by S. Ancin – photo: f1.com
A mixture of crashes, mistakes, three safety cars and being in the right place at the right time helped propping Ricciardo up at the European GP in Azerbaijan. Bottas and Stroll finished second and third; all in all an unusual trio. Alonso flawlessly earned his two first points of the championship. It was a race quite at odds with the usual dynamics of the season.
Those expecting a chaotic race to resemble last years’ were not disappointed. Everything that you wouldn’t want to happen at a race, happened last Sunday in Baku making for a very eventful and dramatic experience. There were two main triggers: on the one hand the dispute between Vettel and Hamilton which ended up with two crashes between the two, a penalty for Vettel and a mechanical issue for the Briton. On the other hand there were the three safety cars and the red flag within 20 laps from the start.
Vettel and Hamilton started in the first row, Ricciardo started tenth and Alonso nineteenth. The Spaniard seemed pinned to the floor and it took him a while to react and get going. He finished nine in a race he said he “could have won”. He got rid of the Saubers and of Vandoorne and he took advantage of Sainz’s spin as he lost control of his car trying to avoid team-mate Kvyat. Later on he also profited from the withdrawals of Verstappen and Kvyat himself, which allowed him to climb up further positions.
Safety Car
The first safety car appeared at lap twelve after a mechanical problem with Kvyat’s Toro Rosso. Soon after, and seeing that Raikkonen kept on losing bits of his Ferrari following a crash with Bottas on the first lap, came the second stop. And then came Vettel’s dirty move.
As both were driving behind the safety car, the German accused Hamilton of a possible brake test which caused them to crash. Vettel then came down to his level and, as a sort of revenge, he threw his car at him to hit him wheel to wheel.
Right behind them Force India’s drivers, Checo Perez, then third, and Esteban Ocon, carried on with their old dispute at the Canada GP and came again against each other. The Frenchman didn’t leave Perez any room for taking over and forced him against the wall. Both cars were damaged. The race had to be stopped to clean the track as a result and the red flag came up with a 10 second sanction for Vettel. On top of this Hamilton’s headrest came out damaged and a few laps later, he had to make a stop to put it right making him lose time, positions and the leadership.
Alonso gets his first points
Fernando Alonso also made headlines as he came back from nineteenth to a ninth final position and accrued the first points of the year for McLaren; a real miracle considering he is driving a single seater with a toy engine. A superb Carlos Sainz, preceded the Austrian driver, and likewise also come back seven positions in a race he carved out with great consistency and grit. It was the icing on the cake for one of the most entertaining races of the year which saw a new incident after every corner of Baku’s urban circuit.
All these mistakes and scuffles allowed Ricciardo to earn himself his first triumph of the year, followed by Bottas who stole the second position from Stroll with only a few metres to the finish line. The Canadian arrived third achieving his first ever podium and becoming the youngest rookie in history to climb up to the winners’ pulpit.
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