2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

The 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 29 April 2018 at the Baku City Circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan.[2] The race was the 4th round of the 2018 Formula One World Championship, the 2nd running of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship and the 3rd time the Baku City Circuit was being used to host a Formula One race.[2][3][4]

2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Race 4 of 21 in the 2018 Formula One World Championship
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Layout of the Baku City Circuit
Race details[1]
Date 29 April 2018
Official name Formula 1 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Location Baku City Circuit
Baku, Azerbaijan
Course Temporary street circuit
Course length 6.003 km (3.730 mi)
Distance 51 laps, 306.049 km (190.170 mi)
Weather Cloudy
Pole position
Driver
Ferrari
Time 1:41.498
Fastest lap
Driver Valtteri Bottas Mercedes
Time 1:45.149 on lap 37
Podium
First
Mercedes
Second
Ferrari
Third
Force India-Mercedes

Red Bull Racing driver Daniel Ricciardo was the defending race winner.[5] Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel entered the round with a nine-point lead over Lewis Hamilton in the World Drivers' Championship.[6] In the World Constructors' Championship, Mercedes started the round with a one-point lead over Ferrari.[6]

Charles Leclerc finished 6th and became the first Monégasque driver to score a point since Louis Chiron in the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix.[7] Brendon Hartley finished 10th and became the first driver from New Zealand to score a point since Chris Amon in the 1976 Spanish Grand Prix.[8][9] This would prove to be the final podium for Force India.[10]

Background
The Baku City Circuit in 2018

The race was brought forward from its June date to avoid clashing with celebrations for the centenary of the Azerbaijan republic.[11] The race filled the berth taken by the Russian Grand Prix, which was moved to a September date. The vacancy created in June was filled by the newly-revived French Grand Prix.[2]

The Pirelli tyre compounds selected for the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix were, in order of most hard to least, the soft (yellow), super-soft (red), and ultra-soft (purple).[12] Intermediate (green) and full wet (blue) tyres were available were rain to fall during qualifying or the race, but rain was not a factor and neither were used.

Qualifying

Qualifying classification
Pos. No. Driver Constructor Qualifying times Final
grid
Q1 Q2 Q3
1 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:42.762 1:43.015 1:41.498 1
2 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:42.693 1:42.676 1:41.677 2
3 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:43.355 1:42.679 1:41.837 3
4 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 1:42.857 1:43.482 1:41.911 4
5 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 1:42.642 1:42.901 1:41.994 5
6 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:42.538 1:42.510 1:42.490 6
7 31 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes 1:43.021 1:42.967 1:42.523 7
8 11 Sergio Pérez Force India-Mercedes 1:43.992 1:43.366 1:42.547 8
9 27 Nico Hülkenberg Renault 1:43.746 1:43.232 1:43.066 141
10 55 Carlos Sainz Jr. Renault 1:43.426 1:43.464 1:43.351 9
11 18 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes 1:44.359 1:43.585 10
12 35 Sergey Sirotkin Williams-Mercedes 1:44.261 1:43.886 11
13 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Renault 1:44.010 1:44.019 12
14 16 Charles Leclerc Sauber-Ferrari 1:43.752 1:44.074 13
15 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1:43.674 1:44.759 15
16 2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Renault 1:44.489 16
17 10 Pierre Gasly Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda 1:44.496 17
18 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1:45.541 18
107% time: 1:49.715
— 28 Brendon Hartley Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda 1:57.354 192
— 8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari No time 202
Source:[13]
Notes
  • ^1  – Nico Hülkenberg received a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.[13]
  • ^2  – Brendon Hartley and Romain Grosjean failed to set a Q1 time within the 107% requirement and raced at the stewards' discretion. Grosjean also received a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.[13]

Race

Start

All drivers got off the line from the standing start without incident. A minor racing incident which led to contact between Kimi Räikkönen and Esteban Ocon occurred as both navigated turn 2.[14] On the straight after turn 2, Sirotkin's car made contact with Fernando Alonso's McLaren and Nico Hulkenberg's Renault, and caused a double tyre puncture (to Alonso's front right and rear right tyres), and puncture to Sirotkin's front left tyre as well as suspension damage.[15][16] In the chaos, Force India's Sergio Pérez struck the back of Räikkönen's car, causing him to make a pit stop.[16] The first major contact in the race was again between Kimi Räikkönen and Esteban Ocon at turn 3, Ocon suffered damage sufficient to force his immediate retirement from the race.[17][18] Sergey Sirotkin's tyre puncture caused him to stop near the turn 3 Räikkönen–Ocon incident. Ocon and Sirotkin's positions on the track caused a first lap safety car. During the safety car, numerous drivers pitted due to damage, including Räikkönen (front wing change) Pérez (front wing change), Alonso (two tyre punctures, front wing change), and Kevin Magnussen (two tyre punctures).[19] Several safety car laps were needed to clear retired cars and carbon fibre debris from the track.[20] Pérez received a five-second penalty for the contact with Räikkönen, which he served at his first pit stop.

