Sergio Pérez, Pirelli, and other winners and losers from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Photo by Vince Mignott/MB Media/Getty Images

Red Bull was again dominant, but is there a team closing the gap?

Before we turn the page on Baku and shift our focus to the Formula One Miami Grand Prix, it is time to declare some winners and losers. Here is who stood out, and who has more work to do, following the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Winners: Red Bull

Another race weekend, another dominant performance from Red Bull. The team notched their fourth-straight win of the season, with Pérez pulling off the Baku double, taking both the sprint race on Saturday, and the main event on Sunday.

It was also the third 1-2 of the season for Red Bull, as the team pulled off the front row lockout in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

As the grid heads to South Beach for this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix, the Bulls now sit on 180 points in the Constructors’ Standings, almost double the tally of Aston Martin, who have 87 points in their account on the young season.

At this mark of the 2022 campaign, Ferrari was atop the standings with 124 points, while Red Bull was just behind them with 113. Which means there are two ways of looking at the current situations. One option? Things can change, as they did last year.

The other? Red Bull might just run away with the whole thing.

Winner: Sergio Pérez

Photo by Vince Mignott/MB Media/Getty Images

We do need to carve out a special mention for Pérez, who continued his mastery of street circuits en route to becoming the first repeat winner of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

What makes this win stand out is that it might be a sign that a true battle could be shaping up between Pérez and Verstappen atop the Drivers’ Standings. While this was Pérez’s second win of the season, his win in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix came when Verstappen had an incident during qualifying, and began in P15.

Here, Verstappen rolled off P2 at the start, with Pérez behind him in P3. But Pérez was able to pull out the win, thanks in part to Verstappen’s untimely pit stop just ahead of a safety car. Could the fight truly be on, or was Sunday’s win just another example of the maestro of the streets having an advantage in Baku?

Time will tell.

Losers: Alpine

It was a very tough weekend for Alpine, who leave Azerbaijan with nothing to show for their efforts. Pierre Gasly endured a brutal weekend, first when his car caught fire during the only practice session, and later when he slid into the wall during qualifying for the Grand Prix, forcing him to start at the back of the field. He also managed just a P13 finish in Saturday’s Sprint race.

As for Esteban Ocon, he was forced to start on pit lane Sunday after some changes were made to his vehicle overnight. Alpine rolled the dice during the early safety car, keeping him on the track to gain track position, in the hopes that another incident would give him a chance to pit under more advantageous conditions. Ocon held on in P9, a testament to both his own skill and the hard tyre compound — Nico Hülkenberg, who also started on pit lane, employed the same strategy and was in P10 before his hard tyres began to fail, sending him down the field — but the reprieve never came.

Ocon was forced to take his mandatory pit stop and change compounds before the final lap of the race, and nearly ran down photographers on pit lane who were getting in position to see Pérez take the checkered flag.

That incident is being investigated by FIA.

Alpine were in fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship after two races, but back-to-back pointless weeks have seen McLaren vault ahead of them in the standings. They’ll look to stop the skid next week in South Beach.

Winner: Lando Norris and Yuki Tsunoda

Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images

At first blush it might be a surprise to see drivers who finished in P9 and P10, respectively, listed as winners. Particularly when both actually lost spots on the track in relation to where they began. Norris began the day in P7, while Tsunoda was right behind him in P8.

But what made them both winners on Sunday — en route to securing some critical points for McLaren and AlphaTauri — was the patience they displayed throughout the Grand Prix. Both drivers made the decision to box prior to the safety car coming out, and when Ocon and Hülkenberg made the decision to stay out and gain position on the track, Norris and Tsunoda were pinned behind the pair.

Over the next 30 laps or so, the four drivers — Ocon, Hülkenberg, Norris, and Tsunoda — formed an impressive DRS train. None of the drivers could pull away, and both Norris and Tsunoda could not wind their way around the duo in front of them. But rather than force the issue, both drivers remained patient, knowing that Ocon and Hülkenberg would need to pit at some point.

Eventually, the door opened for the two. Norris took advantage of a slide from Hülkenberg and Tsunoda soon followed. Eventually Ocon was forced to box, and the points were secured for both Norris and Tsunoda.

“I am also happy with my performance. I was consistent, and being sandwiched between the two McLarens meant any mistake would cost us the point. It took a lot of concentration but in the end, we were able to achieve another top-ten finish,” said Tsunoda after the race in a statement release to the media, including SB Nation. “There is still room for development and improvement to fight for points consistently, but I have confidence in my team to race stronger in the future.”

Losers: Alfa Romeo

It was a very difficult weekend for Alfa Romeo, who left Baku without anything to show for their efforts and sit eighth in the Constructors’ Standings. Valtteri Bottas started at the back and some contact in the early going made it a difficult afternoon. Teammate Zhou Guanyu had to retire early, after some temperature issues appeared on Lap 36.

But the bigger issue is the overall lack of pace we saw this weekend from the team. Both drivers conceded after the Grand Prix that points were never really in the cards for them, and that they are hoping for better down in Miami. “It wasn’t a great race for us and we were never in the mix for the points: we need to understand what happened and, most importantly, how to get back to being competitive,” said Bottas following the race. “For sure, we need to improve our pace and do everything we can to move forward. We head straight to Miami now: it is a very different track from this, we will stay motivated and go for it again.”

