Verstappen wins Azerbaijan GP

| June 12, 2022

Max Verstappen extended his Formula One championship lead by winning the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday after Charles Leclerc retired from the lead with an engine failure.

Leclerc started from pole but immediately lost the lead to Sergio Perez, Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, at the first corner.

The Ferrari driver regained the lead with a smart strategy call to pit under “virtual safety car” speed restrictions while the two Red Bull cars stayed out.

Leclerc seemed to poised to challenge for the win, but the Monaco driver’s car started spewing smoke on lap 20 of 51 and he had to pull into the pits, for his second retirement in three races.

Verstappen had passed Perez soon before Leclerc’s failure and the reigning F1 champion cruised to his fifth win of the season.

“Was that a good race or what?” Verstappen asked on his radio.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner replied that Verstappen had won with “a very mature drive.”

Red Bull went 1-2 in the race with Perez finishing second, while Mercedes was third and fourth with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

Ferrari had a terrible day as both Leclerc and teammate Carlos Sainz failed to finish, as did the Ferrari-powered cars of Zhou Guanyu and Kevin Magnussen.

Verstappen leads the standings by 21 points over Perez, with Leclerc dropped to third, 34 points off the pace.