Disaster for Ferrari, another double for Red Bull, solid drive for Mercedes: who dominated the Azerbaijan Grand Prix?

Formula 1 has completed the eighth race of this season, which brought a truly attractive spectacle. The Red Bull Racing team recorded a great result, while the Azerbaijan Grand Prix ended tragically for Ferrari! Mercedes and AlphaTauri also recorded decent results.

After Saturday’s qualifying, things were looking promising for Ferrari. Charles Leclerc took pole position and Carlos Sainz started from fourth on Sunday.

But it was Sainz who had to retire early on lap nine of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, due to an alleged failure of the brake-by-wire system, the electronic brake control system.

Well, eleven laps later, Monaco’s Leclerc also dropped out of the race after his engine failed and started to smoke.

Ferrari thus lost very important points in the fight for the title, so after the twentieth round neither of the drivers of the Italian stable continued in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The Red Bull drivers took the lead in the race, with Max Verstappen taking the top spot on the fifteenth lap and Sergio Pérez holding second place.

After the Ferrari drivers, however, Kevin Magnussen in the Haas and Kuan-yu Zhou in his Alfa Romeo retired during the eighth race of the season. It should be noted that all four of the retiring drivers have Ferrari engines in their guts.

Three laps before the end of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll also withdrew due to technical difficulties.

Since the Red Bull drivers took the race lead, they have already secured their positions. The Austrian team has now claimed another double!

Mercedes also recorded solid results, with George Russell accompanying the Red Bull drivers on the podium and Lewis Hamilton crossing the line in fourth place. Pierre Gasly in the AlphaTauri also had a great drive, finishing fifth.

Sebastian Vettel scored important points for Aston Martin, finishing the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in sixth place. Fernando Alonso gave an experienced performance. The legendary Spanish driver finished seventh and withstood the pressure from the McLaren drivers, who fought a very interesting battle on the last lap of the race!

However, Daniel Ricciardo held on to his eighth place and did not let his teammate Lando Norris get ahead of him. Alonso’s teammate Esteban Ocon rounded out the top ten.

On the other hand, Nicholas Latifi on Williams is making a really terrible impression. In fact, the Canadian driver was not properly prepared for the start of the only introductory lap, his mechanics had to push him back to his starting slot.

It was at this time, however, that no one was allowed to touch the car, and so Latifi received a “10 seconds stop and go penalty” at the start of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. In the last laps of the race, he ignored the blue flags and received an additional five seconds from the race directors.

In any case, Red Bull increases its lead at the head of the Constructors’ Cup to an abysmal 80 points. After the tragic result from Sunday’s race, the Austrian team currently has 279 points, while Ferrari has only 199.

Verstappen has consolidated his lead in the drivers’ championship, having picked up 150 points so far. Pérez moves into second place, Leclerc drops to number three.

Source: F1 TV