Azerbaijan Grand Prix Tag

By FIA Charles Leclerc went quickest in final practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as both he and second-placed Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel eclipsed their rivals by more than a second. In the qualifying simulations at the end of the third practice session at the Baku City Circuit, Leclerc set a time of 141.604 to take top spot. Vettel, who had languished some way off his young team-mate’s pace during the session, then delivered his own telling lap to take P2 just 0.198s behind the young Monegasque driver. The emphaticRead More

By FIA Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc went quickest in the second free practice session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, outpacing team-mate Sebastian Vettel by more than three tenths of a second. Lewis Hamilton was third for Mercedes ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. After running fastest in the early part of the session on medium tyres, Leclerc also claimed top spot when the field moved to soft tyres for their qualifying simulations. The Monegasque’s best lap of 1:42.872, which deposed team-mate Vettel from P1, was delivered on the second push lapRead More

By FIA The first practice session for this weekend’s Azerbaijan was brought to a premature finish when Williams’ George Russell hit a loose drain cover. The drain cover, on the straight before Turn 3, appeared to come loose when driven over by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc a little over 10 minutes into the session. Russell, the next car on track, ran over the loosened object which damaged the floor of his Williams FW42. Russell pulled over on the exit of Turn 3 and the session was red-flagged to allow for theRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The Azerbaijan Grand Prix had it all, from a surprise winner for the second year in a row, a lot of crashes and controversy at Red Bull, to a second podium in Baku for Sergio Perez and Force India. Sebastian Vettel initially pulled away from Lewis Hamilton and appeared to have the race in the bag, but late pressure from Valtteri Bottas and the safety car period after Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen crashed in turn 1 turned the race on its head. Vettel out brakedRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton claimed a fortunate 63rd career win and control of the Drivers’ Championship standings at the end of a chaotic and incident-packed Azerbaijan Grand Prix that saw long-time race leader Sebastian Vettel drop to fourth after a collision between the Red Bull drivers and Valtteri Bottas exit the race from the lead with a late puncture. Kimi Räikkönen was left to take second place behind Hamilton, with Force India’s Sergio Perez taking a second career podium finish in Baku thanks to a late pass on Vettel. The 2018Read More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel grabbed his 53rd career pole position at the Baku Circuit Circuit, edging Lewis Hamilton by just under two tenths of a second in an enthralling qualifying session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Vettel’s party might have been spoiled by team-mate Kimi Räikkönen, who was on course to beat the German’s time on his final flying lap, but a mistake in Turn 16 mean the Finn lost all the time gained in his first two sectors and he finished sixth behind third-placed Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes and the Red BullsRead More

By FIA Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo went quickest in the second practice session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, edging Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen by 0.069s. Last year’s winner at the Baku City Circuit, Ricciardo was straight into the groove in the late afternoon session claiming top spot 10 minutes into the 90-minute practice period. Ricciardo worked his way up to a best early supersoft of time of 1:43.512s and before the field began to move to ultrasoft-shod qualifying runs as the session approached the half-way mark. The Australian again establishedRead More

By FIA Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas took top spot in the first practice session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but there were problems for Red Bull Racing as Max Verstappen crashed. The Dutch driver led the way in the opening half an hour of the session, setting the pace with a time in the mid-1m45s bracket. That left him marginally clear of Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, as the Renault-powered team began the weekend brightly. The outlook darkened soon afterwards, however, as Verstappen lost control on the approach to Turn 5Read More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Kevin Magnussen spared no expense in his belief that the Haas F1 Team are right in the thick of the midfield battle with the likes of Renault and McLaren. The 25-year-old Dane has scored 11 points through the opening three races, which sits him 10th in the Formula One World Driver’s Championship. The flipside is that he is the only driver to provide points for the American team, with Romain Grosjean yet to finish in the top 10. As it stands heading into Baku for theRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief With three races into the 2018 Formula One season, everything is still just as unclear as the day it began. An incredible performance by Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo put him as the star of the show at the last round in China, with momentum also on his side as the defending race winner for the last year’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Our friends from Mobil 1 The Grid have brought the affable Aussie on to explain how he captured the remarkable victory last season inRead More