The Mexican driver signed his second victory of the weekend on Sunday after winning the sprint race on Saturday.
Double blow for Sergio Pérez. The day after his victory in the sprint race, the Red Bull driver also won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, in the streets of Baku, on Sunday 30 April. Starting third on the grid, the Mexican took the lead of the peloton thanks to a safety car, and was never worried again. He edges team-mate Max Verstappen for a third Red Bull double this season. Poleman Charles Leclerc finished third and secured Ferrari’s first podium of the season.
Very realistic, the Mexican knew how to seize the opportunities which presented themselves to him to go up to the head, in a race finally not animated. After a strong start from the second row on the grid, he followed his team-mate to pass poleman Charles Leclerc, whose Ferrari was no match for the power of the Red Bulls. He then took advantage of the exit of the safety car on lap 10, after De Vries’ accident, to take the lead in the pit stop game.
“We gave our all, we hit the wall several times. Max pushed me well, but I managed to keep control”he welcomed just after the finish. Pérez, definitively the king of street circuits, signs his second victory this season, and becomes the first driver to win twice (after 2021) in Baku since the arrival of the circuit on the calendar, in 2016.
Charles Leclerc exceeded
Trapped by the timing of the safety car, when he was in the lead and had just changed tyres, Max Verstappen could not fight with his teammate. Very aggressive and on the offensive, he played for a long time with the walls of the street circuit of the Azerbaijani capital, before slowing down at the end of the race, and crossing the line three seconds behind the Mexican. He still retains the lead in the championship, but sees Pérez back in his exhausts, to six units.
Full of ambition for his first pole this season, Charles Leclerc was quickly disillusioned. Jumped by the two Red Bulls in the first laps, he was again overtaken by Verstappen when the race restarted. Quickly switched to manager mode, he resisted the return of an unleashed Fernando Alonso at the end of the event to validate a first podium in 2023.
On the Alpine side, the two Norman drivers completed a very difficult weekend far from the top 10. Starting from the penultimate row, Pierre Gasly did not manage to get away from the back of the peloton, and finished 14th, just ahead of his teammate. . Long in the points after starting from the pits, Esteban Ocon paid dearly for a final pit stop on the penultimate lap. The paddock now has an appointment in Miami from May 5.