Checo Perez explodes with happiness after win: This gives me confidence

After taking his maiden Red Bull win at the Azerbaijan GP, Checo Perez was understandably delighted as he fended off Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton after a late restart.

Max Verstappen was comfortably in the lead with five laps remaining before a tyre failure caused his retirement and a red flag. At the restart Hamilton looked to have the jump on Perez but didn’t make Turn 1 allowing the Mexican to take victory.

“I’m so, so happy for today,” Perez said after the race. “You know the race, normally Baku is pretty crazy. First of all I have to say I’m very sorry for Max because he had a tremendous race. He really deserved the win.

“It would have been incredible to get that one-two for the team, but in the end it was a fantastic day for us. We were close to retiring the car, but luckily we managed to finish the race. It was difficult right until the end.

“Lewis had strong pace throughout the race. We had a slow stop as well, the overcut came a bit closer to him. He pushed me from that lap onwards.

“I had pressure from him at the beginning. I had a poor start so he was alongside me. I braked as late as I possibly could and he did the same, but it didn’t work for him.

“This gives confidence to the team, and to me, for the next race.”