F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Max Verstappen leads Red Bull 1-2 as Ferrari double DNF

Max Verstappen strengthened his position at the top of the F1 world championship by leading a Red Bull 1-2 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, after Charles Leclerc retired with a power unit failure. 
Race winner Max Verstappen
Race winner Max Verstappen

The reigning world♋ champion overtook Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez - who was instructed♕ not to fight Verstappen - for second place, before inheriting the lead when Leclerc’s engine conked out 20 laps in. 

Verstappen then cruised to 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:a comfortable🔥 fifth victory of the season, and the 25th of his career, which has seen him move into 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果ꩲ历史:a 21-point lead at the top of the championship over Perez. 

Leclerc’s second power-uni♌t related retirement in three races means the Ferrari driver has now fallen 34 points behind Verstappen after eight races. 

George Russell secured his third podium of the season in third place, ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton, who battled back pain 🍨in his bouncing Mercedes to fight his way into fourth after losing ground during an early pit stop. 

AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly claimed a strong fifth place, ahead of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso’s Alpine.&n🦄bsp;

Daniel Ric♔ciardo beat McLaren teammඣate Lando Norris to eighth, while Alpine’s Esteban Ocon completed the points-paying positions in 10th. 

More reliability woe for Ferrari at Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Verstappen passes Perez to win F1 Azerbaijan GP; Ferrari double DNF

Ferrari endured a nightmare race in Baku with their first double DNF of the season.&nbs💟p;

Carlos Sainz dropped out of fourth place early on when his Ferrari switched off with an expected hydraulic issue, before Leclerc joꦗined him on the sidelines after suffering a hammer blow to his title hopes. 

Leclerc’s hopes of taking third win of the season ended in dramatic fashion on the main straight when smoke was seen pouring out of the back of his Ferrari, forcing him into the pits and re༒tirement. 

There was more reliability for Ferrari’s customer teams as Alfa Romeo’s G𝄹uanyu Zhou and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen also stopped with technical issues.

With four of ꦐthe six Ferrari-powered cars failing to see the chequered flag, there will be real c♔oncern at Maranello over the state of the Italian team’s reliability.

Red Bull use team orders again 

(L to R): Sergio Perez (MEX) Red Bull Racing RB18 is passed for the lead by team mate Max Verstappen (NLD) Red Bull Racing
(L to R): Sergio Perez (MEX) Red Bull Racing RB18 is passed for the lead by team mate Max…

Verstappen was handed a helping hand by Red Bull en route to his win when Perez was t꧋old not to offer any resistanc🍬e to his teammate. 

The Dutchman caught and easily passed Perez into Turn 1 to snatch second place on Lap 15 as Perez obeyed𒁏 the order. 

After the race, Perez said the team order was correct given Verstappen’s pace advantage over him at that stage of the race, ဣbut it was a clear sign of who Red Bull is backing in the title race. 

Verstappen now finds himself 21�𓃲� points clear of Perez, who has leapfrogged Leclerc into second place in the standings with 14 races to go. 

Read More