Valtteri finished P12 after the W12 struggled for grip all weekend. Lewis records a P15 after an accidental brake balance setting change caused him to lock brakes on Turn 1 when vying with Perez for the lead following a dramatic race restart with two laps to go.
The race was red-flagged after an accident for Verstappen on the main straight which provided the opportunity for a change of tyres and a two lap race for the finish once the action restarted.
Max Verstappen (105 points) leads the Drivers' Championship by 4 points from Lewis (101) and Lando Norris in P3 (66), with Valtteri (47) in P6. Red Bull (174 points) lead the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team (148 points) by 26 points in the Constructors' Championship.
Toto Wolff: In Monaco and here we didn't have a car that was competitive, full stop. We have underlying issues - we are not getting the car in a happy window for the tyres. We know the deficit and we know we have gaps which we simply have to overcome but I have no doubt, this a team which is so strong and so angry, and we are going to turn that anger into positive form and come back.
Andrew Shovlin: An extremely disappointing end to the weekend but that's just how luck pans out sometimes; Max's misfortune put us in that position in the first place. The bigger issue that we have to deal with is that in the last two races we haven't been good enough. Not fast enough, we've made mistakes, we struggle to switch the tyres on and we've been on the back-foot through free practice. We know the level it takes to win championships and we're not at that level right now so we need to re-group and come back performing the way we know that we can. We have the team, the car and the drivers to win this but we need to be tough and honest with ourselves over the next few days. We've had days like this before and each time we've come back strong and we'll look do that in France.
Christian Horner: "What a rollercoaster! I think we have been through every single emotion today. To be within five laps of achieving our first 1-2 since 2016 to then lose Max from the lead of the race with a puncture that is so far unexplained was pretty heart breaking. The race was then red flagged and we had serious concerns that Sergio was losing hydraulic pressure and there were no guarantees he would make it to the finish. Thankfully Sergio got the job done and Lewis' mistake into Turn 1 at the restart means we come out of the weekend having extended our lead in the Constructors' Championship with Max maintaining his lead in the Drivers' and Checo now moving into third place. Although it was frustrating for Max, we are delighted for Checo to take his first win for the Team today. He has been extremely fast all weekend and it was a great boost for the Team to see him on the top step of the podium. It was also great to see Pierre on up there on the podium after a strong weekend but today we would like to dedicate this win to Mansour Ojjeh who was unfortunately lost from the McLaren family and our sport, he was inspirational and someone I was fortunate enough to call a friend. Congratulations and a big thank you must also go to all our partners, especially Mobil 1 who provided us with an upgraded engine oil for this weekend which just shows how hard all areas of our Team are pushing in this championship fight."
Andreas Seidl, Team Principal: "Our thoughts this evening are with Mansour Ojjeh's family after the sad news of his passing. Today, we were racing in honour of our long-term friend, supporter and fellow racer.
"Regarding the race, from starting positions of P9 and P13, then P12 and P13 after the first lap, clearly the objective was to fight back, and not lose too much ground to our competitors in the Constructors' Championship. In those terms, to leave Baku with finishing positions of P5 and P9 is something we'll take very happily. We were able to keep our cool through a difficult race packed with incidents, where we waited for opportunities and made decisive moves to finish with decent positions. Thanks today to the drivers, the trackside team, support from the MTC, and our colleagues at Mercedes HPP, all of whom contributed to a good recovery.
"We're going home now to reset and analyse this race weekend. The clear objective going forward to France and beyond is to qualify higher up the grid and, in doing so, make our Sundays a little easier. We'll be pushing again at Paul Ricard to keep up the fight in the Constructors' Championship."
