F1 | Azerbaijan Grand Prix Race Recap

Max Verstappen leads Red Bull one-two in Baku after Ferrari engine failures

The giant white puff of smoke that erupted out of the engine of Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles LeClerc was more than an engine failure, it could have been the season title going up in flames.

With LeClerc out of the race after taking yet another pole, Max Verstappen cruised to an easy win at the Azerbaijan GP for first time, ahead of Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, to extend his world championship lead.

It was not a day to remember for Ferrari. Leclerc’s hopes of winning the race immediately took a hit as he was passed by Perez off the line, and he very nearly lost another place to Verstappen after a heavy lock-up at the first corner. Later in the race, LeClerc and Verstappen ended up on different strategies following the virtual safety car that was triggered by Ferrari’s other driver Carlos Sainz’s retirement on lap nine. It looked like Verstappen and Leclerc were set for another tight battle for victory, only for the other Ferrari to suffer the same fate when leading on lap 20.

It was Leclerc’s second retirement from the lead with an engine failure in three races, with a strategy error in between in Monaco having seen him lose track position to the Red Bulls there.

Leclerc now has failed to convert pole position to victory for a fourth successive race, with the Ferrari driver now having gone five races without a win, despite often appearing to have had enough speed to beat the Red Bulls.

“It hurts. We really need to look into that for it not to happen again, I can’t really find the right words to describe this," Leclerc said.“Today we had incredible pace in the car, we could really look after the tires and we could chip away for the lead," said Verstappen through a release post race. “Checo did a good job at the start getting ahead of Charles, I got blocked in and couldn’t go anywhere. Once I was on the hard tires and in the lead and I could just manage it and could control the gap. It would have been good to have had a battle with Charles today but he had a DNF. To get a 1-2 for the Team was really good, we’ve scored some good points today and made the gap bigger to Ferrari. There’s still a long way to go, it’s a long season so we need to keep pushing as a Team.”

The victory saw Verstappen extend his world championship lead to 21 points, with Perez, who took an additional point for setting the fastest lap time, overtaking Leclerc for second, with the LeClerc now 13 points back. In the constructors’ championship, Red Bull’s lead over Ferrari grows to 80 points.

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN - JUNE 10: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB18 on track during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan at Baku City Circuit on June 10, 2022 in Baku, Azerbaijan. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202206100336 // Usage for editorial use only //

“I started really well, we were leading and felt we had things under control," said Perez through a statement post race. “We were a little unlucky with the timing of the VSC which made things a bit more difficult for us. When you are leading the race for the first stint, which is normally the harder one, then you think you are looking strong but that wasn’t to be the case today and that is racing. I got some bad degradation on my rear tyres, which meant I couldn’t keep Max behind, he was extremely fast and it made sense for him to pass me rather than fight it. We were told to keep certain pace on the hards once both Ferraris were out of the race and we managed the rest of it well. We have to understand where we could have got more out of the car today and go forward to Canada and make sure we are in contention once again. Today was a great result for the Team and a good day in the Constructors’ Championship.”

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN - JUNE 12: Race winner Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing and Second placed Sergio Perez of Mexico and Oracle Red Bull Racing celebrate in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan at Baku City Circuit on June 12, 2022 in Baku, Azerbaijan. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202206120432 // Usage for editorial use only //

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN - JUNE 12: Race winner Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing and Second placed Sergio Perez of Mexico and Oracle Red Bull Racing talk after the F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan at Baku City Circuit on June 12, 2022 in Baku, Azerbaijan. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202206120449 // Usage for editorial use only //

George Russell maintained his record of finishing in the top five at every race in his debut season at Mercedes as he secured another podium, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton battled through back pain caused by his bouncing car to climb to fourth. For Russell, he maintained his record as the only driver to finish in the points at every race this season, as the 24-year-old secured the third podium of what is proving to be a highly impressive debut campaign with the team.

While there was emotional pain for Ferrari, the problems were more physical for Mercedes as Russell and Hamilton overcame extreme discomfort to secure a strong points haul for the Silver Arrows. Despite fears expressed before the race by Mercedes boss Toto Wolff that Hamilton would struggle to complete the 51 laps due to back pain, the seven-time world champion produced a series of overtakes to earn fourth

As if seeing their own cars retire was not bad enough, there were also what appeared to be engine-related retirements for the Ferrari-powered cars of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Gunayu.With just a few days to go until Formula One’s all new cars for the 2022 season return to the track for next weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, there will be major fear at Ferrari of further engine issues. If the engine is not reparable or they cannot make an older engine operational, LeClerc is set to receive a grid penalty for using more engines than allotted during the season.

Team principal Mattia Binotto was unable to offer a huge amount of reassurance, explaining that the team would need to identify the problem before discovering whether or not a “quick fix" is possible.

All eyes will be on the horses next weekend in Canada to see if they can find their form on Sunday rather than solely on Saturday.