Had the race finished then, the Dutchman's title advantage would have increased to 14 points. A high-speed puncture on the long Baku pit straight is a scary sight, but for Verstappen, leading comfortably just six laps from home, it must have felt absolutely gut-wrenching.Īt the time of the incident, on lap 46 of 51, Hamilton was around six seconds behind but crucially with the second Red Bull of Pérez between him and Verstappen. Robbed of a near-certain victory through no fault of his own. Another crucial blow dealt to Hamilton's title hopes, surely? That seemingly wasn't in the script, though. For much of this race, it appeared a 13th career win would be the reward on the occasion of Verstappen's 125th start. On this occasion, the 'victim' was Max Verstappen.Īrriving in Baku as championship leader for the first time, the Red Bull Racing driver was on the hunt for a second consecutive win this season and a first podium of any kind in Baku. Mistakes are brutally punished, and victims are taken without warning. The circuit is a tight and demanding one. Across five races in the Azerbaijani capital, we've seen no fewer than 10 different drivers stand on the podium, and remarkably, a different winner each time.ĭespite this season's competitive order becoming more apparent in recent races, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was always likely to throw up a surprise or two, and boy did it deliver!įew would have predicted the final top three with confidence given their starting positions and the drivers ahead, but it's the kind of result that always feels *possible* in Baku. The Baku City Circuit cares little for F1's formbook. Here's what we learnt during an action-packed Azerbaijan Grand Prix.īaku showed how finely balanced this year's championship is A spectacular late-race tyre failure ended Max Verstappen's victory hopes as teammate Sergio Perez picked up only his second career win and first since joining Red Bull.
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