Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Max Verstappen Wins To Extend Title Race Lead

 

Max Verstappen extends F1 Championship title race lead over Charles Leclerc after winning the race in Baku and he was followed by his teammate Sergio Perez for a Red Bull one-two victory. 

Leclerc and his teammate Carlos Sainz had a terrible day as both of them had to drop out following engine failures that ruled them out of the race. 

Perez had from the first lap, taken an early lead from Leclerc who started in pole, and later gave up fighting for Verstappen to move up for a provisional lead in Lap14. Perez could not afford to fight on over tyre degradation. 

Sainz DNF was such an unfortunate incident as the Ferrari driver drove off the track over hydraulic issues at Turn 4 of Lap 9. Leclerc, having overtook the lead until Lap20, suddenly experienced smoke gushing out from the car rear over engine failure and Red Bull has to double DNF. 

"It was unlucky for Ferarri today," said Red Bull's boss Christian Horner. "They took a cheap early pit stop under VSC for Leclerc, which gave him a lead but would have meant meant a very long stint on those tyres."

While both Ferarri drivers were out, Red Bulls dominated the race and Verstappen led on to finish quickest in 1:34:05.941s. Mercedes' George Russell followed the duo to finish third while Lewis Hamilton followed him in fourth for what seemed to be the team's best performance this season. 

Verstappen is now leading the title race with  150 points followed by Perez in second with 129 and Leclerc is third with 116 points. Russell is fourth with 99 points and Sainz fifth with 83 points.