Williams
Lance Stroll finished eighth in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix whilst Sergey Sirotkin retired from the race
Both cars started on the supersoft Pirelli tyre, with Lance starting 10th and Sergey 11th after Hulkenberg was awarded a gearbox penalty
Several incidents on the opening lap made for a chaotic start to the race, with Ocon’s crashed Force India bringing out the Safety Car
Lance emerged unscathed on lap one to climb to P7 however Sergey suffered contact and retired
On lap 23, Lance pitted for soft tyres and re-joined in 12th
The Safety Car was deployed for a second time on lap 40 when both Red Bull’s collided into turn one. The Safety Car period was then prolonged when Grosjean crashed his Haas into the wall, elevating Lance to P8
Lance made his second and final pitstop under the Safety Car, changing to a set of ultrasoft tyres
At the restart, Alonso moved ahead of him, but he was promoted back to P8 on the final lap due to Bottas picking up a puncture and retiring from the lead
Lance’s eighth place secures the team’s first points of the season
Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer
Firstly, it was very disappointing to lose Sergey at the start after a coming together with Alonso and Hulkenberg put an early finish to his race. As usual, we had a highly eventful afternoon with lots of incidents right to the very end, so it was great to get eighth position with Lance. I’m happy in one way but disappointed in another, because I think there were many more points possible for us today. Even so, it was a great drive by Lance, all weekend in fact. He kept the car in one piece which is actually one of the key things at this circuit. It is great to get our first points on the board this season and we need to keep this momentum going.
Lance Stroll
It was a crazy race. So much happened. I am pretty happy with the race, there were perhaps one or two more positions if we did everything perfectly, but no one had a perfect race today. In that battle with Fernando at the end I think I should have held him there, but he surprised me into turn three. I didn’t really see him coming back on the inside and he just managed to sneak through, but that was probably the only little bit we missed today. The wind was strong, I could feel the car getting pushed around a bit so it was definitely noticeable. All in all, I am happy with P8 and it was a good race for the team. We can’t assume this pace will carry on to Barcelona, we have to understand our issues and keep working but that is just what we are doing.
Sergey Sirotkin
It was such a mess in the first few corners. I was between two cars heading into turn three and I was just slowly and progressively squeezed between the two cars, as I was in the middle. At a point I saw I was not going to avoid a crash so I just lifted, hoping they would squeeze me but not hit me that much, but then already there was nothing I could do. We touched, my car jumped and when I landed, I broke my front suspension and my wing. I am just really sorry for this, as it is such a long race, but I understand that we all want to gain positions at the start, which is important. It is a shame in a race in such conditions. Parking the car in turn three is not the best feeling. This was the best weekend so far for us and I am sure we could have squeezed some points out of it.
Toro Rosso
Brendon Hartley
“That was an interesting race! From my point of view, I kept it clean but we didn’t really have the pace today to challenge in the midfield. In the areas we needed to overtake we just couldn’t get close enough. There was a lot of drama around me, but I managed to keep my nose clean and take home my first World Championship point in F1, which is great! It was important for me to get to the end of the race today – especially after yesterday! I think at times during the race the pace was OK, but on the Ultrasoft tyre at the end I didn’t feel like I could challenge the cars in front. I would have loved to attack a bit more but let’s be happy with a point on the board…I’ll take this momentum into the next race!”
Pierre Gasly
“I had a really good start to the race, from 17th I managed to get into the top 10 after the first lap, but after that it was really tough to hold my position! I couldn’t do much to keep the cars behind on the straights and I was overtaken by quite a few. It was so difficult! After the final restart, I had an incident with Magnussen where he put me in the wall, breaking half of my floor, my mirror, and bending my steering. It was quite a frustrating race because with all of the retirements and without the collision I could have been in the points.”
Franz Tost (Team Principal)
“Generally speaking, it was a difficult weekend for us. We struggled yesterday in Qualifying and therefore we had to start from 17th and 19th position on the grid. I was quite upset yesterday when we didn’t achieve Q2 – which was realistic because Pierre showed quite good performance and he was on a fast lap when the incident with Brendon happened. However, looking into it afterwards I must say that we have to be quite happy that nothing major occurred between them. Regarding today’s race, I want to congratulate Brendon for his first point in F1! We knew Baku would have been a difficult race for us, but our performance this weekend was not on the level we expected. We will work hard to improve and be in a better position in the next races.”
