The 2022 F1 Azerbaijan GP race was not the most entertaining of those held at the Baku circuit, but it did have a series of events that added drama to the eighth round of the year, and almost all of them affected Ferrari.
First came the abandonment of Carlos Sainz with a hydraulic problem in his car, and then, when he was leading the race, that of Charles Leclerc with another engine failure. The subsequent KO of Guanyu Zhou’s Alfa Romeo and Kevin Magnussen’s Haas , also with a Ferrari power unit, completed the disaster for the Cavallino .
With no other rival than that of his teammate, Max Verstappen achieved a better pace than Sergio Pérez at the end of the first stint and overtook him (without defense by the Mexican) before the first stops to end up taking the victory.
Checo had managed to steal the lead from Leclerc in the first corner with a great start (here you can see it), but he had to settle for second place (and fastest lap) which, however, strengthens him in second place in the world championship. Verstappen, with his fifth victory, escapes to the front of the drivers’ championship.
With the abandonment of the Ferrari, the other two favored were the Mercedes. Among them, George Russell completed the podium, with Lewis Hamilton finishing nearly half a minute behind him after overtaking Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri.
An always competitive Sebastian Vettel on street circuits clung to sixth place, after resolving in the first part of the race a track exit with a brilliant maneuver in which he also avoided the penalty by waiting for Tsunoda to pass to rejoin.
Fernando Alonso took advantage of the retirements to be seventh with an Alpine strategy that was affected by a Virtual Safety Car. The Spaniard finished just ahead of the McLaren , and Daniel Ricciardo, who made good on his bet to start with hard tires, was eighth. With the same strategy, Esteban Ocon closed the points zone, tenth, and between those two drivers who started with the white Pirelli compound, Lando Norris finished, ninth.
Next stop, next Sunday, with no time to rest, the 2022 F1 Canadian GP .
Results of the 2022 F1 Azerbaijan GP in Baku
(Click on ‘see results’ to enjoy the entire table)
| Cla | Pilot | laps | Weather | Difference | Interval | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Max Verstappen |
 |
51 | – | 25 | ||
| two |  Sergio Perez |
 |
51 | 20,823 | 20,823 | 20,823 | 19 |
| 3 |  George Russell |
 |
51 | 45.995 | 45.995 | 25.172 | 15 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton |
 |
51 | 1’11.679 | 1’11.679 | 25.684 | 12 |
| 5 |  Pierre Gasly |
 |
51 | 1’17.299 | 1’17.299 | 5,620 | 10 |
| 6 |  Sebastian Vettel |
 |
51 | 1’24.099 | 1’24.099 | 6.800 | 8 |
| 7 |  Fernando Alonso |
 |
51 | 1’28.596 | 1’28.596 | 4.497 | 6 |
| 8 |  Daniel Ricciardo |
 |
51 | 1’32.207 | 1’32.207 | 3.611 | 4 |
| 9 | Lando Norris |
 |
51 | 1’32.556 | 1’32.556 | 0.349 | 2 |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon |
 |
51 | 1’48.184 | 1’48.184 | 15.628 | 1 |
| see results | |||||||
The photos of the 2022 F1 Azerbaijan GP in Baku
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Photo By: Andy Hone/Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Carl Bingham/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Carl Bingham/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Carl Bingham/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Carl Bingham/Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Enjoy below the summary of the Baku race
Pérez surprises Leclerc at the start and leads the Baku race
At the start, Checo Pérez came out better and slipped inside Leclerc in the first corner. In fact the Monegasque blocked and Verstappen also tried to overtake him, which allowed Sainz to stick to them. Finally the Ferraris remained second and fourth, with Verstappen in between, while Pérez escaped.
In the rest of the top 15 places, only Vettel passed Tsunoda, who was then tried (unsuccessfully) to pass Alonso, and nothing else changed in the opening laps. Race Direction announced a 10-second penalty for Nicholas Latifi (who was 19th) because a Williams mechanic had to move his car back on the grid just seconds into the formation lap.
