{"id":5009,"date":"2018-04-29T19:48:15","date_gmt":"2018-04-29T18:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/f1vault.co.uk\/?p=5009"},"modified":"2018-04-29T19:48:15","modified_gmt":"2018-04-29T18:48:15","slug":"notebook-azerbaijan-grand-prix-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/notebook-azerbaijan-grand-prix-review\/","title":{"rendered":"NOTEBOOK \u2013 Azerbaijan Grand Prix \u2013 Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lewis Hamilton has taken victory in a chaotic and drama-filled Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The four times champion won the race after teammate Valtteri Bottas suffered a puncher while fighting leading the race after his battle with Bottas<\/p>\n

Bottas should have won <\/em><\/p>\n

Lewis Hamilton says that his teammate Valtteri Bottas should of won the race and that\u2019s why he was late to the podium. Hamilton took the win after Bottas picked up a puncher while battling with Sebastian Vettel.<\/p>\n

Hamilton said \u201cI have very mixed emotions for today. It’s really quite a humbling experience. Ultimately, Valtteri deserved to win. He did an exceptional job, a faultless drive. Less so on my side.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStraight away when I got out of the car and did the interviews I went to see Valtteri. I just wanted to congratulate him on how well he drove and that’s why I was late to the podium.\u201d The four-time champion says Bottas was very unfortunate and that cost the team a one-two.<\/p>\n

Bottas had been running third early on and ran later into the race, he still hadn\u2019t made a stop when his main rivals made their stops and was still running when the Red Bull\u2019s collided. The following safety car gave him a free stop, however, after the stop he ran over debris causing a puncher.<\/p>\n

Red Bull crashes out<\/em><\/p>\n

Both Red Bull\u2019s crashed into each other on lap thirty-nine of the race. Earlier in the race both Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen had touched fighting for position, the race ending collision on lap thirty nine of the race.<\/p>\n

It looks to me if Verstappen was going very quickly and caught up with his teammate as Ricciardo braked into the first corner. Ricciardo may have over committed and made a late moved, so Verstappen reacted but Ricciardo locked up running into the back of him. Both drivers are responsible for the accident as the stewards and Red Bull have said.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure if following the wheel banging as they fought for the position earlier in the race that Red Bull didn\u2019t ask them to calm down.<\/p>\n

Red Bull boss Christian Horner said \u201cWe’ve let them race hard against each other and unfortunately today has resulted in the worst possible scenario where you’ve had both drivers make contact and retire from the grand prix. It’s enormously disappointing. There’s no blame apportioned more in one direction or another. Both were equally responsible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The collision followed a series of wheel-to-wheel battles between the two Red Bull drivers earlier in the race, including a banging of wheels as Verstappen blocked one of Ricciardo’s moves on the exit of Turn One.<\/p>\n

Chaos at the start<\/em><\/p>\n

Sergey Sirotkin had been handed three place grid penalty for Barcelona in a fortnight, after being found “wholly responsible” for colliding with Sergio Perez at the start of the race.<\/p>\n

The Baku stewards determined Sirotkin was solely to blame and the Russian will now start three places lower than where he qualifies in the Spanish Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Vettel and Hamilton got away well slotting into position, into two we saw contact further back. But as Kimi Raikkonen and Ocon went into three the Frenchman\u2019s rear appears to have tagged the front wing of Raikkonen as he got alongside.<\/p>\n

Vettel had to try<\/em><\/p>\n

Sebastian Vettel says he \u201chad to try\u201d and pass Valtteri Bottas in the closing stages of the race even if that cost him a podium. Vettel had led the race comfortably until a safety car period allowed Bottas\u2019s Mercedes to make a pitstop and emerge still ahead.<\/p>\n

He said\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t think it was overly optimistic to jump down the inside. I wasn\u2019t overly late, otherwise I don\u2019t make the corner at all, but I did make it, just. I didn\u2019t have any option \u2013 Lewis [Hamilton] was on the right so I can\u2019t close on him. Valtteri was ahead of me, he left a gap. I was surprised, judging the braking was very difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a bit trapped because I couldn\u2019t see where I was relative to Turn 1. We have our references, and they are on the right \u2013 a kerb, the signs on the wall, and on the left, there is hardly any reference.\u00a0I had a decent restart, I saw the gap on the inside, and unfortunately, I locked up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vettel then dropped back from the top three after flat spotting his tyres and then lost out to Sergio Perez.<\/p>\n

Raikkonen luck to finish<\/em><\/p>\n

Kimi Raikkonen says he was lucky to finish after he hit the wall \u201cat full speed\u201d in the closing stages of the race. The Finn recovered from a first lap tangle with Esteban Ocon to finish second.<\/p>\n

However, he thought he was going to have a high-speed accident coming onto the start\/finish straight with three laps to go when he clipped the wall in the final kink on the lap.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the first lap after the restart on the little kink coming to the last part of the straight, I hit the inside wall at full speed. I\u2019m pretty lucky that the front wheel didn\u2019t go. I was expecting to go off quite fast, but I was lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raikkonen added that he had another near-miss before the race even started, when he \u201calmost put it in the wall on the way to the grid\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a lot of close moments,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were kind of a bit on the limit, it was not the easiest. It was not the most enjoyable \u2013 some laps very good and some laps I had to try not to hit the wall<\/p>\n

Tweets<\/em><\/p>\n

Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, P14 \u201cSometimes the sport you love can be tough. But, I\u2019ve learned to turn negative experiences into strenght. #VB77 #F1Baku @MercedesAMGF1 ? @XPBImages @CharniauxImages\u201d<\/p>\n

Nico Hulkenberg, Renault \u201cIt\u2019s wild and just crazy here as it\u2019s so tight. We started well but I just lost the rear end at the end of turn four and that was my race done really. It\u2019s unfortunate, but that\u2019s how it is sometimes. Let\u2019s look forward to Spain! @RenaultSportF1 #BakuGP #F1 #RSspirit\u201d<\/p>\n

Charles Leclerc, Sauber \u2013 Alfa Romeo, P6 \u201cIncredible day… P6 & Driver Of The Day !! Huge thanks to @SauberF1Team, what an amazing job. Let’s enjoy the moment & work on Barcelona !!\u201d<\/p>\n

Sauber \u201cWHAT A RACE! ??? A chaotic race throughout, but our #CL16 manages to finish P6 with valuable points!\u00a0 #ME9 finishes in P11, so close but a good fight after his damage in the early part of the race. Bravo team! ???#F1 #Azerbaijan\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED<\/strong><\/p>\n