Sergio Checo Pérez propelled himself over the weekend in Azerbaijan with a double victory, in the Sprint on Saturday and in the long race on Sunday, which led him to challenge his leader, Max Verstappen, and launch his candidacy. The two Red Bulls were superior to the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, third -first podium of the year-, who squandered both pole positions, while Fernando Alonso, fourth, got out of the drawer for the first time this season.
High voltage at the output. Leclerc with Verstappen, Checo with Sainz, and Hamilton with Alonso, in the first three rows. Three high caliber dance couples to have a hot start.
However, in the 140 meters from the grid to the first angle there was no change of position. Respect and prudence prevailed, everyone in the same place, Leclerc accelerated well to push Verstappen away, and Alonso tried to pass Hamilton on the inside, who closed the gap well. The most advanced was Stroll, from ninth to seventh, in the wake of his Aston Martin teammate. And Russell, from 11th to 9th, behind Norris.
As soon as the DRS was enabled, from the third lap, the hunt was opened for the Red Bull. Verstappen's hack on Leclerc was huge, on the straight, tearing off the Ferrari stickers. The Monegasque did not resist. So that? It tasted like overtaking meat.
Two laps later (v. 6/51) he was imitated by Checo Pérez, who easily overtook Leclerc to follow the path set by his partner. The two Red Bulls were already in the lead, with the two Ferraris behind. The Mexican, linking better laps, was approaching Verstappen. Would he try to overtake the boss? Would the team let him?
Things came to a head in laps 10-11. Alonso and Stroll ate Hamilton at times, who avoided overtaking by going to the pit-stop (v.10), and immediately afterwards a Verstappen squeezed by Pérez also did it.
But just at that moment, an accident by De Vries (v. 11) caused the safety-car to come out... which meant a dance of tire changes (hard) for the entire grid. So those who had just come out (Verstappen, Hamilton) were at a certain disadvantage.
Thus, the classification was led by Pérez, followed by Leclerc, Verstappen third, Sainz fourth, Alonso fifth, Russell sixth, Stroll seventh, Hamilton tenth.
The resumption of the race was a big game spectacle: Leclerc attacked Pérez, but the Mexican defended his first place well, while Verstappen devoured Leclerc under braking at turn 3 and recovered second place; from behind, Alonso took revenge on his friend Sainz by diving inside to place fourth, and Russell was struck down by Stroll (6th) and by Hamilton (7th). A delight compressed into two curves.
The hunt continued with Hamilton, who gobbled up Stroll (v. 20/51) in sixth place, taking advantage of the Canadian's weakness by making a mistake in the last corner. The English of Mercedes was already in the wake of Sainz. In just five laps, Lewis was sticking to the rear wing of the Ferrari, but the man from Madrid kept the minimum distance so that Hamilton did not enter DRS and compromise his position.
Hamilton was simmering overtaking. He was quietly approaching Sainz, patiently, on lap 37 he was at 4 tenths, with the DRS loaded, and the ax ready to drop him. But he couldn't get close enough to attempt the attack and the Englishman ran out of laps to overtake the man from Madrid.
For his part, Alonso, who came within a second of Leclerc (v. 31), was never able to attack the Monegasque to get on the podium, since the Monegasque moved away from the Asturian threat by increasing the distance to escape Aston's DRS Martin. The solid Ferrari maintained its third position well and prevented the Spaniard from linking his fourth consecutive podium of the season.
Ahead, Checo Pérez kept Verstappen at bay without problems to score his second victory of the course, equaling his teammate's two. Now they are separated by 6 points in the general, in favor of the Dutchman, still the leader.
