Race of the Season?

 

There are few words that can be used to describe the Azerbaijan Grand Prix that we witnessed on Sunday night. No changes to the title fight, questions looming over the heads of Pirelli and a podium that we would not have expected come Sunday night. 

Baku has been known to be a place of drama with a safety car being required in every race that has been held here since it first hosted in 2016. That was no different this year as on lap 31 a huge tyre blowout for Lance Stroll brought out the first safety car of the race. Having run the hard tyre from the start of the race, Aston Martin expected to go long in the hopes of being able to pit under a safety car. Unfortunately they were the reason it was brought out. Many eyes will be on Pirelli in the upcoming days as they said their tyres would last longer. A similar fate to Lance Stroll was experienced tantalisingly close to the end of the race by non other than race leader Max Verstappen. Having driven a sublime race from the start as he came from 3rd to take the lead, his rear left tyre also blew out resulting in a huge crash down the pit straight at 300 kilometers per hour. 

A dramatic turn of events resulted in a red flag not only so that debris on the track could be cleared but so that tyres of every race car could be changed in the hopes of avoiding another blow out. A 20 minute wait meant that a race restart was in order from the grid. Perez in first followed by Hamilton from Vettel from Gasly. As the lights went out Lewis got tremendous start only to out brake himself and go straight on in turn 1 giving second place to Vettel and 3rd to Gasly. That would end up being the final standings of the race as Sergio Perez earned his first win with Red Bull and the 2nd of his career. 

It was later shown that upon the race restart, Hamilton had accidentally pressed the 'magic' button on his steering wheel which disengages the rear brakes so as to increase heat in the front brakes. As a result he had no rear braking assistance into turn one meaning he had to go straight on. An uncharacteristic mistake from the 7 time world champion which cost him incredibly valuable points which would have helped him take the lead in the world championship. 

Sport can take an individual through the greatest of highs and the canyon's of lows and that is what everyone experienced in this race. From an obvious Red Bull 1-2 to a possible Mercedes win to a podium you would have never even imagined - it was a rollercoaster of emotions to say the least. At the end of the day, it is these very intense moments that make us love the sport for what it is. 

So the top 10 would have been quite happy with their races, Leclerc in 4th, Norris 5th, Alonso 6th, Tsunoda a very respectable 7th, Sainz 8th, Ricciardo 9th after a poor qualifying, and Raikonnen to round out the points. A horrible day it has to be said for Mercedes as Bottas who qualified 10th only to finish the race even further behind in 12th place. It was a torrid weekend for him as he didn't catch his flight to Baku and only came in late Thursday night. You have to feel for the Finn who has had a lot of bad luck in the last few weeks however this race performance has just not boded well for him as he did not turn up. His teammate is extracting everything that he can from Mercedes W12 and the Finn just can't do that. 

We move now to races with race tracks rather then street circuits. This will definitely cause a change up in the order of the grid as Mercedes seem to have a better car suited to actual race tracks whereas Ferrari and Red Bull are all for the street circuits where they can warm up their tyres far better. With the French Grand Prix coming up we look forward to seeing the man who walked through fire - Romain Grosjean - return to Formula 1 in non other than a Mercedes where he will test for the 7 time champions. It is incredible to see how he has made his journey from being in touching distance of death to winning in the Indycar championship and back to making a name for himself. 

A weekend that saw Red Bull extend their lead in the constructors championship, Aston Martin making a name for themselves and Pierre Gasly showing why he is a top 5 driver on the grid. We thank you Baku for another entertaining Grand Prix. 

Look forward to being Bak(u) here next year for more!