2021 F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Winners And Losers

The 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku street circuit was anything but straightforward, with drama, crashes, wheel-to-wheel action, safety cars as well as a manic 3-lap sprint to the end that yielded surprise results. All this culminated with Sergio Perez scoring a thrilling first win for Red Bull Racing Honda. Here are the winners and losers from the sixth round of the 2021 Formula One season:

Winners

Sergio Perez

Red Bull has finally got the perfect partner to Max Verstapped as Sergio Perez took a brilliant second win of his Formula One career, his first for the team. The Mexican had a flyer of a start from sixth on the grid to immediately be on the back of teammate Max Verstappen in fourth place by the end of the opening lap. Thanks to a strong first stint, the overcut saw Perez jump the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and slotted right behind his teammate in second place. 

From there on, Checo managed a strong defense against Hamilton throughout the race. Despite all the chaos that included multiple safety cars, his teammate Verstappen being taken out of the lead, and a red flag restart, Perez shone under pressure to take his first race win for the team. This result catapulted him into third overall in the drivers standings and has helped Red Bull Honda stretch their constructors lead over Mercedes, which could prove to be crucial in the coming few races.

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Sebastian Vettel 

Undoubtedly the driver of the day, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel couldn’t have asked for a better finish to his Sunday. He started eleventh on the grid, missing out on Q3 by just 0.029 seconds and failing to get a chance to improve due to the session being red flagged. Still, the four-time world champion pulled off a perfect overcut strategy to gain places, with smart racecraft during the safety car restarts to put him just behind the top teams. With the elimination of Verstappen and Hamilton up front towards the end of the race, the German held on to second place, scoring a well-earned first podium for Aston Martin. 

Pierre Gasly 

AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was in strong form all weekend, qualifying fourth on the grid. That continued into the race, with a brilliant defense against the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc to hold on to third place in the end. A crucial result for the AlphaTauri squad as the team jumped to fifth overall in the constructors standings.

Special Mention

Fernando Alonso 

While Alpine didn’t quite have the race pace this weekend, two-time champion Fernando Alonso showed some of his old magic. A great restart on the final three laps of the race propelled Alonso from 10th to sixth place, and held off the AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda at the chequered flag. A much needed positive for Alonso after a difficult start to the season.

Losers

Mercedes 

Another nightmare weekend for the reigning world champions on both sides of the garage. In fact,  seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was on for a race win during the 3-lap restart. But a crucial lock-up into Turn 1 saw him drop all the way down to 15th place and ending his 54-race points scoring streak. Teammate Valtteri Bottas had an even worse weekend, struggling for pace and finishing in 12th place at the chequered flag. This result was a massive missed opportunity for Hamilton and Mercedes in the title race since title rival Max Verstappen was out of the race. Instead, they’re now even further away from Red Bull Honda in the constructors standings.

Max Verstappen 

To put him in this list was hard for us as the blame should be on the Pirelli tyres. It was looking to be a flawless race for Max Verstappen, overtaking Hamilton for the race lead in the pitstop phase and was all set to take his third race win of the season. But in a cruel twist of fate, a tyre failure with just three laps to go took him out of the race. The Dutchman can take some solace with the fact that title rival Hamilton also scored no points. So the driver’s title situation remains unchanged, with Verstappen four points ahead. 

Ferrari 

Ferrari pulled a shocker when Charles Leclerc scored his second consecutive pole position. But it was short-lived as he eventually dropped down to fourth position due to the poor race pace of the SF21. In the 3-lap shootout to the chequered flag there was a chance of a podium, but he couldn’t make the pass stick on the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly, and had to settle for fourth. His teammate Carlos Sainz had a difficult race to eight place riddled with costly mistakes. Nonetheless, this result helped Ferrari snatch third place from McLaren in the constructors standings by just two points.

After a chaotic race in Baku, Formula 1 action will move to Paul Ricard, France for the French Grand Prix. The seventh round of the season is scheduled for June 20.