Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Perez leads Red Bull 1-2 as Leclerc manages podium finish

Red Bull Racing driver Sergio Perez cemented his rating as the King of the street circuits with a win in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Mexican finished ahead of teammate Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to claim a second win of the season.

Having finished outside the podium in the Australian Grand Prix earlier this month, Perez was eager to return to the big time in Baku. The experienced driver had won the other race on a street circuit when he emerged as the winner of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah.

During qualifying, Ferrari driver Leclerc claimed pole position with some excellent driving as Verstappen clashed with Mercedes’ George Russell to set up a showdown in the race.

During the Sprint race in Baku, both Verstappen and Perez overtook Leclerc early before AlphaTauri’s Nyck De Vries had to leave the race after his car came to a halt. The result of this was that Verstappen, who was in the lead, had to pit and this saw him fall to third place. He quickly overtook Leclerc again but failed to beat his teammate Perez, who had taken the lead.

Perez held on to claim the Azerbaijan Grand Prix win in Baku, his second win of the season from only four races. Verstappen finished second and Leclerc finished third to secure his first podium finish of the season. Fernando Alonso finished in fourth place and Carlos Sainz was fifth in the race.

Lewis Hamilton, Lance Stroll, George Russell, Lando Norris and Yuki Tsunoda completed the point scorers in the race. Perez was named Driver of the Day as he won to cut Verstappen’s championship lead to six points heading into next week’s Miami Grand Prix. Red Bull have now managed to win each of the four races as they continue to dominate the Formula One this season.