Following 51 laps around F1’s latest circuit, it was Nico Rosberg who was victorious for a fifth time this season, reinforcing his position in the Drivers Championship after great threat was posed by his team mate, Lewis Hamilton over the past few races at Monaco and Canada.
Rosberg Wins In Azerbaijan
It was Nico Rosberg who was victorios in the first European Grand Prix since 2012. Following the championship leader home was Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in second place, securing his second successive podium. Rounding out the podium positions was Force India’s Sergio Perez, securing a second podium finish in three races, having finished in third in Monaco previously. This has launched Perez’s name onto the lips of Formula 1 fans, with Eddie Jordan describing Perez as a true talent during his podium interview today.
Finishing in fourth place was Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, securing 12 points. This was an unavoidable positioning for the Finn, nursing an engine issue in the latter stages of the race and having a 5 second time penalty to add onto his final race time. This in turn meant that even if Raikkonen held off Perez, he would still lose his podium position. Finishing in fifth place was British driver and reigning World Champion, Lewis Hamilton. This marked the end of a short span of dominance for Hamilton, with the Mercedes driver securing victory in Monaco and Canada.
Finishing in sixth place was Williams‘ Valtteri Bottas, securing another 8 points in this year’s championship. This marks a somewhat disappointing race for Williams, with Bottas in particular showing speed around the new Baku circuit in practice 1 and practice 2. However, following a pit lane collision with a drain cover, Bottas lost time for practice 3, damaging his right side pod heavily. Felipe Massa finished in tenth place.
Red Bull Racing also had a disappointing race this weekend around the streets of Baku. After qualifying in second place, Daniel Ricciardo finished the race in seventh after the team had a visible lack of pace. Verstappen also faced similar struggles in Azerbaijan, again facing issues and finishing in eighth place. Red Bull only found pace in the late stages of the race, pitting for medium tyres towards the end and finally gaining the speed that they had struggled to find all Sunday afternoon.
McLaren’s Jenson Button finished in 11th place, just outside of the points. This was a surprisingly successful weekend for McLaren, with it being expected that the Woking based team would experience difficulties due to the high speed requirements and high fuel consumption of Baku, with an expected 2.1 kilograms of fuel being used per lap. Qualifying in 19th place and expecting to struggle to make up many positions in the race, Jenson Button and McLaren can only take this weekend in stride and work for a larger goal, with development and improvements being evident in the McLaren camp. However, some issues did arise in this race for McLaren, with Fernando Alonso retiring very close to the end of the inaugural Azerbaijan Grand Prix after facing issues with his gear box.
Toro Rosso finished this weekend with a double DNF for Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz Jr. This was very disappointing for the Italian team, with Kvyat having his best qualifying performance for Toro Rosso since getting dropped by Red Bull, starting the race in sixth. This issue is a supposed suspension problem, with Sainz apparently retiring from the race due to the same issue as his Russian team mate.
Driver of the day. This title for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is completely wide open. It could go to Rosberg for securing pole, fastest lap, and the win, securing his 19th career victory. It could go to Button for achieving the unexpected for McLaren. However, it has to go to Perez. This weekend Sergio Perez has been on fire. He was in form in practice. He was in form in qualifying, putting the car on the front row and defeating his team mate, Nico Hulkenberg. And he was on form in the race, securing his second podium in three races. If it had not been for Perez’s five place grid penalty, it is very much a race of ‘what if’. What if Perez started on the front row? Where would he have finished? Despite this, this is again another fantastic result for Force India this season, making Sergio Perez my driver of the day.
Results from the European GP:
- Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 25 points
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 18 points
- Sergio Perez, Force India, 15 points
- Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 12 points
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 10 points
- Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 8 points
- Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing, 6 points
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 4 points
- Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 2 points
- Felipe Massa, Williams, 1 point
- Jenson Button, McLaren, 0 points
- Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 0 points
- Romain Grosjean, Haas, 0 points
- Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 0 points
- Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 0 points
- Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, 0 points
- Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 0 points
- Rio Haryanto, Manor, 0 points
- Fernando Alonso, McLaren, Ret
- Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, Ret
- Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, Ret
- Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, Ret
Drivers Standings after 8 races:
- Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 141 points
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 117 points
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 96 points
- Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 81 points
- Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing, 78 points
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 54 points
- Valtteri Bottas, Williams, 52 points
- Sergio Perez, Force India, 39 points
- Felipe Massa, Williams, 38 points
- Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 22 points
- Romain Grosjean, Haas, 22 points
- Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 20 points
- Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 18 points
- Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 18 points
- Kevin Magnussen, Renault, 6 points
- Jenson Button, McLaren, 5 points
- Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren, 1 point
- Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, 0 points
- Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 0 points
- Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 0 points
- Felipe Nasr, Sauber, 0 points
- Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, 0 points
- Rio Haryanto, Manor, 0 points
Constructors Standings after 8 races:
- Mercedes, 258 points
- Ferrari, 177 points
- Red Bull Racing, 140 points
- Williams, 90 points
- Force India, 59 points
- Toro Rosso, 32 points
- McLaren, 24 points
- Haas, 22 points
- Renault, 6 points
- Sauber, 0 points
- Manor, 0 points
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