Formula Journal

After a crazy qualifying we were ready to go racing, with bated breath. Max shot to the first corner while Oscar Piastri had a dreadful start, stopping and stalling, resulting in him winding up last. PIASTRI FINISHED UP IN THE WALL after locking up, the safety car was deployed. Many drivers from the back of the grid came into the pits for an early stop. On the same lap Hulkenberg hit Ocon but he came out unscathed.

Lap 4 we restarted with Russell and Norris loosing positions. Fernando Alonso was given a 5sec penalty for a jump start. Leclerc, climbed up to P7 after overtaking Hadjar, with Sainz still staying surprisingly close to the Red Bull of Max Verstappen. Russell overtook the Red Bull of Tsunoda and began chasing after his teammate.

Lap 11 Colapinto started a DRS train of 6 drivers. Lap 15 both Mercedes were hunting Lawson for P3. The next lap Albon came into the pits for the favoured hard tyres.

Lap 17 Colapinto and Albon crashed which caused Colapinto to scuff the wall and Albon to loose part of his front wing. Albon was given a penalty. Antonelli pitted for hard tyres which enabled George to charge ahead in order to catch Lawson. Lap 21 Lawson came into the pits emerging just infront of Antonelli but not for long as Kimi fought back and gained P9. Antonelli made another move, this time on Bortoleto. Lap 28 Sainz entered the pits and returned to the track in P6.

Lap 33 Tsunoda had a message from his team to ‘pick up the pace’ as Lando was edging closer. A few laps later Hamilton pitted for medium tyres and rejoined in P9. Lando also came into the pits but it was yet another slow pit stop for Lando. Tsuonda and Lawson battled for P5, with Lawson winning which meant he progressed into the top 5. Russell was next to pit. Max followed but with a 32 second gap between him and George in P2 there was very little risk.

Lando chased Tsunoda for P6 while Tsunoda chased Lawson for P5. Hamilton in P8 joined the back of the DRS train. With 2 laps left Max had a safe 14 second gap from Russell.

Max Verstappen won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix AND CARLOS SAINZ TOOK P3!!!

Top 10: Verstappen, Russell, Sainz, Antonelli, Lawson, Tsunoda, Norris, Hamilton, Leclerc, Hadjar