INDIA in F1

Tag: FIA F1 Azerbaijan GP

  • Oscar Piastri takes second career win as McLaren moves to top of team table

    Oscar Piastri takes second career win as McLaren moves to top of team table

    Baku City, 15 Sept. 2024: Oscar Piastri came out on top in a thrilling battle with Charles Leclerc to take his second career win and send McLaren soaring to the top of the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship standings. Meanwhile, a late-race collision with Carlos Sainz dumped Sergio Pérez out of a podium finish and handed third place to Mercedes’ George Russell in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, a round of the Formula 1 World Championship here on Sunday. 

    When the start lights went out, pole sitter Leclerc got away well from Piastri but behind them Pérez drew level with Sainz before making his way past the Spaniard on the approach to Turn 2 to take second place. Behind them, Verstappen reacted well to the lights and he also profited in Turn 2, muscling past Mercedes’ George Russell to take fifth place. 

    Further back, after starting from P16, Norris was on a march and by lap four the McLaren driver was already on the cusp of the points in P11.

    At the front, Leclerc was initially unable to break DRS and shake Piastri, but on lap 8 the Ferrari driver turned up the wick and over the following three laps the Ferrari driver carved out a three second gap to the Australian and to Pérez who was comfortably staying in touch with the battle for the lead. 

    On lap 11, Williams’ Franco Colapinto was the first of the top 10 to make a pit stop, followed by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and on lap 13 Verstappen headed into the pits to shed Medium tyres that he said were offering no grip. 

    Pérez followed his team-mate to the pit lane at the end of the following lap and with Piastri still on track, the Red Bull driver pushed to make the undercut work. The Red Bull driver had emerged behind long -running Hard tyres starter Norris, however, and McLaren were swiftly on the radio to tell their driver to hold the Mexican up through the Old Town. 

    Pérez had to wait until he had DRS before he could power past Norris and the short delay was enough to allow Piastri to pit and rejoin just ahead of the Red Bull. Further up the track, Leclerc made his own stop for Hards, holding the lead as he returned to the circuit. 

    Piastri, more comfortable on the Hard tyres, closed in and at the start of lap 20, the Australian used DRS on the pit straight to power past the Ferrari into Turn 1 and steal the lead. 

    Behind the leaders, Verstappen also looked to be gaining ground on the Hard tyres, and he soon closed up to Sainz, The pair quickly came up on the slower Norris and Albon and though Sainz soon made his way past the McLaren, Verstappen found himself stuck behind a stubbornly defensive title rival. The Dutchman then began to wear his rears, saying his car was “bouncing around and losing contact”, and he was soon ambushed by Russell. 

    At the front, Leclerc was pushing to find a way past Piastri and on lap 33 he mounted his most serious attack since surrendering the lead. The Ferrari driver closed up under DRS on the pit straight forcing Piastri to defend the inside line. The McLaren driver held the lead but the battle allowed Pérez to close in and join the battle as the race edged towards two-thirds distance.

    Norris finally made his sole stop on lap 38 and he rejoined 15 seconds behind Verstappen. The McLaren driver, with fresh Medium tyres on board, quickly began to post fastest race laps and he eventually powered past the struggling Dutchman with a handful of laps left. 

    At the front the final third of the race developed into a cat and mouse battle, with Leclerc probing and pushing to provoke a mistake from Piastri and with Pérez seeking to profit from any battle. 

    And when Leclerc suddenly began to slip and slide on worn tyres in the closing stages, Pérez tried to pounce. However, after almost getting past the Ferrari in Turn 1, he was forced to back out and Sainz drew alongside. The Ferrari appeared to get too close and as they powered towards Turn 2 there was contact. both spun into the wall. 

    The race was closed out under a Virtual Safety Car. Piastri stretched out to take his second career win ahead of Leclerc, while Russell inherited third place ahead of Norris and with Max in sixth place. Fernando Alonso took sixth for Aston Martin ahead of the Williams pair of Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished ninth and the final point went to Haas’ Oliver Bearman. 

