Formula 1: Max Verstappen leads Red Bull one-two at Azerbaijan GP after Ferrari’s disaster
Max Verstappen led a Red Bull one-two in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after retirements for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, giving Mercedes’ George Russell P3 at Baku.
Baku [Azerbaijan], June 13 (ANI): Max Verstappen led a Red Bull one-two ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix to hand the team a commanding Constructors’ Championship lead as Ferrari suffered a torrid afternoon as both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were forced to retire from the race with technical problems on Sunday. The final podium position was taken by Mercedes’ George Russell.
Sainz exited the race after eight laps with hydraulic issues while running fourth. Ferrari’s weekend then went from bad to worse when Leclerc was forced to retire from the lead with power unit issues on lap 22. Verstappen passed teammate Perez on lap 15 and maintained the lead to the flag and his fifth win of the season.
Driver of the Day Lewis Hamilton started seventh and finished fourth having pitted during the VSC on Lap 10 and the following one on Lap 34, passing Pierre Gasly 10 laps later with the benefit of newer tyres. The AlphaTauri driver finished fifth having started sixth.
Sebastian Vettel took P6 for Aston Martin having begun the race on medium tyres, pitting during the first VSC and finishing the race on hards.
Alpine’s Fernando Alonso started 10th but made it up to seventh having begun on medium tyres, going long on his first stint and pitting after 18 laps to finish the race on hard tyres and beat both McLarens to P7.
Daniel Ricciardo finished eighth from 12th, starting on hards to jump Lando Norris (P9). Rounding out the top 10 was Esteban Ocon, who started from 13th on hard tyres and took the final point for Alpine.
Valtteri Bottas missed out on points in P11, the Alfa Romeo driver having begun on hard tyres and, like Ricciardo, pitted during the second VSC of the race.
Alex Albon made it up to P12 for Williams after starting 17th. He finished ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, the AlphaTauri driver dropping from sixth to 13th late on with a DRS issue.
Mick Schumacher took 14th ahead of Nicholas Latifi, 15 seconds worth of penalties leaving him 15th and last. (ANI)
