Azerbaijan GP: Perez beats Verstappen to be first repeat Baku winner

Sergio Perez proved his street credentials once again with a controlled victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The Mexican was thrust into the lead following an early Safety Car but still produced a perfect drive to deny teammate Max Verstappen any chance of victory in Baku.

Polesitter Charles Leclerc was powerless to stop the Red Bull siege early on but would claim his and Ferrari’s first podium on the season in third.

Race Review

A clean start saw Leclerc hold the lead in front of the two Red Bulls as the top six held formation.

Behind, Alex Albon triggered some light contact between four cars through Turn 2 but all continued unscathed.

Verstappen wasted little time to overhaul Leclerc for the lead, blasting ahead on the main straight when DRS was enabled.

Two laps later, Sergio Perez followed his teammate past the Ferrari to make it a Red Bull one-two.

Behind, tyres dominated the midfield battle as graining was an issue on the medium starters. Several drivers, including Lewis Hamilton, pitted early for the hard compound while others stayed out.

The first twist came on Lap 11 as Nyck De Vries was stranded against the wall at Turn 5 requiring a Safety Car to move his AlphaTauri.

Verstappen pitted for tyres just before the SC was called while Perez stayed out and capitalised on stopping under the SC to take the lead as Leclerc moved up to second.

At the restart, Perez held Leclerc at bay into Turn 1 with Verstappen pouncing on the Ferrari to take second into Turn 3.

Fernando Alonso produced an opportunistic move on Carlos Sainz at Turn 4 to claim fourth having benefitted from the Safety Car.

Mercedes were among those disadvantaged by the Safety Car, falling to seventh and eighth behind the two Aston Martins.

Hamilton would also overtake George Russell for seventh at the end of the restart lap.

Red Bull quickly began to streak away out front as Verstappen applied pressure on Perez, but the Mexican was able to keep the gap at around 1.5s.

Behind, a mistake from Stroll exiting Turn 16 allowed Hamilton the chance to pass for sixth on the main straight.

The early Safety Car promoted pit-lane starters Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg inside the top 10 after starting on hard tyres, with a train forming behind the low-drag Alpine in ninth.

Ahead, Alonso began to put third-placed Leclerc in his sights but the Monegasque responded to eke out his advantage over the Spaniard.

The second Ferrari of Sainz was also under attack from Hamilton for P5, but the Mercedes couldn’t quite get close enough even with DRS.

With no moves coming at the front, all eyes returned to the train at the tail end of the points positions as Hulkenberg began to struggle on his tyres and dropped down the field.

That allowed Ocon to stay in ninth until the final lap when he made his mandatory pit-stop and ultimately dropped to 15th.

At the front, Perez paced himself to perfection leading Verstappen by just over two seconds to become the first two-time race winner in Baku.

Leclerc survived a late charge from Alonso to cross the line just 0.8s ahead of the Aston Martin in third.

Likewise, Sainz also had a race to the finish, leading Hamilton by only 0.6s in fifth and sixth, ahead of Stroll in seventh.

George Russell pitted for soft tyres on the penultimate lap and snatched the fastest lap in eighth.

Lando Norris claimed ninth and Yuki Tsunoda 10th after being released from the Ocon/Hulkenberg train.

Full results from the Azerbaijan GP can be seen below: