You never know which way the wind blows in Baku. The races are either an absolute banger or a total utter snooze, there seems to be no in-between. In stark comparison to the 2019 edition, this year was a banger, which was much needed after the last two snooze fests at Barcelona and Monaco.
We were treated to a nail-biting and gut-wrenching spectacle of a race weekend on the shores of the Caspian Sea with a surprise podium, tyre failures and Mark Webber’s now-infamous scream during the red flag restart. Here are the top of the class contenders and struggle bus riders from the sixth round of the 2021 season:
Top of the class:
Sebastian Vettel – Qualifying: 11th | Race: 2nd
Many were surprised that Vettel as a four-time World Champion needed a little time to get to grips with the Aston Martin, but it certainly seems as if the scale is starting to tip in his favour. He had a strong race on the narrow streets of Monaco, finishing 5th, and he carried that momentum into Baku.
His qualifying pace looked strong, certainly strong enough to carry him into Q3, had it not been for him having to abort his lap after Ricciardo’s crash. His secret ingredient for the potion which was the race was some brilliant tyre management and an incredibly long first stint.
Image source: Motorsport.com
For a brief moment, he was the race-leader, but then dropped back to fourth. Meaning that the German managed to drive from 11th to 4th on pure performance, before earning himself a further two spots due to Verstappen’s crash and Hamilton’s error.
Finishing 2nd is Aston Martin’s best ever result as a constructor and the German’s best result since the 2019 Mexican Grand Prix. If anyone deserved to be the driver of the day, it was Sebastian Vettel, something which the majority of the fanbase seemed to be in agreement about.
Sergio Pérez – Qualifying: 7th | Race: 1st
When Pérez was asked at the start of the year how long he thought it would take to get comfortable at Red Bull, his guess was five or six races. He got that prediction bang on, as on his sixth race with the team he managed to secure his second career victory with an outstanding drive in Azerbaijan.
The Mexican qualified seventh, not quite managing to get in a clean qualifying lap due to traffic, before moving up to sixth on the grid when Norris earned himself a 3-place grid penalty for a red flag infringement. He drove solidly in the early stages of the race, battling his way up the order, before jumping ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the pits despite Red Bull’s uncharacteristically slow pitstop. He then brilliantly kept Hamilton behind, the Brit creeping into his DRS zone but never managing to get past.
Sergio certainly benefitted from Verstappen’s tyre issue, you can’t dispute that, but to throw in an old racing quote ‘to finish first, you first have to finish’ and that’s what Sergio Pérez did this weekend. He held himself well at the restart, leapfrogging himself into the third position in the championship and delivering the first non-Verstappen win for Red Bull Racing since Monaco 2018 (where Ricciardo triumphed).
Fernando Alonso – Qualifying: 9th | Race: 6th
The Spaniard’s return to the pinnacle of motorsport wasn’t as glorious as he might have hoped. The Alpine car isn’t quite up to scratch, but that he’s been lacking pace in comparison to his teammate must have felt like salt in an open wound.
Baku was different however, as Fernando outperformed Esteban Ocon in qualifying to seal a Q3 spot. In the last qualifying session, he managed to stay ahead of Valtteri Bottas on the timing sheet, pencilling his name into the 9th grid spot. He was later able to erase it and move up a spot before the race thanks to Lando Norris’ penalty.
Fernando then struggled for pace on the soft tyre in the race, initially dropping through the field like a stone, but a gamble to take softs once more on lower fuel during the safety car period helped move him back up to 10th. His experience then spoke to him in the two-lap sprint race, making up an impressive four places to come home sixth. In particular the move around the outside of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda at turn five was *chef’s kiss*.
Honourable mentions:
Then, the first of the honourable mentions is for Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman secured his first podium finish this season – and third podium finish of his career – by holding off Charles Leclerc. This is the Frenchman’s fifth consecutive points finish in six races. His teammate Yuki Tsunoda scored a career-best seventh, so perhaps both drivers of Alpha Tauri deserve an honourable mention.
The second one is for another veteran of the sport, Kimi Räikkönen. The Finn made the most of his experience by staying out of trouble and slowly crawling up the order. He ultimately managed to capitalise on the chaos ahead of him, scoring his first point of the season by finishing 10th after passing both teammate Antonio Giovinazzi and fellow countryman Valtteri Bottas.
