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2021 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Results & aftermath

Perez victorious at Baku after Verstappen loses sure victory with late tire failure; Vettel shows old form to take P2, Gasly holds off Leclerc for P3; Hamilton blows penultimate lap restart to tumble out of points

The return of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix to the Formula 1 calendar after a year’s hiatus provided the season’s most exciting race so far, as the ultra-challenging Baku City Circuit so often does. But this year’s drama hinged not on driver error but rather tire failure. With Red Bull’s Max Verstappen leading comfortably ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez and Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton and poised to extend his championship lead, the unlucky Dutchman suffered a catastrophic failure of his left rear Hard Pirelli tire while steaming down the start-finish straight around 200 miles per hour at the end of Lap 47. As his car speared off and smashed nose first into the barriers on his right, victory was snatched from Verstappen with a mere four laps remaining in the contest. It was nearly identical to an incident that took Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll out of the race back on Lap 31 in another huge shunt that was almost certainly precipitated by an unexpected tire failure. The debris from and removal of Verstappen’s stricken mount caused a Red Flag to be thrown on Lap 48, as well as the race director’s desire that all teams should have the option of switching onto new Pirellis as a precaution once they were back stationary in the pits, which all in fact did.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

After a lengthy delay, it was decided the race was safe to resume from a standing start with just two laps remaining. Perez had inherited the lead due to Max’s misfortune and Hamilton was positively licking his chops just behind him in P2, keen to get the jump on the veteran Mexican and steal a victory. But Hamilton made a crucial error by leaving his “magic” on for the actual restart, a tool that helps warm up the Silver Arrows’ brakes prior to racing speeds being achieved. So as Perez sprinted away cleanly, Hamilton locked up heading into Turn 1 and straight-lined off into the escape area. The English seven-time champ suffered the ignominy of watching the entire field pass him before he could rejoin the track, not to mention the agony of knowing he would now score zero points on a day where he should have been poised to make up massive ground against his primary title rival Verstappen. It was another crazy twist of fortune on the streets of Baku, which has seen its fair share of them, and benefitting most from the woes of the top two title contenders were Perez, the remaining Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel and the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly. Perez put his foot down and never looked back after Hamilton’s fateful off, showing that Red Bull’s faith in him was justified by earning a victory to somewhat salve the team’s wounds at seeing Verstappen crash out. Vettel was also brilliant all day, showing signs of his old form by making a longer run on his opening set of tires pay off, grabbing armfuls of track position and having fresher rubber to make passes during the critical laps prior to the Red Flag and come home an elated P2. It was a fantastic result for Vettel and the team on a day where Stroll thankfully also walked away from his frightening shunt.

And Gasly was tenacious in holding off the hard charging Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who was desperate to get to the podium after starting from pole but frankly lacked the race pace to truly compete for the top spots. Gasly kept his elbows out and kept the Monegasque behind him to grab a terrific P3. It still wound up being a decent day for Ferrari, with Leclerc’s settling for a solid P4 and Carlos Sainz coming home a rather fortunate P8 after recovering from his own unforced error earlier in the race that saw the Spaniard have to take to the escape road and grab reverse to rejoin the race. Lando Norris also hung in doggedly with what seemed to be a difficult car to handle and when the dust had settled and the checkers flew the young English McLaren driver found himself with a very pleasing P5 result. Teammate Daniel Ricciardo likewise benefitted from the race’s attrition rate and bobbles by the favorites to add some more points for McLaren in P9. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso somehow managed to work his way up to a P6 result with a great restart on that penultimate lap after being mired well out of the points for most of the day. Gasly’s AlphaTauri teammate, rookie Yuki Tsunoda, also got a much needed boost of confidence by not only running a clean race but also taking his best F1 finish in P7, adding up to a bushel full of valuable points for the team.  And the venerable Kimi Raikkonen scored his first point of the year for Alfa Romeo by coming home in P10 on day where survival and a bit of good luck trumped pure pace and skill.

As bad as Red Bull felt about Verstappen’s DNF at least they could hang their hat on Perez’s victory. For Mercedes the news on Sunday was all bad because, in addition to Lewis’ uncharacteristic blunder, their second driver Valtteri Bottas was nowhere all day and finished out of the points in P12. One wonders if the Mercedes brain trust is not quite thinking through a two car strategy, as much of this weekend’s calls seemed to be solely designed to advantage Hamilton and not really deliver performance for Bottas. Either way, with the Silver Arrows now trailing team Red Bull by 26 points in the Constructors’ standings after six rounds of the Championship the pressure on Bottas to perform better or lose his seat has got to be hotting up.