Otmar Szafnauer, CEO & Team Principal: "Lance suffered a DNF through no fault of his own, having made very impressive progress in the early laps. He was soon running in the points, making the overcut strategy work well, and was driving superbly on hard tyres when it all came to an end for him in a spectacular way on lap 31. We are investigating the cause of the accident, together with Pirelli. Sebastian also drove extremely well, making up two places on lap one, running a long stint on soft tyres and thereby jumping [Yuki] Tsunoda during the pit stops, and holding seventh place at the halfway point. Then, when Lance was very sadly eliminated, Sebastian moved up to sixth. He then nailed the Safety Car restart, duly passing Charles [Leclerc] for fifth, following that by a great move on Pierre [Gasly] to take fourth. When Max [Verstappen] retired, that became third, then second when Lewis [Hamilton] overshot Turn One from the second standing start: a brilliant result for everyone in our team and the first ever podium for Aston Martin in World Championship Formula One history. In summary, then, both Lance and Sebastian showed today that we have the race pace to compete at the very front of the midfield, or better, and that is what both of them will be aiming to do as the rest of the season unfolds."
Alpine F1 Team scored eight points from the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix thanks to a stunning final two laps by Fernando Alonso that saw the Spaniard climb four places to finish sixth position at the chequered flag. Esteban Ocon retired after suffering a loss of power earlier in the race.
Fernando produced a brilliant final two laps following a late race restart that left the Spaniard leaving Baku with his best result in Formula 1 since the Australian Grand Prix in 2018.
For the race start Fernando and Esteban launched off their grid positions well with both drivers gaining places during the opening exchanges of the 306.049km race distance. By the end of lap one, Fernando was in seventh with his teammate just outside the points in eleventh.
Just a few laps later Esteban's day was brought to an abrupt end on lap 4 after he suffered a sudden loss of power that forced him to box his A521 and retire from the race.
In the sole remaining car, Fernando was one of the first to switch to the more durable Hard compound and decided to pit on lap 7. Most of the field starting on Soft tyres followed suit just a few laps later - and with the order chopping and changing - the Spaniard eventually stabilised his position just outside the top ten in twelfth.
A timely safety car was then brought out on lap 31 for Lance Stroll's incident on the main straight, allowing Fernando to pit for fresh Soft tyres once the pitlane was re-opened.
With fresher rubber than those ahead, Fernando gained a few places and targeted the top ten positions but couldn't make inroads on Daniel Ricciardo's McLaren who was holding onto tenth place. The result looked set before a red flag was waved for Max Verstappen's crash, bringing the entire field into the pitlane and throwing the last two laps into a pure sprint to the finish.
After a lengthy break the session resumed for a standing restart. Fitted with scrubbed Soft tyres, Fernando saved his best till the end and put on a driving masterclass. He first carved his way past several cars into turn one, before a brave overtake on Yuki Tsunoda on the outside of turn five to storm home to sixth position around the Baku City Circuit.
Marcin Budkowski, Executive Director: "The race didn't start well with Esteban having to stop with a power unit problem and Fernando's race pace was not competitive, for which we need to understand the reasons. Overall it wasn't a great afternoon but we can be glad that the two drivers who had issues were fine and it did give us some exciting action after the restart. The heart-warming positive was some Fernando magic to regain four positions and finish P6, which is a great reward for everyone's hard work. He's back in a very competitive state and we now need to work together to get back on form at the next race in France."
While yesterday's qualifying result far exceeded the team's expectations going into the race weekend, the outcome of the race, which as usual here was action-packed from start to finish, with Charles finishing fourth and Carlos eighth, is somewhat disappointing. In Friday's free practice it was evident the two teams fighting for the championship had a clearly quicker pace. But given the opportunities that the race could throw up, it seemed it might be a great chance to make the most of the advantage we had secured over them on Saturday.
The team leaves Azerbaijan having proved to be very competitive in qualifying and with the satisfaction of moving up one place in the Constructors' classification into third. However, the gap to those now behind is very small and definitely does not reflect the level of competitiveness of the team seen in the past two races.
All the Baku weekend data will now be analysed back in Maranello in order to maximise the potential of the SF21, especially in the races, starting with the next one, the seventh round of the season, the French Grand Prix, which takes place on Sunday 20 June at Le Castellet.
