There's never any hiding place around F1's fastest street track - so who had a barnstorming Baku and who battled adversity?
Monday 29 April 2019 20:29, UK
Redemption for Valtteri Bottas as he sealed the victory that was so cruelly robbed from him 12 months ago. The Finn is determined to be a key figure in the F1 2019 title race and a week-in-week-out challenger to Lewis Hamilton.
Bottas has a steely focus this year, driven on by the scars of the last couple of years. No more was that evident at the first corner of Sunday's race. While previously Bottas could perhaps be accused of not being aggressive enough in wheel-to-wheel combat, he kept his foot planted around the outside of Turn One to fend off his fast-starting team-mate, despite being put millimetres away from the barriers.
As Sky F1 expert Martin Brundle noted, it was perhaps "the most powerful statement Bottas has made since joining Mercedes, and he didn't need to say a word". And when he was being harried in the closing stages, it was Hamilton who made the error rather than the faultless Finn.
Bottas is back on top of the championship standings, and it is unlikely to be the last time he leads the field on this evidence.
Rating out of ten: 10
Lewis Hamilton had flagged up as early as post-race in China that Baku wasn't one of his strongest tracks, yet the margins with Bottas were such that the world champion still wasn't far away from being the one who headed Mercedes' fourth one-two in succession.
As it turned out, it was that half-a-tenth to Bottas in qualifying that proved the difference, with Hamilton admitting afterwards that he had "fluffed" the first two corners of the decisive lap. Still, he came close to repeating his launch from Shanghai as the team-mates went wheel to wheel at Turn One, although he regretted being a little "too friendly" with the sister Silver Arrow.
Second place to Bottas then for the second time this year, but no panic for a driver who only ever gets stronger as the season progresses. But who is now his main title rival? After all the talk pre-season that it would be Sebastian Vettel again, or maybe even Max Verstappen, has Hamilton's biggest threat again emerged from within?
Rating out of ten: 8.5
The head-scratching continues for Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari in a supposed challenge for the world title that remains on ice. As far as Vettel's Baku is concerned, it looked as though Charles Leclerc had the edge on him here before the youngster obliterated the barriers in qualifying, but minimising mistakes is part of the front-running game and this time it was the team's established driver, in spite of his own brush with the same corner, who kept it together.
Cracking a car Vettel has likened to a "Rubik's cube" remains Ferrari's biggest problem, with the German far happier with his pace after the pit stop and the Virtual Safety Car, when his tyres suddenly clicked in and he was able to push. His look of wide-eyed surprise in his Sky F1 interview (watch above) when he recalled that phase of the race said a lot about where Ferrari are - or aren't - with the SF90 right now.
Rating out of ten: 7.5
Was Max Verstappen denied a podium by his team-mate's loss of power and the resulting Virtual Safety Car? The Dutchman had produced a stellar second stint on the medium tyre to close right up to Vettel's Ferrari when the sister RB15 ground to a halt.
But on the restart, Verstappen was unable to recapture the grip and speed he had shown before - very nearly ending in the barriers on the return to green - and ultimately had to just bring his car home in fourth as Red Bull feared a repeat issue on his car too.
It summed up a weekend of small margins being decisive for Verstappen, who felt he could have qualified higher had he been able to benefit from a tow in Q3. But Honda's engine upgrade appears to have brought Red Bull closer to Mercedes and Ferrari, and with aero updates expected from Barcelona too, Verstappen will hope he's firmly soon back in the podium mix.
Rating out of ten: 8.5
Charles Leclerc may have ended Sunday as F1's Driver of the Day and the holder of Baku's race lap record, but this will be a weekend full of regret for the Ferrari youngster.
He appeared in a class of his own in practice as he comfortably led every session and looked set to be the man to beat for both pole and the race win. But in a split second everything changed as he careered into the barriers in Q2. It's questionable whether Ferrari needed to gamble on running the medium tyre as temperatures dropped, although Leclerc's pace on Sunday suggests it would have worked but for the driver's error.
But Ferrari's race-day strategy looks bewildering from the outside as Leclerc was effectively left in no-man's land for the second weekend running. Leaving him out for so long ruled out any possibility of a podium, and Leclerc admitted he would seek an explanation for the decision given the time he ended up losing to Bottas, Hamilton and Vettel as they swept past him.
