Salam, MiniFans! Saturday’s surprising results got hopes up for Sunday, even if the rain forecast had disappeared. Two unexpected guests in second and third can provide some enternainment defending their positions, and the two McLarens completely out of position need to climb back up the order so that they don’t lose too many points to their teammate. However, the conditions aren’t perfect for racing: overcast sky, relatively cold track surface and walls close to the line that force drivers’ hands into careful territory could fight against the show, but they only way to know if they will is to wait and watch how everything unfolds.
The short way to the first corner meant that the frontrunners saved the start pretty nicely, but the story changed from the middle of the pack downwards. Piastri had problems at the start, jumping the start but braking instantly, which forced the antistall in the McLaren. This had him stationary for longer than necessary and left him dead last, meaning he’d have to climb back up the ranks. Wanting to get back to his original position as soon as possible, Piastri pushed more than necessary and ended up crashing straight into a wall. This forced a safety car to come out, as the car was wedged into the wall and needed a bit of manpower to get it out. Under this period of calm, two investigations came out: Piastri’s and Alonso’s, who had reacted to the McLaren’s movement, which ended in 5 seconds for each of them, even if only one of them could comply in the race.
Verstappen was still commanding the grid when the safety car left, deciding to hit the gas only a bit before the finish line. The top three mainained their positions easily, but Antonelli had to fight to stay in third with Russell, who had to back off and lost a couple places that he recovered pretty quickly, save for the one conceded to Tsunoda. Behind them, both Ferrari and Norris were on a hunt, pursuing Hadjar and getting past without much trouble. Meanwhile, Verstappen was opening a gap to Sainz, but less than expected before the race had kicked off, so he needed the help from his harder compound, which kept improving its performance compared to his pursuer’s mediums as laps went on. Lawson, still in third, was having a harder time, as both Mercedes had finally made it to his rear wing and were ready to attack as soon as they saw an opening.
The first stops, save for a couple drivers that had been called in during the initial safety car to try a risky strategy to the end, were taking part with those who had started on mediums. Most notably, it was Albon, likely due to Williams wanting to get a grasp on the hard tyre performance for his teammate, who has still strong in second. Barely a bit after leaving the pits, he almost caused a second safety car, touching Colapinto into a corner, making him spin and himself both lose the endplate from his front wing and get a 10-second penalty.
BMeanwhile, both Mercedes drivers were still stuck behind Lawson, with Antonelli not being able to get past and Russell asking for a driver swap. The team solved the conundrum by pitting Antonelli and forcing Racing Bulls to choose: protect against the undercut and lose the position to Russell or stay to protect against Russell but lose to Antonelli. The undercut worked a bit too well and the position was lost almost instantly, so Racing Bulls decided to keep him out and protect the third place that was still theirs. However, they took a chance as soon as Antonelli had a slow lap, which opened the gap just enough for him to leave the pitlane right in front the young Italian thanks to immaculate work from the mechanics. The happiness didn’t last long, though, as the first time they went through the main straight the Mercedes easily got past and left him behind.
The ball was now on Sainz’s court, but Williams seemed to have their strategy decided: make him go as long as possible on the mediums before pitting for hards to try and make the most of the second stint. The gap to Russell had now mostly became stagnant at two and a half seconds, and when it had been like that for a little while, they finally pitted him, leaving in sixth place with a set of hards to make it to the end and still conserving the virtual second, as everyone in front had yet to pit. Russell was hitting his fastest personal lap, which Sainz was pretty much matching with his fresh set of tyres, but it was getting harder each lap that went by.
At the front, Verstappen was still calmly leading with nothing that could even dare disrupt his run, not even the lift-and-coast instructions that were starting to come over the radio due to the lack of safety cars expected. Norris, now in fourth, was the first of the frontrunners who had yet to pit to be called in, but a bad stop meant that he came out behind Leclerc instead of in front, in eigth. Tsunoda followed, this time with a good stop, easily exiting alongside Lawson, who didn’t back off and got past, leaving his former teammate to deal with Leclerc. The next to pit was Russell, who managed to keep second place in front of Sainz with mediums, and Verstappen finished the set, calmly getting in and out.
The last ten laps kicked off with Norris finally getting past Leclerc and putting his sights on Tsunoda, who was still tailgating Lawson, whose speed in the straight was making it very difficult to find an opening. In front of them, a handful of seconds away, Antonelli was still not being able to close the gap to Sainz, who was holding onto third with everything he had as if his life depended on it, but the show was behind them. Lawson was impossible to get past, collecting more cars as laps went by until they were a group of four that, despite how hard they tried, they couldn’t get past the Racing Bull. No matter what they tried, their efforts were futile, keeping the positions untilt he finish like, copying the podium finishers, who welcomed a new addition to the list of drivers who have ended a race in the top three, as Sainz had managed to keep Antonelli away.
Baku tends to be a track that allows for easy overtaking, specially at the end of its main straight, but today’s race didn’t quite listen to that memo. The early Piastri crash seemed as if Norris had a red carpet extended in front of him to maybe even get to the podium, but he didn’t have the easy time expected when driving a McLaren and couldn’t chomp away at as many points as he would have liked. The difficulty in overtaking meant that Sainz had his hopes up, and his hard work paid off to compensate the season he’d been having with a podium that was forged on Saturday and quenched on Sunday, offering us new company to two of the usual suspects in a race that should have had more impact on the drivers’ championship than it did.
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