Formula 1 opened its Saturday sprint in Baku and Leclerc achieved his first podium although he lost the race with Checo Pérez

The first Saturday sprint of Formula 1 began in Baku with another victory for Red Bull but also with a remarkable recovery from Charles Leclerc, who achieved his first podium after three grand prix in which he had only scored six points. The victory was in the hands of Sergio Checo Pérez, while Max Verstappen was third in the first short race of the season.

Saturday kicked off with the premiere of the Sprint Shootout, the independent classification of the Sprint Race, which left Logan Sargeant’s Williams on the road. As had happened on Friday in qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the Monegasque Leclerc put Ferrari ahead of the Red Bulls but he could only maintain that position until the eighth of 17 laps.

Before that, there was excitement and sparks at the start, because Verstappen lost third place and complained about a touch from George Russell in the pass at turn 3 that damaged his left sidepod, and what was likely occurred on the street map of Azerbaijan – a caution for a yellow flag – and also the bizarre: the rear tire of Yuki Tsunoda’s Alpha Tauri was crossed on the track barely in the second round, which led to the departure of the safety car in the next.

Although some drivers without much at stake, such as Esteban Ocon, stopped by the pits to change tires, the neutralization took some of the excitement out of the sprint, which was recovered with the restart on lap 6.

The Spaniards Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) took advantage of the poor start of Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) to pass him and in front of them Verstappen brought out a great maneuver to recover third position without touching Russell. “I know how to do it”he said angrily into the radio communication with his team.

Although Leclerc did the fastest lap, when the DRS was enabled the Ferrari could not resist the speed of Checo Pérez’s Red Bull, who overtook him at the start of the eighth lap. The Monegasque, then, was among the companions of the Austrian team; Perhaps that damage to Verstappen’s car was what allowed him to hold out there without being attacked by the two-time world champion.

For the end, there was the fastest lap of Checo Pérez to complete a perfect Saturday and also Lance Stroll’s overtake of Alex Albon to get into the points zone, which was finally divided between the four leading teams: Red Bull (14), Ferrari (11), Mercedes (7) and Aston Martin (4).

Sunday (at 8 in Argentina on Star+) will be a time of revenge for Leclerc, who added more points this Saturday (7) than he had in three grand prix and showed improvement in the race pace of Ferrari, which did not win never in Baku, where Red Bull and Mercedes accumulate three victories each.

In the team led by Christian Horner, meanwhile, the fight between drivers continues to be red hot, because with this victory in the Czech Sprint Race he recalled Verstappen’s advantage by two points, now the leader with 75 units compared to 62 from Guadalajara. Alonso is third with 48.

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