Sergio Perez took the chequered flag for the Sprint race and Grand Prix, as we all got to experience the first Sprint Weekend of the calendar. Red Bull continued to be the fastest car on the grid, but this time the Mexican came out on top, as he normally does when it comes to street circuits. The rest of the grid was not as plain sailing, with many teams encountering issues throughout the weekend. A lot of drivers clipped the barriers on the exit of Turn 15, which produced most of the entertainment after the safety card brought out by the Nyck de Vries.
What did we learn from this weekend?
There were a lot of points to take home from an action-packed weekend. Ferrari looks to have the one-lap pace, especially in the hands of Charles Leclerc, who matched Max Verstappen’s time in the Sprint Shootout. They are still yet to find the race pace to really mount a charge for the title. Similar to last season, when Leclerc was putting his Ferrari on pole but losing out when the points are dished out. Still, it was a fantastic drive from the Monégasque, earning him his first podium of the year.
Sergio Perez was capable of holding the charge from Max Verstappen after the safety car ended, which ultimately decided the race order. Verstappen commented after the race that he learned a lot of things during this weekend that would help him in the coming races.
This is the first race of the season where we did not have an Aston Martin finishing on the podium but Fernando Alonso still managed to score 15 points in Baku. The Spanish driver was great once again, showcasing what a good job the team has done over the winter break. His and Lance’s comments over the radio show a team working together for one aim, with not much animosity between the drivers if one finishes ahead of the other.
Alpine once again had a stinker of a weekend, issues on Friday meant that they were on the backfoot and playing catchup. Esteban Ocon started from the pitlane and tried to test his luck running super late in the race with the hard tyres hoping late drama would save his race. Pierre Gasly never looked to threaten to get into the points, and that completed a no-scoring weekend for the second time in a row for the French team.
Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton should be content with the way that weekend panned out, the seven-time world champion was dealt a bad hand after the safety car was called upon after he had pitted but he managed to work his way back to sixth place. It’s weird to say that a serial winner such as Hamilton should be happy with finishing sixth, but being the fourth car in terms of car performance, that was more than he had hoped for on Friday.
Williams showed great potential during the whole weekend, with their slick in a straight line proving to be problematic for other cars to match. A bang of wheels for Alex Albon meant that he had to nurse his car with front wing damage, yet he still finished 12th. Logan Sargeant drove a strong race considering he was on the back foot after missing his first F1 Sprint race. Next up for the rookie his home race in Miami.