Azerbaijan Grand Prix - most spectacular in F-1, says Russian newspaper

By Trend

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix has become absolutely the best in terms of entertainment in Formula 1, Trend reports referring to Russian 'Izvestia' newspaper.

As the newspaper wrote, the intrigue spun so that the undisputed leader of the race, Max Verstappen, punctured the tire five laps before the finish and crashed the car against the wall. As a result, his Red Bull partner Sergio Perez finished the race first.

“The qualification stage was remembered for a large number of accidents. The race was stopped four times with red flags due to incidents with the cars of Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo), Daniel Riccardo (McLaren), Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), and Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri),” the newspaper said.

“Five laps before the finish line, comfortably leading Verstappen tore a tire and crashed into a wall. The safety car drove onto the track and two laps before the end there was an amazing restart of the race, since [Lewis] Hamilton decided to take the not most justified risk in an attempt to get the Grand Prix. The Briton by this time had already bypassed Verstappen in the table. He had a great start and was close to passing [Sergio] Perez, but did not have time to hit the brakes in a turn and flew off the track. The mistake threw Hamilton back to 15th place. Also, such a high accident rate in qualifications made it clear that the appearance of a safety car at the Grand Prix is ??inevitable. In this regard, strategy should've played an important role, and not the alignment of forces on the starting grid,” the newspaper noted.

The 2021 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was held in Baku from June 4 through June 6 and Red Bull Racing pilot Sergio Perez won the races.