Red Bull Motorsports
F1
Everything you need to know about the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after a tough race among the favourites, but Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen couldn't make it to the finish line.
Ricciardo eventually drafted his way past, only to lose the position when the pair made their pitstops. Ricciardo then tried the same move again but ran into the back of his team-mate this time.
Räikkönen, who was following the pair and had the best view in the house of their early race fight, later said he expected things to end like a Sam Peckinpah movie: “The Red Bulls… looking at what they were doing earlier in the race it was pretty certain something will happen later on when they get close to each other.”
The final word came from the stewards, who decided to give both drivers a reprimand but not impose fines or penalties – which is the disciplinary equivalent of saying they’ve both already suffered enough. The wording of their decision also mentioned that 'both drivers expressed regret about their respective contributions to the incident during the Stewards’ hearing'.
The ensuing Safety Car closed up the field and left the race with a four-lap sprint to the flag with everyone on fresh rubber. Valtteri Bottas led at the restart, followed by Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton and Räikkönen. Vettel overcooked his attack, locked up and ran wide at Turn One. Bottas had the position and looked like the winner – then had a tyre explode. Replays showed the Finn running over debris and suffering a blowout. Bad luck for the second race in a row.
Hamilton looked happy if drained at the finish but was honest enough to accept he had fortune on his side today, saying this wasn’t a performance of which he was particularly proud: “I struggled with the car, I struggled with the tyres and I have to go away and ensure there is no repeat performance-wise of today.” In a difficult race others who scored may also be counted fortune – but on a day like this just getting to the finish was a victory in itself.
“Really quite an emotional race to be honest. Valtteri did such an exceptional job today and really deserved to have the win. Also, Sebastian did a great job. I think it was really, really fortunate today, so it feels a little bit odd to be up here, but I’ve got to take it. I didn’t give up, I keep pushing but definitely a very untidy race from me.”
The story of the weekend…
Dust! Trees! Plastic Bags!
Having paid a great deal of money to bring a grand prix to their precincts, hosts are understandably aggrieved when drivers describe their streets as ‘dirty’. It’s not the gross insult it appears: compared to permanent circuits, all street tracks are dirty – it’s simply the nature of their normal usage and it takes a while for the F1 cars (and support races) to clean dust off the racing line and lay down some grippy rubber. Baku also has tree-lined boulevards, which tends to mean the streets are covered in twigs and leaves. And it’s windy, so there’s a fair amount of rubbish blowing around. The world has recently made plastic bags public enemy number one – but F1 race engineers are way ahead on that one, having sleepless nights about them getting caught in brake ducts and radiators.
The Windy City
About that wind. Baku, the travel guides insist, is known as the City of Winds. It has an often gale-force northern wind called the Khazri, blowing in the winter months, and a warm southern wind called the Gilavar blowing in the summer. Previously F1’s been to Baku in June – this year, however, it arrived early enough to catch its first dose of Khazri, with the wind increasing in intensity as the weekend went on. Gusting and channelled between the buildings, it played havoc with the drivers’ ability to pick a braking point – which is why so many were visiting the run-offs and hitting the walls this afternoon. F1 is a precision sport. It’s tough to be precise when you have to guess when to bail out of the throttle.
Unlucky Haas
Haas appear to have a decent car in the VF-18, and look like a team that should be duking it out with Renault and McLaren for fourth place in the Championship – but so far haven’t really had the rub of the green. With early points said to be worth double (because the longer the season goes on, the more reliable the front runners become, and thus the fewer points on offer for the midfield) Haas have been let down by dodgy pitstops and unfortunately-timed flags. They’ve also had a few bodywork and mechanical issues that cost them again in qualifying for Baku.
In this race Romain Grosjean crashed under the safety car and Kevin Magnussen lost out on P10 virtually within sight of the flag. Magnussen – one of the more eloquent drivers on the grid – summed up their season very neatly on Saturday evening: “It’s heartbreaking to have not gotten out of it what we could. It’s like seeing a young kid in go-kart. Sometimes you see a talented kid going off the track all the time, and then you see the kid who’s always careful and consistent but never really fast. We’re that kid who’s really fast but crashing a little bit too much.”
First point for Hartley
The full set
Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Räikkönen came to Baku with this race as the only trophy lacking from their respective cabinets. Both drivers have been on the podium at every other race on the current F1 calendar – but haven’t had a pot from Baku in their two previous visits. Finishing first and second neatly fills that void. For Hamilton, he’s now won every race on the calendar except France.
Stoffel's strategy
Stoffel Vandoorne made the rarely spotted four-stop strategy work in Azerbaijan. The McLaren driver struggled with tyres all day and picked up a couple of flat-spots for his troubles. When the Verstappen/Ricciardo collision required the Safety Car, like everyone else he trailed into the pits for what was his third stop. But with the Grosjean crash under the Safety Car extending the slow stint, and everyone’s tyres getting colder, the Belgian opted to roll the dice and came in again. This lost him a place in the queue and left him P14 and dead last, but he had hot tyres straight out of the blankets and could keep temperature in them – and warm his brakes – by catching the back of the queue just before the restart. It gave him an advantage in the last four laps and he carved his way up to P9. “What a mad afternoon!” he said at the flag.
Quote of the day
It was quite an emotional race. Valtteri deserved the win. It feels odd to be up here but I didn't give up.
Social media highlights
The right rear wheel of Vatteri Bottas' Mercedes disintegrates as he seeks victory and passes the baton to his team-mate Hamilton.
Sebastian Vettel gambles on an overtake and it doesn’t work very well, a costly mistake for the German.
The Bulls go against each other, great racing for the two team-mates!
Kimi Räikkönen was very close but couldn’t get pole position. Here you can see the moment Räikkönen blew his chance. Sebastian Vettel stayed clinical to clinch pole in Baku.
Marcus Ericsson paid tribute to Swedish dance music star Avicii who died aged 28.
Race classification: 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