Mattia Binotto: It was a difficult race that didn't live up to our expectations, given how qualifying went yesterday. We know that, in order to reach our goals, we not only have to improve our car, we must also do everything perfectly in every area and that wasn't the case today.
On the plus side this weekend, we took our second pole position of the season and we have moved up to third in the Constructors' classification. The gap to those behind is small and definitely smaller than it could have been. However, we have to move on from this and see it as further motivation to improve in every aspect of our work.
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "It was a sensational race from the very beginning. I want to say congratulations to Red Bull Racing, Honda and Perez today, it was a fantastic victory. Unfortunately, Max who was leading and was in my opinion the fastest man on the track, lost it at the very last minute of a great race from his side. However, the important thing is that he still leads the Championship. As for us, we started with Pierre in fourth position, which was already a great starting place, and Yuki wasn't far behind in seventh. Both drivers had a good start and Pierre defended P4 for a long period, even whilst managing a small PU issue, but unfortunately lost time behind Stroll and that allowed Vettel to catch-up and overtake Pierre after the pitstop. At the restart, we changed from the Hards to the Softs and Pierre completed a really good manoeuvre against Leclerc to put himself into third position. It's an unbelievable result and both the team and Pierre deserve it, as we were very competitive here from FP1 onwards. Yuki started from P7 and only lost one place to Alonso on the first lap but managed to regain the position later. After the red flag, Yuki started from sixth position but lost two places during those last few laps. Nonetheless, he finished in a fantastic seventh place and the team scored some great points this weekend, meaning we're now fifth in the Constructors' Championship. The guys did a really good job today on all sides, from the pitstops to the strategy, and they deserve this result. Congratulations to the whole Scuderia AlphaTauri team and I hope we can continue this performance in the upcoming races."
Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN claimed their second points finish in a row in an Azerbaijan Grand Prix that kept most of the thrills for the closing stages. Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi delivered an attacking performance from the start, making up places and challenging for the top ten from the very beginning, with the Finn eventually finishing in tenth to add a point to the team's tally - and open his personal account for the season in the process.
Starting from the very back of the grid, Antonio made a strong start to climb all the way to P15, right behind Kimi. A strategic call to pit him after just two laps, to fit hard tyres, paid off as Antonio could then climb two further positions as his rivals pitted, with Kimi - starting on medium tyres on an alternative strategy - in P15. A safety car, brought in due to an accident to Lance Stroll, allowed the team to call Antonio in for another set of hard tyres but, just as the race was coming to an uneventful close, a red flag for Max Verstappen's crash allowed the whole field to mount fresh soft tyres for a two-lap sprint to the flag.
At the restart, Kimi kept his cool to go from 11th to 10th, the final points-paying position, while Antonio, who had made up places with a good getaway, got delayed at turn two and eventually crossed the line in P11, just outside the points. After a challenging Saturday, the team showed resilience and good pace to make up as many positions as possible and bring home another good point. It's a performance that encourages everyone, both trackside and in Hinwil, and gives us a confidence boost as we gear up for the next races in the calendar.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: "We can be happy with bringing a point home, especially as we displayed good pace with both cars from start to finish. We were starting in far from ideal positions, but everyone in the team did a good job to allow us to fight for points until the final laps: to finish in the top ten for the second race running is a reward for clean driving, a strategy that allowed both drivers to be in a fighting position and some good stops. At the restart, we had to play our cards smartly as everyone was going to take some risks, but in the end we managed to come away with a good point. We have once again shown the progress we have made and how we're in the position to be fighting for top tens regularly, but there's still work to be done. We are confident and the last few races have really encouraged us, so we can keep pushing towards our objective."
Uralkali Haas F1 Team drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin classified 13th and 14th respectively at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Round 6 of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, held Sunday at the Baku City Circuit.
