Sergio Pérez wins Azerbaijan sprint race for Red Bull with Verstappen third

Sergio Pérez won the sprint race at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix for Red Bull with a strong drive on the streets of Baku. He beat the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc into second with the world champion, Max Verstappen, in third after having taken damage early in the race after contact with Mercedes’ George Russell, who was fourth. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was fifth with Lewis Hamilton in seventh.

In an ominous indicator for Sunday’s grand prix when the drag reduction system was enabled, Leclerc who had started from pole could do nothing to hold off Pérez as he blasted down the straight into the lead. Leclerc will start from pole with Verstappen alongside him and with a healthy car the Dutchman will be expectant of being able to similarly claim the lead.

Pérez executed perfectly on a testing track where he won before in 2021. This is his first sprint race victory, after qualifying in second place for the race. Having won once in Saudi Arabia this season it will be another huge confidence boost for the Mexican and another strong statement of intent from him and Red Bull after a dominant start to the season. His team remains unbeaten in 2023. Verstappen leads his Red Bull teammate, Pérez, by 13 points in the world championship, with Fernando Alonso in third.

F1 has adopted its new format for sprint race weekends in Baku, with qualifying for the grand prix on Friday and Saturday’s sprint race was preceded by a special sprint shootout qualifying session in the morning to decide its grid. Run to the same structure as usual qualifying but with each session truncated down to 30 minutes of track time. The events on a Saturday are now standalone and have no bearing on the GP, but points are still awarded for the sprint from eight to one for the top-eight finishers.

Having already demonstrated a mastery and great pace by taking pole position on Friday, with Verstappen in second and Pérez in third, Leclerc started the day strongly by taking pole for the sprint in the shootout qualifying from Pérez. The shortened time frame had been hoped to bring more pressure on the drivers and teams and while there was no radical change to the pecking order Leclerc did maintain the advantage he had shown over Verstappen and Red Bull, but as had been anticipated Red Bull held the cards in race pace.

Pérez blasted clear to win the sprint race in the streets of Baku. Photograph: Lisi Niesner/AFP/Getty Images

Leclerc maintained his lead from the off but behind him Russell was quick and challenged Verstappen for third immediately. The pair vied through the opening two corners before the Briton made it stick up the inside of turn three. Verstappen, however, was mightily aggrieved. Russell had a glancing touch on him at turn two and he said had damaged his car and that Russell should return the place, but the move through three was clean as the Mercedes showed good pace.

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A VSC and then full safety car was called on lap two when Yuki Tsunoda lost his right rear tyre after clipping the wall, leaving debris on track. Racing resumed on lap six and Leclerc held his lead but Verstappen was also rapidly away and passed Russell to retake third through turn one.

Leclerc was pushing hard, but with DRS then enabled he was challenged by Pérez and powerless to resist the Mexican as the Red Bull breezed by on the straight at the first attempt to take the lead. As Pérez dropped Leclerc, Verstappen was able to take advantage of his DRS and attempted to move up on Leclerc.

However, Leclerc hung on, closing to within a second of Pérez and was able to use his drag reduction to maintain his hold on second place. Verstappen could not display the same pace as his teammate out front and his team confirmed he was carrying damage to the sidepods.

With three laps remaining and the tyre wear beginning to play a part, Pérez was in control with a three-second lead as Leclerc and Verstappen maintained their places line astern, positions the three drivers held to the flag.

Fernando Alonso was sixth and Lance Stroll eighth for Aston Martin.