Verstappen races to 21-point lead

BAKU • Max Verstappen took full advantage of an engine failure for Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to win the Azerbaijan Formula One Grand Prix yesterday and open up a commanding lead in the world championship.

The Dutchman crossed the line 20.8 seconds clear of teammate Sergio Perez, who was ordered not to battle for first, completing a one-two finish for Red Bull.

George Russell took third for Mercedes and teammate Lewis Hamilton, voted "Driver of the Day", fought through back pain to finish fourth.

Race leader and pole-sitter Leclerc pulled into the pits with a smoking engine on the 20th lap, recording his second retirement in three races.

It was a disastrous day for Ferrari as the Scuderia suffered an earlier did not finish (DNF) with teammate Carlos Sainz having already stopped with a hydraulic failure.

Leclerc's latest retirement dropped him to third in the overall standings, 34 points behind the front runner, and the championship race is beginning to shape up into a battle between the two Red Bull drivers.

Perez, winner in Baku last year, earned his second runner-up place in three races - he won in Monaco - and now trails Verstappen by 21 points after also scoring the bonus point for the fastest lap.

The Mexican was visibly frustrated during the Spanish Grand Prix when he was asked to give way to his teammate despite being in a clear position to win, but he did not express any discontent with the same strategy in the Azerbaijani capital.

"I think it was the right call by the team because at that time, Max was a bit further ahead. It's a good team result," Perez said. "In this place, anything can happen. At the end of the day, we managed to do a one-two so it's a great team result."

Verstappen was delighted to win here after retiring while in the lead last year in Baku, saying: "You can never make up for what we lost last year, but today, we had incredible pace in the car and we could look after the tyres and chip away at it.

"We were a tiny bit lucky because of the retirement but nevertheless our car was really quick today, so I could have closed that gap, then you have a race on your hands.

"Overall, really happy with how the balance of the car was today."

The championship now moves to Canada this weekend and Verstappen is looking forward to Montreal, even though he will not get ahead of himself as "it can swing around every race."

But, for Ferrari, there will be yet another inquest into another failure on race day.

Baku marks the fourth straight time this season that the Prancing Horse have not claimed a victory despite being on pole and Russell is now just 17 points behind Leclerc.

Team principal Mattia Binotto said: "Certainly it (the DNFs) is a concern. Reliability is always a key factor in the battle - as well as the performance.

"We're not fully reliable but the team will stay focused, try to address the issues... We need to understand what happened today. Not all issues are the same. It will take time to analyse. We don't know the issue yet."

Sainz admitted the team had to get to the bottom of things, adding: "The season is not going my way... From my point of view, I can't seem to do two consecutive races without something happening.

"It's a shame but we are a team and we are going to stay united because I am sure better days will come."

REUTERS