The start – and the opening laps – promised so much in Baku. Then, quickly, the two Ferraris were out of it: Carlos Sainz pulled off, triggering a Virtual Safety Car. Then, while leading the race after an early stop for tyres, the power unit in Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari blew asunder. With the phenomenal qualifying and early-lap pace of Sergio Perez already disappearing amidst the hotter track temperatures of Sunday, it was Max Verstappen who thus won easily for Red Bull – and, in so doing, scored a massive championship points advantage.
George Russell finished a gritty third for Mercedes, ahead of his team leader, Lewis Hamilton (who was in agony due to the persistent Mercedes porpoising) and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly led home the two-stop mid-field pack. In this video, Peter Windsor looks back at an eventful – and perhaps pivotal – Sunday in Baku – and delves deeper in the tyre deg problems that coloured the race of Sergio Perez.
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