Five Formula 1 Winners & Losers: Azerbaijan Grand Prix
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There have been some fantastic races in Baku.
This was not one of them.
But still, we soldier on and try to find five winners and losers from the weekend.
Losers
5. George Russell
It wasn’t a horrible weekend for Russell, as he finished 4th in the sprint race and 8th in the race.
But the restarts after safety cars lost him a total of 3 positions over the weekend.
Maybe he would have lost those positions regardless, but giving them away for free surely isn’t good enough.
4. Logan Sargeant
The Williams isn’t a very good car, so it’s not like we can blame him for finishing 17th.
We can blame him, however, for being far behind his teammate Alex Albon in equal equipment.
Now, Albon has 4 total years in Formula 1. Logan is a rookie.
He will improve.
But it hasn’t been a great start to the year compared to his teammate.
3. Alfa Romeo
That car just didn’t work this weekend.
It was slow. The tires burnt out too fast.
Throw it in the garbage and move on to next week.
2. Nyck De Vries
Speaking of slower than teammate.
De Vries is getting clowned by Yuki Tsunoda, and even had to end his race early after making contact with the wall.
He needs to turn it around, and quickly.
1. Pierre Gasly
What an absolutely miserable week for Pierre Gasly.
His engine blew up on Friday. His qualifying for both the race and the sprint were terrible. His results in the sprint and the race were terrible.
It was a horrible weekend for a driver who has put in some good performances this week.
Hopefully, Miami goes better.
Winners
5. Nico Hulkenberg
Did Hulkenberg get into the points? No.
Did he even end up with a decent result? No.
But, he started from the pit lane and went 50 of the 51 laps on one set of tires, hoping for a safety car or red flag to get a free pit stop and get a good result.
And with those old tires, he was running in 10th for a majority of the race. Which is great!
Unfortunately, the race just didn’t go his way for that strategy, but it was a noble effort.
4. Yuki Tsunoda
I mentioned earlier how Yuki is destroying De Vries this season in equal equipment.
Well, the equipment they are in is terrible.
And yet, once again, Yuki has put the car into the points with a 10th place finish.
The Red Bull junior driver is putting in performances to show he belongs at a top team.
The issue is, there may not be openings.
3. Fernando Alonso
The performances speak for themselves, but this new Fernando Alonso is unlike anything we’ve seen in this sport.
He’s cracking jokes, he’s responding to memes of him dating Taylor Swift.
He’s just having fun. It’s an absolute joy to see after a decade plus of constant complaining and sass on the radio.
Another top 5 finish this year surely doesn’t hurt that good mood.
2. Charles Leclerc
Ferrari were title contenders last year before Red Bull totally pulled away.
This year, Ferrari is nowhere close to Red Bull and nowhere close to contending for wins.
Still, Leclerc had a fantastic weekend, getting pole in the sprint and the race and finishing 2nd in the sprint and 3rd in the grand prix.
It was the perfect weekend to gain some confidence not just for the driver, but for the team.
1. Sergio Perez
If there is one man who is thrilled that F1 is going the route of constant street circuits (I am not one of them), it will be Sergio Perez.
That man is dominant on street circuits. He’s won 3 of the last 4 with wins at Singapore, Saudi Arabia and now Baku.
The one he didn’t was Australia, which mainly came from a setup issue which led to a horrible weekend.
His race engineer Hugh Bird said it himself.
He runs the streets.
