Sergio Perez overtook Charles Leclerc to take victory in Formula 1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix sprint race, taking the chequered flag for Red Bull Racing with a 4.4 seconds advantage.
Starting second, Perez slotted in behind Leclerc at the start and stuck with him through the opening lap, before the race was paused for a safety car period produced after Yuki Tsunoda hit the wall at Turn 14 on the opening lap.
The AlphaTauri driver tore the right-rear tyre off the rim, appearing to have had contact with team-mate Nyck de Vries to damage his front wing.
A virtual safety car emerged for the debris, as Tsunoda crawled back to the pitlane. Although AlphaTauri put a new set of tyres on to try and salvage something from the sprint, the car was noticeably crabbing on the straights and the team was investigated for releasing the car in an unsafe condition.
This evolved into a full-blown safety car by the third lap, with proceedings restarting on the sixth lap once the debris was cleared from the track.
Leclerc let fly on the restart to stay ahead of Perez, leading the next two laps with Checo keeping tabs on him.
But once DRS was available, Perez became a greater force in Leclerc’s mirrors and, at the end of lap seven, reeled the Ferrari in on the 2.2-kilometre main straight and swept past to pick up the lead of the 17-lap race.
The Ferrari driver stuck with him and had a brief look down the inside into Turn 3, but ultimately was not presented with an opportunity to return the favour.
With greater straightline speed, Perez could slowly start to edge away from Leclerc and eventually broke free of DRS range as Leclerc was more concerned with trying to manage his tyres to keep ahead of Max Verstappen.
The Ferrari driver briefly closed in once again and got back within DRS range of Perez, but the Red Bull driver turned up the wick and broke free of Leclerc at almost a second a lap’s advantage, growing to 4.4 seconds by the flag.
Leclerc managed to hang on in second from a late Verstappen charge, as the reigning champion was hampered by damage in a first-lap skirmish with George Russell.
The Mercedes driver had a better getaway and was side-by-side with Verstappen through the opening array of corners, eventually breaking past at Turn 3 – with Verstappen complaining that Russell had touched him through the first lap. His Red Bull sustained a small gash in its left sidepod, as he momentarily dropped to fourth.
But after the restart following the safety car, Verstappen caught a tremendous run on Russell and seared past to reclaim third place.
However, Verstappen was unable to make inroads into Leclerc and dropped outside of DRS activation for most of the sprint, only getting to within a second in the final couple of laps.
Russell claimed fourth ahead of Carlos Sainz, who had battled earlier on with Lewis Hamilton, and broke past the Briton after falling behind before the restart.
Fernando Alonso followed through in the same move to get ahead of Hamilton, as Lance Stroll claimed the final point after winning out in a battle with Alex Albon.
Stroll made a move past the Williams at Turn 1 from a long way behind, and held off Albon into Turn 3.
Oscar Piastri completed the top ten after passing team-mate Lando Norris, who struggled for pace and ultimately pitted to turn his race into a glorified test session.
Azerbaijan Grand Prix, sprint race:
1 Sergio Perez Red Bull 33:17.667
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +4.463s
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull +5.065s
4 George Russell Mercedes +8.532s
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +10.388s
6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +11.613s
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +16.503s
8 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +18.417s
9 Alexander Albon Williams +21.757s
10 Oscar Piastri McLaren +22.851s
11 Kevin Magnussen Haas +27.990s
12 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +34.602s
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine +36.918s
14 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri +41.626s
15 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +48.587s
16 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +49.917s
17 Lando Norris McLaren +51.104s
18 Esteban Ocon Alpine +60.621s
Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri DNF
Logan Sargeant Williams DNF
Azerbaijan Grand Prix sprint race review as reported by Formula1.com.
Sergio Perez claimed the first Sprint race victory of the season at the Baku City Circuit on Saturday afternoon, beating Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen to the chequered flag for the maximum eight points on offer.
With F1’s Sprint format being revised for 2023, a new ‘Shootout’ qualifying session set the grid for the 17-lap dash, which took place in pleasant weather conditions and featured action from start to finish.
