@SChecoPerez claims second-career victory in dramatic #AzerbaijanGP. #F1
Sergio Perez, #11, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B, Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2021, Baku City Street Circuit, Baku, Azerbaijan, Image credit to Sutton Images. Perez Azerbaijan GP victory. 2021 Azerbaijan GP. 2021 French GP Preview. French GP Preview.
Sergio Perez claimed his maiden victory for Red Bull in a wild Azerbaijan GP ahead of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel after team-mate Max Verstappen’s retired with a late puncture and Lewis Hamilton’s overtake on the restart went wrong.
Verstappen’s incident saw the red flag brought out with three laps remaining, which became a two-lap sprint to the finish following a second standing-start, where Hamilton battled Perez for the lead as they braked into the first corner.
Hamilton’s brakes were smoking heavily ahead of the second start, but the Mercedes driver made the better run off the line from the front row and was in-front of the Red Bull as they braked into turn one.
But the Briton’s front-right brakes locked up and he went deep into the run-off area, dropping out of the points and wound-up 15th, as Perez ran clear to clinch his second-career victory.
When the 51 lap Azerbaijan GP began, pole-sitter Charles Leclerc lead briefly before the long-time top three flew by the Ferrari, with the Grand Prix split in two by a safety car period, which also saw Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll suffer a massive tyre failure on the main-straight, before the Verstappen incident, that added spice to the closing stages.
At the first standing start, the top three had a comfortable getaway, with Leclerc holding onto P1 as Hamilton and Verstappen slotted in following the grid order, with Perez the main mover as he jumped from sixth to fourth by taking advantage of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz who lost momentum fighting AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and then getting by the Frenchman into the third corner at the end of the back straight.
Leclerc ended the opening lap 0.3 seconds in-front of Hamilton, but his lead did not last long as the latter was able to close in and fly past the Ferrari as they went across the grid at the end of the second lap.
Debris fell onto the Baku City Circuit ahead of the turn 15 quick left-hander where several cars have crashed over the race weekend, which appeared to cause Leclerc to cut the corner, which gave Hamilton the momentum needed to get a good run on the Monegasque-youngster and claim the lead.
Leclerc was able to keep up with the Mercedes for a few laps, with Verstappen close behind, but when he fell out of DRS range at the end of the sixth tour the Red Bull charged.
When the seventh lap began, Verstappen got by on the outside rundown to the first corner, with Perez doing the same to relegate Leclerc to fourth a lap later.
Hamilton was able to remain out of DRS range from Verstappen for the next few tours, but the Red Bull was beginning to reel in the Mercedes when the pit-stop sequence opened.
Two laps after Leclerc came in at the end of the ninth tour from behind the three front-runners, Hamilton stopped to put on a set of C3 white side-walled harder tyres, but a 4.3 second delay waiting for Gasly’s AlphaTauri to pass by cost the Briton crucial time.
Verstappen purpled up the timing screens on the next lap, the Dutchman’s in-lap, but a solid 1.9 second stop for hards compared to the Briton’s slow stop, saw the Red Bull emerge comfortably ahead in the net lead.
Perez also posted a spectacular in-lap the next time by, which became critical as the Mexican was able to jump Hamilton, after a slow-left rear tyre change, also saw the Red Bull driver suffer a 4.3 second stop.
Hamilton had DRS assistance to hound Perez into turn three on his out-lap, but the Mercedes could not get close enough to make an overtake, as the net leaders settled down in their new order behind Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel who remained out in-front.
Verstappen eventually eased away from his team-mate as Hamilton chased down Perez by getting into DRS range for most of the next stage of the Grand Prix – the trio returning back to the proper lead when Vettel stopped for harder compounds on lap 18, emerging behind Leclerc, who lost out to Gasly in the pit-stops, in sixth and seventh, respectively.
By the 15th tour, Verstappen’s lead was 3.1 seconds over team-mate Perez, where it stood for the next ten laps as the lead drivers made sure not to eat their tyre life, with Hamilton eventually slipping out of Perez’s DRS range during this period.
A series of fastest laps and then moved away from Haas F1 Team’s Nikita Mazepin meant Verstappen’s gap reached five seconds just passed the mid-way point of the Grand Prix, with Perez losing time to his Red Bull team-mate and Hamilton on the lap when he overtook the Haas.
Verstappen’s lead was close to seven seconds when the race was stabilised by a shocking tyre blowout for the yet-to-pit Stroll, who started on the grid in 19th, but suffered a left-rear tyre failure as he came to pass Mazepin as they ran down the pit-straight at the end of the 30th tour, with Stroll running a high fourth place.
The tyre blowout saw the Canadian’s AMR21 racer darting into the wall nose-first and coming to a stop near the rapid-speed pit-entry, with debris scattered onto the track, which deployed the safety car and the pit-lane closed.
Stroll climbed out unscathed, with five laps passing behind the safety car as the car and debris were cleared.
The race went green on lap 36, with Verstappen moving away from Perez as they reached the grid as the green flags waved and then moved clear to a two-second lead by the end of the first tour at full speed.
