AZERBAIJAN GP – Max Verstappen takes victory after Ferrari suffers double retirement with engine failures

Testing & Race Reports
Jack
12-06-2022

Max Verstappen has taken victory after beating his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez by twenty seconds to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Dutchman dominated the race after taking the lead of the race on lap twenty after championship rival Charles Leclerc was forced to retire because of an engine failure.

Verstappen looked quick on track and once in the lead was able to manage his car and build the lead, while teammate Perez was struggling with the tyres and lost out during the pit stop. On his mediums tyres, he looked not as quick as his teammate, who managed dive down the inside taking the lead lap fifteen where he controlled the race from.

Verstappen said, “We could really look after the tyres and we could chip away at it and pass for the lead. Maybe a tiny bit lucky with the retirement but nevertheless our car was really quick today to close that gap then you have a race on your hands.”

Perez said, “It was the right call made by the team because at the time Max was a bit further ahead, it was just a good team result. In this place, anything can happen so to get a team one-two, it’s a good team result.”

Ferrari meanwhile looked to take the gamble with Charles Leclerc stopping earlier switching to the hard tyre to go for a long stint, a slow stop causing him to drop to third as his teammate Carlos Sainz retired with a BBW failure on lap nine. The Monacan’s race didn’t last much longer, re-joining second splitting the Red Bull’s he was forced to retire on lap twenty.

After the MGU-H turbo failure in Spain, it marked the second engine-based retirement for Leclerc in three races to add to the lost Ferrari 1-2 – from strategy blunders – in Monaco. Before that the race appeared to be another one where Ferrari and Red Bull would have been fighting hard until the very end. the impression being set that once again Ferrari is spiralling out of control.

Ferrari’s PU woes weren’t confined to the works team as their were engine related retirements for Haas’s Kevin Magnussen and Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zuho.

Following the retirement, Verstappen controlled the remainder of the race, building the gap over Perez who was unable to match the pace of Verstappen in the second half of the race. Both cruising the remaining thirty laps to victory,  allowing him to open a twenty-one point  lead in the drivers championship, while Red Bull lead Ferrari by eighty points.

Leclerc said “I am more than frustrated. The first stint we weren’t particularly strong at the beginning but then I was catching back Checo. I think pitting was the right choice. We were leading and then I was managing the tyres well.”

“It is more than significant. I don’t really have the words. It is just a huge disappointment and I hope we can jump back from it and be on top of those thing”

George Russell brought his Mercedes home third finishing forty-five seconds behind race winner Verstappen and ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes cars still continued to manage the porpoising issue and the seven-time champion complained of back pain.

Russell continuing with his consistency this season, finishing for the eighth time in the top five, the only driver who has managed to do that. It was a quiet afternoon for Russell while Hamilton produced a series of overtakes to work his way from seventh to finish fourth.

Russell added “I was pretty pleased to see the race coming to a close because you’re just smashing the ground every single corner and lap for an hour and a half, pretty brutal.”

Pierre Gasly’s strong weekend for Alpha Tauri continued finishing fifth, five seconds behind Hamilton. The Frenchman continuing his strong weekend trying at one stage to hold onto fourth before being instructed not to put up a fight against Hamilton in the closing stages as he edged nearer before passing him on lap forty-four.

Mercedes meanwhile had stopped both cars under the first VSC and Hamilton was the main loser as it dropped him out the points. The seven-time champion then inherited a place from Sebastian Vettel when the Aston Martin ran wide trying to pass Esteban Ocon.

The decision to not fight Hamilton by Alpha Tauri in the closing stages, allowed Gasly to fend off Vettel, the Aston Martin driver had lost out just before his stop on the medium tyres when he locked up at Turn Three losing positions to Hamilton and Ocon, going down the escape road he then dropped to twelfth Vettel however recovered to finish the race sixth.

Vettel was four and a half seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard getting past both McLaren’s and holding the position following the stops on lap twenty. That prompted discussions between McLaren and Lando Norris about how best to chase Alonso.

Attempting to allow Norris to chase after the Alpine, McLaren used team orders to try and gain position. However, in a race-long battle with teammate Daniel Ricciardo, neither driver was able to chase after Alonso so in the closing laps the team order was reversed allowing Ricciardo to finish eighth and Norris ninth.

Esteban Ocon was tenth finishing fifteen seconds behind the McLaren’s as well as being the last car on the lead lap. The Alpine driver ran a long opening stint which gave him the advantage over Valtteri Bottas in the closing stages, allowing him to take the final point.

Alex Albon finished twelfth, ahead of the Alpha Tauri of Yuki Tsunoda. Tsunoda looked on course for a decent result with Gasly running int top ten, his race was ruined by a DRS issue resulting in a late stop dropping from fifth to thirteenth after Alpha Tauri duct tapped his rear wing closed.

Mick Schumacher was fourteenth ahead of Nicolas Latifi, the Canadian afternoon confined to the back thanks to fifteen seconds worth of penalties. The first for a mechanic touching and rolling back the car after the ten second signal on the grid and a five second penalty for ignoring blue flags.

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