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The 2018 Formula One Season has gotten off to a cracking start, and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix delivered in spectacular fashion once more. After the hodgepodge of racing madness of the 2017 Baku Grand Prix, and an incredible F2 race this year, how could Baku disappoint?
From flying Ferraris and Force Indias, to multiple spanners in the works for a multitude of teams, and not to mention debris upon debris upon debris, the 2018 Baku GP will go down as a classic, just like last year.
The championship has turned, and the contenders involved in the race for the title are all swapping places like it's anyone's game! Is it possible to accurately rank the madness that went on in Baku?
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Probably not, but like always, that won't stop us from trying!
#1 Grosjean's Phantom Crash
The safety car was always going to be likely in Baku. What I don't think anyone saw coming, let alone Romain Grosjean himself, was a car crashing under the safety car in Azerbaijan. Of course, Baku is infamous for an incident under the safety car last year, but neither Vettel nor Hamilton were taken out of the race due to their antics last year.
While attempting to get some heat into his tyres on a noticeably cold track surface, Romain Grosjean let his rear end go and smacked the front end of his Haas into the barriers on the narrow streets of Baku. Grosjean was understandably frustrated, as would have been the Haas team, his engineer even going so far as to placate Romain at the time by implying that it was Marcus Ericsson behind him who had nudged the Frenchman into the barriers.
Of course, if Ericsson was the culprit, then Sauber need to be investigated for having access to the dark side of the force, because he was simply too far behind to have played a part. Sorry Romain, but this one was on you!
#2 A Tale of two Pink Panthers
It was a mixed day for Force India at the fourth round of the 2018 Formula One season. The Pink Panthers seemed to have come leaps and bounds from Australia, locking down the fourth row in qualifying, having blistering pace far ahead of the rest of the midfield.
Esteban Ocon, the junior of the 2 Force India drivers got a magnificent start, tangling with former World Champion Kimi Raikkonen, however, his luck ran out pretty quickly as he didn't leave the Finn enough space down into turn three, sending his Force India right into the wall and out of the race. A pity, as it was only the Frenchman's second ever retirement in his Formula One career.
On the other hand, the hand of fate played in reverse for his teammate Sergio Perez. Checo sustained a fair bit of damage at the beginning of the race, needing to stop early amidst the chaos caused by his partner's crash, and get a new front wing. This left the Mexican driver well down the order, completely out of the points.
However, this is Baku. A clean drive from Checo and a safety car later, Perez was up into 5th place, in part due to the retirements of Hulkenberg, Ocon, The 2 Red Bulls, and the aforementioned Grosjean.
From here, Perez brilliantly capitalized on a mistake by Vettel, and Valtteri Bottas's mishap to slingshot himself onto that last podium position, solidifying himself as the most successful Mexican driver in history with 8 podiums, 2 of which have been in Baku.
#3 Ruining of The Bulls
Two Races in a row, and two consecutive Red Bull-owned stable, teammate crashes! What is it with these Bulls and tangling with their partners? Just two weeks after the Toro Rosso's crashed in Shanghai leading to a crucial safety car, the two Red Bulls came to blows here in Baku and led to a safety car which changed the course of the race.
Starting P4 and P5 on the grid, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen were going at it right from lights out. A narrow miss into turn one led to Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg getting ahead of Verstappen and Ricciardo respectively, making it seem like Renault were on for a solid race this time round.
However, it seemed like the two cars were drawn together by destiny this time. Hulkenberg made an error, spurred by high winds, causing him to retire, and the degrading tires of Sainz's Renault caused him to fall behind the Bulls.
The Dutchman and the Aussie went toe to toe and wheel to wheel on the city streets, truly a battle for the ages, although it did not end in a way that either driver would like to remember. After touching and brushing each other multiple times over the course of the race, and swapping places a number of times, Ricciardo found himself behind Verstappen on the long straight down to turn one.
Of course, Ricciardo wasn't going to back down now after fighting for the place for so long, and in typical Danny Ric style, bluffed Max and sent his Red Bull charging down the inside, anticipating that his teammate would try and block on the right.
However, Max weaved from side to side, not in an erratic manner per se, but enough to stunt Ricciardo's braking and force both Red Bulls into a spectacular crash that pulled out the safety car and changed the course of the race.
#4 Bottas's Misfortune
After driving a brilliant race, managing his car, staying out of trouble and keeping his tires at just the right sweet spot for 47 laps of the race, Valtteri Bottas was set to win in Baku until a stray piece of debris creamed his left rear tire and completely blew it up.
After a safety car restart and a strategic pit stop saw Bottas come out in front of Vettel, the Finn looked like he was going to win the race in Azerbaijan for sure. However, once again, this is Baku. Valtteri, through no fault of his own, was forced to retire from the race as the rubber count on his car went from 4 to 3, and stranded him on the side.
Formula One is a heartbreaking sport sometimes, and no matter whether you're a Mercedes fan or not. You can't help but feel for Bottas, who did everything right and out-drove everyone on the windy streets and ultimately had it all ripped away from him at the last second.
#5 Hamilton's Lucky Vettel's foot
If Sebastian Vettel had known that Valtteri Bottas would suffer a puncture 3 laps out from the end of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, then he certainly would not have tried that daredevil move on Valtteri down into turn 1.
After the restart on the safety car, Vettel found himself desperately chasing Valtteri down for the victory. Ironically enough, if Vettel had simply stayed put, he would have won the race, but alas being a 4 time World Champion does not make the man a fortune teller.
The German thrust his Ferrari down the inside of Bottas with 3 laps to go, but misjudged it by the slightest margin and forced his tires to lockup, leaving them beaten, and his car out of position. Not only did Bottas escape ahead, but Raikkonen, Hamilton and Sergio Perez all managed to pass the Ferrari driver, leading to the podium that we had due to Bottas's eventual failure.
Hamilton himself concedes that lady luck gave the race to him today, and surely Vettel will be kicking himself after knowing that the tiniest of errors not only cost him the win in Baku, but plummeted him down to 4th and more crucially, down to second in the Driver's championship. We say there's no way Vettel could have known, but lets be honest, it was never going to be that simple. After all: This is Baku!