Toyoharu Tanabe (Honda F1 Technical Director)
“After a difficult first two days, both drivers did well to stay out of trouble in the early chaos and managed to move up the order, with Pierre running inside the top ten in the early part and again towards the end until the coming together with Magnussen. In the end, we benefited from the mistakes of others for Brendon to take his first F1 point. The whole package lacked top speed today, more so than on the first two days and we must now look at the cause for that. However, it is clear that part of the reason for this is that we are still slightly down on power compared to our rivals. We knew this and are working hard on development to improve, while not compromising the reliability of the PU components.”
McLaren
Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne threaded their way through the carnage on the streets of Baku to claim seventh and ninth places respectively in today’s action-packed Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
For both drivers, this afternoon really was a case of making something from nothing. Fernando drove back into contention after being forced to pit at the end of lap one to change two punctured tyres, caused by banging wheels with another car along one of the straights. Stoffel, too, looked to have dropped out of contention, having to make an unplanned second pit-stop on lap 25 after flat-spotting a tyre at Turn Three. However, he made an inspired late-race call to fit fresher rubber while behind the Safety Car, allowing him to quickly vault the cars ahead of him and claim another points finish.
Due to another steadfast performance from the team, McLaren remains fourth in the constructors’ championship, with 36 points.
Fernando Alonso
“Today’s race was very complicated – right from the very first lap.
“The first lap in the midfield is the same old story; people preferring to crash into other cars rather than lifting off. But it’s also up to us to qualify further towards the front, where it’s usually a little bit cleaner.
“On that opening lap, my car was heavily damaged – I had two punctures, with one flat tyre damaging the floor. I also had a damaged front and rear wing.
“I really thought that would be the end of my race, but after the team fitted a new front wing and fresh tyres, I went back out, fought all race long, and actually found the car to be quite competitive.
“We were able to overtake a Sauber and a Renault thanks to the Safety Car, which enabled us to recover a couple of positions. It was one of the best races in years for us, I reckon.”
Stoffel Vandoorne
“What a mad afternoon! This race is usually a bit crazy, and we saw that again today.
“By mid-race, I think I was last, and that there was zero chance of making something work. But then the Safety Car came out: I made a good call at the end to put some hot rubber on when everyone else seemed to be struggling with tyre warm-up. Being at the back at that point wasn’t necessarily a bad thing – at the restart, I felt really confident, managed to overtake a few cars, and got myself back in the points.
“We still lack straight-line speed, which meant it was a struggle to attack or defend in the race, so there’s still some work to do there. Nevertheless, I’m pleased that we got some more points this weekend.”
Eric Boullier
“To bring both cars home in the points today was a pleasant surprise after a relatively tricky weekend in Baku. It’s really worth crediting the teamwork of our strategists, engineers and mechanics, who ensured we were well positioned to benefit from what’s always a tough and demanding race.
“But I also want to highlight the efforts of our drivers today: after a hefty knock on the first lap, which was so heavy it punctured two right-hand tyres and broke part of the floor, Fernando drove with relentless focus and intensity, fighting until the last to bring his car home seventh.
“Stoffel didn’t feel particularly comfortable on the Option tyre, and cannily realised that he, along with those drivers immediately around him, was struggling with warm-up issues while behind the late-race Safety Car. It was a good team decision to box for a fresher, hotter set of Options, a gamble that enabled him to quickly pass a cluster of cars ahead and earn another points finish.
“It’s races like these where you earn your mettle, and, while we still have work to do to close the gap to the front, it’s rewarding that we head home with more well-earned world championship points.”
Haas F1
The tight and twisty Baku City Circuit created another action-packed Azerbaijan Grand Prix. With less than 10 laps remaining in Sunday’s 51-lap contest around the 6.003-kilometer (3.730-mile), 20-turn track, Haas F1 Team was primed to take advantage of the chaos and score its first double-points finish of the season, as drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen were running sixth and 11th, respectively. Ultimately, Haas F1 Team became a part of the chaos, with Magnussen finishing 13th and Grosjean crashing out to earn 15th.
The result was not indicative of the effort put forth by the American squad, as Grosjean rallied from his 20th-place starting spot and Magnussen came from 15th on the grid.
