Formula One returns to the scene of one of the wackiest of races in recent history, as the streets of Baku ready itself for a repeat of the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Join The Roar for a live blog of the race from 10:10pm AEST.
The most recent addition to the calendar, the Baku Street Circuit is a fast and unforgiving beast, boasting 6km in length and a combination of fast straights and narrow corners.
51 laps will be what the drivers will have to negotiate for the fourth race of the championship, with soft, supersoft and ultrasoft tyres available from Pirelli’s range of rubber.
Conditions are set to be cool for the race, with even a slight possibility of rain on the forecast which should spice proceedings up – when already there is a high probability for Safety Car intervention.
Chinese Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo returns to the scene of his previous victory, having been the winner of the bonkers Baku race in 2017, with eyes on winning back-to-back events.
The Aussie will start the race from fourth, as he’ll look to survive the chaos and pass his rivals ahead.
Those rivals ahead include Sebastian Vettel on pole position, who for the first time since 2013 claimed his third consecutive pole.
Behind the German crucially, will be the Silver Arrows led by Lewis Hamilton – with a mistake from Kimi Räikkönen on his final flying lap, costing the Finn a higher position.
Winless in 2018, Hamilton comes to Baku having had torrid fortunes on the street circuit – having never finished on the podium. Eager to kickstart his title defence, a win for the reigning champion will be vital here.
Force India lead the best of the rest, having both cars qualify inside the top-ten for the first time in 2018. Esteban Ocon will head Sergio Perez on the grid, as the team have their best opportunity so far for a big haul of points.
Boosted too by the ‘power’ nature of the circuit was Williams, who had their cars qualify in eleventh and twelfth, however will be elevated a position each – with a 5-place grid penalty for Nico Hulkenberg to kick in.
Wind, cooler weather and tyre strategy. Who will emerge on top if chaos ensues then in Baku?
Tune in on The Roar from 10:10pm AEST for live blog coverage of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as we get set for another three-way encounter for the win.
anon
Roar Pro
Fair enough. The more I see the incident the more I think Ricciardo was incredibly reckless. I'm not sure if he would have made the corner This isn't like the first corner hairpin of Hungary or the hairpin in Shanghai where Ricciardo's dive bombs have worked, there's margin for error, the track is wide through the corner. This was a 90 degree turn where the track narrows and there's a wall between himself and the other driver.
Dexter The Hamster
Guest
appears he can....
Dexter The Hamster
Guest
you are allowed to move as many times as you want when you are following. you cannot move twice when in front as it causes accidents. read the rule book mate.
dan ced
Guest
Max was dangerous in his defending all day and finally went too far. I wish they'd send him back to STR, but they won't.
anon
Roar Pro
Two safety cars in two consecutive races (first involving two Toro Rosso's, second involving two RBR's) have been the catalyst for destroying Vettel's races and possibly his championship. He did nothing wrong in Shanghai. Verstappen hit him. Bad mistake to lock his brakes today. 16 point turnaround. He's got to be better than that as a veteran driver. But then again, so many drivers made silly mistakes today. Even Ricciardo, who is best driver in the world under braking, locked his brakes up and shunted his teammate. I think everyone is being harsh in blaming Verstappen for moving "twice". While they aren't allowed to move twice, they can take line, move once to defend, then move again back onto the original line. Which is what Verstappen did. Ricciardo also moves more than once behind Verstappen. Ricciardo goes to the outside, but then at the last second decides to swerve to the other side of the track and commits to punting the car up the inside. It was an aggressive move by Ricciardo to decide to pitch the car down the inside between Verstappen and the wall. I actually wrote on here a few times during the week that Ricciardo is going to come unstuck sooner or later with these banzai moves. He nearly came unstuck with Bottas last week. I did say that sooner or later he'll come up against someone that won't give up a position so easily. I actually put the blame on Ricciardo for this. He got frustrated with Verstappen defending his position, frustrated the Verstappen got the overcut. Ricciardo had such a speed advantage he could have made the pass stick on the outside. Instead he chose to commit punting down the inside. Ricciardo locked up his brakes plain and simple. That's the risk you take when you make aggressive dive bombs. Sooner or later you're going to make a mistake, lock it up.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
As far as the live blog coverage goes, that about wraps things up here, so thanks once again for tuning in and I look forward to being back on The Roar in a fortnight's time for the Spanish Grand Prix. Until then, it's ciao!
