Red Bull’s Sergio Perez won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the forth stage of the Formula 1 championship, by being two seconds ahead of his Red Bull team colleague and world champion for the last two years, Dutchman Max Verstappen, in Baku today.
Whilst Red Bull continued its dominance at the start of the season, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco finished third, ahead of Aston Martin’s veteran Fernando Alonso, giving the red team its first podium finish this year.
Perez, who won the short race on Saturday, started third place and maintained his position in the beginning, whilst Verstappen overtook Leclerc early in the race.
Luck was not on Verstappen’s side, as he had to stop at the pitstop for a change of tires, whilst Perez took the lead when the safety car entered on lap 11 after a collision with AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries.
Verstappen though, quickly returned to the top three, with other drivers stopping at the pitstop during the safety car intervention, yet Verstappen did not succeed in putting enough pressure on his teammate Perez, in light of his complaint of a problem with the stability of the car.
Leclerc finished third place in the race: his best result this season, and the first ascent for the Ferrari team to the podium in 2023.
Winning today’s race was not enough for Perez to take the lead in the World Championship’s overall standings, yet it narrowed the difference gap separating him from the leading Verstappen, bringing the gap from 13 points down to six points (93-87), given that the season consists of 23 races.
The Red Bull drivers swapped place this season, Verstappen won first place in Bahrain and Australia, whilst Perez won in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan, with Miami hosting the 5th round next Sunday. (QNA)
Source: Qatar News Agency