Michael Lamonato, host of the F1 Strategy Report podcast, joined Paul Heath on Sports Drive to chat all things F1.
For years Red Bull Racing has dreamed of having a teammate befitting Max Verstappen’s prodigious pace, and Sergio Perez proved he’s their man in Baku.
Stalemate in Baku. Both Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton fail to score at a dramatic Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but Sergio Perez scores a breakthrough win in Red Bull overalls.
Featuring BBC F1 commentator Jack Nicholls.
ESPN Formula 1® editor Laurence Edmondson joins us to recap a typically crazy Azerbaijan Grand Prix, debate why the Baku circuit always throws up chaotic races, assess the ramifications of Lewis Hamilton’s braking blunder and review a Sunday of both pleasure and pain for Red Bull Racing.
If the championship leaders don’t score points, did the Azerbaijan Grand Prix really happen? Sergio Perez wins, Lewis Hamilton spins and Valtteri Bottas is no good.
Sergio Perez confirmed his arrival for Red Bull Racing for his first win in navy overalls in a dramatic ending to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix that saw title protagonists Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton fail to score.
Sergio Perez has won a dramatic Azerbaijan Grand Prix after one of Max Verstappen’s tyres blew up from the lead of the race with five laps to go.
Sergio Perez claimed his second career grand prix victory and first for Red Bull Racing after teammate Max Verstappen suffered an explosive tire failure from the lead with five laps to go.
Verstappen’s left-rear tire punctured at 195mph halfway down the start-finish straight while cruising with a four-second advantage over Perez and title rival Lewis Hamilton. It was the second tire failure of the afternoon, with Lance Stroll suffering a near identical crash at speed on the same hard compound after 31 laps. Verstappen’s tires were 33 laps old.
Pirelli will analyze the remains of the stricken tires before ascribing a cause for the failures.
Continue reading on RACER
Charles Leclerc is on pole for the second straight weekend, and though he’ll almost certainly make the start of the race in Baku, his odds of winning the grand prix are slim.
Charles Leclerc has taken his ninth career pole for Ferrari in a dramatic end to qualifying at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc has taken back-to-back pole positions after red flags brought a chaotic qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix to an early end.
Leclerc had taken provisional pole with his first flying lap — in no small part thanks to a substantial slipstream from Lewis Hamilton — to set up what should have been a tight conclusion with the second runs. But the shootout was halted with just a second remaining on the clock when Yuki Tsunoda smacked his AlphaTauri into the barrier at Turn 3, partially blocking the track. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, immediately behind him on the track, tried to take avoiding action but locked up, spinning himself into the wall in the run-off zone.
Red flags were waved for the fourth time of the afternoon and the session was abandoned, handing Leclerc a second consecutive pole.
Continue reading on RACERPierre Gasly topped final practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after pole favorite Max Verstappen crashed out of the session less than halfway through.
Verstappen was only five laps into his program on the hard tire when he carried too much speed into Turn 15 on the fast run down the hill, coming to a halt with his right-front tire in the barrier.
Unable to engage reverse and anyway with a broken track rod, the devastated Dutchman left his car in situ, prompting a red flag. TV cameras caught him slumped and collecting his thoughts on a concrete block before returning to pit lane.
Continue reading on RACERChampionship leader Max Verstappen topped both Ferrari drivers to put Red Bull Racing at the head of first practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Verstappen’s lap came late in the session, having run the harder compounds early when the street track was at its dirtiest, but his time of 1m43.184s beat Charles Leclerc by just 0.043s.
The Dutchman was comfortably quickest in the first sector but lost time to the Ferrari driver at the second split, which comprises mostly slow-speed corners around the castle section of the track. He lost a little time to his personal best out of the final corner for not having a car to slipstream over the line.
Continue reading on RACERSergio Perez and Max Verstappen led the way in second practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on an afternoon neither Mercedes finished inside the top 10.
Perez topped teammate Verstappen by just 0.101s to complete a Red Bull Racing Friday practice sweep, while Lewis Hamilton was just 11th and 1.041s off the pace.
“I don’t really know where all the time is,” lamented the Briton after his flying lap, though tire temperature management appeared to be a problem, as it had been in Monaco. His teammate, Valtteri Bottas, fared even worse, stuck in 16th and a further second adrift.
Continue reading on RACERMonaco meets Monza in F1’s return to Baku. Can Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen extend their new-found championship leads? I preview the upcoming Monaco Grand Prix with 2019 podcast guest The Race’s Edd Straw.
Daniel Ricciardo arrived as McLaren’s 2021 star signing, but the race-winning Australian is at a loss to explain his thrashing at the hands of his junior teammate.
Back in lockdown, first part of the show failed to record, denied an Indy 500 Monday nap — the Azerbaijan GP can only get better from here. #HaveACrackDC