Tag Archives: Azerbaijan Grand Prix

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Qualifying results

Bottas sizes last-second pole at Baku at expense of teammate Hamilton; Vettel qualifies P3 for Ferrari after Leclerc crashes out in Q2

Mercedes ostensible Number 2 driver Valtteri Bottas snatched pole for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in the dying moneys of an action packed Saturday qualifying, knocking off his teammate Lewis Hamilton’s previously supreme time by .06 seconds as the checkered flag flew. For a desperate moment in Q3 it looked as if Mercedes had blown it by playing cute and loitering at pit out while a stream of cars launched onto the track for their last runs. But with the sun setting and the track cooling after several crash-induced delays to qualifying, Mercedes had the last laugh by enabling their two stars to utilize the slipstream of the closest cars in front of them — for Hamilton running last that meant Bottas — to get a tow down Baku’s enormous final high speed straight. That proved to be enough of an advantage for both Silver Arrows to once again lockout the front row. And for Bottas, who made just slightly better effect of that drafting technique than Hamilton, it meant gaining the prime position to try and avenge his loss in this race last year when he was leading handily but suffered a puncture that cost him victory just yards from the finish line.

Pics courtesy GrandPirx247.com

Mercedes’ joy once again came at the expense of Ferrari, which had been looking like the quickest cars coming into qualifying today. The fastest of the Prancing Horses on this tight and treacherous Baku City Circuit was actually the junior member Charles Leclerc who displayed a decided advantage over his teammate Sebastian Vettel and the entire field throughout each of the three practice sessions. But team and driver may have both gotten a little greedy in Q2. With Ferrari setting the pace the braintrust decided to put both cars out on the Medium Pirellis, the only cars in the remaining 15 to go out on the harder rubber. The Medium tires lacked just that bit of grip on the cooling asphalt and Leclerc misjudged his breaking by a fraction going into the very tight Turn 8 Castle complex. The young phenom tried to make the corner rather than play it safe and abort down the escape runoff but the Ferrari went straight and speared heavily into the TecPro barrier, ending the Monegasque’s day and badly damaging his chassis. From looking like a favorite for the pole Leclerc instead was left bitterly upbraiding himself and praying that his team of mechanics can rebuild a competitive car by the start of the GP tomorrow.

The surviving Ferrari of veteran Sebastian Vettel qualified P3 and the German looked like he might seize the pole that Leclerc left unclaimed. But Mercedes’ slipstream strategy nipped him at the end and relegated Vettel to the second row. He will start alongside Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who was very quick, as well, and qualified P4. The Dutchman’s Red Bull could be the dark horse for the race win because the car looks exceptionally well planted on this technical circuit and perhaps the team’s lack of straight line speed relative to the big two of Mercedes and Ferrari can be made up in race trim. Unfortunately, Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Pierre Gasly, while also very quick, was undone by incurring a major penalty for blowing by the inspection weigh station in Friday practice, which necessitates a pit lane start as draconian punishment. Look for the Frenchman to cut his way through the laggards at the back of the field in the opening laps, though of course he must stay patient in such tight quarters lest he throw the race away by clashing with slower competitors.

The misfortunes of some of the members of the top three teams proved a boon to several of the midfield runners. Now benefitted more than Sergio Perez, who did a wonderful day’s work by willing his Racing Point machine all the way up to the fifth fastest time. Similarly, Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat had one of his good days and overcame a hard kiss off the wall on his rear right to qualify P6. McLaren rookie Lando Norris qualified P7, which was the best placement of any Renault-powered chassis on the grid by far. Antonio Giovinazzi also had his best-ever qualifying result, besting his Alfa-Romeo teammate Kimi Raikkonen P8 to P9, as Alfa also made good use of slipstreaming to set their fast final laps. Unfortunately for the young Italian he will drop back 10 spots on the gird come Sunday due to power unit changes. That means even after his mishap in Q2, Leclerc is slated to be elevated to P9 on the grid for tomorrow’s start. That is if Ferrari can rebuild his car without taking any parts-change penalties in the process.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Azerbaijan GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:42.026 1:41.500 1:40.495 20
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:41.614 1:41.580 1:40.554 21
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:42.042 1:41.889 1:40.797 23
4 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:41.727 1:41.388 1:41.069 15
5 11 Sergio Perez RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 1:42.249 1:41.870 1:41.593 17
6 26 Daniil Kvyat SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 1:42.324 1:42.221 1:41.681 23
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 1:42.371 1:42.084 1:41.886 23
8 99 Antonio Giovinazzi ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 1:42.140 1:42.381 1:42.424 21
9 7 Kimi Räikkönen ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 1:42.059 1:42.082 1:43.068 21
10 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:41.426 1:41.995 11