Winners: Ferrari

Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images

There is still a gap between the Scuderia and Red Bull, but Ferrari leaves Baku behind having scored their first podium of the season, thanks to Leclerc’s P3. With Carlos Sainz Jr. finishing in fifth, the team notched 36 points in Azerbaijan, and now sit just 14 points behind Mercedes for third in the Constructors’, and only 25 points behind Aston Martin.

But there are other signs that Ferrari could be turning things around. While they do not have the race pace that Red Bull brings to the grid, they might have solved at least some of their tyre degradation issues. Both Leclerc and Sainz were able to withstand a very long run on the hard compound following the safety car pit stops, and on Lap 35 Ferrari radioed into Sainz to let him know he could push until the finish: “[w]e are happy with tyre life until the end” came the report.

Following the Grand Prix, Leclerc outlined the positives. “So today, we’ve optimised absolutely everything. The thing we should be happy about after a weekend like this is that we’ve maximised every session,” said the Ferrari driver in the post-race presser. “I don’t think we could have done anything better in any of those sessions. So that is a positive – but still a lot of work to do in terms of race pace.”

However, concerns over tyre degradation linger, at least in Leclerc’ mind.

“Well, we have to [manage the tyres] with our car otherwise we kill them, and then we cannot get them back and then this has a big influence on our performance. So, I think we did the perfect management today,” added Leclerc. “But again, as I said, we are just not quick enough. Whether we lack at the beginning of the stint, or at the end of the stint, this we can change but yeah, we just don’t have enough performance for now.”

If Ferrari has indeed turned a corner, that would be a fascinating development for Miami, and beyond.

Losers: Race officials

As noted above, there was a scary incident at the close of the race when Ocon pulled in for his mandatory pit stop. The driver pulled down pit lane, only to encounter a throng of photographers who were waiting for Pérez to take the victory:

Thankfully, no one was hurt. FIA launched an investigation immediately after the Grand Prix, summoning race officials for what we can assume was a friendly little chat.

Following that meeting, FIA released their findings, noting that the relevant representatives “permitted media and other personnel to gather in the start of the pit lane and the pit wall during the last lap of the race, while the pit lane was open and before the final pit stop of OCO (Car 31).”

FIA officials declared that “[w]e considered that it was fortunate that there were no serious consequences on account of what happened today. We stressed that the requirements of ensuring a safe and orderly event are paramount ... We walked through the relevant procedures and protocol with the FIA representatives in detail and required them to take immediate steps to reconsider these procedures and protocols with the relevant stakeholders (including FOM, the teams and the FIA) to ensure that this situation does not occur again.”

Winner: Pirelli’s hard compound

How about a hand for the C3 compound!

Each race weekend Pirelli, the dedicated tyre supplier for F1, designates three compounds to be used: A soft, a medium, and a hard. This week Pirelli designed the three softest compounds possible, the C5, the C4, and the C3. In doing so they stated the following:

“On the Baku street circuit, the teams will have at their disposal the C3 as P Zero White hard, C4 as P Zero Yellow medium and C5 as P Zero Red soft. This is the softest trio of compounds in Pirelli’s range, which are well suited to the tight corners on this city circuit as well as the long straights where the cars reach a maximum speed of 340kph.”

Heading into Sunday’s main event, however, there was just one question.

How long would that C3 compound last?

Prior to the start of the Grand Prix, the two main tyre strategies were outlined by Sam Collins on F1TV. One option was to start on the C4 medium compound, hope to get 17 laps on those, before switching to the C3 for the final 34. The other strategy was to begin on the C3s, run for 37 laps, and switch to the C4s for the final 14 laps.

Yet, how long the hards would truly last in race conditions was a massive question mark. With just one practice session, two qualifying sessions and a sprint race under their belts, teams did not have a ton of data on the C3 tyres. How they would hold up was a big unknown. And with the bulk of the field starting on the mediums, and switching over to the hards during the safety car on Lap 13, that meant around 38 laps on the C3 tyres.

But, they performed well, as most teams were able to make it the distance on them. In particular consider Ocon, who looked like he could go the entire 51 laps on the hard tyres he began the day with, and was not showing any significant lack of grip at the end.

So, hats off to the Pirelli C3 compound on a job well done.

Losers: Anyone who woke up early to watch

The Baku City Circuit is known for its unpredictability.

However, by the time 51 laps were in the books, Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix felt like a rerun.

Red Bull was dominant, and some of the best battles on the grid were taking shape at the back of the points. Even those lacked for suspense, as absent a late-race incident drawing a safety car, Ocon and Hülkenberg would need to box, opening the door for Norris and Tsunoda to push into the points.

F1 is always a joy to watch, even during uneventful races. If, however, you are a sportswriter working on just ten hours of sleep the past two nights thanks to the 2023 NFL Draft, dragging yourself awake to watch the Azerbaijan Grand Prix felt like a big of a struggle, with minimal payoff.

Not that I am describing anyone in particular.