However, Leclerc was accepting that his mistake had been the decisive moment. "It could have been a very positive race but to be honest there is nothing wrong with Ferrari, just myself [on Saturday]," he told Sky F1.
"I did a mistake and will come back from it stronger."
Rating out of ten: 6.5
Step forward Mr Baku, Sergio Perez. There was no podium this time, but sixth place as the lead midfield runner this year was every bit as commendable a result. It's been a tough start to the season for Racing Point so eight points - plus two more for Lance Stroll's ninth place - was something of a bonanza and sees them sail past three rivals into fifth place in the Constructors' Championship.
Perez's weekend was built on an impeccable qualifying session and then a brilliant start, when he went round the outside of Verstappen at Turn One. He stayed ahead of the faster Red Bull for the opening five laps, before turning his attentions to keeping the McLarens behind. "He delivered great pace, raced intelligently, and brought the car home for sixth place," said his team boss, Otmar Szafnauer. Very Sergio Perez, you might say.
Rating out of ten: 9
Finally, a breakthrough for Carlos Sainz in 2019. Three score-less races hadn't accurately reflected the Spaniard's performances since joining McLaren so seventh place in Baku was overdue. It looked like that unlucky sequence might continue when yellow flags at the end of Q2 cost him a near-certain Q3 berth yet as luck, ironically, would have it, penalties for the Alfa Romeos ahead of him meant he started in the top 10 anyway.
Sainz was on team-mate Lando Norris' tail from lap three, overtook him on lap eight, and while the English rookie's early stop amid tyre issues actually got him back ahead, Sainz finished ahead when the sister McLaren pitted for the second time later on.
Rating out of ten: 8
Lando Norris continues to catch the eye in his debut season as he produced his best qualifying result of the season and helped secure McLaren their first double points finish since last year's Baku race.
He would have finished where he started in seventh, but a late gamble to pit under the VSC in a bid to catch Perez failed to pay off as he was unable to even close up to team-mate Sainz and had to settle for eighth.
"I'm pretty happy, it could have been a little bit better. We tried something after the VSC hoping the other guys' tyres were not going to turn on as easily as they did," he reflected to Sky F1.
"Apart from that there was not a lot more we could have done so a double points finish I think we can be very happy."
Rating out of ten: 8
Just what could Lance Stroll achieve if he could qualify well? It was another recovery drive from the Canadian to finish in the points, but it is now eight consecutive Q1 exits which is a growing concern with his team-mate contesting Q3.
On this occasion he was unfortunate to be on the wrong side of Robert Kubica's heavy crash, unable to improve his time with a final flying lap while Daniel Ricciardo could and send him into the drop zone.
Considering he had next to no running on Friday after also dumping his car in the wall, P9 represents a good end for Stroll, but one-lap improvement is needed quickly.
Rating out of ten: 7
Even a qualifying disqualification and pit-lane start couldn't stop Kimi Raikkonen maintaining his 100 per cent points-scoring start at Alfa Romeo. In truth, the weekend might not have got much better than 10th place anyway with Kimi and the team not quite as competitive as they had been at other events so far. Getting too close to a Mercedes in Q3 partly meant he was out-qualified by Antonio Giovinazzi for the first time, although his car was thrown out of the qualifying results anyway on Sunday morning for a flexing front wing.
Starting between Kubica and Gasly in the pit lane, Raikkonen pitted on lap six and from there became engaged in an endurance race to the final point. "We pitted earlier to get out of the traffic but then I struggled for the whole race with switching the tyres on," confirmed Kimi.
Rating out of ten: 7.5
In Practice it had looked like Alex Albon and Toro Rosso could be a surprise contender for a podium if Azerbaijan delivered the unpredictability of previous years.
But in the end neither happened as Albon was unable to get out of Q2, paying the price for not having a banker lap in before Leclerc's crash and then being unable to get the most out of the cooling track.
Starting 11th and finishing 11th represented a disappointing return from a weekend that had promised so much more.
Rating out of ten: 6
You have to feel for Antonio Giovinazzi as he finally hooked things together in the Alfa Romeo, only for a grid penalty to come and bite him.
