Five lights on ahead of the drivers.
It's lights out and away we go. And Leclerc gets away well
ahead of Hamilton, and Verstappen, and then you have Sainz and Gasly
scrapping away behind them. But it's Charles Leclerc with a clear lead
going through Turn 1. He's got the start, he's got the pole
and he's got away from Lewis Hamilton. And there locking up... Sainz, Gasly ahead,
Sergio Perez making up places as well. The two McLarens getting bogged down in the midfield
and the charge is on now down towards Turn 3. Charles Leclerc leads the Azerbaijan
Grand Prix from Hamilton. And then comes Verstappen and Sergio Perez
ahead of Gasly but only just. The two going through into Turn 3
separated by inches and making it. The Ferrari of Charles Leclerc has
Lewis Hamilton right behind him. And Leclerc's been leading throughout this race,
but not for long, because Hamilton has got the tow.
He's got the slipstream. He doesn't need DRS and he makes the pass
to take the lead of this race. Leclerc's going to try and fight him back
going into Turn 1. But it's Hamilton now ahead of Leclerc
with Verstappen in third. We're watching Yuki Tsunoda
in eighth as well, and we're watching Charles Leclerc
under massive pressure from Max Verstappen. He's had to wait a few laps
to get past the Ferrari. It's happened now at the beginning
of Lap 7. Hamilton leads. Verstappen is now second
and chasing after the Mercedes. Leclerc down to third.
And there's Yuki Tsunoda. Is he going to get past
Fernando Alonso going into Turn 1? Do you know what?
Yes, he is! - Look at Sergio Perez.
Straight there for protection. This is exactly what Red Bull need,
isn't it? Up to third place.
What a drive so far! - In the space of a single lap,
Charles Leclerc is now out of the podium places. What's happened in sector two?
We've got a yellow flag. That will attract the attention
of the strategy engineers on the pit wall. And it is a Ferrari of Carlos Sainz
who's gone off into the run-off area. Hamilton comes in.
Verstappen and Perez stay out. - Hamilton... It's a slow stop again.
- Oh! That's away. But he had to wait for the other car
that was coming down the pit lane. We've not seen drivers
have problems here, but on the hard tyre he locks up
and has to bale out. - "Ahhh! Sorry, guys!" And he's boxing.
Ted, down to you. - Yeah, I can see.
It's just a couple of garages down. Let's have a look.
Yeah, going well so far. That's not the 1.8 I've seen.
But what was it? About the two-second mark? Very, very solid.
White tyres on. Hard tyres. - I tell you what, Ted, Max Verstappen is away
and he is going to be ahead of Lewis Hamilton. That's the crucial thing here.
Hamilton's slow stop has cost him track position, after the pit stop, to Max Verstappen. Hard compound tyre for Sergio Perez.
There was a problem at the rear. We'll get Ted Kravitz's thoughts
on that in a moment. 4.3-seconds stop for Perez!
That's undone all his good work, as you see Max Verstappen
going into Turn 1. Where's Hamilton now?
Coming through Turn 1. Sergio Perez comes out in second place,
still ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen is ahead.
Sergio Perez behind his team-mate. Hamilton behind, now, both Red Bulls. Oh no! That is an accident!
And it is Lance Stroll. And Lance Stroll,
who might well have been coming into the pits, has left a huge amount of debris on the track. He's moving around in the cockpit.
That's great to see. What happened to Lance Stroll? And yeah, absolutely no chance
of avoiding the accidents. I said, 'potentially coming
into the pits'. Phwoar!
That is... That's an impact, isn't it? We are going to get racing
here in Baku. And now Verstappen's gone,
and Lewis Hamilton has got a really nice tow behind Sergio Perez.
Pierre Gasly locks up. Charles Leclerc
could get interested in this. Sebastian Vettel
down the inside of Charles Leclerc, gets past the Ferrari.
Sergio Perez is under pressure from Lewis Hamilton. There's a huge lock-up
by Charles Leclerc. He almost goes into the back
of Sebastian Vettel. Somehow the Aston Martin
doesn't make contact. Now Sebastian Vettel's looking to have a go
at Pierre Gasly as well. As Hamilton is trying to make a move
on Sergio Perez. Perez goes through second
Gasly goes ahead... stays ahead, I should say,
of Sebastian Vettel. High drama at the restart there,
and Charles Leclerc very nearly coming a cropper. - Sebastian Vettel getting a nice one off Pierre Gasly.
He's going to get it done. - He's got the tow.
He's got the fresher tyres. He's got the pace.
Sebastian Vettel's got fourth place here in Baku. He loves this track.
Started in the top four. In every season that
he's come to Baku before he's finished third, he's finished fourth.
he's finished fourth, he's finished second And guess what?
In 2021, he's fourth again! It can go right down to the
chequered flag and look at... Ohhh! And that's Max Verstappen!
Max Verstappen on the main straight! Leading this race! Now out of this race!
Sergio Perez leads from Lewis Hamilton! - "Tyre! ****!" That is a 200 mph crash
for Max Verstappen, and that is also Red Bull's first one-two
in many a long year taken out of them as well. And the red flag has now come out.
The race is now going to stop. Brakes smoking on Lewis Hamilton's car. Perez on pole. Hamilton alongside
him on the front row. Perez gets away well.
Hamilton with wheelspin. Sebastian Vettel is coming
at them as well. Perez tries to cut off Hamilton,
who locks up and goes straight on! Perez leads from Sebastian Vettel.
And then comes Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc. And Hamilton has gone from second in the race
to falling out of the points, as they tiptoe their way around Turn 2. We lost the championship leader
with a crash. We lost his main rival with
a lock-up at the restart. This has not been a good day
for the top two in the championship. Under pressure, now, Pierre Gasly.
He's got Charles Leclerc right behind him. Looks like Charles Leclerc
is ahead of Pierre Gasly. Leclerc goes back up into
the podium places. He started on pole.
He may yet finish on the podium. Gasly's going to come back at him again, though.
The AlphaTauri goes a bit deep and gets past Charles Leclerc
Out in front, Perez from Vettel. This scrap's still going on. Behind them Lando Norris
waiting to pick up the scraps here, But Lewis Hamilton,
54 point-scoring finishes in a row, and he fails to score points today, as down the inside goes Gasly,
stays ahead of Leclerc. For one brief moment,
Lando Norris thought he had a chance. Gasly cuts him off aggressively
going through Turn 4. Sergio Perez moved teams over the winter.
Went to Red Bull. In his sixth race for his new team,
Sergio Perez wins the Azerbaijan Grand Prix! Sebastian Vettel moved teams.
He picks up his first podium for Aston Martin and their first podium
in Formula 1. Pierre Gasly's back on the podium too
for AlphaTauri as he comes home third. What a Baku race it was!
What an Azerbaijan Grand Prix! Perez picks up the points. Verstappen and Hamilton, the championship contenders,
both fail to finish. It's Baku to the drawing board for them. It's celebrations for Perez tonight!
whoa is that the fastest it's been uploaded after a race?
Can't believe they've already edited the whole thing
I know they want to get clicks, but that thumbnail spoils the race for a lot of people who hadn't seen it.
Damn, they uploaded it very fast
Who knew Baku would provide such an incredible race....also this is the first time that no fastest lap point has been awarded since it came into play since 2019!
And before anyone shoots me down in flames, Nope its not been awarded 2 times before, 2019 Singapore Grand Prix and 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, I just had to edit this in xD
Lolol that thumbnail. They really dislike Max Verstappen