After winning last time out at the Canadian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was aiming to emulate the result that he secured two weeks ago in Baku at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. After Max Verstappen topped FP1 and FP2 and Valtteri Bottas was fastest in FP3, the battle for pole position was looking wide open in qualifying. Hamilton then went on to secure the 66th pole position of his career, nearly half a second ahead of Bottas. Due to the clear pace that the triple world champion had found in qualifying, the race in Baku was looking like it would fall into Hamilton’s hands, but with the unpredictable nature of the street circuit, anything was still possible.
Daniel Ricciardo wins in Azerbaijan as Lance Stroll secures maiden podium amidst carnage
Hamilton shot out of his grid slot at the race start once the five red lights went out, holding off Valtteri Bottas into turn 1 while the Ferrari pair of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel went into the left hander side by side. Emerging in third place after fighting Vettel, Raikkonen tried to go one better into turn 2, hanging his Ferrari around the outside of Bottas. Taking too much kerb on the inside, Bottas lost control and quickly ran wide into the side of Raikkonen, picking up front wing damage and a front right puncture while the Ferrari faced extensive floor damage on the left hand side. Damaged, Bottas limped back to the pit lane and pitted, going one lap behind and down to last place as Mercedes repaired his damaged car.
Setting the fastest lap of the race, Hamilton extend his lead from the now second placed Sebastian Vettel while the McLaren pair of Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne started to cut their way through the field, passing Pascal Wehrlein on lap 4.
Daniel Ricciardo then pitted for Red Bull Racing on only the seventh lap after having debris caught in the brake duct of his car, causing brake temperatures to rise. Rejoining in 19th place, the Australian’s race was seemingly over but still continued through the field, passing Wehrlein for 15th place.
Jolyon Palmer became the first retirement on lap 9 for Renault, stopping out on track as his disappointing weekend continued. At the same time, Ricciardo started to slice his way through the field, overtaking Carlos Sainz Jr and Marcus Ericsson for 13th place.
When Daniil Kvyat stopped out on track for Toro Rosso, the safety car was deployed for the first time in the race on lap 12 as Max Verstappen fell into difficulty, slowing on track while battling Sergio Perez for third place.
The safety car peeled into the pits on lap 16 and the race was resumed once again only be halted again on lap 17 when the safety car was deployed for a piece of debris off Kimi Raikkonen’s damaged Ferrari.
With the safety car scheduled to come into the pits on lap 19 for the second time, Lewis Hamilton began to back up the pack for the restart, and when braking hard to increase his brake temperature and front tyre temperatures, Vettel ran into the back of him, damaging his front wing. Enraged at what had happened, Vettel then pulled out from behind his rival and waved his arms, side swiping the Mercedes in anger.
The green flags waved and Felipe Massa shot up into third, overtaking Sergio Perez. An over-ambitions Esteban Ocon then tried to follow Massa through, gaining the sight of a possible podium. In the attempted overtake, like Bottas, Ocon clipped the kerb and ran wide into the driver on the outside which happened to be his team mate. Through the debris that was created through the crash, Kimi Raikkonen then picked up a right rear puncture, giving the Finn even more damage and putting him out of the race while Perez also retired.
For the third time, the safety car was then deployed before the race was red flagged due to the debris out on track. During the red flag period, it was then revealed that both Hamilton and Vettel were under investigation for their collision during the previous safety car period. At the same time, Perez and Raikkonen rejoined the race after Force India and Ferrari were able to repair their cars before the race was resumed as the safety car led the field out of the pit lane.
As the safety car peeled into the pits once again on lap 23, Daniel Ricciardo made his move to get into the podium positions, overtaking Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll from fifth place into turn 1 immediately on the restart. After being in third place on the restart, Massa quickly fell down the field with suspension damage, dropping down to seventh when Kevin Magnussen overtook both him and Nico Hulkenberg in a move that emulated that of Ricciardo on the restart.
Nico Hulkenberg then became the next casualty of the race on lap 25, clipping the wall in the castle section before Felipe Massa retired on the same lap.
Recovering from earlier accidents, Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas began to make their way back through the field, overtaking Romain Grosjean and Carlos Sainz Jr to move into seventh and eighth.
With his head rest coming loose on lap 29, Lewis Hamilton was forced to pit from the lead on lap 32 for safety reasons, handing Vettel the race lead while the former leader rejoined in eighth. On the same lap, Vettel was then slapped with a 10 second stop-go penalty which had to be served within the next three laps. Serving the penalty of lap 34, Vettel pitted, handing Daniel Ricciardo the lead while he rejoined in seventh, just ahead of Hamilton.
