Pain for Leclerc, pleasure for Verstappen: ‘Also a bit of luck’ | 1Limburg

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Max Verstappen dealt nothing less than a sledgehammer in the Grand Prix of Azerbaijan on Sunday: a blow that hits rival Ferrari very hard.

“We had incredible speed,” said Verstappen right after the race, which he convincingly won, even if that was partly due to an engine crash at competitor Charles Leclerc. “We were a little bit lucky there, but our car was also very good today,” said the Red Bull driver.

‘This is going to cost us a lot of points’
Leclerc, who seemed to become the top contender for the world title in the first races of the season, licked the wounds after his second retirement in three races. “This hurts,” said the distraught Monegask after his Ferrari power unit broke down. “I don’t know what the problem is, but we need to fix it as soon as possible. This is going to cost us a lot of points.”

Also read: Verstappen takes maximum advantage of Ferrari debacle in Baku

From two to three
That turned out to be the case, because because Verstappen took full advantage of 25 points, Leclerc is now 34 points behind the Red Bull leader. In fact, the Ferrari driver is now also losing out to the other Red Bulls: Sergio Perez now has 13 points more than Leclerc, who started the last four races on pole but didn’t win any of those GPs.

Diplomatic
The Mexican was not allowed to fight his teammate in the streets of Baku when Verstappen drove up to him, and then simply passed him. “A good decision by the team,” said diplomatic Perez afterwards. “Anything can happen here and we are now first and second, so that’s just very good for the team.”

House of cards
Because everything can go wrong in Azerbaijan, Verstappen and the Red Bull team know all too well. In the four races he drove in Baku so far, he missed the finish three times due to technical problems, a tire blowout and a crash with a teammate. Red Bull obviously couldn’t afford such scenarios: on a Sunday when Ferrari looked like a house of cards, Red Bull looked like an impregnable fortress in terms of reliability and strategy.

Also read: Read back: Max Verstappen records 25th grand prix victory

curse expelled
And Verstappen also knows that great things lie ahead when even the curse of Azerbaijan can be lifted. Of course, Red Bull also suffered from reliability problems earlier this season, the pit stops on Sunday were not flawless, and there are plenty of circuits where Ferrari was or will be faster. But the Limburger seems, even after a difficult Friday and Saturday, to perform to the maximum within the possibilities.

Canada
After the win in Azerbaijan, Monza is the only circuit on the current calendar where Verstappen has never finished on the podium. The race weekend in Northern Italy is still a long way off. But in the coming weeks there are also plenty of races on the program. Next week, for example, when F1 lands back in Canada for the first time since 2019.

balance
And there are no guarantees that Red Bull will definitively take matters into their own hands, according to Verstappen. “Every weekend is different, you have to be very sharp,” says the reigning world champion. “The balance can tip to a different side every weekend.” The fact is that the Limburger won five of the six races he completed this season. And that is more than convincing after a very difficult start to the season.

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