The Italian was superb on Saturday to qualify eighth and beat team-mate Raikkonen's Q3 time by six tenths of a second.
But the 10-place demotion for new engine components left him starting at the back of the grid and he was unable to make the progress through the field that his team-mate could. The wait for his first points goes on, but Giovinazzi will hope to build on this performance.
Rating out of ten: 7
This won't figure in Kevin Magnussen's memory banks for long. He qualified and raced solidly enough, but Haas simply didn't have the pace of their faster midfield rivals here. Even through the pit-stop phase Magnussen never ran higher than 12th in the race, with the Dane eventually finishing one place lower than that in something of a no-man's land between Giovinazzi and Hulkenberg.
Spain, where the VF-19 was much quicker in testing, should be better as Haas look to rediscover their form.
Rating out of ten: 6.5
A miserable weekend for Nico Hulkenberg in which he never felt confident in his struggling Renault.
The German was slowest of anyone bar the two Williams drivers in both qualifying and the race, and he was left describing it as a "mysterious weekend".
"I felt like I was driving as best as I could but couldn't extract the maximum from the car," he said. "It's been difficult from lap one on Friday and we've consistently struggled. It's a bitter one for me and the team."
Rating out of ten: 5
Some solace for George Russell amid Williams' continued struggles and setbacks is that his performances in adversity aren't going unnoticed. If the situation wasn't challenging enough for a rookie, Russell felt unwell in Baku on Thursday and then got the biggest jolt of his F1 career so far early into Friday when his Williams went over that hazardous loose manhole cover at high speed.
The damage sidelined him until Saturday, yet he returned despite the lack of running to out qualify Robert Kubica by four tenths and then finish half a minute ahead in the race. "I am quite relieved that this weekend is over, it didn't seem like anything was going our way," reflected Russell, who can do no more right now.
Rating out of ten: 7
On his Baku debut, Robert Kubica found out how much the street circuit can bite when what might have been an innocuous error on most tracks saw him smack the wall at the castle chicane. The Pole credited his mechanics for repairing the car for the race and, with braking proving problematic, he was satisfied to simply bring it home.
Rating out of ten: 5
Did Not Finish
A very strange weekend for Pierre Gasly in which he probably had his best performance in the Red Bull yet paid the price for a lapse in concentration and factors out of his control.
Missing the message to stop at the weighbridge after Practice Two left him having to start in the pit lane, while his timesheet-topping Q1 effort was then wiped from the books when his RB15 was found to exceed fuel-mass-flow limits.
Gasly was producing a fine recovery drive on Sunday as he had made his way up to sixth, but a driveshaft failure forced him to retire on lap 38.
The good news for the Frenchman is that he is feeling much more comfortable in his new car. "Overall, I'm adapting myself and we're going in the right direction," he said. "I think the car's a bit more predictable and I've changed my approach in the car too."
Rating out of ten: 6.5
Well Daniel Ricciardo has probably wrapped up the award for weirdest retirement of the season. The Australian forgot the basic driving rule of 'mirror-signal-manoeuvre' as he reversed into Daniil Kvyat's Toro Rosso after locking up attempting a move on the Russian.
Ricciardo admitted he had 'panicked' in his desperate attempt to minimise lost time, and the incident rounded off another difficult weekend with his new team. And things are unlikely to get any easier in Spain, with a three-place grid penalty hanging over him as punishment.
Rating out of ten: 5.5
Reverse torpedoed? Blameless Daniil Kvyat's bizarre exit from proceedings certainly wasn't in any driving manual as Ricciardo got himself in a bit of a mess after a failed overtake on his former team-mate at Turn Three. A real shame for Kvyat, who had qualified excellently to start sixth and was still in points contention, despite the race proving a little tougher for Toro Rosso.
Rating out of ten: 7.5
A third DNF of the season for Romain Grosjean as he endured another tough weekend in Baku. Knocked out in Q1 despite being unaffected by Kubica's crash, he then suffered a poor start and then threw away the positions he had made up by locking up and dropping to 17th as he took to the escape road.
His race was ended by a brake issue and he will be hoping his and Haas' fortunes change in Barcelona.
Rating out of ten: 5
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