Top 10 finishers of the Azerbaijan GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 51 2:13:36.410 25
2 5 Sebastian Vettel ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 51 +1.385s 18
3 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 51 +2.762s 15
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 51 +3.828s 12
5 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 51 +4.754s 10
6 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 51 +6.382s 8
7 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA 51 +6.624s 6
8 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 51 +7.709s 4
9 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 51 +8.874s 2
10 7 Kimi Räikkönen ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 51 +9.576s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two weeks’ time from the very colorful and eccentric Paul Ricard Circuit in France. After two tight street circuits in a row, it’s about as different a track from Baku and Monaco as you could want. So look for the top contenders to refocus and compete at the highest level without fear of crashing into barriers. Let’s hope the drivers can also have full confidence in their Pirelli tires by then, as well. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Qualifying results

Ferrari’s Leclerc nabs second consecutive pole in Red Flag-marred Baku qualifying; Hamilton salvages a P2 start, Verstappen P3 after Q3 ends early

Ferrari’s ace pilot Charles Leclerc secured his second consecutive pole position at the second consecutive street circuit on the calendar, this time through the very demanding boulevards and alleyways of the Baku City Circuit during Saturday qualifying for the return of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Two weeks after setting the fastest quali time in Monaco before crashing out, Leclerc survived today’s crash-laden affair and benefitted from setting a fine fast banker lap early in Q3. That held up very nicely when that final qualifying session was ended prematurely under a Red Flag due to rookie Yuki Tsunoda misjudging his breaking point and spearing his AlpahTauri into the barriers nose first. A collateral shunt by Leclerc’s teammate, Carlos Sainz, made certain that there was not enough time to clear the track and resume, so the Monegasque was therefore awarded the top starting spot. It will be something of a deja vu do-over for Leclerc and he will be desperate to forget his heartbreaking experience in Monte Carlo when his car was unable to start his home race despite earning the pole, likely due to his untimely Q3 shunt there. This time, Leclerc kept everything clean and he and  Ferrari will have as good a chance as any team and driver of taking victory tomorrow at this demanding and highly technical track.

The Red Flag may or may not have cost Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton a shot at pole but in any event Lewis will line up beside Leclerc in P2 so he will likely try to wrest the lead from the Ferrari right when the lights go out. Hamilton was also pleased to start one spot better than the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, who was disappointed to have only the third fastest time on the board when the session was ended. After looking like he had the fastest car and Verstappen looking the fastest driver, the Monaco winner and current points leader will have to duke it out from P3 against the talented rivals ahead of him if he wants to keep his championship momentum going. The Dutchman’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez qualified a disappointing P7, which puts him out of position since he was very fast during practice sessions, so look for the savvy Mexican to make up places at a fairly rapid rate. And that was still miles ahead of Hamilton’s Silver Arrows partner Valtteri Bottas, who struggled for pace and grip once again and could only muster a lowly P10 time when Q3 ended. On the other hand, the second AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly excelled by taking P4 on the grid, matching his career best qualifying performance. Sainz should line up in P5 if he did not damage his Prancing Horse too badly when he skidded and spun off into the barriers after locking up behind Tsunoda. Lando Norris qualified P6 in his McLaren, salvaging something for the team after Daniel Ricciardo crashed out heavily in Q2. But the young Englishman was later assessed a 3-spot grid penalty for not entering the pits promptly when a Red Flag came out in Q1, so that will drop him to P9 on tomorrow’s grid.

Despite his costly mistake, Tsunoda still had his best quali effort and set the eighth fastest time. And Alpine’s Fernando Alonso used the tow like a wise veteran should, managing to haul himself up to P9 by the time final session stopped after letting Hamilton’s Merc punch a whole in the air in front of him during his best flying lap.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Azerbaijan GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:42.241 1:41.659 1:41.218 19
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:41.545 1:41.634 1:41.450 21
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:41.760 1:41.625 1:41.563 19
4 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:42.288 1:41.932 1:41.565 18
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:42.121 1:41.740 1:41.576 18
6 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:42.167 1:41.813 1:41.747 20
7 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:41.968 1:41.630 1:41.917 18
8 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:42.521 1:41.654 1:42.211 19
9 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:42.934 1:42.195 1:42.327 20
10 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:42.701 1:42.106 1:42.659 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 8AM Eastern here in the States. With the grid properly scrambled and the treacherous nature of this most entertaining and demanding of street circuits it should be a real doozy. Your guess is as good as mine as to who emerges victorious after 51 grueling laps in Baku so hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna — Qualifying results

Hamilton bests Red Bulls for pole at Imola as Perez surprises by out-qualifying Vertsappen

