Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 driver Brendon Hartley has scored his maiden Formula One points at the Azerbaijan F1 Grand Prix around the streets of Baku city. In what can only be described as a chaotic race, the Kiwi driver finished a credible tenth place picking up a solitary but valuable championship point.
“That was an interesting race,” commented Hartley. “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!”
Mercedes F1 driver Lewis Hamilton was ‘handed’ the win after team mate Valttori Bottas punctured near the end of the race. Previously a safety car brought the field together after both Red Bull drivers, Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, collided. It should have been a win for Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel but his earlier pitstop ahead of Bottas put him on the back-foot allowing the Mercedes driver to pit during the safety car and retain the lead. At the re-start Vettel made a lunge on the inside of Bottas heading into turn one, only to over-shoot and flat spot his front left tyre. Sergio Perez finished third in front of Vettel.
Brendon Hartley’s team mate Pierre Gasly finshed in 12th. “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,” commented Gasly. “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) was philosophical after the race. “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.”
Race results
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 51 1h43m44.291s
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 51 2.460s
3 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 51 4.024s
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 51 5.329s
5 Carlos Sainz Renault 51 7.515s
6 Charles Leclerc Sauber/Ferrari 51 9.158s
7 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Renault 51 10.931s
8 Lance Stroll Williams/Mercedes 51 12.546s
9 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren/Renault 51 14.152s
10 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso/Honda 51 18.030s
11 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 51 18.512s
12 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso/Honda 51 24.720s
13 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 51 40.663s
14 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 48 Tyre
– Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 42 Spun off
– Max Verstappen Red Bull/Renault 39 Collision
– Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 39 Collision
– Nico Hulkenberg Renault 10 Spun off
– Sergey Sirotkin Williams/Mercedes 0 Collision
– Esteban Ocon Force India/Mercedes 0 Collision
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