Sergio Pérez secured a sprint race win for Red Bull in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc managed to stay ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for second place. mwc13_3 details the results ⤵️
“It confirms what we thought, that Red Bull has the upper hand in the race,” Leclerc said during theLeclerc faded into the distance when battling Pérez as the final gap between the two extended to over four seconds by the end of the sprint race, but Pérez commented after the sprint how Leclerc showed “very, very strong pace initially.” And then came the virtual and actual safety car.
“If you look Australia, and here, we are better,” Leclerc said. “We are not yet at the level of Red Bull. So it’s still a lot of work to do but happier with the car.” One key factor in Saturday’s sprint was tire degradation, something Ferrari has struggled with. Leclerc pinpointed that as the tires started degrading, Pérez began pulling away and Verstappen, with a major hole in the side of his Red Bull, began gaining.During the first lap, Verstappen and Mercedes’ George Russell collided, and the Red Bull car suffered enough damage that a P3 finish in the sprint was remarkable.
Verstappen and Russell spoke after the sprint but before on-track interviews for the top three. The Mercedes driver claimed he had “no grip,” which Verstappen could be heard pointing out, “Mate, we all have no grip.” So did Verstappen leave enough room for the Mercedes? “We definitely got through the corner without hitting the inside barrier,” Verstappen said. “So I think I did leave enough space, but I think apparently it’s hard to not hit a Red Bull car, I guess, for them.”Given that Saturday’s sprint race results do not determine Sunday’s grid with the new format, there are quite a few people between Verstappen and Russell if the provisional grid stays as is with the Dutchman starting P2 and Russell at P11.
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