When the possibility of using the DRS opened up, Verstappen approached Leclerc, but the Ferrari managed to hold off the first few bumps, gaining an advantage on the twisty part of the circuit.
Abandonment of Sainz and slow stop of Ferrari with Leclerc in Baku
On lap 9 came the first abandonment of the race, that of a Carlos Sainz who suffered a mechanical problem in his Ferrari and had to go out at turn 4. While a Virtual Safety Car period was established, the Italian team took the opportunity to put Leclerc, although they had a slow stop in the with the cat in front he was hooked.
Russell, Gasly, Hamilton and Vettel also entered, leaving Alonso fifth. At the stoppage time, Hamilton not only failed to gain a place with Gasly, but lost it to Vettel, who was virtual sixth at the time.
Verstappen tried to get closer to Pérez, without entering, and the Mexican picked up the pace to avoid team orders. Vettel, as soon as he passed Ocon, went wide at turn 12, and although he quickly managed to get back on track, he had to give way to Tsunoda, who was arriving at that part of the track at that moment.
Verstappen overtakes Pérez in Baku: team orders or different pace?
Meanwhile, Verstappen managed to cut a lot of distance ahead of Pérez, who was running out of tires, and the shadow of the team’s orders hovered over the atmosphere. The Mexican was told on the radio not to fight, and the Dutchman, with much more pace, managed to overtake him without opposition at the start of lap 15.
Pérez continued to lose time and Leclerc was cutting him off, so Red Bull pitted at the end of lap 16. It was a slow stop of 5.7 seconds, which made Checo rejoin very little ahead of Russell.
Verstappen entered as the race reached lap 18, and although his pitstop wasn’t the fastest either (3.5s), he held position with Pérez. Alonso also stopped there, and when he returned to the track he was 16th, with several drivers without stopping.
Hit effect: the Ferrari leaves Leclerc lying when he was leading in Baku
Leclerc was 13 seconds ahead, and it remained to be seen how close the Red Bulls could get. However, on lap 21, a new jug of cold water arrived for the Monegasque, who saw his engine fail him again when he was leading a race.
The double KO of the Ferraris left the Red Bulls free and made Leclerc lose another, at least, 18 points with respect to his rival Verstappen due to reliability problems.
Action in the middle of the grid and another Ferrari engine KO that animates the race
Zhou became the third reliability DNF in his Alfa Romeo (also Ferrari-powered). Almost at the same time, Vettel passed an Ocon who had not stopped to be 8th and Hamilton stole fifth place from a Ricciardo who had not entered either. Alonso accounted for Magnussen to be tenth, and then passed Ocon, who was already suffering with his old tires.
There everything seemed to stabilize, but on lap 33 Magnussen’s Haas F1 Team (also with a Ferrari engine) left the Dane stranded. A Virtual Safety Car appeared, quickly bringing in Verstappen, Pérez, Russell, Hamilton and, finally and for the first time, Ricciardo and Ocon.
Perez’s save was slow again, but the Red Bulls had no problem keeping well clear of their rivals.
When it all resumed, on lap 35 of 51, Hamilton, on fresh tyres, was right behind Tsunoda, with Vettel right behind. The Englishman was able to get past the Japanese, before the camera pointed at the rear of the AlphaTauri revealed that Tsunoda had half a broken DRS. They showed him a black and orange flag, as a warning that he had a problem with his car.
He had to return to the box, where his mechanics applied duct tape to the DRS to the driver’s surprise.
While in Red Bull they gave messages to their drivers not to force the car and just try to avoid problems on the way to the finish line, Hamilton began to stick to Gasly fighting for fourth place. He would finally make it on lap 44, with seven laps to go.
The glances passed a little further back. Alonso saw the McLarens slowly approaching, but neither Ricciardo nor Norris had enough pace to even come within range of DRS. With three laps remaining, Lance Stroll became the fifth DNF on Sunday, with problems in his Aston Martin, and thus ended the eighth race of the year.