Complete qualifying results amiable via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 at  8:00 AM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out at this always eventful street circuit!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Results & aftermath

Hamilton lucks into wild win at Baku as Bottas blows tire from lead; Raikkonen salvages P2 but Vettel misses out as Perez podiums; Red Bulls crash each other out

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix has quickly become one of the most entertaining and potentially consequential on the Formula 1 calendar. In only its third year on the schedule the tricky Baku City Circuit once again provided more than its fair share of twists, turns and nail-biting drama. Fortune seemed to change its favors on a whim as chaos reigned and the laps wound down on Sunday and it was Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton whom she finally chose to smile upon even as she turned her fickle back on his more deserving teammate. With Valtteri Bottas looking primed to win for the first time in 2018 due to clever pit strategy and (once again) the strangely permissive nature of F1’s pit rules under Safety Car the unlucky Finn ran over debris at high speed down the start-finish straight with only two laps to go, puncturing his rear right tire and dooming his race. As Bottas trundled despondently off the track and into a hard-luck DNF, second position Hamilton capitalized on his teammate’s misfortune to inherit the lead and the victory in short order. Amazingly it was the current World Champion’s first victory of the new season and gave the Englishman a much needed boost after a desultory start saw him a lackluster second in the championship. But if we’re all being honest Bottas has outdriven the 4-time champ Hamilton so far this season and Sunday was no exception. But for a better track cleanup under the long yellow flag periods it could have been the unlucky Finn celebrating at his teammate’s expense rather than the other way around.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Despite leading both the Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championships so far this season and with a car that is obviously up for race wins every weekend Ferrari had another very mixed day. Their lead ace Sebastian Vettel controlled the first part of the race from pole but then the team seemed to get a bit too ambitious on tire strategy by running longer stints and allowing the Mercedes to erase Vettel’s hard fought time advantage on fresher rubber. Worse still when a major Safety Car came out on Lap 40 after a disastrous incident between the two Red Bulls it was the Merc of Bottas who made the first dive to the pits for the Ultrasoft Pirellis, the perfect rubber for the closing laps of this 51 lap street fight. Vettel, as well as Hamilton, were forced to react but that left Bottas in the lead with Vettel behind in P2 running seemingly endless laps behind the Safety Car on rapidly cooling tires. When the race finally got going again on Lap 48 Vettel pushed too hard to try to regain the top spot, locking up and running off line as first Hamilton and then his teammate Kimi Raikkonen passed him. The flat spots on his tires made his normally fantastic SF71H underivable and eventually even the Force India of Sergio Perez was also able to pass him. With Bottas’ unfortunate puncture that meant not only that Hamilton would earn the victory but also that Raikkonen and Perez would be on the podium at Vettel’s expense. After leading the most laps and looking  likely to duke it out for the win Vettel finished a disappointing P4. The German points leader and his team had to be wondering where it all went wrong on a day that started with so much promise.

Raikkonen had a saga of his own en route to that impressive if somewhat fortuitous P2 finish. Continue reading →

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Qualifying results

Vettel & Ferrari continue pole streak in Baku but Raikkonen slips to P6; Hamilton seizes front row spot in P2, Bottas primed to attack in P3

The good news for Ferrari and their lead driver Sebastian Vettel is that they both kept their pole streak alive at the mind blowingly difficult Baku street circuit in Azerbaijan in Saturday qualifying. Vettel showed once again that the Scuderia’s 2018 SF71H chassis has more than made up the speed defeicit to might Mercedes by taking his third consecutive pole and besting Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton & Valtteri Bottas in mano a mano combat. The bad news for Ferrari is that their Number 2, veteran Kimi Raikkonen, was once again maddeningly inconstant when it counted the most. On a flying lap in the dying moments of Q3 Raikkonen looked primed to pip Vettel for the top starting spot. Instead he pushed just that little bit too hard resulting in a wriggling tank slapper that the Finn quickly caught before smashing into the wall but that cost him valuable time. After that bobble Raikkonen ended up with only the 6th fastest time and therefore leaves his teammate potentially at the mercy of two hard charging Mercedes Silver Arrows on the opening lap.

