In seven years, since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was incorporated into the Formula 1 calendar, no driver had managed to repeat victory on the streets of Baku. Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez has achieved it this weekend and twice. On Saturday he won the first sprint of the season and this Sunday he won an undisputed victory against his teammate Max Verstappen, who retains the World Championship lead. Light years behind the Red Bull tandem, Charles Leclerc has achieved a valuable third place for Ferrari, breaking Fernando Alonso’s streak of podiums, which this time has been fourth, with Carlos Sainz completing the top five.
Leclerc has not failed since pole, has effectively protected itself from the two Red Bulls that came out in its wake. He has accomplished his mission accurately, but little else. He knew what was coming his way as soon as they entered the DRS zone. Verstappen overtook the Ferrari on the third lap like a missile, Charles hasn’t even tried to defend himself. and shortly after, Pérez repeated the operation, relegating the Monegasque to the fight for third place with his teammate Sainz, whom he still had more than 2 seconds behind.
Fernando Alonso has kept his sixth starting position and Stroll, who has gained two positions, has stuck to him. The Asturian has started his ‘show’ on the radio and has alerted Aston Martin of the degradation of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes: “we’ll catch him”.
🔥 All upside down! Pérez commands the restart and Alonso passes Sainz to get 4th! What career! #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/xpi6d9AFHJ
— F1 in Movistar Plus+ (@movistar_F1) April 30, 2023
There was no time, the Briton had to stop prematurely on the ninth lap. Two later, Red Bull called Verstappen to the box and Pérez inherited the lead of the race just when an accident by De Vries (Alpha Tauri) gave way to a providential safety car for those who had not yet made their stop.
Alonso, in attack mode
At the restart, Pérez set a very strong pace and Verstappen overtook Leclerc to recover the second position, while Alonso, with cold tires, has risked the maximum to launch a brilliant attack on Sainz and place fourth, with the hope of the podium on his horizon.
Stroll has made a driving error that has cost him the position with Hamilton and has brought the seven-time English champion closer to the battle. Lewis has been on the lookout for Sainz and Alonso, while the leading trio already seemed unreachable, with Pérez fending off Verstappen and Leclerc in no man’s land. Alonso did not throw in the towel and tried a change of pace to get closer to the Ferrari driver, who was forging his lead in the second sector of urban layout, where it was the fastest by far. The pulse has definitively left Sainz and Hamilton off the hook, already more than seven seconds behind the Spaniard.
“The balance between the differential and the engine at the start is not good & rdquor ;, warned Verstappen on the radio, who saw the distance with Checo increase by more than 2 seconds. Without DRS and with the Mexican full of confidence, Max began to see it difficult to ‘steal’ the victory from his partner. The two Red Bulls gave their all on the streets of Baku and both have ‘caressed’ the wall in their particular duel.
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Checo has finished off a magnificent weekend and has scored his second victory of the course, after which he also achieved in an urban circuit, in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). Max finished second and couldn’t even get the fastest lap, which went to George Russell (143.370). Alonso, who has improved performance in the last few laps, was very close to beating Leclerc for third place, a great result also for Aston Martin after the difficulties with which they started on Friday in Baku, with problems to deploy the drs.
ferrari is back
To see the positive side, Ferrari can celebrate that it has taken a step forward in Baku without incorporating major improvements, which are expected for Imola. After the disastrous start to the season, with two of the three races out of the points, Leclerc has given them two pole positions and the first two podiums of the year, on Saturday in the sprint race and this Sunday in the main race, while Sainz, even having a bad weekend and worse sensations behind the wheel, he has managed to stay in the top five. As Carlos said, they have shown that they are “closer to those in front & rdquor ;. The bad thing is that Red Bull is still in another Galaxy.