It was a sunny race on the narrow streets of Baku, but unlike some other street circuits, Baku doesn’t necessarily need rain for a little spice.
It is easy to distinguish the winners and the losers from the top dogs, as many a headline have been written about them, but further down the pecking order, there are also some who could be labelled as winners or losers of the weekend in Azerbaijan.
Here are the report cards from round 8:
Top of the Class:
Max Verstappen – Qualifying: 3rd | Race: 1st
Verstappen had a bit of a tough start in Baku, or perhaps his teammate had an exceptionally good one. Because in recent years it has become a rare sight for the Dutchman to lag behind his teammate, whilst this was certainly the case in qualifying.
But it’s the race where points are dished out, and here the Dutchman’s performance was strong. Max passed Sergio with team orders, sure, but on the narrow streets of Baku this isn’t an unusual situation. Especially when your main competitor has to retire two cars, then it’s quite natural to want to take full advantage of a maximum point haul without having to grit your teeth as your driver’s battle it out on track.
I’m not usually a fan of team orders, almost always of the opinion that they should let them race for their worth. But when Checo was in the lead he kept the gap to cars behind on a maximum of 3 seconds, whilst Verstappen at one point was up to nearly 20.
It was Max’s first win (and podium) in Baku and his fifth win of the year – it was also a redemption from last year, where in Baku Max’s tyre blew in spectacular fashion. But despite Checo now being in his rearview mirror rather than Charles when it comes to the championship, Verstappen won’t be one to lay back and relax in the races to come.
Mercedes
George Russell – Qualifying: 5th | Race: 3rd
Lewis Hamilton – Qualifying: 7th | Race: 4th
Whilst Mercedes, in 2022 at least, no longer enjoy the total dominance of years before, they’re starting to fare a lot better than initially expected. Thus far, it proved to be key to be there whenever reliability problems rear their ugly head for one of the top dogs (first with Red Bull, but currently with Ferrari) because, despite their lack of pace, George Russell graced the podium with his presence for the third time this year and finished each race within the top 5.
Hamilton too looked to be on the ball this weekend, finishing right behind his teammate in 4th. Impressive especially considering how the violent porpoising seems to put both Hamilton and Russell’s back in a lot of pain. So whilst both British-born drivers have earned their spot on the top of the list, those in Mercedes responsible for fixing the porpoising issue should actually buy a ticket for the struggle bus.
Sebastian Vettel – Qualifying: 9th | Race: 6th
Okay, one could have a debate about whether the German had a lucky escape with his little trip to one of the escape roads during lock-up whilst attempting a ballsy overtake, or whether that was his experience as a driver getting a chance to shine. It doesn’t matter in the end, because Vettel held his own and had an abundance of pace to bring the car home in 6th.
Not only was this Aston Martin’s best result of the year, but it also puts them level with Haas on Constructor’s points. Meaning that despite driving next to the son of the owner, he is cementing his role as number one driver once more as he was leaps and bounds ahead of Stroll performance wise.
Honourable mentions:
Pierre Gasly has earned himself the first of the honourable mentions. Sure, finishing fifth perhaps wasn’t as satisfying as his podium last year, but it was simply a superbly executed weekend for the Frenchman. Perhaps he would have been able to keep a hold on fourth if the team had pitted him under the VSC, but one shouldn’t linger on what could have been and instead simply applaud what has been done.
The second of the honourable mentions is for Daniel Ricciardo. It’s a relief being able to put him here, because in recent race weekends we found the Australian back on the bottom of this list a little too often for comfort. He earned 8th all on his own merit, as McLaren refused to execute team orders for both Ricciardo and Norris at different stages of the race.
The struggle bus:
Ferrari
Charles Leclerc – Qualifying: 1st | Race: DNF
Carlos Sainz – Qualifying: 4th | Race: DNF
Ferrari had a brilliant start of the season, and a mere two races ago their name was still on top of the list, but they don’t seem to have been able to pull that momentum through in recent rounds. As of now, they’re 80 points adrift from Red Bull racing.
Charles especially was dominant on the Saturday, and even though he lost a position to Checo he looked well on his way to take a podium despite the disadvantage in racepace, especially when pitting under the VSC played out to his advantage. But then he went out with a bang (or rather his power unit did) and he had to find his way back to the pits with smoke billowing behind him. This after Carlos had to retire earlier in the race with hydraulic issues.
Lance Stroll – Qualifying: 19th | Race: DNF
In the race Lance had to retire the car with a vibration issue, but it’s his performance in qualifying which earned him his spot in the struggle bus.
As in quali he first clipped the barriers, before continuing and then crashing into the tech pro barriers the very next round. Frankly, it was embarrassing, especially when comparing his weekend to that of his teammate’s.
Tsunoda’s rear wing
It’s not Yuki who finds himself back on the struggle bus, but rather his rear wing. The Japanese driver looked to be set for quite a strong finish, as he qualified well in P8. During the race, he was then comfortably running in 6th, before his DRS gave up on life and broke in half.
He was forced to pit, where the team tried to tape it back together, but that proved to be quite time-consuming and cost Yuki his advantageous grid position, and with a damaged rear wing there was no way back.
Zhou Guanyu’s bad luck
Zhou battled his way into the points from 14th, but once more wouldn’t be able to take those points home. As he, like Sainz, was forced to retire with a hydraulic issue. It must be frustrating, because the Chinese driver has been in superb form thus far, but as of yet has little to show for it.
Three retirements in the last four races is just not on, and perhaps it is time for Guanyu to bang his fist on the table at Alfa Romeo, or perhaps he should cross his fingers and hope that his bad luck doesn’t board a plane and follow him to Canada.
The only crumb of comfort for Zhou was outqualifying teammate Valtteri Bottas for the first time this season and by quite a margin, over 6 tenths!
Dishonourable mentions:
The dishonourable mentions of this round go to the Haas drivers.
Kevin had a strong start to the season, but now had his fourth race in a row where he wasn’t able to bring home any points. Admittedly, he battled his way to the fringes of the top 10 after starting 16th before his car failed and became the fourth Ferrari-powered car to retire from the race. The lack of points is due to no fault of his own, but perhaps he should start enquiring about the much-needed updates for the Haas car.
Mick had an anonymous weekend, where he quite miserably lagged behind the car in front of him, creating a gap of more than 38 seconds. Although more dreadful Haas strategy didn’t help matters.
After a quainter affair than expected, the F1 paddock travels a mere 5554 miles to complete an infamously logical double header. Whilst the travel leaves a lot to be desired, it’s great to see the sport back in Montréal for the first time in three years as the Canadian Grand Prix returns.
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is the venue for round 9 of the 2022 season, with the action kicking off at 7pm UK time on Sunday 19th June. Can anyone stop the Red Bull momentum? Will the home drivers find some much needed inspiration to secure a good result? You’ll just have to tune in and find out.