Lewis Hamilton showed the fire that had been missing in the last couple of race weekends and tried very hard, coming up just short of Vettel in P2. His teammate Valtteri Bottas who has performed well so far and is a mere 5 points behind his more illustrious teammate in the Drivers’ Championship, put in a lap good enough for P3. That makes for intriguing starting positions for Mercedes and they are sure to harass Vettel with Raikkonen farther from the fight and perhaps try and get Lewis Hamilton his first win of the season here in its fourth round.

Red Bull might also find themselves in the mix even if they seem to lack the overall pace of the top two teams. Daniel Ricciardo, the winner of the last GP in China, parlayed that rediscovered confidence into a fine P4 start on the grid. His sometimes impulsive teammate drove within himself on this very challenging and at places super tight circuit to secure a P5 start. Behind Raikkonen, Force India’s Esteban Ocon did very well to come home with the seventh fastest time with his teammate and ofttimes archrival Sergio Perez just behind him in P8. The Renualts of Nico Hilkenber rounded out the top 10 qualifiers with Nico Hilkenberg in P9 and Carlos Sainz in P10 respectively. However, Hulkenberg will get dropped five spots with a gearbox penalty so Lance Stroll will be elevated to start tenth, a nice and much needed reward for struggling Williams.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Azerbaijan GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:42.762 1:43.015 1:41.498 19
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:42.693 1:42.676 1:41.677 21
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:43.355 1:42.679 1:41.837 21
4 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:42.857 1:43.482 1:41.911 20
5 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:42.642 1:42.901 1:41.994 19
6 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:42.538 1:42.510 1:42.490 20
7 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:43.021 1:42.967 1:42.523 20
8 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:43.992 1:43.366 1:42.547 20
9 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 1:43.746 1:43.232 1:43.066 20
10 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 1:43.426 1:43.464 1:43.351 20

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live at 8AM Eastern on ESPN2 here in the States. On this highly challenging and exciting street course expect Safety Cars and chaos. Hope to see you then to see who can keep it out of the walls and come home to victory!

2017 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Results & aftermath

Red Bull’s Ricciardo capitalizes on chaos for Baku victory as Hamilton and Vettel clash; Mercedes’ Bottas fights back for gritty P2, Williams’ rookie Stroll scores maiden podium

Sunday’s Azrbaijan Grand Prix on the tight and windy Baku City Circuit was everything last year’s first-ever running was not: exciting, chaotic and unpredictable. In a race disrupted by several long and eventful Safety Car periods and one Red Flag timeout for debris on track, as well as a host of retirements and disabled vehicles, the preferred script of pole-sitter and Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton vs the pursuing Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel did not play out according to plan. Not even close. Instead, what had been a largely respectful rivalry turned sour when, during the second Safety Car period, Vettel ran into the back of Hamilton as the Englishman slowed his Silver Arrow coming out of Turn 16. The surprised German then pulled beside him to make his displeasure known. In a stunning turn of events the Ferrari bashed into the side of the Mercedes. Whether the 4-time World Champion made the move deliberately or merely lost control while yelling at Hamilton we may never know. But in the end intent was not important, as Vettel’s reckless move both lost him respect from Hamilton and also earned the German a 10-second stop & hold penalty.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

The penalty was late in coming, however, and was only issued after a lengthy Red Flag period necessitated by a crash between Force India teammates Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez and the unacceptable accumulation of debris on the track. And there were many who felt that Vettel got off lightly, Hamilton chief amongst them. Nevertheless, he must have been thinking that victory was all but certain when the race restarted and his Merc ran free and clear in first position. But Hamilton soon faced a crushing disappointment of his own when it became apparent that his headrest was not properly re-installed during the Red Flag period and kept popping up, a somewhat inexcusable lapse by the team. Despite his best efforts to secure it while driving 200mph down the straights Hamilton was forced to pit for repairs for that unforced error on Lap 31, an ill-timed extra stop. Hamilton emerged P8 and when Vettel finally took his penalty on Lap 33 his Ferrari still managed to come out ahead of the circulating Mercedes. So despite being the aggrieved party, Hamilton got no revenge on Vettel in this race and was never able to pass him. Vettel finished P4 despite his transgression with Hamilton P5 and the Englishman now trails his newly bitter rival by 14 points. More than that, the seemingly friendly competition is over between the two — it will now be war between Vettel and Hamilton in the fight for the title.

