Valtteri Bottas had really bad luck in Baku – revealed on Viaplay the drastic effect of the hits of his competitors

Valtteri Bottas was the last to finish in the Azerbaijan competition on the Baku street track. The dominance of Red Bull also continued in the race. This time Sergio Perez took the win before Max Verstappen.

Red Bull took a double victory at the Baku F1 race in Azerbaijan. Sergio Perez took first place before his teammate Max Verstappen. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was third.

Leclerc had performed phenomenally in qualifying earlier in the weekend, but in the race itself the Red Bull drivers were stronger. Verstappen, who started from the second grid, overtook the pole man Leclerc already on the third lap. Three laps later, Perez succeeded in the same trick.

– They are in a class of their own when it comes to the Games. Today, during 51 laps, it was not possible to challenge them. Their competitive pace is so fierce. Red Bull has found something we haven’t found yet, Leclerc praised Red Bull in a track interview.

Drama was seen in the top fight, when in the 10th round AlphaTaurin Nyck De Vries hit the track wall and had to stop. A safety car was brought to the track.

Verstappen had a bad time, because he had time to visit the pits just before De Vries’ accident. The other top drivers got a free pit stop compared to the Dutchman. Perez moved to the top of the race and Leclerc to second.

The reigning world champion and this season’s points leader Verstappen got past Leclerc, but Perez had time to run away too far.

– There was a bit of bad luck with the safety car. I tried to push to get close so that I could pass with the help of the movable rear wing (DRS). Then the tires must have overheated a bit, Verstappen said.

– There were also problems with the balance of the car. I tried adjusting the settings. Once I got that taken care of, the last ten laps were good. However, it was already too late. We learned a lot. This was a good team result, Verstappen, who hit the track barriers a couple of times in his final sprint, continued.

Perez also hit the barriers at the end.

– I think it was really tight between us. We gave it our all as we hit the ramparts a couple of times. Max pushed me to the limit today, but we were able to keep the situation under control, Perez stated.

Red Bull has won all four first races of the season. Both Perez and Verstappen now have two wins. Three of the first four races of the season have ended with a double victory for Red Bull. Only in the previous race in Australia were other teams able to break Red Bull’s lead.

Perez also won the first sprint race of the season in Baku on Saturday. The Mexican came within six points of his teammate in the World Cup battle.

Bad luck with Bottas – the end result is a disaster: “Nothing could be done”

Valtteri Bottas was the last car to finish in 18th place.

Alfa Romeo’s Finnish driver’s race went to waste right at the second corner. Bottas got off to a good start and got to Willamis by Alex Albon past. In the second corner it started to hurt and happen.

Albon hit the McLaren Oscar Piastr, which then hit Bottas. Haasin Kevin Magnussen hit the back of Bottas who was still in the bag.

Bottas, who started 13th on the grid, quickly dropped five places. Soon, Alfa Romeo took a risky tactic to get Bottas better positions by quickly changing the hard tires, but did not succeed. The safety car caused by De Vries didn’t play into Bottas’ pocket like Verstappen either.

Bottas drove through the race at the tail end.

– The start itself was good. The first bend was okay. In the second corner, there was a hit from the side and the rear. You couldn’t do anything about it yourself when someone comes to your side. There was damage to the rear of the car. Because of that, the final race was more difficult. You can’t really do anything about them, Bottas commented on Viaplay.

For Alfa Romeo, the F1 race in Baku was sad anyway. Bottas’s Chinese teammate Guanyu Zhou had to stop due to technical problems. Zhou’s ride was also slow, as he retired in 16th place.

The F1 season continues already next weekend at the Miami street circuit in the United States.

– Of course, there is no time to do anything during the week. Let’s hope for better speed and a clean weekend, so that there is no adjustment in the first round, Bottas stated.