Grosjean started last after a gearbox problem prevented him from posting a time in qualifying on Saturday. But from the drop of the green flag, Grosjean took advantage of others’ miscues, rising to 13th as he deftly avoided numerous incidents amongst his Formula One brethren.
With plenty of debris on the track to clean up after the opening-lap skirmishes, the safety car was deployed, allowing Grosjean and Magnussen to duck into the pits. Grosjean swapped the Pirelli P Zero Yellow soft tires he started the race with for a set of Red supersofts. Magnussen did the opposite, ditching his softs for supersofts.
When the race restarted on lap six, Grosjean was 14th and Magnussen was 16th. A lap later, they were nose to tail in 14th and 15th.
Grosjean methodically worked his way forward, cracking the top-10 when Carlos Sainz Jr., pitted his Renault on lap 15. Grosjean then grabbed ninth when Lance Stroll brought his Williams in for service on lap 23, and eighth when Charles Leclerc wheeled his Sauber into the pits on lap 24.
Grosjean set his sights on the seventh-place Force India of Sergio Perez, and by lap 30, was just 1.3 seconds behind. And while Grosjean couldn’t close the gap any further, it became a moot point when an accident between Red Bull teammates Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo on lap 40 gifted sixth place to Grosjean. This incident also brought Magnussen to 11th.
The safety car appeared for a second time, and both Haas F1 Team drivers took advantage of the opportunity, darting into the pits with each pilot getting a new set of Purple ultrasofts that would take them to the finish. Shod on the softest and grippiest tire available to teams at Baku, Grosjean and Magnussen were poised to not just hold on to their positions, but improve them.
As Grosjean worked to build heat into his ultrasofts by weaving back-and-forth while under the safety car, his Haas VF-18 broke loose, pitching Grosjean into the outside wall. Grosjean was unhurt, but his racecar was not. Fifteenth would be his finishing position.
With Grosjean out of the race, Magnussen moved up to 10th, providing the chance for Haas F1 Team to still come away with points. But when the race returned to green on lap 48, Magnussen tangled with the Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly, dropping him to 14th. Magnussen picked up 13th on the third-to-last lap when race leader Valtteri Bottas suffered a flat right-rear tire on his Mercedes, ending his race and what would’ve been his first win of the season and his first since last year’s season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Bottas’ teammate, Lewis Hamilton, became the beneficiary. Hamilton won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix by 2.460 seconds over Scuderia Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen. It was Hamilton’s 63rd career Formula One victory, his first of the season and his first at Baku City Circuit.
Four rounds into the 21-race Formula One schedule, Haas F1 Team is eighth in the constructors’ standings with 11 points, just two points behind seventh-place Toro Rosso and one point ahead of ninth-place Sauber.
The 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship resumes with the Spanish Grand Prix May 13 at Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya.
Romain Grosjean
“This hurts a lot and I want to apologize to the team. We were in the middle of an amazing race, starting last and running P6. Seeing (Sergio) Perez on the podium, knowing I was fighting with him, is very painful for all of us. It was going very well. The conditions were tricky, there was a lot of wind, the car was going left and right, pushing then not pushing. I was warming up my tires and bumped into a switch that I’d moved by two positions. When I touched the brakes, the brake balance was locked rearward – it just locked the rear wheels and I spun.”
Kevin Magnussen
“Obviously, things aren’t going our way at the moment. We still have a car that is performing well, so I’m looking forward to the rest of the season. We’ve got a competitive car that we can score points with, and on a regular basis if we have smooth weekends. I’m sure we’ll be alright. It’s just been a tough start to the season, especially when you see the potential in the car, it’s even more frustrating. We’ll come back from this. It was just a tough weekend overall.”
Gunther Steiner
“A very disappointing finish to the weekend. There’s nothing more to say.”
Renault F1
Renault Sport Formula One Team secured its best-ever finish since its return to Formula 1 in today’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix. In an exceptional, incident-filled race Carlos Sainz finished in fifth position; the first time Renault has finished in the top five since resuming the sport in 2016.
Nico Hülkenberg had a bittersweet race; starting fourteenth on the grid the German had a strong start and quickly moved up the field to challenge Carlos in the top five. Unfortunately, after the safety car, he went wide at turn four and hit the wall, damaging the car’s suspension and retiring from the race.
