Sergio Perez overcame late drama to take victory at the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly.
Perez begun the race in seventh but quickly worked his way up to fourth as he sat behind Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, before passing Leclerc on lap eight for third then leapfrogged Hamilton in the opening round of pit stops.
Verstappen meanwhile inherited the lead and survived a safety car restart after Lance Stroll crashed out on lap 30 with a left rear tyre failure, which coincidentally befell the Dutchman on lap 46 to bring out the red flags two laps later.
Perez consequently restarted the race on a standing start from pole position but briefly lost the lead to Hamilton, who suffered a lock-up into Turn One, which enabled the Mexican to cruise to victory ahead of Vettel.
Pierre Gasly meanwhile fended off Leclerc to finish third as Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso, Yuki Tsunoda, Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen completed the top ten, as Hamilton finished 15th after a penalty for Nicholas Latifi dropped the Canadian to 16th.
Verstappen consequently retained his four-point lead over Hamilton in the drivers’ standings despite both drivers failing to score points, as Perez climbed to third with his win ahead of Norris and Leclerc.
Red Bull meanwhile benefitted from Mercedes non top ten finishes to extend their lead in the constructor fight to 26 points, as Ferrari moved above McLaren into third with a two-point lead by virtue of scoring 16 points in Baku to the latter’s 12 points.
Formula One now heads to Circuit Paul-Ricard, France, for the French Grand Prix across weekend of 18-20 June, which is a race that Hamilton and Mercedes have dominated since that particular race returned in 2018 after a ten year absence.
Leclerc made a clean getaway from pole to lead Hamilton and Verstappen as Perez made up two positions on Sainz and Gasly to put himself fourth, pushing Verstappen further forward towards Hamilton who was chasing Leclerc.
Hamilton eventually benefitted from Leclerc’s tow to take the lead right at the end of lap two with Verstappen following through at the start of lap seven.
Leclerc was the first frontrunner to pit on lap 10 with Hamilton following suit two laps later but was held up by Gasly, which cost him two seconds as he was leapfrogged by Verstappen then Perez as Vettel took the lead of the race until lap 19.
Verstappen was consequently released into clean air in the lead by Vettel’s stop as the order stabilised with everyone looking after their tyres, although Sainz was mounting a recovery drive after a lock-up at Turn Eight on lap 11 after his stop left him down the order in 14th.
Sainz managed to recover to 12th after passing Antonio Giovinazzi and Alonso on laps 23 and 27 respectively.
Lance Stroll meanwhile had started on the hard tyres and found himself up in seventh when his left rear tyre failed, ploughing his Aston Martin into the left wall on exit of Turn 20 which brought the Safety Car out for five laps.
The Pit Lane was briefly closed but Alonso chose to gamble on the soft tyre when the pits were reopened which saw him rise from 14th to 11th upon the first few laps on the restart, as Valtteri Bottas fell down the order to 14th after being overtaken by several drivers including Kimi Raikkonen and Giovinazzi.
Up front, Verstappen looked set to cruise to his first pair of consecutive F1 victories until his left rear tyre on the hard compound failed at the end of lap 46, sending him slamming into the outside barriers near the start/finish line.
Stewards instantly brought the Safety Car out for a second time before red flagging the race for 34 minutes on lap 48 in order to allow for safe clearance of debris, as Perez led Hamilton, Vettel, Gasly, Leclerc and Tsunoda at time of the stoppage.
A mistake from Williams’ pit wall meanwhile saw Latifi stay out at the start of lap 47 instead of venturing through the pit lane as ordered by the stewards, thus leapfrogging Bottas and George Russell which cost him a 10 second stop-go penalty upon the restart.
Stewards opted for a standing grid restart as Perez started on pole but briefly lost the lead to Hamilton who suffered a massive lock-up on entry to Turn One to send him down to last place, as Perez clung on for victory from Vettel and Gasly.
This victory marks Sergio Perez’s first win as a Red Bull driver and second overall after taking his first victory at last December’s Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain, whilst Vettel and Stroll claimed their first podiums since Turkey and Italy respectively last season.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Sergio Perez | Sergio Perez | 51 | 2h 13m 36.410 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | 51 | + 1.385 |
| 3 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | 51 | + 2.762 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 51 | + 3.828 |
| 5 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 51 | + 4.754 |
| 6 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | 51 | + 6.382 |
| 7 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 51 | + 6.624 |
| 8 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 51 | + 7.709 |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | 51 | + 8.874 |
| 10 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 51 | + 9.576 |
| 11 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 51 | + 10.254 |
| 12 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 51 | + 11.264 |
| 13 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | 51 | + 14.241 |
| 14 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | 51 | + 14.315 |
| 15 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 51 | + 17.668 |
| 16 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | 51 | + 42.379 |
| RET | George Russell | Williams | 48 | Gearbox |
| RET | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 45 | Puncture |
| RET | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 29 | Puncture |
| RET | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 3 | Power |
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