Key occasions
Lap 6/51 Hamilton isn’t glad together with his tyres however the different Merc is doing higher, Russell now going faster than Verstappen, in entrance of him – the hole is 1.514s. Leclerc extends his result in almost 1.5s.
Lap 5/51 I meant to say earlier, Stroll has a puncture, maybe sustained in a conflict with Tsunoda – which explains why the RB is struggling so. Again on the entrance, Leclerc is transferring out and in of DRS, his lead over Piastri at the moment 1.028s.
Lap 4/51 Leclerc isn’t rolling over for Piastri, growing his result in 1.1s or so; Hamilton is the newest to overhaul Tsunoda, whose automobile seems to be ailing.
Lap 3/51 Piastri closes on Leclerc and has him inside DRS vary; Norris passes Tsunoda as he wanted to and should now shut the space on Bearman, 5 seconds down the street whereas, behind him. Hulkenberg additionally passes Tsunoda. Hamilton, having began from the pit lane, is sixteenth.
Lap 2/51 Leclerc leads by nearly a second as, down the principle straight, Nozza eases previous Hulkenberg and has DRS on Tsunoda – he must get by rapidly as a result of Bearman is stretching forward with each second.
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Leclerc
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Piastri
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Perez
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Sainz
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Verstappen
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Russell
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Alonso
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Colapinto
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Albon
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Bearman
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Tsunoda
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Norris
Lap 1/51 Lights out and Leclerc begins properly, out in entrance whereas Perez strikes by Sainz and Verastappen sneaks previous Russell! However wither Norris? Somebody inform us, please? Ah, there we go, he’s moved up two locations into thirteenth.
It’s a brief run to the primary nook, and we’re good to go!
It’s all to race for within the constructor championship; at the moment, Purple Bull lead the standings with 446 factors, however McLaren, with no win since 2008, are shut behind with 438, whereas Ferrari aren’t out of it on 407.
And off it goes.
The formation lap is nearly upon us.
It’s form of windy within the metropolis of wind, but it surely’s unclear from which course that wind is coming. Extra information as I get it!
Do we expect Leclerc has the mandatory to win right here? The Ferrari appears to be like in good order, however Piastri will fancy his probabilities of beating it off the road.
Oliver Bearman appears to be like glad and why wouldn’t he be? At 19, he’s not solely racing at this stage however has out-qualified his teammate, Nico Hülkenberg. He’ll really feel invincible and that the world is his; good for him.
Anthem tme!
It’s good and sunny in Baku as we speak – and in addition heat. Pleasure is constructing because the vehicles collect on the grid.
One other potential issue: within the final 4 races on this circuit, we’ve seen both a security automobile or a digital security automobile. I daresay the boy Nozza would settle for that as we speak.
We mustn’t overlook that there are drivers who’ll be underneath group orders as we speak. Piastri can have been advised to do no matter he can in his McLaren to disrupt Verstappen, whereas Pérez should enable his teammate previous, assuming George Russell is overtaken first.
Charles Leclerc, however, will probably be extraordinarily relaxed in regards to the overtaking scenario. Nevertheless he’ll additionally know that he’s now been on pole for this race 4 instances on the spin and has but to transform one to a race win.
The issue the drivers – and Norris specifically – have is that overtaking on the Baku Metropolis Circuit isn’t simple. He reckons technique will probably be particularly vital, but in addition is aware of that, if he will get a clear run at any level, his automobile is quick sufficient to do harm.
The grid
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Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
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Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
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Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari)
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Sergio Pérez (Purple Bull)
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George Russell (Mercedes)
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Max Verstappen (Purple Bull)
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Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
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Franco Colapinto (Williams)
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Alex Albon (Williams)
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Oliver Bearman (Haas)
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Yuki Tsunoda (RB)
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Nico Hülkengerg (Haas)
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Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
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Daniel Ricciardo (RB)
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Lando Norris (McLaren)
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Valtteri Bottas (Stake F1)
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Zhou Guanyu (Stake F1)
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Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
Pit lane: Lews Hamilton (Mercedes)
Pit lane: Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
Preamble
Let’s start with a query: six months in the past at first of March, when the season bought entering into Bahrain, who didn’t count on that, come mid-September, we’d be the place we’re?
The reply, in fact, is “Completely everybody”. And as if to show the purpose – that what felt just like the world’s most predictable sport is now one in every of its least – an alert flashes up on my cellphone advising me that Lewis Hamilton will start as we speak’s race from the pit lane after taking a brand new engine. Oops!
However sadly for the almost-goat, that’s a subplot – at greatest. The primary occasion is, in fact, the race for the driving force championship, and we’re nonetheless in complete ignorance as to how which may finish. Max Verstappen, champion in every of the final three seasons, is struggling – or his automobile is – so although he leads the standings by 62 factors, with eight races to go he’s weak … if a kind of chasing him can discover the mandatory consistency to make the most of his automobile’s deterioration.
Simpler mentioned than accomplished: Lando Norris, the closest challenger, had a nightmare in qualifying and beings from fifteenth on the grid. So, whereas Verstappen is simply sixth, he now has a terrific probability to extend his lead on the high whereas ticking off one other race. We will see!
Lights out: 3pm native, 12pm BST