The top five drivers restarted in qualifying order, at the lap 6 restart.[20] Carlos Sainz's Renault, which qualified 10th, showed notable early race strength and was in 5th by lap 7.[20] 4th place Red Bull driver Max Verstappen reported issues with his KERS battery after the restart, allowing the top three runners to pull away while a long queue of cars built behind him.[21] The two factory Renaults of Sainz and Nico Hülkenberg soon passed Verstappen to take 4th and 5th.[20] On lap 10, Hülkenberg's rear end came out and struck the wall at turn 4, forcing him to retire.[22]

Mid-race

After Hulkenberg's retirement, the race approached a more typical Formula One race rhythm. Sainz pitted from 4th with worn ultrasoft tyres, and the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen raced 4th and 5th for several laps, occasionally exchanging positions.[20][21] Carlos dropped to 9th after his pitstop, he proceeded to fit the soft tyre but this turned out to be a blunder of a strategy because the tyres would not heat meaning that he had been overcut by both Red Bulls and was fighting for low points.[20][21] The top three drivers (Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari; Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes; and Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes) raced within 10 seconds of each other, 4th place Red Bull Verstappen, meanwhile, was 30 seconds behind race leader Vettel by lap 18.[21] Hamilton switched out worn supersoft tyres for softs on lap 23.[21] Bottas, meanwhile stayed out for a long stint on supersoft tyres. Race leader Vettel pitted for soft tyres on lap 31, intending to finish the race on them, leaving Bottas in the race lead (but still needing to pit).[21] At this point, the main question for the race leaders was whether Bottas could build enough of a gap to pit for ultrasoft tyres and then threaten Vettel for the race win. Red Bull teammates Verstappen and Ricciardo continued close racing, with more position changes and overtaking one another in laps 27 and 28, then again as Ricciardo passed Verstappen to retake 4th place on lap 35.[20] Both Red Bull drivers pitted shortly after the lap 35 pass for fresh ultrasoft tyres.[21]

Lap 40

The tempo of the race was completely changed on lap 40, when Red Bull teammates Verstappen and Ricciardo (then in 4th and 5th place, respectively), made major contact.[23] Verstappen, who had just passed Ricciardo due to an overcut during a tyre change pitstop, made a late defensive move to cover an attempted overtake by Ricciardo which caused a collision between the pair.[20][24] The collision was sufficient to retire both drivers, leave them both disabled on track, and force the race's second safety car.[20][25] Several drivers in the top 10 took advantage of the situation; before the safety car bunched the drivers together, race leader Bottas made his long-awaited single pit stop for new ultrasoft tyres on which to finish the race, and second place Vettel, third place Hamilton, and fourth place Raikkonen also all pitted for new ultrasofts.[21] Fifth place Force India driver Sergio Pérez chose fresh supersoft tyres.[21] On lap 43, while still under the safety car, 6th place Haas driver Romain Grosjean lost traction and hit the wall, forcing his retirement and extending the length of the safety car stint.[21][25]

The safety car could not pull in until lap 48, and Bottas kept the race lead as the lap began.[20] 2nd placed Vettel attempted an aggressive move to pass Bottas, locked his wheels up and overshot the turn, ultimately leaving him in 4th place with flat-spotted tyres behind Bottas, Hamilton, and Raikkonen.[26] Just as lap 49 began, Bottas, leading the race by more than one second over Hamilton, suffered a tyre puncture and was forced to retire.[16] At the same time, Force India's Pérez passed Vettel to gain a 3rd place podium position as Bottas dropped out.[20]

Finish

Bottas's sudden retirement was the last incident that affected the podium order. Hamilton won, Raikkonen was second, and Pérez third.[27] Other notable points finishers included Renault's Sainz in fifth, Sauber's Charles Leclerc, and Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley (who both earned the first Formula One championship points of their careers).[7][8][27] McLaren drivers Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne also both managed to earn points: Alonso finished seventh despite the double puncture he suffered early in the race; while Vandoorne used the safety car situation to his advantage.[27] After having raced almost the entire afternoon in one of the last few places following an unscheduled extra pit stop due to damaged tyres, while all drivers were suffering with dropping tyre temperatures, Vandoorne opted to make a fourth pit stop from 13th place the lap before the safety car returned to the pits.[19] With his heated tyres he was able to move from 14th to ninth after the restart.[20]

