Ferrari continued to falter in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were forced into early retirements, allowing Max Verstappen to pick up the victory and give Red Bull a commanding lead in the 2022 F1 World Championship. Sergio Perez and George Russell rounded up the podium places, while Pierre Gasly and Sebastian Vettel took home season-best finishes around the mean streets of Baku, finishing in P5 and P6, respectively.
It was a weekend which had massive ramifications in terms of the drivers’ and constructors’ title standings, with Ferrari’s chances blowing up in smoke, and here are four things we learned from the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
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Charles Leclerc has taken pole in each of the last four Grand Prix in the championship, and in every one of those races, a Red Bull driver has gone on to take the chequered flag. The Ferrari driver has been plagued by reliability issues and poor strategy calls from the scarlet pit wall, and Red Bull have been smart enough to pick up the pieces.
On Sunday in Baku, Leclerc took pole from Perez by three-tenths of a second, only to have his engine blow up from the lead of the race for the second time in the past three Grand Prix’s. Ferrari entered the 2022 season with the fastest car and the best reliability – having done the most laps in pre-season testing – but after eight rounds of the season, the wheels have slowly started to come off, with Verstappen already building a 34-point championship lead over the Monegasque.
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For the first four races of the F1 2022 season, it was Max Verstappen and Red Bull who had to deal with the frustration of poor reliability, with the Dutchman having to retire twice in the opening three races. However, the tables have turned in recent rounds as Leclerc retired from the lead in Barcelona and Baku due to engine failures, costing the team a massive chunk of points, while also possibly forcing them to take engine penalties later on in the season.
To add to their woes, a hydraulics issue forced Carlos Sainz’s race to end after just nine laps, giving Ferrari their first double-retirement caused by mechanical faults since the 2009 Australian Grand Prix.
The Prancing Horse are now lingering 80 points behind Red Bull in the constructors’ standings, and with Ferrari customer teams also suffering similar reliability issues in Baku, there is little optimism moving forward of the scarlet cars sustaining a title fight across the season.
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Mercedes have struggled with the consistent bouncing or ‘porpoising’ issue on their W13 car since the beginning of the F1 2022 season in winter testing, but the problem reached another level in Baku as the two Mercedes drivers suffered severe physical discomfort. Hamilton – who finished in P4 – was barely able to climb out of his cockpit after the race and was in visible pain while doing his media duties in the paddock. Toto Wolff even went on to say that Hamilton may not race next week in Montreal due to the bouncing issues causing pain in his spine and back.
Other teams such as Haas and Alpha Tauri have suffered similar porpoising issues throughout the season, and with the long-term health benefits of the drivers coming into question, there have been some talks around the paddock for the FIA to change the regulations moving forward to solve this problem.
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It hasn’t been the best of starts for Aston Martin and Sebastian Vettel in the 2022 F1 season, with the German missing the first two races due to Covid before retiring in Melbourne and Miami. However, following their latest upgrade in Barcelona, the team have finally unlocked some more pace in the car and allowed the four-time champion to challenge the midfield pack.
With a more competitive car, Vettel has been able to do just that, giving the team their best result of the year in Baku to finish in P6. The former world champion was at his aggressive best throughout the race in Azerbaijan, undeterred by a lap-13 detour at turn three to comfortably finish in the points and follow up his 10th place finish in Monaco with another strong performance.
[Featured Image Credit: Red Bull Content Pool]
Shivaan Shah