Once Sergio Perez got rid of pole-sitter Charles Leclerc in the Formula 1 sprint at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, victory appeared to be smooth sailing.

The Mexican, the 2021 champion here and a driver who has been going strong in the Azerbaijani capital, stuck with Monaco on the lap six restart of the safety car and waited until DRS became available.

He shrugged off the Ferrari’s wake on the long stretch to the start line and was underpowered internally, with Leclerc offering little in return as Perez took control of the race.

While Leclerc was initially neck-and-neck with Perez and held the lead on his DRS track, it was inevitable that Perez would be able to shed that one-second gap, especially as Leclerc began to battle the degradation of the Red Bull tyres. While it appeared that, on lap 13, Leclerc might have moved closer to Perez and provided an unexpected challenge for victory until the end, the briefest flutter of the DRS flaps was not enough to restore parity. Instead, Perez made 17 laps of the race unquestionable, tripled the gap to 2.1 seconds at the start of round 15, and continued to widen his advantage until the final gap between the pair was 4.4 seconds. .

However, Leclerc did manage to keep Max Verstappen behind him as the Dutchman neared the end of the race. But the No. 1 Red Bull was injured in a fierce battle with George Russell on the first lap, leaving a gap in Verstappen’s sidepod. While not the most serious injury, it was enough to prevent Verstappen from getting close to Leclerc and breaking through at the death, with Red Bull making it 1-2.

In addition to the Russell and Verstappen spat, there were more infamous moments on the first lap; Yuki Tsunoda hit the wall before Turn 14 and the right rear tire came off the rim. Contact with teammate Nick de Vries at the third corner broke the Japanese driver’s front wing and, with no downforce, Tsunoda charged into the barrier, bringing out the initial virtual safety car. This turned into a full safety car as the debris strewn across the track became all too obvious.

Perez won the Baku sprint under Leclerc, with the strength of the Red Bull tires a key advantage over his Ferrari rivals

Photography: Mark Sutton/ motorsport pictures

Can Ferrari beat Red Bull in full race?

Despite Ferrari’s strong results in Azerbaijan, especially after already feeling like it had made a breakthrough with its setup choices in Australia, there seems to be one common theme running through its fortunes this season: tire degradation.

The SF-23 simply can’t match the Red Bull RB19 in terms of tire savings, which is still important in the Baku sprint – even if the run is short. It wasn’t until lap 13 that Leclerc was able to maintain a similar pace to Perez; after reaching within a second, he was unable to maintain this pace and began to chip away at times over the next few laps.

Perez was more than a lap quicker on laps 15 and 16, with Leclerc’s time intertwined with Verstappen’s – despite the Dutchman being forced to limp due to a hole in the bodywork Going in a swerve, which naturally reduces time and drastically reduces aerodynamic performance.

“Once you start with tire degradation, that’s when Checo starts to go away. Max starts to come back. From that moment on, we were kind of at the disadvantage” Charles Leclerc

Pretty much everything went according to Perez’s plan, saying he needed to get past Leclerc early and then start to control his pace and be at the front – just like you do when you’re hoping to win a race. But Red Bull may have suspected that Ferrari would struggle in the race – as did Ferrari itself, despite its impressive qualifying performance.

“Charles had a very, very strong position initially,” Perez recalled after the sprint. “Then we had the virtual safety car and then the full safety car, so it was important to stay close to Charles on the restart. The DRS is a lot shorter now so it was very important to stay within a few tenths to be able to move. Once I started moving, Charles was pretty much stuck on my DRS so I got a good look at him and then I was able to slowly move away.

“I think my pace is faster than what I showed today, but it’s hard to know because if you’re at 100% pace, the tires can have problems, so I think I’m just driving to the full capacity of the tires.”

Leclerc was also on pole at the Grand Prix, giving him a second glory

Photography: Andrew Ferraro / motorsport pictures

For his part, Leclerc reiterated his doubts that Ferrari could play a significant role in this race. While Ferrari is struggling to try and find a solution to tire degradation issues that have hampered its performance in races, Leclerc believes the extra familiarity from him and garage engineers has ensured improvements over the first three rounds of the calendar.

“We’re still lacking some speed in the game and that’s definitely what we’re focusing on right now. It’s been a long time now,” he reflected. “So we’re working on that, trying to set the stage for the race. In qualifying we seemed to be ok, saying I believe we’ve taken a step forward. If you look at Australia and here, we’re better. We’re still there Not at Red Bull’s level, so there’s still a lot of work to be done, but I’m much happier with the car.

“Once you start with tire degradation, that’s when Checo starts to go away. Max starts to come back. From that moment on, we were kind of at the disadvantage.”

Of course, there are different conditions for participating in a full Grand Prix; for one thing, the race will be two hours earlier and the track temperature should be higher compared to Saturday.

It will be harder on the tires, especially the softs – Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas reports that the least durable compounds are “melting” in the colder sprint climate. Among other things, the cars will fill up their fuel tanks to circumnavigate the Baku circuit. This will put more load through them in the early stages, so saving tire life in the early stages can be a battle.

For Ferrari, in that race, it would be too much of a bridge. Unless the team can concoct some kind of tire alchemy with its strategy to overtake Red Bull, or if Leclerc is able to defend his pole position against all odds, it looks like the Milton Keynes team will start to play its part once the lap starts Already finished and dusted. From there, it will be a battle between the two blue drivers as Leclerc’s tires start to wither in Sunday afternoon’s hot and breezy drive.

Grand Prix appears to be gearing up for another all-Red Bull fight

Photography: Mark Sutton/ motorsport pictures

Can Perez challenge Verstappen?

Throughout the race, the roles were reversed; Perez was third, with Verstappen and Leclerc in the front row. Leclerc started the sprint better than both Red Bulls, and Verstappen conceded early on, leaving him with an unnecessary battle with Russell in the opening corner. A repeat of the situation would certainly see Verstappen fall into Perez’s grasp, and while the battle of wits within the team should have been non-contact, a close-quarters duel could lead to the feared tensions in the Red Bull camp.

Perez was strong all weekend — in fact, he’s notoriously strong at this track. At Red Bull he won in 2021 and finished second in 2022, and at Force India/Racing Point he picked up two thirds in a season where podiums were tougher. Sure to be on the podium again, barring any misfortune, he will be hoping to win again, being the driver to ruin the strange statistic that no one has won two F1 races in Baku.

“Starting with high fuel loads and higher track temperatures, so they actually do something for everyone on the tyres. I think the most important thing is to get through that one and then you’ll see how the car goes Do” Max Verstappen

Given the aforementioned caveats, it’s hard to read too much into the sprint race, and Verstappen’s car was clearly far more taxing than his teammate’s intact chassis. But it stands to reason that with Perez’s strength in Baku, he should be able to show his talents if the situation allows. If it’s simply a battle between the Red Bulls, the title race needs to be on Sunday for Perez.

“Of course, tomorrow will be a little bit different, starting with high fuel loads and higher track temperatures, so they’ll actually be tougher on everyone’s tyres,” Verstappen estimated. “I think the most important thing is to get through that one, and then you see what the car is going to do in terms of how it responds. And then generally, we have a good race rhythm.”

Perez had an early advantage with a sprint win, but can he make a difference in the grand prix?

Photography: Zak Mauger / motorsport pictures