Renault Sport Formula One Team retains fifth in the Constructors’ Championship, but has closed the gap to fourth-placed McLaren to just one point.
Nico started the race from P14 on his qualifying Ultrasoft (purple) Pirelli tyres, retiring from the race on lap 10 after running wide out of turn four and hitting the wall.
Carlos started the race from P9 on his qualifying Ultrasoft (purple) tyres, pitting on lap 15 from P4 for a new set of Soft (yellow) tyres, followed by a stop under the Safety Car from P7 on lap 40 for a new set of Ultrasofts.
Nico Hülkenberg
“It’s wild and just crazy here as it’s so tight. We started well but I just lost the rear end at the end of turn four and that was my race done really. I had some rear locking going into that corner and the wind was difficult and it didn’t take much to throw me off. It’s unfortunate but that’s how it is sometimes. Let’s look forward to Spain.”
Carlos Sainz
“It’s a very strong result for the team. I’m very happy and it was a really fun race, as always in Baku. It was crazy out there as the grip was difficult today. The first stint was very strong and I was able to overtake both Red Bulls on track. Then, the soft tyre was trickier for us and in the end we had to battle for that fifth place. It is positive for the team to go into Europe in a strong place in the Championship. I need to keep working hard with my engineers to keep building the car to my liking and to keep the points coming. Next stop is Spain and I really look forward to it.”
Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal
“We were not sure what to expect for this race, but fifth for Carlos is a great result, our best since returning to the sport two years ago. We have to admit it came in exceptional circumstances, but it is very positive. Carlos drove a very mature race, managing his tyres well, and fighting with multiple cars throughout the race. It is very encouraging to look at how the grid has changed since last year; the gap to Red Bull and from the Renault engine to the rest of the field is obvious evidence of all the progress we have made and continue to make every weekend. Nico had some misfortune, but it was his only mistake last year and if it has to be his only mistake again this year, he will be more than forgiven. Overall a very good weekend; as a team we scored another handful of points and more than McLaren, so the deficit is now very close as we head towards Europe.”
Sauber
It was a fantastic Grand Prix for the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team at the Baku City Circuit. In an eventful and hectic race with difficult track and weather conditions, today’s target was to finish the race, scoring the best possible results and both Charles Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson did a very good job. The Monegasque rookie finished the fourth race of his debut season in sixth place, scoring eight points for the team. Starting in P13 with a one-stop race strategy, he put in a strong and consistent performance, and steadily made his way to the front of the midfield. Marcus Ericsson successfully advanced to P11 and was able to save a difficult race that was compromised by his involvement in an early incident that resulted in him pitting and changing strategy. The Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team now holds a total of ten points in this season’s Constructor’s Championship, placing the team in ninth place. Charles Leclerc is in thirteenth with Marcus Ericsson in sixteenth in the Drivers’ Championship.
Marcus Ericsson
“It was a difficult race for me. I was involved in an incident at the beginning of the race, and picked up some damage to the car. I was struggling to keep everything together after that, and I gave everything to catch up with my direct competitors. In the end, it was good to manage to finish in P11. As a team, we have scored points for the second time this season, which is very motivating, and our potential is becoming more clear with every weekend. We must keep up the good work now. I look forward to the next race weekend in Barcelona.”
Charles Leclerc
“It was an amazing race today – I am very happy with my result. It was definitely eventful, with many incidents on track making it especially challenging and fun to drive. I felt comfortable in the car, and did my best to gradually advance to the front of the midfield through the race. It is an incredible feeling to score points for the first time in Formula 1. As a team, we can see our potential, and know what our strengths are. I am very pleased, and look forward to continuing on this positive path.”
Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal
“We are very pleased with the job that we have done this whole weekend starting from Friday and then a good qualifying session. Charles scored his first points in Formula 1 today, finishing in P6. He had a strong pace and did a consistent job. It was a huge step for him to make and he can be proud of what he has achieved. Marcus put up a good fight. He was involved in an incident at the beginning of the race, which set him back and made it tough for him, however, he managed to recover and catch up with the midfield. He finally finished in P11 and was very close to scoring points. It is a great achievement for the team, not only for the points but also for the pace shown especially in the first stint. Now we have to stay focused in order to continue this good work.”
Source :motorsport.nextgen-auto.com
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