Valtteri Bottas then overtook Fernando Alonso for fifth place while Vettel and Hamilton followed him through to recover from the race that had become a disaster for the pair in the last few laps.
Ahead of Bottas, Esteban Ocon then stepped up into the podium positions, overtaking Kevin Magnussen. The Finn then followed the Frenchman and moved into fourth, pushing Magnussen down to fifth and then later sixth and seventh as the hard charging pair of Vettel and Hamilton raced through the field.
A switch in positions came on lap 40 as Bottas passed Ocon to move into third, with a podium result looking unlikely after his first lap accident with Raikkonen. Like Magnussen earlier, Ocon was then passed by Vettel and Hamilton, putting the pair into fourth and fifth as Ocon’s team mate, Sergio Perez, retired from the race for a second time.
After Raikkonen retired on lap 48, Bottas began closing in on Lance Stroll who had managed to work his way into second place in the running order by being one of the few drivers who managed to their nose clean. Heading into the final lap of the race, it was looking unlikely that Bottas would move into second after only matching Stroll in the second sector on lap 51. A race is never over until it is in fact over however, and Bottas managed to pass Stroll in the closing seconds of the race, using Mercedes power, DRS, and a slipstream to close in by one second in the final sector alone to finish second by only one tenth.
At the front three seconds earlier, Daniel Ricciardo took the checkered flag to secure Red Bull Racing’s first win of 2017, securing the win against all odds after being down in 19th place after his early pit stop on lap 6. Valtteri Bottas drove an impressive recovery drive to finish second after being previously one lap down from the race start while Lance Stroll secured Williams’ first podium finish of 2017 and the first of his very short eight-race long career in third.
Vettel crossed the line in fourth place ahead of Hamilton who finished fifth while Esteban Ocon was the highest finishing Force India in sixth. Kevin Magnussen finished in the points again for Haas F1 in seventh, followed by Carlos Sainz who finished in eighth place despite having a first lap spin. Fernando Alonso secured the first points of McLaren’s 2017 Season by finishing in ninth while Pascal Wehrlein rounded out the points paying positions in tenth for Sauber.
With a race that saw spectacular driving from many, it is difficult to pick a driver of the day. Notable candidates include Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas, and Kevin Magnussen, however, my driver of the day has to be Lance Stroll. Today, Stroll secured the first podium of his Formula 1 career for Williams and becomes one of the youngest drivers to do so. At the start of the season, very few would have imagined that the driver could have a achieved such a feat due to him gaining an early reputation as a driver who was not good enough to drive at the top tier of motorsport and as someone who had not reached Formula 1 on their own merit. Through the result, Stroll has defied his critics and has proved that he is worthy and good enough to be on the grid and in the second Williams.
Formula 1 will return for the Austrian Grand Prix in two weeks where Red Bull Racing will be aiming to continue their current showing of performance at their home grand prix.
Results from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix:
- Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing, 25 points
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 18 points
- Lance Stroll, Williams, 15 points
- Sebastian Vettel, 12 points
- Lewis Hamilton, 10 points
- Esteban Ocon, Force India, 8 points
- Kevin Magnussen, Haas F1, 6 points
- Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 4 points
- Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 2 points
- Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber, 1 point
- Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 0 points
- Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren, 0 points
- Romain Grosjean, Haas F1, 0 points
- Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, Ret
- Sergio Perez, Force India, Ret
- Felipe Massa, Williams, Ret
- Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, Ret
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Ret
- Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, Ret
- Jolyon Palmer, Renault, Ret
Drivers Standings after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix:
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 153 points
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 139 points
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 111 points
- Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing, 92 points
- Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 73 points
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 45 points
- Sergio Perez, Force India, 44 points
- Esteban Ocon, Force India, 35 points
- Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 29 points
- Felipe Massa, Williams, 20 points
- Nico Hulkenberg, Reanult, 18 points
- Lance Stroll, Williams, 17 points
- Kevin Magussen, Haas F1, 11 points
- Romain Grosjean, Haas F1, 10 points
- Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber, 5 points
- Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 4 points
- Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 2 points
- Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 0 points
- Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 0 points
- Stoffel Vandoorne, Mclaren, 0 points
- Antonio Giovinazzi, Sauber, 0 points
- Jenson Button, McLaren, 0 points
Constructors Standings after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix:
- Mercedes, 250 points
- Ferrari, 226 points
- Red Bull Racing, 137 points
- Force India, 79 points
- Williams, 37 points
- Toro Rosso, 33 points
- Haas F1, 21 points
- Renault, 18 points
- Sauber, 5 points
- McLaren, 2 points
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