Verstappen converts the penalty kick imposed by Ferrari!

(Motorsport-Total.com) – Was that an initial decision in the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship? Carlos Sainz and pole position Charles Leclerc (both Ferrari) have retired from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix due to a technical defect. World Championship leader Max Verstappen won the race in Baku ahead of Sergio Perez (Red Bull) and George Russell (Mercedes).

Verstappen had concerns about the DRS in the end, but without Ferrari in the race, Red Bull was not unopposed, allowing the Dutchman and his teammate to speed up.

Hamilton finished second behind Russell, who complained of back problems during the race. Fifth place went to Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), ahead of Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), Fernando Alonso (Alps) and Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren).

Lando Norris (McLaren) and Esteban Ocon (Alpine) rounded out the top ten.

Mick Schumacher (Haas) finished 14th and penultimate.

A total of four cars were eliminated out of the 20 cars started. All fours with a Ferrari power unit at the back.

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Who won the start?

Since the road to the first corner in Baku is very short, there were almost no detours. And the biggest winner was Perez, who accelerated from 0 to 100 km / h in 2.59 seconds, 0.11 seconds faster than Polesiter Leclerc. That was enough to put him ahead of Leclerc, Verstappen, Sainz and Gasly.

What is the reason for failure in Sainz?

The Ferrari driver entered the emergency exit at Turn 4 on lap 9. “A defect in the brake wire,” he stated on crater radio. Sainz was fourth at the time, but couldn’t keep up with the top three.

Because of the stranded Ferrari, the race had to be neutralized with a virtual safety car (VSC). Ten out of 20 drivers used this for pit stops, including Leclerc. On the other hand, the Red Bulls stayed out and thus took the double lead in the Grand Prix.

Was it a team request in Red Bull?

On lap 15, the race was now open again, Verstappen sucked for Perez with the DRS and took the lead before overtaking Mexico 1. Perez didn’t defend himself because he had just received the radio message “No to fight!” I have received.

At that point Verstappen was clearly the fastest Red Bull team, although already on the same tires at the end of the VSC stage, he timed the delta times better and thus cut more than a second off his deficit. Within a very short time he was surpassed by Perez.

Perez understands the team’s strategy: “It was the right decision. At the time, Max was faster. In the end, it was one to two. A great result on this track, where anything can happen.”

Immediately on the first lap after the change of driving, Perez lost four seconds to Verstappen. That prompted him to come to the pit. Not everything went smoothly there and his stop took more than five seconds.

Interesting: At Perez’s station, the mechanics on all fours were ready to go, but the sucker man on the winch in the middle didn’t give the go-ahead. This indicates that there may be a problem with the release sensors in one of the wrench.

What is the reason for failure in Leclerc?

Leclerc had just taken the lead after pitting the Red Bulls when he slowly got into Ferrari’s pits with some smoke from the cooling vents. His lead on Verstappen was 12.2 seconds at the time, but Verstappen was about to reduce that lead significantly with the more modern tyres.

“I can’t find the right words to describe my feelings. This is so frustrating,” was Leclerc’s first reaction when he confronted the media in the ring, even before he spoke to his team. “We have to look at it carefully so it doesn’t happen again. Well, we have to look at it.”

After just three laps, the next Ferrari gave up the ghost when it ordered Alfa Romeo Guanyu Zhou to dig with a “technical problem”. It is not yet known if Zhou has a connection to Ferrari’s power unit.

On lap 32, the next Ferrari engine set off with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen. “Stop the car” was sent to Dane. Magnussen, who was 11 at the time, took off on the track and caused the next stage of VSC.

Did the caution phase affect the race?

Two Red Bulls in the lead used this as another safety stand. It looks like Verstappen still has tire damage since 2021 and got new tires again. Perez did the same. Red Bull was not in danger from behind anyway, especially since Mercedes changed hands again.

Since then, the double victory of the Austrian-British team is no longer in danger. But Helmut Marko is convinced that you would have beaten Leclerc: “With the speed we had on the hard tire, we are convinced we would have beaten Leclerc on the track,” Red Bull Motorsport consultant said in an interview with ‘ServusTV’ and adds: “We are the fastest ever in the racing world. “

Was Vettel doing as well as 2021?

It wasn’t enough for a podium this time around, but the Aston Martin driver still had a solid race. At first, he held a position against Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), and later beat Hamilton and Albin, who were blessed with high top speeds, with impassioned maneuvering on the track.

However, Vettel’s race also had a minor flaw, turning on lap 13 (turn 4), which saw him lose three places. In the end he finished sixth. This is his best result of the 2022 season so far.

What else was important?

Tsunoda finished ahead of Hamilton on the craziest tyres but he couldn’t hold that position. The problem was eventually settled by a defective folding mechanism in the rear wing. Race officials considered this dangerous and ordered Tsunoda to dig for repairs. There the case was organized by a strip of cloth. The Japanese ranked thirteenth.

There were also discussions on the McLaren pit radio about the possible direction of the stable. Norris was slipping off Ricciardo for the last few laps and felt he should let him go so he could attack Alonso in P7. However, McLaren decided against such a tactic. Norris only reluctantly agreed.

What offense was Nicholas Latifi punished for?

On the grid 15 seconds before the molding cycle begins, no more can be done on the cars and the mechanics have to leave the grid. The Williams crew of Latifi also got off on time, but mechanically touched the car past the critical point. This tied the hands of the race hosts, who imposed a stop-and-go penalty (ten seconds).

At the end of the race, Latifi was given a five-second penalty for ignoring the blue flags. This put him last among the secret pilots on the road.

When is the next race?

After Baku, the Formula 1 entourage did not have time to take a deep breath. Because the upcoming media events will continue on Thursday on a completely different continent. From June 17-19, the Canadian Grand Prix is ​​included in the program at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. (Info: Formula 1 calendar 2022)

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