The Formula One European season got off to a start this weekend with the rebranded 2017 FORMULA 1 AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX around the Baku Street Circuit. This is the second event to have been held at the circuit, with Nico Rosberg taking the inaugural win last season.
The first day of running started with free practice one on Friday morning. The session saw many teams run aerodynamic performance tests with the equipment frequently used during pre-season testing. When the drivers started to push the cars, that’s when we saw some close calls. Sebastian Vettel used the runoff areas twice in the session, as he attempted to match the pace set by the two Red Bull drivers. The two Red Bull drivers topped the session, with Vettel over half a second behind. Sergio Pérez was the only other driver within a second of the leading Red Bull, despite ending the session by crashing into the barriers in turn 8 near the end of the session.
The second free practice session was a close competition, with the top four drivers well under 0.2 seconds of the leader. Max Verstappen completed the day having led both sessions, despite ending his session after a collision with the barrier. The session was full of drama, with multiple drivers running wide and locking up. Jolyon Palmer was the first big incident of the session, bringing out the red flag after repeating Sergio Pérez’s morning incident. Fernando Alonso’s McLaren lost another engine to a failure and Verstappen hit the barrier in turn one.
Saturday’s final free practice session started drama right at the start, with Palmer’s Renault going up in flame after just a few laps. In response to the repeated accidents at turn 8, the height of the kerbs were reduced overnight, but that didn’t stop some drivers from coming close to accidents again. Vettel’s running was ruined by an early mechanical issue. Vettel was not alone, with Verstappen parking on the circuit after a loss of power. Valtteri Bottas was left to top the session, with Kimi Räikkönen less than 0.1 seconds behind and Lewis Hamilton in the top three for the first time in the weekend.
However, this wouldn’t be the last time that Hamilton was near the top of the table, setting a new fastest qualifying lap record and taking pole in the afternoon. Again the qualifying session were filled with the close calls and great saves that we see a lot of in Baku. Alonso was frustrated with Daniel Ricciardo, feeling that the Red Bull driver ruined his hot lap and prevented him from getting into Q2. The drama of the session was in Q3, with Ricciardo getting into the barriers near the end of the session and warranting a red flag. Bottas held the pole position prior to the resume of the session, with Hamilton snatching up the pole position right at the end of the session. Mercedes earned a front row lockout for the race on Sunday, with Ferrari locking out the second row.
The start of the race on Sunday was not good for Toro Rosso, with both cars losing out big at the start. Daniil Kvyat ran wide into the first corner and caused his teammate Carlos Sainz to spin when rejoining. Bottas and Räikkönen made contact on the opening lap too, as the Mercedes driver hit the kerb and ran wide into the Ferrari. Bottas’ race was destroyed by a front-right puncture. Less than 10 laps into the race, the pit window opened. Jolyon Palmer switched off his engine and coasted into the pit lane, momentarily closing it.
Kvyat suffered a car failure and was stranded on the track. After a good scrap with the Force India for Sergio Pérez, Verstappen suffered another terminal engine issue. On his way back to the pits, the safety car was finally deployed for the stranded Toro Rosso. This triggered a pit stop for most of the top teams. The race was restarted, but not for long, as the safety car was deployed again for debris cleanup.
Drama started before the restart, when Hamilton brake-checked Vettel, causing the German to rear end the Mercedes driver, causing minor damage to his front wing. Out of anger, Vettel ran into the side of Hamilton. On the restart, the two Force India drivers took themselves out, despite running in the top five. Esteban Ocon clipped the kerb, as Bottas did on the first lap, and pinched Pérez into the wall. Pérez lost the front wing and got terminal suspension damage, while Ocon got a puncture and was able to resume. Räikkönen ran over some debris from that incident, causing a rear puncture on the Ferrari and then suspension damage while he was driving to the pit lane. The safety car was deployed for the third time and the race was eventually red flag was waved to allow the track crews to clean up the massive amount of debris from the circuit.
During the red flag, both Räikkönen and Pérez were able to rejoin the race. The restart was much cleaner than the previous ones. Ricciardo made it to the podium positions, as Felipe Massa retired the car with a broken rear damper and Nico Hülkenberg retired after colliding with a barrier. In a bizarre turn of events, Hamilton had to pit to have his headrest replaced. Although it looked quite bad for Hamilton, Vettel was given a 10 second stop and go penalty for his involvement in the restart incident with Hamilton. Vettel came out ahead of Hamilton after serving his penalty.
Daniel Ricciardo won what can be called the most chaotic race of the season and may have a chance at being the best race of 2017. Lance Stroll was in P2, but Bottas overtook him at the line. Nevertheless, Stroll collected the first podium of his Formula One career. Meanwhile Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton concluded the top five.
The teams will now take the week of, returning to racing on the weekend of July 9. This time the cars will be at the Red Bull Ring for the FORMULA 1 GROSSER PREIS VON ÖSTERREICH 2017 in Austria.