After a three-week layoff following the beginning of the 2021 season in Bahrain the anticipation couldn’t help but build for another showdown between Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull phenom Max Verstappen at the fast and flowing Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, aka Imola. Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix offered the opportunity for the first real rematch of the young campaign after Verstappen seemed to have the faster car at the Sakhir Circuit during the first round but Hamilton still managed to pip the Dutchman for victory via superior strategy. It also meant a test of Mercedes’ ability to upgrade their cars in relation to Red Bull, a team they acknowledge has the pace advantage for now, by using those three weeks of tuning and analysis to potentially close that alleged gap. When it really counted, the latest results ended up in Mercedes’ favor, as Hamilton was able to put together a superb lap in Q3 that resulted in his astonishing 99th career pole. And while Hamilton just pipped the second Red Bull by a mere .035 seconds, it was new man Sergio Perez who ended up closest to the peerless Englishman, getting the better of his more favored teammate Verstappen by some five-one hundredths. It was a surprising result and should make for an intriguing start to tomorrow’s contest, with the veteran Mexican lining up alongside Hamilton on the front row and Verstappen eager to pounce from directly behind the Merc’s gearbox in P3. Perez will also be starting on the Soft Pirellis, which he felt needed to get through Q2 cleanly, while the other two top contenders will be on the favored, longer lasting Mediums. So look for a split Red Bull strategy to play its part in attacking Mercedes during the race, as well.

If Hamilton and Mercedes were nearly giddy at earning their hard fought pole position that joy was tempered more than a little by the subpar performance of their number two driver, Valtteri Bottas. Bottas struggled to match the pace of not only his multi-championship teammate and the aspiring Red Bulls but also a veritable hoard of other top ten contenders and could only set the eighth fastest time. With this year’s Merc looking not quite as dominant and several of the other non-“big two” teams having made significant improvements, the Finn will have his work cut out for him trying to get back in touch with the elite trio at the front of the field and be of some use in playing the team game to help Ham the Man fend off those hard charging Red Bulls. Taking advantage of Bottas’ mediocrity on the day was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who slotted delightedly into P4 after a very solid qualifying effort on a short, flowing circuit that seems to suit this year’s improved Prancing Horse. Like Mercedes, though, it was a split result for the Scuderia because their other pilot, Carlos Sainz, got inexplicably bounced out in Q2. While Sainz will have that always valuable extra set of Pirellis to play with, the Spaniard was anything but thrilled to be starting from P11. He will also have to dig deep to try and salvage points against the very evenly matched field of competitors ahead of him.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Pierre Gasly got a good result for AlphaTauri at was is essentially their home circuit with a strong lap good enough for P5 on the grid. It salvaged the day somewhat after their rookie driver Yuki Tsunoda, who scored on debut in Bahrain, crashed out in Q1 and essentially destroyed the back end of his AT02, giving the team mechanics a mountain of work to get the car repaired in time for tomorrow’s GP. The two McLaren’s also looked very fast all day, especially young Lando Norris. But at crunch time the veteran Daniel Ricciardo bested Norris P6 to P7 when the latter had a superior time deleted due to exceeding track limits, something that was an ongoing theme for many drivers throughout the day. Esteban Ocon did very well to handily out-qualify his more heralded Alpine teammate, Fernando Alonso, P9 to P15. And Lance Stroll also struck a blow for youth over experience by getting the better of four-time champion Sebastian Vettel P10 to P13 for an Aston Martin team that still seems to be struggling to come to grips with the 2021 rules changes. Concentrating on changes to the design of the floor f the cars, these appear to have hurt the aero of so-called low rake cars like Mercedes and Aston Martin (formerly Racing Point) and to the benefit of the rest of the more high rake cars on the grid like Red Bull and McLaren.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Emilia Romagna GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:14.823 1:14.817 1:14.411 23
2 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:15.395 1:14.716 1:14.446 18
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:15.109 1:14.884 1:14.498 20
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:15.413 1:14.808 1:14.740 19
5 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:15.548 1:14.927 1:14.790 21
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:15.669 1:15.033 1:14.826 21
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:15.009 1:14.718 1:14.875 15
8 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:14.672 1:14.905 1:14.898 22
9 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:15.385 1:15.117 1:15.210 20
10 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 1:15.522 1:15.138 DNF 20

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race coverage begins at 9 AM Eastern on ESPN here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if the two Red Bulls can hunt down Hamilton’s Silver Arrow and, if so, which driver can beat him for the win!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Results & aftermath

Hamilton holds off surging Verstappen for victory in tense late race duel between top contenders; Bottas a distant P3

With Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton in the unfamiliar position of being the underdogs entering the first race weekend of the 2021 Formula 1 season and supposedly at a disadvantage to the much improved Red Bull and their superlative lead driver, Max Verstappen, the Bahrain Grand Prix proved once again that predictions don’t mean anything once the rubber meets the road and laps get turned in anger. Defending World Champion Hamilton showed that he was not ready to go gently into that good night, demonstrating once again why he has earned a remarkable seven F1 titles by holding off the onslaught of the quicker Verstappen on old tires as the laps ran down at the windblown and gritty Sakhir Circuit. With the flying Dutchman literally breathing down the Englishman’s neck and well within DRS range, Verstappen appeared to make the race winning pass on Lap 53 of this 56 lap contest. In his excitement, however, Verstappen chose a particular tricky section of the track to overtake around the outside of the Mercedes and all four of his wheels breached track limits at Turn 4, providing him with an unfair advantage. He was immediately told by the team to give the position back to Hamilton, which he did. The loss of momentum proved pivotal and Hamilton was able to hold off Verstappen in the few remaining laps to take what seemed almost a stolen victory, crossing the line a mere seven-tenths ahead of his crestfallen rival.

In hindsight, Verstappen will probably regret two thing that cost him an almost certain victory in Bahrain: not being more patient with a still-ample four laps remaining in choosing his moment to overtake Hamilton, who was clearly struggling on his older Hard Pirellis; and giving the lap back to Lewis almost immediately instead of waiting for his strategists, who certainly share some blame here for the hasty call, to figure out the most advantageous place on the track to let Hamilton by with the least amount of time lost in doing it. Verstappen also complained that he should have just taken the five-second penalty after the race, feeling that he could have pulled far enough away to still preserve victory, but this could have risked further sanctions by the stewards, not to mention there being no guarantees that he could actually have gapped Hamilton by that much. One thing is for certain — if Sunday’s race was any indication, this will be the first season since the start of the turbo-hybrid era where a team not named Mercedes has a real chance to win every weekend. Hamilton has always wanted a true inter-team rivalry to prove himself even more than he already has against his fellow Mercedes drivers over the years. And in this year’s much improved RB 16B and the superb 23-year-old Verstappen at the top of his game he looks to finally have it.

Photos from Formula1.com

Hamilton’s Silver Arrows wingman Valtteri Bottas struggled with rear grip on his opening stint, as he had all weekend, but was looking better once he switched off the Mediums onto Hards. Then all his good work closing the gap to the top two was undone by a painfully slow second pit stop when his front right tire would not come unstuck. The unlucky Finn finished some 37 seconds back of P2 Verstappen, though he did set the fastest lap of the race for an extra point after a late stop for fresh rubber. Lando Norris drove an outstanding race for McLaren to finish a strong P4 and the car looks to have genuine pace again this year, with new teammate Daniel Ricciardo also scoring well in P7. Verstappen’s new Red Bull stablemate Sergio Perez had a remarkable recovery drive after losing power on the formation lap and being forced to start from the pits. The canny Mexican veteran somehow managed to salvage an impressive P5 finish, making a three-stop strategy pay off with a passel of late race passes to maximize his and the team’s best available points.

Ferrari showed genuine improvement in race trim over last year’s disastrous lack of pace, with Charles Leclerc able to cross the line in sixth and new teammate Carlos Sainz finishing where he started in P8. Rookie Yuki Tsunoda scored on debut for AlphaTauri with an impressive P9 finish, salvaging a couple of points for the team on a day where their lead driver, Pierre Gasly, who looked like a podium contender going in, lost his front wing early in the race on Lap 4 when he collided with the rear of Ricciardo and was unable recover. The unlucky Frenchman finished way back in P17 and will have to wait to really get his promising season going until Round 2 at Imola in two weeks time. Lance Stroll took the last point in P10 for newly minted Aston Martin but his new partner Sebastian Vettel had a bit of a horror show. The four-time World Champion, who has frankly struggled with unforced errors over the past several seasons, made another big mistake when he was judged responsible for ramming into the back of the Alpine of Esteban Ocon on Lap 45 and handed a 10-second time penalty as a result. Additionally, it made a grand total of five penalty points on Vettel’s super license over the course of the debut race weekend after he was also dinged for failing to respect Yellow Flags in qualifying on Saturday. All in all, not the start the German vet was looking for in trying and reestablish himself as a top performer in the series and impress his new team with his supposed skill and savvy.

Top 10 finishers of the Bahrain GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 56 1:32:03.897 25
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 56 +0.745s 18
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 56 +37.383s 16
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 56 +46.466s 12
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 56 +52.047s 10
6 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 56 +59.090s 8
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 56 +66.004s 6
8 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 56 +67.100s 4
9 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA 56 +85.692s 2
10 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 56 +86.713s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in three weeks when Formula 1 returns to Imola in Italy for the second year in a row for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Let’s hope the action between Hamilton and Vertstappen stays just as close in Tuscany as it was today in Bahrain. Look forward to seeing you then!