F1 | AZERBAIJAN GP, THE POINT BY GIAN CARLO MINARDI: “196 THOUSANDTHS OF A SECOND AFTER 51 LAPS: THIS F1 IS KEEPING US ENTERTAINED. ANTONELLI WILL HAVE LEARNT FROM HIS MISTAKE”

196 thousandths of a second after 51 laps separated George Russell from Max Verstappen. Truly nothing, this is the demonstration that this Formula 1 is keeping us entertained, even if it might not please some people.

In Baku, Russell proved that he was very competitive for the whole weekend and he had an extra edge compared to his teammate Antonelli. It is worth pointing this out, On Friday Kimi made a totally unnecessary mistaken Q1 when there was no need to take such a risk. It would have been different if it had happened in Q3, when you go all out to take pole position. I am sure that, as always, he will have learnt from this experience and that it will not happen again.

In the race however, he was able to come back very well, climbing back from sixteenth place on the grid up to fifth place. It was a positive result, and probably what Mercedes and the driver could realistically have expected after such a difficult qualifying session. He lost a few points to Russell and now the gap in the championship has narrowed to 66 points. We still do not know how many races are left, and at this point of the season, every point counts double.

It was also a solid performance by Leclerc who maintained a good pace for the whole race, even though Ferrari is still far behind Mercedes. There is still a lot of work to do in Maranello. Hamilton, on the other hand, mainly complained about poor rear-end grip and a few problems connected to the engine.

It was an excellent performance by Red Bull that returned to the podium with both drivers. Verstappen certainly needs no praise, he drove an excellent race and, once again, he showed all his talent. But I also want to highlight Hadjar’s great performance after missing three races due to injury. He gave us a wonderful battle between the two teammates. This is the first time that Verstappen has a teammate who can really challenge him. Late in the race the order came from the team not to attack Verstappen and, considering the pace he showed, Hadjar would probably have been able to fight for second place. Red Bull is bouncing back from a slow start to the season.

It was a weekend to forget for McLaren and Alpine that both left Baku without any points. On a street circuit such as this one, danger is lurking behind every curve, and we saw this with Albon and especially with Colapinto. At the restart after the Safety Car, Colapinto locked his breaks at the first turn, and he hit his teammate Gasly who then crashed into Norris. All three were forced to retire. It was a costly mistake, especially because Gasly and Colapinto were well placed to score points for Alpine.

Inevitably, the Safety Cars affected the race strategy. We also saw a not very marked difference between the tyre compounds with the mediums demonstrating that they perform very well at various points. In the end, Russell was able to defend himself from Verstappen until the last metre, finishing with a lead of barely 196 thousandths of a second. Such a close finish is further proof of just how much this Formula 1 season still has to offer in terms of excitement.

Gian Carlo Minardi