Hamilton got close to Perez at the restart, but the Briton never looked like getting by, as the top three again pulled clear from the field, which was soon lead by Vettel – who overtook Leclerc exiting the first corner at the restart after the Ferrari tried to pass Gasly’s AlphaTauri then lost out in a drag with the Aston Martin down the pit-straight ahead of the 37th tour beginning as Vettel clinched two places in less than one lap.
Verstappen rapidly pulled out his gap again and looked in full control of the race, as the Dutchman looked on course to back-to-back victories in succession, his lead hit 4.4 seconds at the start of lap 46, at the end of which his race ended in disastrous fashion.
Just before the Red Bull reached the grid at top speed, his left-rear tyre burst in a similar way to Stroll’s incident – with the RB16B racer sent into the outside wall opposite the pits.
Verstappen was pitched several times around after going into the wall nose-first and as he climbed out of his car and kicked the blown left-rear tyre, the safety car was deployed.
But after a few tours with the safety car leading the field through the pits, the race was suspended – just after Red Bull requested to the FIA that this development would give all cars the chance to change tyres given there was no warning of Verstappen’s puncture, via Sporting Team Director Jonathan Wheatley.
Following a 35-minute delay, a final three-lap sprint to the finish took place with all cars on the red-marked softer rubber once more, the race resumed again with a standing start restart, where Hamilton locked-up and went straight on and Perez’s path to clinch the Azerbaijan GP victory was eased, as the Mexican crossed the line by 1.385 seconds.
Vettel finished second following Hamilton’s off, with Gasly holding off Leclerc to claim the final podium place.
McLaren’s Lando Norris fought back after a poor initial start to reach eighth before the red flag, which became seventh due to Verstappen’s retirement, and the Briton gained two spots at the second restart to finish fifth, ending up very close to the Ferrari as Leclerc battled Gasly.
Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso lead a pack of four cars opting for a second stop when the pit-lane re-opened just before the Stroll-incident safety car came in but was set to finish tenth before the suspension.
The Spaniard also had a brilliant second start to come home in sixth place in-front of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Ferrari’s Sainz, with McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen completing the top ten.
The other Alfa Romeo Racing entry of Antonio Giovinazzi was 11th and ahead of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas who came a low 12th with Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher and Mazepin, 13th and 14th respectively.
The aforementioned Hamilton finished 15th and Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi brought up the rear.
The other Williams FW43B of George Russell was unable to make the restart as he lost drive approaching the grid on the second warm-up tour and the Briton returned to the pits, where he joined Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon as the other casualty of the race.
Ocon pulled off at the end of lap four after reporting a loss of power in his Renault-powered A521 racer, with a puff of smoke coming from his car exiting the last corner before pulling off and parking it in the team garage.
2021 Azerbaijan GP – The Top Three
Azerbaijan GP Winner – Sergio Perez, #11, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B:
“I’m sorry for Max, he had a tremendous race and deserved the win. But in the end, it was a fantastic race for us. It was close, but we just managed to finish the race. [Hamilton] pushed me, I had so much pressure from him. But at the restart, I was like, I’m not going to lose it.”
2nd Place – Sebastian Vettel, #5, Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team-Mercedes, AMR21:
“It’s been a tough start [to the season] for us, but it’s been a good race. I had really good pace at the restart, we had fresher tyres so yeah, great day and I’m over the moon. Yesterday we didn’t quite get it, but today, yeah [smiles].”
3rd Place – Pierre Gasly, #10, Scuderia AlphaTauri-Honda, AT02:
“I don’t know what to say, super intense last laps. Qualifying was mega, I didn’t know from that position if we could fight for a podium, but in the end we did it. I had to get the elbows out!”
Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2021 Race Results Classification (51 Laps)
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS | TIME/RETIRED | PTS |
| 1 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA | 51 | 3:33.686 | 25 |
| 2 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES | 51 | +1.385s | 18 |
| 3 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPHATAURI HONDA | 51 | +2.762s | 15 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 51 | +3.828s | 12 |
| 5 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 51 | +4.754s | 10 |
| 6 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ALPINE RENAULT | 51 | +6.382s | 8 |
| 7 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | ALPHATAURI HONDA | 51 | +6.624s | 6 |
| 8 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | 51 | +7.709s | 4 |
| 9 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 51 | +8.874s | 2 |
| 10 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI | 51 | +9.576s | 1 |
| 11 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI | 51 | +10.254s | 0 |
| 12 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | MERCEDES | 51 | +11.264s | 0 |
| 13 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | HAAS FERRARI | 51 | +14.241s | 0 |
| 14 | 9 | Nikita Mazepin | HAAS FERRARI | 51 | +14.315s | 0 |
| 15 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 51 | +17.668s | 0 |
| 16 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 51 | +42.379s | 0 |
| 17 | 63 | George Russell | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 48 | DNF | 0 |
| 18 | 33 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA | 45 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES | 29 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 3 | DNF | 0 |
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1068/azerbaijan.html
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Round seven of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France for the Formula 1 Emirates Grand Prix De France 2021 from Friday June 18-Sunday June 20.
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