Incident-packed Azerbaijan GP lived up to its billing

In Formula One lingo, it can now be argued that the word “Baku” ought to mean “thrill with no end” for that is exactly what was in plenty in the eighth race of the year in Azerbaijan.

No one could have predicted the mayhem that would ensue to make the 51-lap race such a spectacle that would have worthy yet unexpected winners on the podium and raise the rivalry between Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to a whole new level.

Hamilton yet again delivered the goods in qualifying to pip his teammate, Valtteri Bottas, and take pole on the only track which he has never won. He was well clear of the field coming into the first left turn and from that point, it seemed as though he had placed one hand on the race win trophy.

Bottas came into contact with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in the first lap and had to get into the pit stop, dropping him down to last position. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo who started tenth, also had to pit on the fifth lap to have debris removed from his brakes, dropping him to 17th position.

The first man for whom the dark clouds of bad luck rained on heavily was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who had to retire in the 12th lap due to engine trouble. Up to this point, the magnitude of drama in the race was still subdued. That was until the safety car came out in order to have Daniil Kvyat’s Toro Rosso safely taken off the track. Hamilton and Vettel both took the opportunity to get fresh tyres.

The Briton was soon talking to his crew via radio: “The safety car needs to speed up, coz this is too slow” in a bid to warm his tyres to the right temperatures to enable him maintain his lead. A second safety car soon after the restart again bunched up the cars.

Vettel drove into the back of Hamilton’s car as the Mercedes driver was readying to launch the restart, spawning a chain of events which will arguably be among the top defining moments of the 2017 season. Vettel then drove to Hamilton’s left side and deliberately banged his vehicle against the race leader’s.

For this, Vettel, who had come under much pressure from Force India’s Sergio Perez during the restart after the earlier safety car period, was given a 10-second stop and go penalty.

The race got red-flagged on the 22nd lap to clear debris from different parts of the track. Following the restart, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo pulled off a memorable move down the stretch that saw him overtake the Williams duo of Felippe Massa and rookie Lance Stroll to put him in the podium places.

Comfortably in the lead and cruising towards what would have been his first ever win in Azerbaijan, Hamilton was alerted of a head rest which had come out of position and needed to be fixed.

Despite his attempts to press it back into position, the race leader was forced to make an expensive pit stop in the 31st lap. Toto Wolff’s reaction said it all as the Mercedes official immediately knew the team had lost the race. Vettel came in two laps later for the penalty and when the Ferrari exited the pit stop, it was ahead of Hamilton’s Mercedes.

Hamilton’s attempts to catch the Ferrari were eventually futile as Vettel was able to match his pace. Coming into the last lap, Ricciardo was leading, Stroll was second and Bottas 1.3 seconds behind the Canadian.

How Bottas managed to pip Stroll right at the finish is the stuff of legends, but then again by finishing on the podium, Stroll became the youngest rookie to stand on the podium.

With Ricciardo the unlikely winner of the eventful street race, Stroll had to endure the ‘privilege’ of being party to the celebration on his first time ever on the podium.