A lap 40 crash between Red Bull teammates, a late Bottas puncture and Force India's final podium, all at the Baku City Circuit.
The 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was held at the Baku City Circuit on 29 April 2018 and won by Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes. A Red Bull collision on lap 40 and a late puncture for Valtteri Bottas shaped the finish, with Kimi Raikkonen second and Sergio Perez third.
Lewis Hamilton won the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix at Baku on 29 April 2018, after a race that turned on a Red Bull collision and a late puncture for Valtteri Bottas. Sergio Perez took third for Force India, the team's final podium.
Why was the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix moved?
The race was brought forward from June so that it would not clash with the centenary celebrations of the Azerbaijan republic. It took the slot once held by the Russian Grand Prix, which moved to September, and the revived French Grand Prix filled the gap left in June.
The round was the fourth of the season and only the Azerbaijan Grand Prix's second appearance on the World Championship calendar. It was also only the third time the Baku City Circuit had hosted a Formula One race.
Going into the weekend, Vettel led Hamilton by nine points in the drivers' table, and Mercedes held a single point over Ferrari in the constructors' standings. Daniel Ricciardo was the defending winner after his Red Bull victory the year before.
Pirelli supplied three compounds: the soft (yellow), the super-soft (red) and the ultra-soft (purple), ranked from hardest to softest.
A Red Bull collision and a Bottas puncture handed Hamilton the win in Baku, and Force India's final podium came from Perez in third.
How did qualifying end with Vettel on pole?
Vettel kept pole position because Kimi Raikkonen went wrong at the final corner of Q3. Raikkonen had been close to pole in the last minute of the session, but he slipped on the exit and settled for sixth.
Grid penalties shaped the order too. Nico Hulkenberg took a five-place drop for an unscheduled gearbox change, and Grosjean took the same penalty for a gearbox change of his own. Brendon Hartley and Grosjean had missed the 107% cut in Q1 but were allowed to race at the stewards' discretion.
What happened at the start?
Everyone made a clean getaway from the standing start, but Raikkonen and Esteban Ocon touched at turn 2. Sergey Sirotkin's car then hit Alonso's McLaren and Hulkenberg's Renault on the straight after that corner, and Alonso suffered a double puncture.
The chaos continued as Perez struck the back of Raikkonen's car. Ocon was damaged in a second contact with Raikkonen at turn 3 and retired at once, while Sirotkin's puncture left his car stopped close to that incident.
Those incidents brought out a first-lap safety car. Several drivers used it to repair damage: Raikkonen and Perez both changed front wings, Alonso took a new front wing along with two tyres, and Kevin Magnussen replaced two punctured tyres.
Perez was given a five-second penalty for his contact with Raikkonen, and he served it during his first pit stop.
How did the early race play out between Renault and Red Bull?
The race restarted on lap 6 with the top five in qualifying order. Carlos Sainz, who had started 10th, was up to fifth by lap 7, while Verstappen reported KERS battery trouble, which let the leading trio pull away.
Verstappen could not hold his place. Sainz and Hulkenberg, both in factory Renaults, passed him for fourth and fifth, and a queue of cars built up behind him.
Hulkenberg's race ended on lap 11, when his rear end let go and he struck the wall at turn 4.
How did tyre choices shape the middle of the race?
Sainz pitted from fourth on worn ultra-soft tyres, but his next choice of soft tyres backfired because they would not come up to temperature. He dropped to ninth and was overcut by both Red Bulls.
Up front, Vettel, Hamilton and Bottas ran within 10 seconds of one another, while Verstappen was 30 seconds down on Vettel by lap 18. Hamilton swapped worn supersofts for softs on lap 23, and Bottas kept going on a long stint of supersofts.
Vettel stopped for soft tyres on lap 31 and planned to run them to the flag, which left Bottas in the lead but still needing a stop. The open question was whether Bottas could build a big enough gap to pit for ultra-softs and still hold off Vettel.
Behind them the two Red Bulls kept trading places. Ricciardo passed Verstappen to take fourth back on lap 35, and both drivers pitted for fresh ultra-soft tyres shortly afterwards.
What caused the lap 40 Red Bull collision?
On lap 40 Verstappen and Ricciardo touched in a collision that ended both of their races. Verstappen had just passed Ricciardo after an overcut, then made a late defensive move to block an attack, and the contact left both cars stranded on track.
The crash changed the tempo of the race. Several drivers took advantage: Bottas made a single stop for new ultra-softs, and Vettel, Hamilton and Raikkonen followed onto fresh ultra-softs before the safety car bunched the field. Perez chose fresh supersofts.
The safety car did not pull in until lap 48. Grosjean lost traction under it on lap 43, hit the wall and retired, which prolonged the stint behind the car.
Vettel then made an aggressive attempt on Bottas, locked his wheels, overshot the corner and dropped to fourth with flat-spotted tyres.
How did Bottas's puncture hand Hamilton the win?
Bottas was leading by more than one second over Hamilton as lap 49 began, when a tyre punctured and forced him out. Perez then passed Vettel for third, and Hamilton was left in front.
Bottas's retirement was the last incident to affect the podium. Hamilton won ahead of Raikkonen, with Perez third.
Hamilton said afterwards that he was surprised to have won, and he praised Bottas for a faultless drive. He added that he would not have got past Bottas in the laps that remained if the tyre had not failed.
Race result highlights
| Finish | Driver | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) | Won after Bottas's late puncture |
| 2nd | Kimi Raikkonen | Second place |
| 3rd | Sergio Perez (Force India) | Passed Vettel on lap 49; final Force India podium |
| 5th | Carlos Sainz (Renault) | Recovered from an early tyre mistake |
| 6th | Charles Leclerc (Sauber) | First championship points of his career |
| 7th | Fernando Alonso (McLaren) | Scored despite an early double puncture |
| 9th | Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren) | Rose from 14th to ninth after the restart |
| 10th | Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso) | First championship points of his career |
| Classified | Valtteri Bottas | Retired on lap 49 after 90% of the distance |
| Retired | Verstappen, Ricciardo | Collided on lap 40 |
| Retired | Hulkenberg, Ocon, Grosjean | Lap 11, turn 3 and lap 43 respectively |
Who scored their first points in Baku?
Charles Leclerc and Brendon Hartley both scored the first championship points of their careers. Leclerc was the first Monegasque driver to score since Louis Chiron at the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix, and Hartley was the first New Zealander to score since Chris Amon at the 1976 Spanish Grand Prix.
Alonso still came home seventh, having suffered a double puncture early on. Vandoorne's race was more eventful: after an unscheduled fourth pit stop from 13th, he climbed from 14th to ninth after the restart.
How did the FIA and Red Bull respond to the crash?
Both Verstappen and Ricciardo were formally reprimanded by the FIA over the Baku crash. Red Bull's team boss, Christian Horner, was reportedly furious, called the contact unacceptable and required both drivers to apologise to all members of the team.
The FIA also changed how drivers were interviewed. From this race onwards, interviews took place in the closed-off area behind the pits straight after weigh-in, in the order drivers arrived rather than the order they finished.
The incident drew comparisons with the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix. There, Webber and Vettel, then Red Bull teammates, collided, Vettel retired with a puncture, and Webber finished third in a race Red Bull had dominated until that point.
Why does the 2018 Azerbaijan race still matter?
It produced Hamilton's win after a race of collisions and punctures, and it gave Perez his third place as Force India's final podium. It also brought the first championship points for Leclerc and Hartley.
The race also marked the start of post-weigh-in interviews in the closed-off area, a small change that the FIA introduced at this Grand Prix.