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
What a race it was indeed and you could basically surmise it as Lewis Hamilton being truly 'blessed' in Baku this time out. There'll be plenty to discuss in the fallout of course, especially in regards to the Red Bull incident. What are your thoughts Roarers? Feel free to share them here, as a few of you have already.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
-------- DRIVER'S -------- 70 -- Lewis Hamilton 66 -- Sebastian Vettel 48 -- Kimi Räikkönen 40 -- Valtteri Bottas 37 -- Daniel Ricciardo 28 -- Fernando Alonso 22 -- Nico Hulkenberg 18 -- Max Verstappen 15 -- Sergio Perez 13 -- Carlos Sainz 12 -- Pierre Gasly 11 -- Kevin Magnussen 8 --- Charles Leclerc 8 --- Stoffel Vandoorne 4 --- Lance Stroll 2 --- Marcus Ericsson 1 --- Esteban Ocon 1 --- Brendon Hartley 0 --- Romain Grosjean 0 --- Sergey Sirotkin
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
----- CONSTRUCTOR'S ----- 114 - Scuderia Ferrari 110 - Mercedes AMG 55 -- Aston Martin Red Bull Racing 36 -- McLaren Renault 35 -- Renault Sport 16 -- Force India Mercedes 13 -- Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda 11 -- Haas Ferrari 10 -- Alfa Romeo Sauber 4 --- Williams Mercedes
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
RACE REPORT Baku delivered a bonkers race once again, as Lewis Hamilton survived the chaos to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and claim his first win of the 2018 season. A puncture three laps from the end of the race, saw Valtteri Bottas heartbreakingly concede the lead to his teammate, with the Finn having hit a piece of debris on the track from the carnage caused by the Red Bull teammates. With shades of Turkey 2010, both Red Bulls came to blows on the pit-straight on Lap 40, as Daniel Ricciardo rear-ended a weaving Max Verstappen to see both cars retire. The Safety Car intervened, as the marshals were given further recovery work with Romain Grosjean having found the wall too. Bottas had the ascendancy upon the restart, having made his one and only pit-stop during the Safety Car for ultrasoft tyres, keeping the lead from polesitter Sebastian Vettel who made a second stop to give himself a chance to pass the Finn. Having been caught napping at the restart, Vettel tried to compensate but went too hot into Turn 1 and ended up losing positions to Hamilton, a recovered Kimi Räikkönen and then Force India’s Sergio Perez. The puncture for Bottas meant that Räikkönen was elevated to second, following a race of recovery after a first lap incident with Esteban Ocon, in which the Frenchman’s afternoon was ended. Force India at least had the podium result of Perez to celebrate, being their first since the 2016 race in Baku. Along with Ocon, Sergey Sirotkin found himself out of the race on the first lap, having been involved in that gaggle at Turns 2 and 3 with Räikkönen and the Force India. The Williams of Sirotkin also left Fernando Alonso’s McLaren a little maimed, though the Spaniard was able to claw his way up to seventh. There was heartbreak too for Nico Hulkenberg, who had been running as high as fifth early in the race, before his own mistake saw the Renault driver hit the wall. That position ultimately was claimed his teammate in Carlos Sainz. Despite the Sirotkin retirement, Williams finally got themselves on the board with an eighth-place finish from Lance Stroll, having benefitted from an engine boost in the Mercedes-Benz power-unit. Delight too for Charles Leclerc and Brendon Hartley, whom both scored their first points in Formula One, with an impressive sixth for the Sauber driver and tenth for the Toro Rosso. All assisted with free pit-stops during the Safety Car late in the race. Hamilton takes the lead of the standings by 4-points then over Vettel, as the post-mortem at Red Bull begins. The championship resumes on continental Europe in Barcelona.
Damo
Guest
Not on the $$$ they signed Max on and how much influence his Dad appears to have. Marko clearly has his favorite too.
DJW
Guest
Red bull should demote max. They can blame themselves for not telling max to yield, dan was quicker all race.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
STANDBY FOR RACE REPORT AND UPDATED STANDINGS
Damo
Guest
WTF was that race?!?!? Bonkers Baku strikes again. Vettel better not rue that decision later in the season. And i hope the stewards throw the book at Verstappen. You just can't keep double blocking people.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
POST-RACE INTERVIEWS - Hosted by David Coulthard: HAMILTON - "Really quite an emotional race. Feels a little to be up here and an untidy race from me." RÄIKKÖNEN - "It wasn't an ideal start for me." "Difficult race after that to come back and just tried to play the long game and it paid off." PEREZ - "They were the hardest last two laps of my career! I am speechless."
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
RESULTS FROM THE 51-LAP AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX 1 L. Hamilton 2 K. Räikkönen 3 S. Perez 4 S. Vettel 5 C. Sainz 6 C. Leclerc 7 F. Alonso 8 L. Stroll 9 S. Vandoorne 10 B. Hartley 11 M. Ericsson 12 P. Gasly 13 K. Magnussen 14 V. Bottas RET R. Grosjean RET M. Verstappen RET D. Ricciardo RET N. Hulkenberg RET E. Ocon RET S. Sirotkin
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
LEWIS HAMILTON WINS THE AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX! Another bonkers race in Baku sees Kimi Räikkönen finish in second after a first lap incident. And an unlikely podium for Sergio Perez in the Force India, scoring his second podium in Azerbaijan.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 51/51: FINAL LAP Correction! Perez has already served that time penalty, so the podium will be his if he can hang onto third.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 50/51: 2 LAPS TO GO Hamilton now with a 2.4 second lead over Räikkönen. Stewards will investigate the incident between Ricciardo and Verstappen post-race. Perez still has the 5-second penalty to serve too! Based on those numbers, he will finish down where Stroll is.
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Lap 49/51: Perez got past Vettel too, as the Ferrari has flat spotted his tyres and now the Force India is third.