Max Verstappen claimed a comfortable victory in Baku after Charles Leclerc retired from the lead with a power unit failure.
Both Ferraris of Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jnr retired with mechanical faults in the first half of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, allowing Verstappen and Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez to take an unchallenged one-two finish.
George Russell finished third ahead of Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton in fourth, with Pierre Gasly taking fifth for AlphaTauri.
Track temperature was approaching 50C when the field lined up on the grid, with Leclerc on pole position and Perez alongside on the front row. All drivers who lined up in the top 10 opted to start the race on the medium compound tyres.
When the lights went out, Leclerc locked up under braking for the first corner and ran slightly wide, allowing Perez to sweep through into the lead. Behind, Verstappen and Sainz held their third and fourth positions, with Russell, Gasly and Hamilton in seventh.
Over three laps, Perez pulled over two seconds away from Leclerc in second, while Verstappen in third began putting his closest championship rival under pressure. However, the Red Bull was seemingly unable to get close enough even with DRS to attempt a pass on the Ferrari.
On lap nine, Sainz suddenly lost power in his Ferrari and pulled off the circuit at turn four, bringing out the Virtual Safety Car. Leclerc pitted from second place for hard tyres, but despite a slow stop, he rejoined in third place. Behind, Gasly, Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Yuki Tsunoda all pitted for hards, with Vettel jumping ahead of Hamilton through the stops.
With Leclerc out of his way, Verstappen began catching his team mate, the race leader as Leclerc, on hard tyres, began lapping over a second quicker than Perez, 12 seconds off the lead. Further back, Vettel ran off the circuit trying to pass Esteban Ocon for ninth, losing tenth to Hamilton.
At the end of lap 14, Verstappen had caught up to the rear of his team mate. Using DRS along…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RaceFans…