    2024 FIA Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Race 
    1 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 51 1:32’58.007 
    2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 51 1:33’08.917 10.910
    3 George Russell Mercedes 51 1:33’29.335 31.328
    4 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 51 1:33’34.150 36.143
    5 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 51 1:34’15.105 1’17.098
    6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 51 1:34’23.475 1’25.468
    7 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 51 1:34’25.403 1’27.396
    8 Franco Colapinto Williams/Mercedes 51 1:34’27.548 1’29.541
    9 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 51 1:34’30.408 1’32.401
    10 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 51 1:34’31.134 1’33.127
    11 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 51 1:34’31.472 1’33.465
    12 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 51 1:34’55.196 1’57.189
    13 Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 51 1:35’24.914 2’26.907
    14 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 51 1:35’26.848 2’28.841
    15 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 50 1:33’19.351 1 lap /21.344
    16 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 50 1:33’23.402 1 lap /25.395
    17 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 49 1:28’41.198 Accident
    18 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 49 1:28’41.768 Accident
    19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 45 1:23’21.080 Brakes
         Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 14 27’02.651 Accident damage

  • Sergio Perez wins Azerbaijan Sprint ahead of Verstappen

    Sergio Perez wins Azerbaijan Sprint ahead of Verstappen

    Baku, 29 April 2023: Sergio Pérez took the first Sprint win of his career with a controlled drive to victory in Baku that saw him pass Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc midway through the race in the Sprint race ahead of the FIA Formula 1 Championship here on Sunday .

    Third place in the 17-lap race went to Max Verstappen. The championship leader dropped to fourth at the start after being hit by George Russell but later passed the Mercedes drive to take the P3 medal.

    When the lights went out at the start, Leclerc got away well from the front of the grid to take the lead. Pérez matched the Ferrari drive off the line and tucked in behind, but Verstappen was slow to start and he was quickly put under pressure by Russell. Verstappen had the upper hand in Turn 1 but Russell was more aggressive at the next corner. He locked up on cold tyres, however, and collided with the Red Bull, gouging a hole in the sidepod of Versatppen’s RB19. The Dutchman had to give way to the Briton as they headed onto the straight towards Turn 3. 

    Moments later the Virtual Safety Car was deployed when AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda hit the wall in Turn 14 and with debris on the track the physical Safety Car was released at the end of lap three. 

    The SC left the track at the end of lap five. Leclerc managed the restart well ahead of Pérez but it was Verstappen who reacted best to Leclerc’s acceleration and he ambushed Russell just after they crossed the start-finish line. The Dutchman dived down the inside of the Mercedes and powered past the Mercedes into Turn 1. 

    Behind them, Carlos Sainz also reacted well and he muscled past Lewis Hamilton under braking into Turn 1 to take P5. Hamilton, forced wide, also surrendered position to the opportunistic Fernando Alonso who tucked in behind Sainz and stole P6. 

    On lap 8, with DRS back in play after the resumption, Pérez closed up to Leclerc and as they roared along the long straight toward Turn 1 he swept past the Ferrari to take the lead. 

    Two laps later, Leclerc lost the DRS boost of being within a second of Pérez and Verstappen tried to close in. The Ferrari driver responded, though, and he briefly pushed his way back into DRS of the race leader as Verstappen drifted out of range of Leclerc.

    Pérez was now in firm control and on lap 14 he stretched his lead to 1.3 seconds and from there sailed serenely on to take a superbly managed first Sprint win. 

    Verstappen managed to close up to within a second of Leclerc on the penultimate lap but the Ferrari driver was wily enough to harvest energy in the right places and was able to keep restrict the Dutchman to third at the flag. 

    Behind the top three, Russell took fourth place ahead of Sainz and Alonso and Hamilton and the final point on offer went to Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin. 

    2023 FIA Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Sprint 
    1 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 17 – 
    2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 17 4.463
    3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 17 5.065
    4 George Russell Mercedes 17 8.532
    5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 17 10.388
    6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 17 11.613
    7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 17 16.503
    8 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 17 18.417
    9 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 17 21.757
    10 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 17 22.851
    11 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 17 27.990
    12 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 17 34.602
    13 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 17 36.918
    14 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT 17 41.626
    27 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 17 48.587
    16 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 17 49.917
    17 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 17 51.104
    18 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 17 1’00.621
         Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT 2 – Retirement
         Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 0 – Withdrawn

  • Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc takes Baku pole ahead of Max Verstappen: F1

    Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc takes Baku pole ahead of Max Verstappen: F1

    Baku (Azerbaijan), 28 April 2023: Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took a superb first pole position of 2023 in Qualifying for Sunday’s FIA Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by almost two-tenths of a second after nothing could separate the pair in the opening runs of Q3. 

    Verstappen’s opening time in the final segment of Qualifying was swift 1:40.455, and that was matched, to the thousandth by Leclerc. However, the Red Bull driver claimed the provisional pole by virtue of having set the time first. 

