Azerbaijan, "The Land of Fire", hosted the Grand Prix weekend for the fourth time. Qualifying proved an interrupted session with two red flags and two half-an-hour delays. The first red flag came at the very end of the first session, as Kubica crashed his Williams into the tyre wall in tricky Turn 8, which is the narrowest point of the circuit. Mercedes and Ferrari had a differing tyre strategy in Q2, which created extra tension. The Mercedes aces came out on the soft Pirellis, whilst the red-suited drivers opted for the yellow-walled medium compound. Leclerc showed excellent performance on the medium rubber, and went fifth fastest. Sebastian's attempt, on the other hand, left a lot to hope for, and P11 meant, that he desperately needed another run. In Q2 the tricky Turn 8 required another casualty. Leclerc was pushing his SF90 to the limit, and trying too hard came with a high price. The Monegasque crashed into the same tyre wall, which Kubica had ended up into only a moment earlier. The qualifying was red-flagged for the second time already. Another 30-minute delay meant, that the sun was already setting, as the session was resumed. Sebastian had to opt for soft tyres at the end of the session, as another run on the medium Pirellis would possibly have jeopardized his proceeding into the final segment. Sebastian drove two flyers and made it fifth in the standings in the end. Leclerc had set a lap time competitive enough to make it into Q3, but after the shunt his qualifying was obviously over.
Although Ferrari had shown impressive performance in the free practice sessions, you can never write off the two Mercedes. They always seem to deliver, when it matters. Hamilton had a grasp on pole after the first runs, but teammate Bottas raised the bar. The determined Finn put together an outstanding lap at the end of the session, and snatched pole from his teammate by 0.059s. Although Ferrari were the favorites for pole, somehow Mercedes managed to conquer the whole front row. Sebastian was left third, three tenths off the pace. The perfect performance on the narrow streets of Baku was all about getting a tow on the final sector, but I don't know, had even a tow helped Sebastian to make it on pole. Verstappen qualified fourth for Red Bull and Perez fifth for Racing Point.
Alfa Romeo Racing's Kimi Räikkönen, who had qualified 9th, had been excluded from the results due to a front wing flexibility issue, and the Iceman started to the race from the pit lane, alongside Red Bull's Gasly. Leclerc, who had been promoted to P8 due to Kimi's and Giovinazzi's penalties, was the only top ten driver to start to the race on the medium compound. The lights out started a fiery duel between the Silver Arrows. Hamilton got a slightly better ignition from P2, and the teammates were diving into Turn 1 side by side. However, Bottas was determined to keep his lead, and he was the first Mercedes pilot to dive into Turn 3. Sebastian followed the Silver Arrows in P3, and Red Bull's Verstappen had snatched his fourth place back from Racing Point's Perez.
As Sebastian and both Mercedes drivers pitted, flying Leclerc took the lead. However, towards the halfway point of the race, Leclerc was struggling with his outworn medium Pirellis, which enabled the Mercedes duo to catch him. On lap 32 Bottas attacked Charles, depriving the Monegasque of the race lead. Only a lap later teammate Hamilton repeated his teammate's move, jumping second. Sebastian also rapidly closed the gap to his teammate, who was in serious trouble with his dying tyres. There was no drama; Charles let Sebastian past. After that Charles finally pitted on lap 35, for a fresh set of soft Pirellis. He re-joined the track behind the Red Bull duo of Verstappen and Gasly.
With only 12 laps to go, Gasly's RB15 was suddenly hit with a technical failure, which made the car stop on the track. Virtual safety car was deployed. After the re-start, and with only five laps to go, the battle between the Mercedes teammates evolved fiery. Hamilton was almost within DRS distance from his storming teammate. Meanwhile, Ferrari called Charles in for a second pit stop. He switched to a new set of soft tyres, as he was in safe fifth place. The Monegasque started his chase for the fastest lap time. With two laps to go, Hamilton was within less than a second from Valtteri, who had no intention to give up on the lead. On the contrary, Hamilton himself made a small mistake, which gave Valtteri the upper hand. The flying Finn had the fastest lap time under his belt on the second last lap, only to be deprived of it by Charles on the penultimate lap!
Sensational Bottas led Mercedes into the fourth 1-2 of the season, which is quite incomprehensible indeed. Sebastian completed the podium, with Verstappen fourth and Leclerc fifth. Unfortunately Leclerc's pace on the soft tyres didn't prove as competitive as on the medium compound. Bottas' second victory of the season made him snatch the lead in the drivers' championship standings, but by one point only. Sebastian moved third in the standings, but is already 35 points down on Valtteri. Verstappen is lurking only one point behind Sebastian. Mercedes have a sweeping lead in the constructors' standings, with 173 points to the Red Team's 99.
The season in Europe begins in a fortnight, as the F1 circus moves to Barcelona, Spain. The Red Team is under huge pressure to bring well-working update package to their car at Circuit de Catalunya. The pecking order must be turned around! Forza Ferrari!
With passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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