As the fastest street track in the world, Baku never fails to produce some great racing, and a safety car. Red Bull and Verstappen continue to lead their respective Championships, despite Verstappen not finishing, and it was an all-around awful day for Mercedes with neither driver finishing in the points.

After qualifying on Saturday, Lando Norris was handed a three place grid penalty for failing red flags procedures and therefore started the race in ninth.

Charles Leclerc started the race off in pole position and lead through the first lap. However, on lap two he was passed by Hamilton and then Verstappen on lap seven. He eventually dropped down to fourth after being passed by Perez as well. Esteban Ocon retired on lap four with a power unit issue, abruptly ending the Frenchman’s race.

The pit stops started early with some teams even choosing to come in after the first lap, such as the Williams of George Russell who went on to the hard compound hoping to last the remainder of the race.

During the middle part of the race, not a lot happened which was uncharacteristic of Baku. However, on lap 31 the left rear tyre of Lance Stroll’s car gave out on the main straight sending him into a spin at a speed of over 200kph. He escaped from the crash without being hurt but there was no warning of issues with the tyre. Then on lap 47 Verstappen’s left rear tyre did the same thing as Stroll’s in the same place. He also escaped the crash unscathed, however, because of the amount of debris the race was red flagged with two laps left and his race was over. It was a big blow to Verstappen as he was looking set to take first place.

During the red flag break there were lots of discussions about what was happening with the tyres. The Red Bull team spoke to the FIA and let them no that there was no advanced warning about an issue with the tyres on Verstappen’s car.

Pirelli is now investigating the tyres with the help of one of the tyres from Hamilton’s car. According to the preliminary investigation by Pirelli, they believe the tyres picked up debris and that is what caused them to fail, not excessive wear. One of the tyres from Hamilton’s car was found to have a cut deep enough to suggest there was debris somewhere on the track. Pirelli have not released a conclusive report yet, as they are waiting to do a full investigation at their facility in Milan. To me it seems unlikely that both their left rear tyres would fail at the same place, but it could be possible with a mix of debris and some stress on the damage.

After the red flag ended, the race was to be started as a standing start. Perez was first with Hamilton in second and Sebastian Vettel in third on a brand new set of soft tyres. Perez got away well, but it looked like Hamilton was going to overtake him until he had a major lock up into turn one and had to use the run off area to avoid crashing out, which saw him fall to the back of the grid.

Perez would go on to take his second career win, but his first with Red Bull. Sebastian Vettel came home in second and took his first podium with Aston Martin, and Pierre Gasly completed the podium. Leclerc finished the race in fourth, followed by Norris in fifth, Alonso in sixth, Tsunoda in seventh, Sainz in eighth, Ricciardo in ninth, and Kimi Räikkönen rounding out the top ten.

Despite Verstappen not finishing the race, he still maintains his lead in the Driver’s Championship. Red Bull also gained a significant advantage in the Constructors Championship as neither Mercedes finished in the points. Sergio Perez also bumped up to third in the Championship, just ahead of Lando Norris.

We return in two weeks in France, for what hopefully will be some more amazing racing. This season has yet to disappoint.