Leclerc was left behind by the Red Bulls as he played a similar cat-and-mouse game with Alonso. The picturesque Azerbaijan Grand Prix is set to stay on the Formula 1 calendar until 2026 Behind the Red Bulls Once in the lead, he managed the race beautifully to keep Verstappen at bay and finally break his challenge. The safety car helped Perez on his way, but even before that he had appeared as if he might have an edge on Verstappen, putting big pressure on his team-mate, forcing him to pit early for fresh tyres, and thereby creating the chance to benefit from the opportunity that then fell into his lap. Verstappen tried to come back at him, but Perez had the pace he needed and the win - arguably the best of his career - was secured. It was a tense fight as they circulated like that until just after half distance, when Perez began to creep further ahead, extending his lead to three seconds or so, and again holding it there. The Dutchman passed Leclerc within three corners of the restart but Perez was able to hold him at just over a second behind, preventing Verstappen benefiting from the lap-time advantage of the DRS.
The safety car was deployed and that enabled the rest of the front-runners to pit - a stop under caution takes about half the 21 seconds of one under racing conditions - and Perez emerged in the lead, with Leclerc also jumping back ahead of Verstappen.
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Verstappen pitted for fresh tyres on lap 10, just before Alpha Tauri driver Nyck de Vries clouted the inside wall at Turn Five, breaking his front suspension and bringing his car to a halt in the run-off area at Turn Six. Perez followed him past a couple of laps later and began to close in on Verstappen, reducing the lead from a second, to 0.8secs, to 0.6secs on consecutive laps as the world champion began to struggle with tyre wear. Verstappen had passed Leclerc for the lead at the start of lap three, as soon as the DRS overtaking aid was made available. The race result may have turned on the timing of the safety car period and how it intersected with the pit strategies of the leading teams.
It was a much-needed fillip for Leclerc and Ferrari after a disappointing and difficult start to the season. Perez had Verstappen's measure, holding him at just over a second behind for a long time before beginning to edge further ahead in the closing stages, and his second win of the year reduced the Dutchman's championship lead to six points.įerrari's Charles Leclerc - who started the race from pole, was soon dispatched by both Red Bulls after the start, and by Verstappen for a second time after the safety-car period - won a tight battle with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso for the final podium position.
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