    But there was no denying the Ferrari driver in the final runs as a brave final lap gave him a 0.188s advantage over Verstappen, who said he had suffered from a warm-up issue on his last lap. Sergio Pérez, meanwhile, went quicker than Leclerc in the first sector on his final flyer, but the Mexican lost time later in the lap and was forced to settle for third. 

    Earlier, at the start of the one-hour session, Verstappen took an early Q1 lead with a lap of 1:41.887. That put him two-tenths of a second ahead of Leclerc. Pérez, meanwhile, was down in fifth place after a tricky opening run that left with an opening time of 1:43.373. 

    There was no time for the Mexican to immediately improve, however, as the red flags were displayed soon after when Nyck de Vries hit the wall in Turn 3. The Dutch driver attempted to carry too much speed into the 90˚ left-hander and went straight into the barriers at the corner exit. 

    When the session eventually resumed, running was brief, as the red flags came out again almost immediately. Pierre Gasly also crashed in Turn 3 with the Alpine driver hitting the wall with the rear right side of his car. He was able to keep going to the next escape road, but with the barriers requiring repair, the session had to be stopped. 

    When the action restarted, Pérez jumped to the top of the order with a 1:41.756. Verstappen bypassed that to take P1 with a lap of 1:41.398 before heading back to the garage. Leclerc slotted into third place ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and McLaren’s Lando Norris moved to fifth. 

    Pérez went for another run, but with little pressure coming from behind, the Mexican abandoned the attempt in the final sector and headed back to the pit lane.

    Leclerc continued his attempt, however, and he took P1 with a time of 1:41.269, 0.129 ahead of Verstappen. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso moved to third place and Peerez progressed to fourth ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.

    At the wrong end of the Q1 timesheet, Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu was ruled out in P16 along with the Haas cars of Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen and the unfortunate Gasly and de Vries. 

    Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso set the first solid time of Q2 with a 1:41.400, but Pérezbeat that time to take P1 with a lap of 1:41.131 before Verstappen slotted into P2, 0.062s behind his team-mate. Leclerc then took P1 with a lap of 1:41.037 and with just under four minutes remaining the Red Bulls headed back out on track for their final runs. 

    In the end, with no improvement coming in his final sector, Pérez chose to back out of his final run. Verstappen, though, went purple in all three sectors and took P1 with a lap of 1:40.822. 

    The shock elimination at the end of the session was Russell. The Mercedes driver was edged out of the final segment by team-mate Hamilton, by just 0.004s. Also out at the end of the middle segment were Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, Williams’ Alex Albon, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas, and the second Williams of Logan Sargeant. 

    Pérez was the first on track at the start of Q3 and the Mexican opened his account with a lap of 1:40.563. Behind him, Verstappen was quicker, and the champion claimed the provisional pole with a lap of 1:40.445. There was nothing in terms of time to separate the Dutchman from Leclerc, however. The Ferrari driver crossed the line in an identical time, though Verstappen took P1 thanks to crossing the line first. 

    For the final runs, Leclerc went out ahead of the two Red Bull drivers, with Pérez ahead of Verstappen on track. 

    Leclerc crossed the line in 1:40.203 and though Pérez went quicker than the Ferrari driver through the opening sector, he lost time in the middle of the track. It was a similar story for Verstappen. The champion lost time in the second sector and when he crossed the line he was just under two-tenths off the Ferrari and on the front row. Pérez had to settle for a row two berth ahead of Sainz.

    Fifth place in Qualifying went to Hamilton, with Alonso sixth. Seventh place went to Norris, while Yuki Tsunoda took an excellent eighth place for AlphaTauri. Lance Stroll was ninth for Aston Martin and the final top-10 place went to Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren. 

    2023 FIA Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Qualifying 
    1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:40.203 
    2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:40.391 0.188
    3 Sergio Pérez Red Bull Racing 1:40.495 0.292
    4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:41.016 0.813
    5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:41.177 0.974
    6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:41.253 1.050
    7 Lando Norris 1:41.281 1.078
    8 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:41.581 1.378
    9 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:41.611 1.408
    10 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:41.611 1.408
    11 George Russell Mercedes 1:41.654 1.451
    12 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:41.798 1.595
    13 Alex Albon Williams 1:41.818 1.615
    14 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:42.259 2.056
    15 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:42.395 2.192
    16 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:42.642 2.439
    17 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:42.755 2.552
    18 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:43.417 3.214
    19 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:44.853 4.650
    20 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri 1:55.282 15.079