AzerbaijanF1GP-podium_2017

There were many beneficiaries of the contretemps between the two championship aspirants but the biggest and happiest was Daniel Ricciardo. Despite pitting early to clean the break ducts on his Red Bull, Ricciardo was able to work himself back up to a competitive position via the Safety Car periods and attrition in the field, including his unlucky teammate Max Verstappen, who dropped out with engine failure on Lap 13. When the third and final Safety Car period ended on Lap 24 the affable Aussie was all the way back up to P5 and was ready to pounce. And pounce he did, picking off two Williams with one late-breaking power move. That left only Hamilton and Vettel ahead and when they each suffered their respective race-altering issues, Ricciardo inherited the race lead. He never looked back and no one else ever got a sniff as he piloted his Red Bull to his fifth GP win and first since Malaysia in Round 16 of last season. It was also the fourth podium in a row for the surging Ricciardo, much to the chagrin of his podium mates who are more often than not are forced to drink champagne out of his hot, race-worn shoe in a bizarre but endearing ritual.

Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas, also benefitted from the chaos, clawing his way back from a first lap coming together with fellow Finn and Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen that cut down his left front tire and forced him to limp around to the pits and rejoin a lap down after a tire service and a front wing change (Raikonnen would eventually be forced to retire on Lap 47 due to the accrued damage after his team tried valiantly to keep his car in the race). Again, though, the host of Safety Cars worked to Bottas’ advantage, as did the misfortune of his teammate and rivals, and Bottas was not only able to unlap himself but drove steadily up through the field with good pace. As the laps ran down, he had worked his way all the way back up to P3 and was hunting the last surviving Williams of Lance Stroll. Bottas never stopped pushing and slipstreamed Stroll, surging past him right at the line for a hard fought P2. It was an excellent drive for the Finn and a definite bright spot on a rather mixed day for Mercedes.

While Stroll would have loved to have taken P2 he was nonetheless thrilled with his first career F1 podium, which was also Team Williams’ first of the season. The 18-year-old Canadian rookie became the second youngest driver to podium behind Max Verstappen. After scoring his first points in his home Grand Prix two weeks ago Stroll seemed to find his footing and put the rough start to his year behind him. Certainly the field was scrambled in Azerbaijan but Stroll was genuinely fast all weekend on this demanding circuit, out-qualifiying his veteran teammate Felipe Massa P8 to P9. And when the opportunities presented themselves in the race he didn’t miss them, driving flawlessly and avoiding contact with walls and other cars. He kept it throughly tight and clean and in the end the young Canadian was rewarded with a P3, a very significant achievement at the beginning of his F1 career.

The lone surviving Force India of Esteban Ocon took P6 despite damage incurred while dicing with his teammate Sergio Perez coming out of the second Safety Car period (their accident caused that eventful Red Flag). It was the second race in row where the two drivers were at loggerheads after Perez balked Ocon’s progress in Montreal, denying the young Frenchman a potential podium. That ill will is sure to continue, as the collision eventually led to Perez’s retirement and pushed Ocon down the order. Force India were left to wonder what might have been when they could have been the biggest beneficiaries of all the chaos and looked at one point like putting both cars on the podium. The team has got to get control of their two talented and strong-willed drivers lest they continue to let massively valuable points slip through their fingers due to lack of team discipline.

Rounding out the Top 10, Kevin Magnussen drove an excellent race and came home P7 in his Haas, Carlos Sainz recovered from an early spin to bring his Toro Roso home safely in P8 and Fernando Alonso scored McLaren’s first points of the season with a decent P9 despite his Honda engine still being down on pure power. And both McLarens finally ran a full race distance! Pascal Wehrlein took P10 for struggling Sauber, only the team’s second points-scoring finish in 8 rounds this year.