Post-race
The podium ceremony

Race winner Lewis Hamilton expressed surprise at his race win, and gave high praise to his teammate's performance. "Valtteri (Bottas) deserved to win, he did an exceptional job and had a faultless drive. ... I would not have got by him in the remaining laps if he hadn't had his tyre blow."[28]

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was reported to have been very angry after the lap 40 crash that forced the retirement of both his drivers, and called the contact "unacceptable".[29] Horner required both Verstappen and Ricciardo to apologize to all members of the Red Bull staff for the incident. Both drivers received an official reprimand from the FIA for the crash in Baku.[29] Verstappen and Ricciardo's crash drew comparisons to the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix,[29] where then-teammates Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel made contact with each other. In that race, Vettel was forced to retire immediately with a tyre puncture, and Webber managed only 3rd place in a race Red Bull had dominated up to that point.[30]

Race classification
Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 51 1:43:44.291 2 25
2 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 51 +2.460 6 18
3 11 Sergio Pérez Force India-Mercedes 51 +4.024 8 15
4 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 51 +5.329 1 12
5 55 Carlos Sainz Jr. Renault 51 +7.515 9 10
6 16 Charles Leclerc Sauber-Ferrari 51 +9.158 13 8
7 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Renault 51 +10.931 12 6
8 18 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes 51 +12.546 10 4
9 2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Renault 51 +14.152 16 2
10 28 Brendon Hartley Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda 51 +18.030 19 1
11 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 51 +18.512 18
12 10 Pierre Gasly Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda 51 +24.720 17
13 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 51 +40.6631 15
142 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 48 Puncture 3
Ret 8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 42 Accident 20
Ret 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 39 Collision 5
Ret 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 39 Collision 4
Ret 27 Nico Hülkenberg Renault 10 Accident 14
Ret 31 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes 0 Collision 7
Ret 35 Sergey Sirotkin Williams-Mercedes 0 Collision 11
Source:[27]
Notes
  • ^1  – Kevin Magnussen had ten seconds added to his race time for causing an avoidable collision.[27]
  • ^2  – Valtteri Bottas did not finish the race but was classified as he completed 90% of the winner's race distance.

Championship standings after the race
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

See also

References
  1. "Formula 1 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  2. "FIA announces World Motor Sport Council decisions". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 6 December 2017. Archived from the original on 7 December 2017. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  3. "Grands Prix – Azerbaijan". StatsF1. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  4. "Bakou". StatsF1. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  5. "2017 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Race Result". Formula1.com. 25 June 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  6. "China 2018 – Championship". StatsF1. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  7. "Sixth like a win – first time points-scorer Leclerc". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  8. "Hartley in the points for first time". Radio New Zealand. 30 April 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  9. "Chris Amon – Points". StatsF1. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  10. "Force India - Podiums". statsf1.com. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  11. "Ариф Рагимов: В 2018-м россиянам будет проще посетить гонки в Баку и Сочи" [Arif Ragimov: In 2018 it will be easier for Russians to visit races in Baku and Sochi]. autosport.com.ru (in Russian). Manuscript. 30 November 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  12. "Pirelli announces compound choices and mandatory sets for the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix". news.pirelli.com. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  13. "Formula 1 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Qualifying". Formula1.com. 28 April 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  14. 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Race Highlights, 29 April 2019, retrieved 22 April 2018
  15. "Azerbaijan GP: Hamilton wins crazy race as Red Bull implodes". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  16. "Winners and Losers – Azerbaijan GP edition". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  17. "Ocon hits out at Raikkonen after Baku crash". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  18. "Azerbaijan GP: Hamilton wins crazy race as Red Bull implodes". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  19. "Standings". Formula1.com. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  20. "Azerbaijan 2018 – Lap by lap". StatsF1. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  21. "Azerbaijan 2018". StatsF1. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  22. "Abiteboul – Baku Hulkenberg's one mistake for 2018". Formula1.com. Retrieved 26 January 2019.
  23. "Lauda – Baku blame lies more with Verstappen". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  24. "All The Angles: Ricciardo and Verstappen Crash – 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix". 29 April 2018. Retrieved 5 September 2018 – via YouTube.
  25. "Azerbaijan 2018 – Result". StatsF1. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  26. "'I had to try' – Vettel on his failed pass for the lead in Baku". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  27. "Formula 1 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Race Result". Formula1.com. 29 April 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  28. "What the teams said – Race day in Azerbaijan". Formula1.com. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  29. Baldwin, Alan. "Sorry Red Bull drivers reprimanded after Baku crash". U.S. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  30. Weaver, Paul (30 May 2010). "Mark Webber furious after 'disaster' crash with Sebastian Vettel". the Guardian. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  31. "Azerbaijan 2018 – Championship". StatsF1. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
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