One driver who did not take part was F1 rookie Logan Sargeant, who crashed out of the Shootout and was withdrawn from the 100-kilometre Sprint due to the significant damage his Williams car sustained in the incident.
Meanwhile, the grid was another car lighter after Alpine made suspension changes on Esteban Ocon’s car under parc ferme conditions, with the team enduring a particularly challenging weekend on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
When the start lights turned on one by one and eventually went out – with all drivers on medium tyres apart from the soft-shod Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas – pole-sitter Leclerc jumped out of his grid slot to maintain the lead into Turn 1, with Perez holding P2.
Behind, an incredible scrap ensued between Verstappen and the fast-starting George Russell, with the pair going side-by-side through the opening sequence of corners before the Mercedes nosed ahead of the Red Bull at Turn 3.
Verstappen was not a happy man after conceding the position, taking to the radio and accusing Russell of barging his way through – replays confirming that the reigning two-time world champion thumped the wall.
Just as Verstappen lit up the airwaves and requested an FIA investigation, a peculiar incident saw AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda understeer into the wall at the exit of Turn 13, littering debris – and his rear-right tyre – over the circuit.
With the Virtual Safety Car deployed, Leclerc held P1 from Perez, Russell, Verstappen and team mate Carlos Sainz, with Fernando Alonso clearing Williams’ Alex Albon to put his Aston Martin on the tail of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.
Despite losing a wheel, Tsunoda limped his way back to the pits and mechanics attempted to make repairs. However, it became clear as soon as he rejoined the track that the damage was terminal, forcing the full Safety Car to make an appearance, under which Ocon opted for a cheap stop and switch to softs.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.perez-beats-leclerc-and-verstappen-to-victory-in-action-packed-baku-sprint.2rEmvrAGRPwTlN7dRUDRbe.html
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc says he chose not to fight Sergio Perez for victory in Formula 1’s 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix sprint race after accepting “Red Bull has the upper hand”.
Saturday polesitter Leclerc launched cleanly to hold position into Turn 1 and then retained control over second-starting Perez at a safety car restart that followed AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda shedding a tyre.
But shortly after DRS was enabled, the Red Bull’s straightline advantage allowed Perez to dive cleanly up the inside into Turn 1 of lap eight for the lead and the eventual win by 4.463s.
This pass came despite the DRS zone down the main straight being cut by 100m for 2023.
Leclerc reckoned he did not fight hard to retain first, saying: “I didn’t know what to expect.
“I didn’t fight too much [Perez] because I just wanted to try and keep my tyres – I knew this was our weak point.
“I tried to stay within the DRS of [Perez] so he could pull me on the straight.
“But that wasn’t enough. We were losing a little bit too much towards the end with the degradation.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/leclerc-chose-not-to-fight-perez-in-baku-f1-sprint/10462619/
A furious Max Verstappen says he’s puzzled about George Russell taking “so much risk” as the pair clashed in F1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix sprint, calling the Mercedes driver a d***head.
Third-starting Verstappen was hounded by fast-starting Russell into the first sequence of 90-degree left-handers of the Baku City Circuit.
An aggressive Russell tapped Verstappen’s sidepod into Turn 2 and caused the Dutchman to slide, which gave Russell momentum on the stretch towards Turn 3. Verstappen then had to cede the position when he nudged Turn 3’s outside wall.
The Red Bull driver raged on the team radio about the incident which left him with sidepod damage. “I don’t understand how he can keep the position and he is damaging my car. It’s kinda ridiculous,” he fumed at his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.
With the incident left alone by the FIA stewards, Verstappen then repassed the Briton after an early safety car to seal third behind team-mate Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
In parc ferme Verstappen confronted Russell about the contact, with Russell pointing to a lack of grip in the first few corners as the cause of their contact.
In what became a heated exchange Verstappen clearly didn’t accept Russell’s explanation and went on to call him a d***head as the Mercedes driver walked off.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/verstappen-rages-russell-baku-f1-sprint-contact/10462616/