Why Perez will be the one to watch

Sergio Perez sits just 15 points behind Red Bull F1 teammate Max Verstappen after the opening seven roundꦛs of the season.

Given Pꦫerez’s struggles last year, it’s a remarkable turnaround for the Mexican.

Renowned for his impressive race pace and tyre preservation, Perez’s sizeab🦋♎le improvement in form has come over one lap. 

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He was Red Bull’s best shot of pole position in Monte Carlo, with Verstappen struggling to get to grips with the legendary street ci♒rcuit. 

Perez recovered from his crash in qualifying to take his third career victory, benefitting fromꦯ several strategy 🌳blunders from Ferrari.

Already this season, Perez has shown great form at street v🌠enues - taking pole in 🎐Jeddah, winning in Monaco and showing strong pace in Miami.

Historically, Baku has been one of Pere🐭z’s best tracks.

He claimed two podiums ✃fo♍r Force India in 2016 and 2018 before winning for Red Bull in 2021. 

Yesꦿ, Perez did get fortunate with Verstappen’s tyre blow-out but without his slow pit stop, it’s likely he would have been able to overcut his teammate. 

Regardless of what Red Bull say, Verstappen is their main man and Perez taking ♑points off the reigning champion isn’t ideal given the tight fight with Charles 🧸Leclerc this season.

However, Perez has only beaten Verstappen on merit once in race trim durin❀g their time together as teammates so mayb𒆙e it’s too early to hype up his chances just yet.

But for this weekend, our money is on Perꦕez to impress once again in Azerbaijan.

Can Ferrari compete with Red Bull?

Ferrari missed an open goal in Monaco with a series of p🗹oor s𒀰trategy choices costing Leclerc a memorable home victory.

It was another mis🗹sed opportunity for Leclerc and Ferrari, who were dominating the last two races but came away with no victories, handing♛ the initiative to Red Bull.

Ferrari will no doubt be quick in Baku with their performance in lo🎀w-speed, 90-degree corners often impressive.

Leclerc claimed pole in 2021 despite not having the quickest car while he looked set🐭 to take it in 2019 before his crash in Q2. 

Red Bull has often held a significant advantage on the straights ma🐎king life very difficult for Ferrari, particularly if Leclerc is overtaken by Ve꧙rstappen - think back to Miami, for example.

Mercedes’ ‘dangerous’ potential

It’s only a matter of time b🔴efore Mercedes turn their season around.

The eight-time wo𝓰rld champions were back on form at the Spanish Grand Prix with George Russell finishing third, while Lewis Hamilton showed incredible pace fo💮llowing his clash with Kevin Magnussen.

Hamilton’s race pace in Barcelona was lღevel with eventual race winner Max Verstappen indicating that if Mercedes can fully unlock their W13 challenger, they could be a serious threat this year.

The Geౠrman team’s potential has e🐎ven caught the eye of Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko.

“Mercedes is doing incredibly fast laps in practice and also in the races, both with [Lewis] Hamilton and [George] Russell," Marko told Formel1.de. “Not continuou🐠sly, so for us it's difficult to interpret where that lap time is com🐎ing from. Listening closely to the Mercedes people, I don't think they know either.

“But the dangerous thing is the potential seems to be there. And once that can be called up o♑ver a race distance, then they'll be right up there or right at the front.”

Mercedes unlocked a s🍨trong turn of pace in a straight line in Barcelona with Russell consistent♛ly fastest of anyone in the first sector. 

Despite B𓆏aku being a street circuit,𒆙 it’s incredibly high speed - like Saudi Arabia and Miami.

While Mercedes weren’t♑ too competitive at ♍the aforementioned circuits, they have made significant progress since then.

A race victory might still be out of reach for either Russell or Hamilton but further progress is𒈔 key if they want to turn their season around before it is too late.

A chance of an upset?

The chaotic nature🌼 of the Baku City Circuit means there could be a chance of an upset on Sunday.

Daniel Ricciardo claimed a shock wꦯin in 2017, while Lance Stroll scored his maiden podium.

Perez finished 𒁏on the podium in 2016 and 2018 for Force India, while Sebastian Vett🌊el and Pierre Gasly made surprise rostrum appearances last year.

Out of the drivers yet to finish on the podium, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas has got closest wit𒐪h the Finn running in contention in a number of races so far this year. 

With the potential for carnage on Sunday, we might have a diffe♉rent looking podium.

Off-track issues continue to dominate 

Off-track issues will cont🔯inue to dominate F1 paddock conversation with the𝔍 cost cap at the heart of the discussions.

Many teams, particularly, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes want the FIA to up the cost cap as a result of the unprecedented lev🦄els of inflation which has had a significant impact on freight and energy costs.

Alpine and Alfa Romeo have already expr💞essed their disagr🐬eement with the big three teams.

No doubt, it will be a story that will continue to rumb☂le on in Azerbaijan.

Talking of never-ending stories, jewellery always comes up during the Fr🍷iday media sessions so don’t be surprised if it does𒁏 again.