The struggle bus:
Valtteri Bottas – Qualifying: 10th | Race: 12th
Captaining the struggle bus out of Baku is Valtteri. He is not having a great 2021 but the Finn had a dismal time at the weekend. Mercedes insisted that Baku would be a bad weekend for them, but whenever Hamilton struggles to keep afloat, Bottas sinks to the bottom like a stone. The Finn was slow all weekend, in practice, through qualifying and into the race. Practice was justifiable, as both drivers complained about the car, insisting that they’d squeezed out every drop of pace possible and that the car just felt off.
The question remains, why did Hamilton end up fighting at the front whilst Bottas never managed to cut through the mid-field? Is it the Brit’s extraordinary talent that made it possible for him to flirt with a podium spot, or is the Finn just failing to perform?
As it stands, Valtteri failed to score in half of the races of the 2021 season. With Pérez having settled in at Red Bull, Bottas will need to step up his game if Mercedes wants a shot at reeling in another Constructor’s Championship.
Pirelli
The tyre manufacturer is set to launch a full investigation to determine what caused the tyre blowouts that forcefully ended Stroll and Verstappen’s race. It’s a worrying situation for Pirelli, given that Baku isn’t a particularly tough track on tyres in terms of wear, and the C3 compound is one of the most commonly used of the season.
Image source: Autoblog.com
The two failures were quite reminiscent of the situation at Silverstone last year, where Bottas, Hamilton and Sainz all faced similar issues. It is also quite possible that had teams not been allowed to change the tyres at the restart at Baku, there would have been more than the aforementioned two incidents, which is concerning to say the least.
Pirelli now finds itself under even more scrutiny from teams and drivers alike to produce a better product going forward. Pirelli is still investigating the matter, but cite debris is the most likely cause, as they reveal they found a cut in Hamilton’s tyre.
Lewis Hamilton – Qualifying: 2nd | Race: 15th
Lewis truly had a rollercoaster of a weekend at Baku. The Brit had a disastrous Friday, only to magically recover on Saturday. He outqualified main title rival Verstappen and started second on the grid on Sunday. The Brit attributed the sudden approvements to a series of changes made to the car’s set-up.
Hamilton briefly led the race, before losing out to both Verstappen and Pérez in the pitstops. The Brit then had a second shot at victory when Verstappen’s tyre blew, looking exceptionally strong on the restart as he shot past Pérez. That euphoria didn’t last very long, however, as a slip of the finger on his brake switch prevented him from getting cleanly through the first corner.
This is a rare and uncharacteristic error for the seven-times World Champion, as the last time Hamilton finished outside of the points was more than 50 races ago. He now trails Verstappen in the championship battle by just four points, but had he finished the race in first or second like predicted, then he could have led the championship with double digits.
(Dis)honourable mentions:
Esteban Ocon had been looking strong thus far, especially so when you realise that he outqualified his more decorated teammate in the last four races. This just wasn’t his weekend, though, failing to make Q3 and then suffering a loss of power which ended his race just three laps in. The apple must taste extra sour when he saw that he dropped behind the Spaniard in the drivers’ standings.
Had you told me before this weekend that Mazepin would finish in front of Hamilton without a DNF coming into play, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. Whilst Nikita lasted the entire race and survived two race starts, I still think he deserves a dishonourable mention. It might not be visible in the final results due to the restart, but the Russian was off pace for the entirety of the race. At one point, he was more than 40 seconds behind his teammate Mick Schumacher.
Sure, the Haas car has firmly earned itself a spot at the back of the grid regardless of how great of a driver you put in it, but lagging more than 40 seconds behind your teammate, who drives the same (as Niki Lauda would so aptly put it) shitbox, is not the way you wish to get noticed. He is also catching quite some flack from fans about his dangerous move on fan-favourite Mick Schumacher as the pair battled for 13th on the final lap.
The last dishonourable mention of the day is for Williams. I want them to do well, and I don’t think there is a fan on this earth who wishes otherwise, but the truth of the matter is that they have missed what could have been one of the best chances to get some points this season.
Russell was looking promising, but he had to retire before the final restart due to a loss of power. Nicholas Latifi’s race was ruined by a team communication error. The Canadian driver was told to stay out at the red flag by Williams, whilst in reality, he would have needed to pass through the pit lane. For this, Latifi was handed a 10-second stop and go penalty and three penalty points on his super license. It is an erroneous error on the team’s side and I’m not entirely sure that the punishment the FIA doled out truly fits the crime.
If you are still reeling from the action at Baku, you will have to wait a little while for a revanche, as the next Grand Prix will on the 20th of June at Paul Ricard, a nice Father’s Day treat for some! If you’d like to watch the French Grand Prix, then be sure to tune in at 2pm (UK time) in time for lights to go out.