Top 10 finishers of the Azerbaijan GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 51 2:03:55.573 25
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 51 +3.904s 18
3 18 Lance Stroll WILLIAMS MERCEDES 51 +4.009s 15
4 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 51 +5.976s 12
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 51 +6.188s 10
6 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 51 +30.298s 8
7 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 51 +41.753s 6
8 55 Carlos Sainz TORO ROSSO 51 +49.400s 4
9 14 Fernando Alonso MCLAREN HONDA 51 +59.551s 2
10 94 Pascal Wehrlein SAUBER FERRARI 51 +89.093s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two weeks time from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. With tempers getting as hot as the summer weather and respect between Vettel and Hamilton, not mention Bottas and Raikonnen, evaporating like the early morning dew it should be a hammer and tongs showdown between Ferrari and Mercedes. Hope to see you then!

2017 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Qualifying results

Hamilton bests Bottas for pole at Baku in inter-team Mercedes battle; Raikkonen & Vettel 3-4 for Ferrari

Mercedes Lewis Hamilton pipped his teammate Valtteri Bottas for pole in dramatic fashion at the Baku City Circuit in Azerbaijan this Saturday. Coming out of a Red Flag period caused by Daniel Ricciardo’s shunt, the drivers were left with only 3:33 to set a faster time than Bottas’ seemingly untouchable provisional pole run around the tight and treacherous turns of Baku. But despite this year’s tire compounds’ problematic and prolonged warm-up period, the cars lighter weight from fuel burn off at the end of the session saw no decrease in performance in that last minute scramble. And in fact Hamilton was able to set a blazer of a lap for his 66th career pole — breaking a tie for second all-time with his idol Ayrton Senna — even as his impressive first year teammate Bottas improved his speed on his way to a solid P2 start and a Mercedes front row lockout. Both Ferrarari’s were also able to jump up the pylon, albeit more than half a second behind the Silver Arrows, with Kimi Raikkonen besting his usually quicker teammate Sebastian Vettel, P3 to P4. In fairness, Vettel was forced to switch to an older power unit prior to quali so he might be a bit down on horsepower to the Finn. Watch for the Vettel and the Scuderia to have some tricks up their sleeves come race day.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was overtaken by both Prancing Horses at the end of the day but after a host of technical issues in the practice sessions he should probably feel well pleased with starting P5. Whether his increasingly fragile Renault power plant and RB13 chassis can make it to the end of Sunday’s race, however, remains to be seen. After his terminal slide into the wall late in Q3 the other Red Bull of Riccardo saw his fastest time, once good enough for P7, eclipsed by all the other runners in the final session and the Aussie will start back in P10. Force India look set to continue their increasingly tense drivers’ dual after their memorable spat in Montreal a fortnight ago, with Sergio Perez desperate to keep the rapidly improving your Estaban Ocon behind him in the team pecking order. Perez was faster than Ocon by a mere .07 and they will line up P6 and P7 respectively. And Williams Lance Stroll seemed to take his first-ever points scoring F1 race at his home Grand Prix in Canada and covert it into much needed confidence at this tricky track, looking quick all weekend and out-qualifying his veteran teammate Felipe Massa for the first time this year, P8 to P9.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Azerbaijan GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:41.983 1:41.275 1:40.593 20
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:43.026 1:41.502 1:41.027 23
3 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:42.678 1:42.090 1:41.693 23
4 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:42.952 1:41.911 1:41.841 23
5 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:42.544 1:41.961 1:41.879 22
6 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:43.162 1:42.467 1:42.111 21
7 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:43.051 1:42.751 1:42.186 21
8 18 Lance Stroll WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:43.613 1:42.284 1:42.753 21
9 19 Felipe Massa WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:43.165 1:42.735 1:42.798 22
10 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:42.857 1:42.215 1:43.414 20

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on NBC Sports starting at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Still a green circuit in only its second running, Baku has all the technical aspects that make for a really good F1 circuit. And with the walls just waiting to catch out the unsuspecting virtually anything could happen to any of the drivers in the race. Hope to see you then to see how it all shakes out!