Having been in the narrow streets of Monaco two weeks ago, the teams and drivers were back on a street circuit for the FORMULA 1 AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX 2021. It was a race with two tyre failures, allowing Sergio Perez to take his second career victory.
Charles Leclerc got away well off the line, maintaining his lead. It only lasted a single lap, as Lewis Hamilton used the powerful slipstream down the long main straight to take the lead at the end of the second lap.
Leclerc hung onto the back of Hamilton, courtesy of DRS. He was eventually overtaken by Max Verstappen down the main straight on lap 7, having been vulnerable after falling out of DRS range. Sergio Perez got by the lead Ferrari in a similar fashion the following lap.
On lap 10, the 1 stop strategy pit window opened for teams that wanted to swap their sets of soft compound tyres to the hard tyres. Many teams opted to come into the pit lane.
Hamilton was the first of the top 3 cars to pit for new tyres. He lost some time, having to sit stationary in his pit box for longer than the team would wanted, waiting for pit lane traffic to pass. Verstappen responded to the stop, pitting and coming out well ahead of Hamilton.
Sergio Perez pitted after his teammate. He had a slow stop due to an issue removing the rear tyre, but he still rejoined the race ahead of Hamilton. This was critical in Red Bull’s strategy.
Hamilton was stuck behind Perez. He was not fast enough to stay within the DRS range of Perez and the fact that Hamilton only had a set of new hard tyres left limited options for Mercedes.
The safety car was deployed on lap 31 for a huge crash on the main straight involving Lance Stroll. Stroll, who had been on the hard tyres since the start of the race and was running in P4, suffered a left-rear tyre failure just before the DRS zone on the main straight. As the marshals worked to clear the wreckage from the circuit, the pit lane entry was closed. It opened on lap 34 under the safety car, but only cars at the back took the opportunity to pit.
On the restart, Hamilton looked to make a move on Perez into turn 1, but decided against it. He also looked at the end of the second DRS zone into turn 3, but he didn’t launch an attack there either.
A driver who did make moves on the restart was Sebastian Vettel. He dove up the inside of Charles Leclerc in turn 1. He was nearly punted off the circuit in turn 3 when Leclerc locked up both his front tyres, struggling to get it slowed down for the corner. The following lap, Vettel overtook Yuki Tsunoda down the main straight, jumping into P4 in what was turning out to be a great race for the four-time World Champion.
Verstappen was also have a great race, with a comfortable lead over his teammate. Things turned from good to bad in a matter of seconds, as the left-rear tyre of Verstappen’s leading Red Bull failed down the main straight. He crashed into the barrier, bringing his race to a premature end on lap 47, just five laps from victory.
The safety car was deployed, but the race was eventually red flagged, allowing teams to change their tyres and preventing the race from finishing under the safety car. The request for the red flag was requested by the Red Bull pit wall. Along with changing the tyres, the red flag also allowed Mercedes to change the damaged front wing of Hamilton’s car.
The race restarted with just 2 laps remaining in the race. It was a standing start and Vettel had a new set of soft tyres, having missed Q3 on Saturday. Hamilton and Perez ahead only had used soft tyres remaining for the sprint to the checkered flag.
After the formation lap, Hamilton’s brakes were smoking from the heat while he sat in the P2 grid slot waiting for the grid to line up. Off the line, Hamilton got away well, going side-by-side with Perez on the run into the first corner. In a bid for P1, Hamilton dove up the inside of Perez but locked the brakes and ran into the runoff area, putting him out of contention for points in the race.
Perez took the lead over Vettel in P2 and Pierre Gasly fought his way past Charles Leclerc on the final lap, to take the bottom step of the podium. It was Sergio Perez’s second career victory and his first with Red Bull. It was a race that Perez may have not finished if there was another lap, as the team told him to park up the car on the pit exit immediately after finishing the line.
With both Hamilton and Verstappen leaving the circuit without points, the race doesn’t impact the top of the World Driver’s Championship battle.
Next up on the calendar is the French Grand Prix at the Circuit Paul Ricard in two weeks. The race will be on June 20.
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| Race Results | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | S. Perez | ||
| 2 | S. Vettel | ||
| 3 | P. Gasly | ||
| 4 | C. Leclerc | ||
| 5 | L. Norris | ||
| 6 | F. Alonso | ||
| 7 | Y. Tsunoda | ||
| 8 | C. Sainz | ||
| 9 | D. Ricciardo | ||
| 10 | K. Raikkonen | ||
| 11 | A. Giovinazzi | ||
| 12 | V. Bottas | ||
| 13 | M. Schumacher | ||
| 14 | N. Mazepin | ||
| 15 | L. Hamilton | ||
| 16 | N. Latifi | ||
| DNF | G. Russell | ||
| DNF | M. Verstappen | ||
| DNF | L. Stroll | ||
| DNF | E. Ocon | ||
