Valtteri Bottas kept his cool to fend off a fast-charging Lewis Hamilton to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after heartbreak from last year’s event.

 

 

A year ago, the Finn suffered a puncture and was denied victory at the Baku City Circuit, but this time emerged victorious despite being under pressure from Mercedes team-mate Hamilton as he reclaimed the World Driver’s Championship lead.

 

As the Silver Arrows claimed their fourth successive one-two finish in all four races so far in the 2019 season with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel settling for third.

 

Vettel’s team-mate Charles Leclerc recovered to complete the top five and finished behind fourth-placed Red Bull of Max Verstappen, after a crash in qualifying forced the Monegasque youngster to start from eighth on the grid.

 

When the 51 lap Azerbaijan Grand Prix began, Hamilton got the better run off the line but team-mate Bottas held on around the outside of turns one and two as the latter managed to build a strong lead through the rest of the lap.

 

Bottas kept Hamilton behind within two-three seconds until pitting from the lead on the 12^th lap one lap after Vettel and one before Hamilton.

 

This meant the Finn would retain the net lead but stopping two laps earlier than Hamilton saw Vettel closer to the second Silver Arrow.

 

The medium C3 compound was working better than the soft as Leclerc shown – who dropped to tenth on the opening lap but pushed to fourth by lap ten.

 

Leclerc on his newer medium rubber following his qualifying crash, claimed the lead when the top three switched from the softer tyres.

 

Leclerc lead the middle stint of the Grand Prix, managing the pace well to keep ahead of rapidly closing Mercedes until Bottas finally got within DRS range and passed the SF90 with ease into the first corner with 19 laps remaining.

 

Hamilton followed suit a lap later, which gave Bottas a brief comfortable gap until the Briton brought the margin down to almost nothing.

 

Bottas had a two-second advantage to keep once the Mercedes one-two was restored, and team-mate Hamilton’s chance to cut that took a blow when Pierre Gasly’s Red Bull RB15 stopped, which deployed the Virtual Safety Car.

 

Gasly who started from the pit-lane pushed to a comfortable sixth place but his upgraded Honda-powered RB15 pulled off track with 12 laps remaining.

 

The two lap Virtual Safety Car assisted Bottas by giving the Finn an extra one second over his potential threats, which ended in a favourable position for the race leader.

 

Hamilton cut down the gap to his Mercedes team-mate and got within DRS range of the Finn.

 

Just as though it looked like Hamilton would be about to launch a last lap snatch for the win, it was not meant to be as Bottas himself picked up DRS down the long main straight as his W10 EQ Power+ racer overlapped ROKiT Williams Racing’s George Russell.

 

The extra top speed boost of DRS brought the Finn 1.4 seconds clear of the Briton as he started the final lap, and he crossed the line 1.5 seconds to claim his second victory of the season and fifth of his career.

 

Vettel completed the top three, not in a close enough position to attack the Silver Arrows but equally without the threat of Verstappen’s Red Bull behind.

 

Verstappen’s race was also effective with the possibility of battling Vettel for the final podium spot before the VSC dented his chance.

 

Leclerc finished the Grand Prix almost a minute off Verstappen in fifth place, after the Ferrari driver took a second pit-stop for a fresh set of C4 red-marked softs, which let him pinch the bonus fastest lap point from race winner Bottas.

 

Racing Point’s Sergio Perez was the best of the rest by finishing sixth as his great run in Baku continued.

 

Though another podium in Azerbaijan was not on the cards, the Mexican was the star of the midfield battle as he passed Toro Rosso’s then sixth placed runner Daniil Kvyat and then was never challenged.

 

The two Renault-powered McLaren MCL34’s of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris occupied seventh and eighth places respectively as the Woking based-outfit scored it’s first double points finish of the season.

 

The other Racing Point of Lance Stroll came home in ninth place with the Silverstone team also taking home a double-points hauls while Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen took the final point on offer to continue his record of finishing in the top ten every race so far this season, despite the Finn starting from the pit-lane after his C38 racer was disqualified from qualifying due to failing a front wing deflection test.

 

The other Toro Rosso of Alexander Albon finished in 11^th place and ahead of Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi who ended 12^th and Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen who was 13^th.

 

Nico Hulkenberg’s miserable weekend continued as he came home a low 14^th in the sole Renault and in-front of both FW42 Williams of George Russell and Robert Kubica who brought up the rear two laps adrift race winner Bottas.

 

Also, among the four casualties of the Grand Prix were the aforementioned Kvyat and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, who are currently under investigation from the stewards after a bizarre incident between the two when Ricciardo reversed into Kvyat who was trying to get back on track.

 

Formula 1 Socar Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2019 Race Results Classification (51 Laps)

 

POS	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	GAP
1	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport	51	1h31m52.942s
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport	51	1.524s
3	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	51	11.739s
4	Max Verstappen	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda	51	17.493s
5	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow	51	1m09.107s
6	Sergio Perez	SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team	51	1m16.416s
7	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren-Renault F1 Team	51	1m23.826s
8	Lando Norris	McLaren-Renault F1 Team	51	1m40.268s
9	Lance Stroll	SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team	51	1m43.816s
10	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo Racing	50	1 Lap
11	Alexander Albon	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	50	1 Lap
12	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing	50	1 Lap
13	Kevin Magnussen	Rich Energy Haas F1 Team	50	1 Lap
14	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault F1 Team	50	1 Lap
15	George Russell	ROKiT Williams Racing	49	2 Laps
16	Robert Kubica	ROKiT Williams Racing	49	2 Laps
–	Romain Grosjean	Rich Energy Haas F1 Team	38	Brakes
–	Pierre Gasly	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda	38	Gearbox
–	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	33	Accident damage
–	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault F1 Team	31	Accident damage

 

 

Formula 1 2019 World Driver’s Championship Standings – Top 10

 

1. Valtteri Bottas – 87 Points.
2. Lewis Hamilton – 86 Points.
3. Sebastian Vettel – 52 Points.
4. Max Verstappen – 51 Points.
5. Charles Leclerc – 47 Points.
6. Sergio Perez – 13 Points.
7. Pierre Gasly – 13 Points.
8. Kimi Raikkonen – 13 Points.
9. Lando Norris – 12 Points.
10. Kevin Magnussen – 8 Points.

 

Formula 1 2019 World Constructors Championship Standings

 

1. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – 173 Points.
2. Scuderia Ferrari – 99 Points.
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda – 64 Points.
4. McLaren-Renault F1 Team – 18 Points.
5. SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team – 17 Points.
6. Alfa Romeo Racing – 13 Points.
7. Renault F1 Team – 12 Points.
8. Rich Energy Haas F1 Team – 8 Points.
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda – 4 Points.
10. ROKiT Williams Racing – 0 Points.

 

Round five of the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain for the Formula 1 Emirates Gran Premio De Espana 2019 from May 10-12.