of the way of Ocon.
Pérez has now closed the gap on Verstappen who leads the Mexican in the world championship by six points, with Alonso in third.
The win, his second in Baku having also taken the flag in 2021, is the confident and combative statement of intent the Mexican badly wanted. He is determined to make his case as a championship contender this season rather than being relegated to playing second fiddle to Verstappen.
The only way to disavow the team of their favour for the Dutchman as lead driver is to consistently beat him and take every chance offered. Pérez has opened his account with his second victory in four races and on the back of sealing his first sprint race win on Saturday. When both drivers have finished a race he has previously only beaten Verstappen three times during the two years they have been team-mates.
This time he showed no weakness, dominating from the front once he took the lead and delivering with the clinical execution the team require.
Leclerc held his lead into turn one from Verstappen and the front six all held their positions for the opening lap, as the Red Bulls bided their time waiting for the DRS to be enabled on lap three. At which point Verstappen duly closed the gap and breezed past on the main straight on lap four with Leclerc entirely powerless to defend against the straight line speed and huge aero efficiency of the Red Bull DRS.
With Ferrari unable to match the Red Bull race pace, Pérez followed him through with similar ease two laps later, securing the Red Bull one-two at the front. With tyre wear a concern the front-runners settled into a train looking to save their rubber rather than attacking early.
Pérez was at least keeping Verstappen honest out front, staying within a second of the leader but not challenging him, before the decisive moment. Verstappen was struggling for grip and the team pitted him on lap 11, just as Nyck de Vries went off and subsequently caused the safety car to be called. It gave the top four including Pérez a free stop and the Mexican emerged in the lead in front of Leclerc, while Verstappen dropped to third. Questions remain over whether Red Bull made their call too soon after De Vries went off and whether they might have delayed Verstappen’s stop in anticipation of a safety car.
Hamilton, suffering from graining, had also pitted early on lap 10 to take hard tyres and, similarly unluckily, dropped places to 10th.
Racing resumed on lap 14 and Verstappen swiftly passed Leclerc to take second at turn three. He set off after his team-mate, setting a series of fastest laps but Pérez made a real fist of trying to maintain the gap at more than a second, with the pair setting similar times. They were, however, once more in a class of their own out front, almost a second of a lap quicker than the rest of the field.
Red Bull, as they had promised, were allowing their drivers to race without team orders and there was nothing to choose between them but Pérez was noticeably unfazed at having Verstappen laying on the pressure as the pair went flat-out. Verstappen was quicker but by barely more than a few hundredths of a second, not enough to close the gap. By lap 29 Verstappen had to back off as he struggled with the balance of the car.
It was enough to settle the result as the procession continued to the flag, remarkable only for the extent of Red Bull’s advantage again, both cars finishing more than 21 seconds clear of Leclerc.
Lance Stroll was seventh for Aston Martin, Lando Norris ninth for McLaren and Yuki Tsunoda 10th for AlphaTauri. – Guardian
