Azerbaijan F1

The defending champion tightened his grip on the title race with victory as Charles Leclerc suffered a power unit failure in Baku.

With Pérez offering no challenge, Verstappen cruised to the flag, claiming the fifth win of his championship defence. Mercedes are still battling with porpoising and the bouncing problems led to Hamilton complaining about back pain. Verstappen took the lead into the opening bend with Pérez offering little resistance. He was stationary for five seconds with the front jack jammed underneath his car. The Mexican, who took a bonus point for the fastest lap, is 21 points adrift of his Red Bull teammate. Pérez soon moved two seconds clear of Leclerc, with Verstappen occupying the Monegasque’s mirrors.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday, as his world championship rival Charles Leclerc was forced to retire from the lead.

He had tried to pass Esteban Ocon's Alpine at Turn 3 early on but overshot the corner and had to spin turn, dropping to 12th. Verstappen, Perez, Russell and Hamilton stopped again, with Gasly and Tsunoda staying out, the latter gaining a spot from Hamilton. Verstappen stopped on Lap 19, meaning a nine-lap fresher tyres advantage over Leclerc as he rejoined 13s behind him. Verstappen reeled in Perez and passed him for the lead at Turn 1 on Lap 15, while Leclerc was catching them both on his new rubber. Sainz then pulled off at Turn 4 with a hydraulic failure on Lap 9, causing a virtual safety car that Leclerc, Russell, Hamilton, Vettel and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) decided to pit under. Perez extended a 2s lead by the time DRS was activated, while Verstappen began to pressure Leclerc for second on Lap 5.

Max Verstappen extended his lead at the top of the Formula One drivers' championship as he won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Leclerc is well behind, 11 seconds, but he is faster than the Red Bull pair. In third at the start he seized on the mistakes from Ferrari and closed in on his teammate, brushing him aside with superior race pace. Verstappen then hunted down his rival and teammate to take the lead.

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 ...

That was the cue for leaders Verstappen, Perez and Russell to take a free pit stop, while Ricciardo and Ocon decided to make their sole stops of the race having begun on hard compounds. Gasly defended sensibly over the next lap and only lost P4 to Hamilton going into Turn 3 on the following tour. Alex Albon took 12th, pitting during the first VSC and completing a two-stop race. AlphaTauri’s Gasly was also on the pace, his hard tyres (fitted during the VSC) helping him take P4 off Ricciardo on Lap 21. Yuki Tsunoda had also pitted during the VSC and passed Ocon for P7 on the same lap. The second train was led by hard-tyred starter Esteban Ocon from ninth ahead of Lewis Hamilton and a gaggle of midfielders. One lap later, Leclerc’s race went up in a puff of smoke and he crawled back to the pits to retire. Red Bull didn’t respond, the Virtual Safety Car ending for Perez to begin Lap 11. As for Nicholas Latifi, he copped a 10-second stop-go penalty after his mechanic touched his car after the 15-second start procedure warning. He was joined by Kevin Magnussen, whose stoppage brought out the second VSC of the race, and Lance Stroll, a suspected engine issue stopping the Aston Martin driver three laps from the end. “Elbows out into Turn 1, it’s all to play for” – those were the words in Sergio Perez’s ear as the formation lap got under way. After Sergio Perez crashed Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen’s party in Monaco, those three drivers entered Baku gunning for maximum points in their chase for the championship.

Max Verstappen was confident he could have caught Charles Leclerc when his Formula 1 world title rival was leading the Azerbaijan Grand Prix before the ...

Then of course you have a race on your hands. “But I think nevertheless, our car was really good today. Verstappen also said he found a better set-up and tyre performance with his Red Bull in race trim, having struggled to match Perez over a single lap in qualifying and practice, which he said was key to his victory charge.

As Charles Leclerc's Formula One title challenge falls apart, Max Verstappen is there to take advantage. Verstappen extended his Formula One championship ...

"You can never make up what you lost last year but I think today we had incredible pace in the car, we could really look after the tires and chip away at it and pass for the lead," Verstappen said. The slump in Ferrari reliability comes as Red Bull seems to have solved its own issues. It happened to me, it happened to many people in the past. There were more late reliability concerns Sunday when Verstappen told his team the car felt odd under braking, but he was able to make it to the finish. "If I would be in the same situation, I would also be disappointed. Verstappen had passed Perez shortly before Leclerc's failure and the reigning F1 champion cruised to his fifth win in seven races.