BAKU, Azerbaijan – As Charles Leclerc’s challenge to the Formula One title falls apart, Max Verstappen is there to take advantage of.
Verstappen extends his Formula One lead by winning against Azerbaijan grand opening on Sunday after Leclerc withdrew from the lead with an engine failure.
Leclerc started from pole but immediately lost the lead to Sergio Pérez, Verstappen’s Red Bull teammates, in the first corner. The Ferrari the driver regained the lead with a clever strategy that called for crossing the “virtual safety car” speed limit while the two Red Bull cars remained outside.
Leclerc seemed ready for the challenge to win, but the Monaco driver’s car started spewing smoke on lap 20 of 51 and he had to pull over. This is his second retirement in three races.
“That’s hurt. We really need to look into that so it doesn’t happen again. I really can’t find the right words to describe it, obviously very disappointed,” Leclerc said.
Verstappen overcame Pérez just before Leclerc’s defeat and reign F1 the champion got his fifth win of the season.
Verstappen won a year after he was headed for victory in Baku, only to have a blown tire knock him against a wall while leading with three laps remaining. There were more reliability concerns later on Sunday when Verstappen told his team the car felt weird under brakebut he was able to finish.
“You can never make up for what you lost last year but I think today we have incredible speed in the car, we can really take care of the tire and wear it down. and come out on top,” Verstappen said. “But of course, besides that, maybe it’s a bit of luck that (Leclerc’s) retires. I think today our car was really fast and could have closed that gap. “
Red Bull led 1-2 in the race with Pérez second, while Mercedes third and fourth with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.
Pérez, who won in Azerbaijan last year, said Red Bull made the “right call” not to let him battle Verstappen for the win and said he had struggled with worn tyres.
Ferrari had a bad day as both Leclerc and teammate Carlos Sainz Jr failed to finish, as well as the Ferrari-powered cars of Zhou Guanyu and Kevin Magnussen.
This is the first time since the 2020 Italian Grand Prix that the Ferrari team has to retire both cars.
Ferrari’s decline in reliability comes as Red Bull appears to have solved its own problems. Verstappen and Pérez both stopped in the opening race of the season in Bahrain, Red Bull’s first race since putting the engine into production in 2022.
Verstappen leads the rankings 21 points ahead of Pérez, while Leclerc drops to third and is 34 points behind Verstappen.
Seven-time champion Hamilton complained of back pain from Mercedes’ tendency to reverberate at high speeds, and he was hugging his back as he crept out of the car on Sunday after finishing fourth.
“For sure let’s make some changes,” he told team boss Toto Wolff.
Pierre Gasly is fifth for AlphaTauri and Sebastian Vettel is sixth for Alfa Romeo.
Fernando Alonso of Alpine prevented two McLarens Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris finished seventh, and Alonso’s teammate Esteban Ocon finished 10th.
