1 Tyre ire in the ‘land of fire’
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix promoter likes to market this event with the tagline ‘The speed is higher in the land of fire’ and this year’s race will certainly be remembered for what happened on the track’s signature 2.22km main straight, where cars can reach nearly 350km/h. Race leader Max Verstappen was accelerating towards this terminal velocity at the end of lap 45 of 51 when his RB16B’S left-rear tyre blew, pitching him into a 540-degree spin which included a mercifully indirect contact with the outside crash barrier.
The grand prix had already been neutralised for five laps behind the Safety Car after Lance Stroll experienced a similar failure on the same tyre compound (Pirelli’s hardest available, the C3). This time around, the Safety Car led the field round via the pitlane before FIA race director Michael Masi red-flagged the race for 35 minutes so the track could be cleared.
“With the number of laps that had to go,” said Masi, “the recovery that was being undertaken, and the fact that there was so much debris on the pit straight, at that point, it was in my opinion, my judgement, the best option to suspend the race. Clean everything up and then have a race finish.”
Suspending the race also enabled drivers to take on fresh tyres if they had sets available, teeing up a fascinating contest over the two laps remaining after the field set off again. Sergio Pérez took the restart from pole in the remaining Red Bull – one which was losing hydraulic pressure at a rate which nearly prompted the team to withdraw the car – with Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes alongside. When the lights went out Hamilton made the better start and got his nose ahead, even though Pérez tried to chop across – but Hamilton then locked his front wheels and speared straight on at the first corner as the rest of the field turned left.
In reacting to the chop, Hamilton had flicked the ‘magic button’ on the steering wheel which shifts the brake balance 100% forwards to heat front brakes and tyres on a formation lap. A stunned Hamilton came home 15th, his first finish outside the top 10 in eight years. Pérez recorded his second grand prix victory ahead of the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel and Alphatauri’s Pierre Gasly, who mugged Charles Leclerc for third at the restart and held off the Ferrari despite engine woes.
Post-race the focus turned to Pirelli and its decision to bring softer compounds this year – the C3 was the medium last time – but the company’s motorsport boss Mario Isola suggested the deflations were caused by debris not wear. A postrace investigation suggested teams had been lowering pressures outside proscribed limits.
Pirelli also identified a 6cm cut on the left-rear tyre which came off Hamilton’s car at his first stop.
2 Traction takes control as Red Bull gains upper hand
Charles Leclerc might have contrived to put his Ferrari on pole position in Baku – aided by cheekily latching on to a tow from second-placed qualifier Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes – but Red Bull had the fastest race car and Max Verstappen might even have been on pole but for a red flag. Crucially at this front-limited circuit, it was the RB16B’S rear-end grip and traction around the sharp turns of the first two sectors which yielded an advantage even Mercedes could not overturn on the straights.
Both Red Bulls ran relatively deep-section rear wings with ‘spoon’ profiles whereas Mercedes’ and Ferrari’s were flat and slim. On a front-limited track like Baku this is one of many trade-offs in the mix – accepting greater tyre degradation as the cost of achieving higher speeds on the long straight. For Merc it was one of the few setup cards left to play after a torrid time in free practice, and it was probably the right decision: Hamilton described second on the grid as “monumental”. Team-mate Valtteri Bottas, carrying more downforce, qualified 10th and had a miserable race to 12th.
Hamilton slipstreamed past Leclerc at the end of the first lap and Verstappen followed him by – as
did team-mate Sergio Pérez, who started sixth but made short work of Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly. By the time Hamilton pitted for hard-compound tyres on lap 11, his starting set were already going off. The Red Bulls’ rears were still in great shape and both cars ‘overcut’ him in the pits.
Verstappen’s in-lap was 0.8s faster than Hamilton’s, Pérez’s 1.258s quicker. So, although Lewis was delayed in his box while Gasly’s car came up the pitlane, it’s likely the Red Bulls would have passed him anyway. From there he was hanging on in third until Max’s shunt brought out the red flag.
3 Going longer wins out for Vettel
Sebastian Vettel put the Aston Martin name on an F1 podium for the first time with a canny drive, making the most of starting from 11th place with a free tyre choice. He made his fresh soft-compound rubber last 18 laps, enabling him to briefly lead the race and emerge from his stop in seventh.
That became sixth when team-mate Stroll – running fourth and yet to pit after starting on hard tyres – shunted and brought out the Safety Car. At the restart Vettel jumped Leclerc and Gasly, then benefitted from Verstappen and Hamilton’s misfortunes to finish second.