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Lap 13/51 Verstappen, who’s just plugging away, has had enough of his tyres, coming in and leaving in 10th – more slowly than he’d have hoped – Russell immediately following him and Hamilton also stopping.
Lap 12/51 Piastri responds well to Perez’s pressure, moving further clear of third – the gap is 1.854s– as Leclerc, flying now, leads second place by 4.601s. He loves this circuit and already looks certain to win unless something silly happens.
Lap 11/51 The stops have started, Colapinto coming in and out as Leclerc sets a new fastest lap and increases his lead to 3.745s; Norris is now just 1.936 behind Albon.
Lap 10/51 Hulkenberrg zooms past Bearman into 11th, team orders perhaps coming into effect, as Leclerc ploughs on, 1.453s in front of Piastri, struggling a little with his rear-tyre temperatures. And behind him, Perez is closing…
Lap 9/51 Leclerc keeps at it as Norris is told his tyres – he’s on hards, everyone in front bar Albon on mediums – aren’t graining yet.
Leclerc
Piastri
Perez
Sainz
Veratappen
Russell
Alonso
Colapinto
Albon
Norris
Lap 8/51 Yup, here comes Norris; he eases by Bearman and into the points, but he’s work to do to make this an acceptable weekend. Leclerc now leads by 2.462s, puts down a fastest lap, and the stopping and tyre strategy will soon start to unfold.
Lap 7/51 Leclerc is driving nicely now, the leads up to 1.805. Norris, meanwhile, is 0.309 behind Bearman, and will soon attack…
Lap 6/51 Hamilton isn’t happy with his tyres but the other Merc is doing better, Russell now going quicker than Verstappen, in front of him – the gap is 1.514s. Leclerc extends his lead to nearly 1.5s.
Lap 5/51 I meant to say earlier, Stroll has a puncture, perhaps sustained in a clash with Tsunoda – which explains why the RB is struggling so. Back at the front, Leclerc is moving in and out of DRS, his lead over Piastri currently 1.028s.
Lap 4/51 Leclerc isn’t rolling over for Piastri, increasing his lead to 1.1s or so; Hamilton is the latest to overtake Tsunoda, whose car appears to be ailing.
Lap 3/51 Piastri closes on Leclerc and has him within DRS range; Norris passes Tsunoda as he needed to and must now close the distance on Bearman, five seconds down the road while, behind him. Hulkenberg also passes Tsunoda. Hamilton, having started from the pit lane, is 16th.
Lap 2/51 Leclerc leads by almost a second as, down the main straight, Nozza eases past Hulkenberg and has DRS on Tsunoda – he needs to get by quickly because Bearman is stretching ahead with every second.
Leclerc
Piastri
Perez
Sainz
Verstappen
Russell
Alonso
Colapinto
Albon
Bearman
Tsunoda
Norris
Lap 1/51 Lights out and Leclerc starts well, out in front while Perez moves by Sainz and Verastappen sneaks past Russell! But wither Norris? Someone tell us, please? Ah, there we go, he’s moved up two places into 13th.
It’s a short run to the first corner, and we’re good to go!
It’s all to race for in the constructor championship; currently, Red Bull lead the standings with 446 points, but McLaren, without a win since 2008, are close behind with 438, while Ferrari aren’t out of it on 407.
And off it goes.
The formation lap is almost upon us.
It’s kind of windy in the city of wind, but it’s unclear from which direction that wind is coming. More news as I get it!
Do we think Leclerc has the necessary to win here? The Ferrari looks in good order, but Piastri will fancy his chances of beating it off the line.
Oliver Bearman looks happy and why wouldn’t he be? At 19, he’s not only racing at this level but has out-qualified his teammate, Nico Hülkenberg. He’ll feel invincible and that the world is his; good for him.
Anthem tme!
It’s nice and sunny in Baku today – and also warm. Excitement is building as the cars gather on the grid.
Another potential factor: in the last four races on this circuit, we’ve seen either a safety car or a virtual safety car. I daresay the boy Nozza would accept that today.
We mustn’t forget that there are drivers who’ll be under team orders today. Piastri will have been told to do whatever he can in his McLaren to disrupt Verstappen, while Pérez will have to allow his teammate past, assuming George Russell is overtaken first.
Charles Leclerc, on the other hand, will be extremely relaxed about the overtaking situation. However he’ll also know that he’s now been on pole for this race four times on the spin and has yet to convert one to a race win.
The problem the drivers – and Norris in particular – have is that overtaking on the Baku City Circuit is not easy. He reckons strategy will be especially important, but also knows that, if he gets a clean run at any point, his car is fast enough to do damage.
The grid Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari)
Sergio Pérez (Red Bull)
George Russell (Mercedes)
Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
Franco Colapinto (Williams)
Alex Albon (Williams)
Oliver Bearman (Haas)
Yuki Tsunoda (RB)
Nico Hülkengerg (Haas)
Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
Daniel Ricciardo (RB)
Lando Norris (McLaren)
Valtteri Bottas (Stake F1)
Zhou Guanyu (Stake F1)
Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
Pit lane: Lews Hamilton (Mercedes)
Pit lane: Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
PreambleLet’s begin with a question: six months ago at the start of March, when the season got going in Bahrain, who didn’t expect that, come mid-September, we’d be where we are?
The answer, of course, is “Absolutely everyone”. And as if to prove the point – that what felt like the world’s most predictable sport is now one of its least – an alert flashes up on my phone advising me that Lewis Hamilton will begin today’s race from the pit lane after taking a new engine. Oops!
But sadly for the almost-goat, that’s a subplot – at best. The main event is, of course, the race for the driver championship, and we’re still in total ignorance as to how that might end. Max Verstappen, champion in each of the last three seasons, is struggling – or his car is – so though he leads the standings by 62 points, with eight races to go he’s vulnerable … if one of those chasing him can find the necessary consistency to take advantage of his car’s deterioration.
Easier said than done: Lando Norris, the nearest challenger, had a nightmare in qualifying and beings from 15th on the grid. So, while Verstappen is only sixth, he now has a great chance to increase his lead at the top while ticking off another race. We shall see!
Lights out: 3pm local, 12pm BST