Both drivers opted for Pirelli P Zero Red soft tires for the start and avoided trouble to hold positions 16 and 17 respectively. Schumacher came in on lap eight for White hard tires while Mazepin followed suit one lap later. A Safety Car period, caused by a high-speed accident for Lance Stroll, prompted both drivers to come in for another set of soft tires, though a problem with the front-left delayed Schumacher. However, the race was then stopped after 49 laps when Max Verstappen suffered a suspected tire failure along the pit straight.
Schumacher and Mazepin took the standing restart on soft tires from 16th and 17th and made gains across the two-lap sprint to the checkered flag. The rookies raced each other to the finish line, with Schumacher registering 13th and Mazepin 14th, separated by just 0.074s. It marked the best Formula 1 career results for both drivers.
In a dramatic conclusion Red Bull Racing's Sergio Perez claimed his second career victory, ahead of Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel, with AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly third.
Guenther Steiner: "Obviously it was an exciting race today, on one way or another, or even in all ways. In the end we had our best result of the year, which I'm very happy about for everybody. For where we are at the moment it's very difficult to get this result. Everybody worked really hard and just due to that - it happened. Obviously, there was a situation on the straight, that was all resolved, and we've cleared the air. There was some misunderstanding, but we're fine and all moving on from it."
Nicholas Latifi finished 16th in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, after being awarded a post-race 30-second time penalty for an infraction under the safety car, whilst George Russell was forced to retire due to a gearbox issue.
George started the race 15th and Nicholas 16th, both on the medium Pirelli tyre. Nicholas switched to the hard compound tyre on lap nine before taking the soft compound under a late race red flag.
George pitted on laps 1 and 34, each time for the hard compound, before switching to the soft compound on lap 48.
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: Today was a busy race and we have a lot to go through over the coming week. Baku usually delivers a busy race and today was certainly one of those. In the end George was unable to take the race restart due to a suspected gearbox issue and an earlier communication error with Nicholas meant that he received a post-race time penalty.
We tried a different strategy with George to get him some free air and an opportunity to pressure the cars ahead. Unfortunately, he couldn't find enough pace on the Prime tyre to make much progress even though the car was working reasonably well. However, having stopped for new tyres at the first Safety Car, he was in a good position as those ahead began to struggle on their older tyres. Unfortunately, the second Safety Car and subsequent race suspension gave all cars a chance to fit fresh tyres for the final two lap sprint to the chequered flag.
Red Bull driver Sergio Perez won with two stops, going from P Zero Red soft to P Zero White hard to soft again. The race was red flagged with just three laps to go following an accident for race leader Max Verstappen in the other Red Bull. Under the red flag regulations, the drivers were allowed to change tyres, which they all did before the final sprint.
Most drivers selected a soft to hard strategy before the red flag period, with all of them then selecting the soft tyre until the finish.
There was a safety car period just over halfway through the race, when Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll crashed close to the entrance of the pit lane, following a deflation of the rear-left tyre. When the pit lane re-opened, five drivers chose to make a second stop, fitting either the hard or the soft tyre.
Initial observations have already been made as to what could have caused these incidents affecting the rear-left tyre. None of the other tyres in the race of a similar (or older) age showed any signs of excessive wear, there was evidence of a cut found on another rear-left tyre fitted to Lewis Hamilton's car during the same stint, there was no warning or vibration detected prior to either incident, and the rear-left tyre is actually not the most stressed on this circuit. All of these considerations could point to an external factor.
Temperatures were somewhat cooler than they had been over the previous two days, with 26 degrees of ambient temperature and 39 degrees of track temperature when the race began.
Mario Isola: "We need to clearly establish the facts behind the incidents involving Lance Stroll and Max Verstappen to fully understand what happened. What we can say for now is that there was also a cut found on Hamilton's tyre and that it's the rear-right tyre that actually works harder than the rear-left here. No warnings or vibrations were detected and none of the other tyres of a similar age or older showed any signs of excess wear. So we can not exclude that the damage was caused by an external factor, although these things shouldn't happen and we can understand the need for answers."
