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Formula 1: Red Bull signs a double in Baku, Ferrari continues to accumulate setbacks

Its pit wall dismantled even before the end of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, this is an image that Ferrari would have done well on Sunday, June 12. The Italian team, whose drivers started from first and third position on the grid, lost big points in Baku, at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, due to the retirements of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc , for mechanical problems. Their main competitors from Red Bull, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, took the opportunity to climb on the first two steps of the podium, ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell – and that of Lewis Hamilton, fourth.

With a retirement due to a hydraulic problem for Carlos Sainz, and a second retirement due to an engine problem for Charles Leclerc, the Grand Prix turned into a nightmare for Ferrari. The race had already started badly with the bad start of the Monegasque, overtaken by Sergio Perez from the start, and got even more complicated as the red single-seaters lacked pace compared to the Red Bulls.

Already dropped by Max Verstappen on the streets of Baku, Carlos Sainz couldn’t defend his chances for more than nine laps but triggered a virtual safety car which allowed his teammate to get a passage to the pits free » then to recover the lead of the race during the stops of the Red Bull.

Only Charles Leclerc didn’t take advantage of it for long, since a large plume of smoke from the back of his single-seater put an end to his hopes of a podium shortly before halfway through the race.

Rid of their main competitors before the halfway mark, the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez took the opportunity to take off and win.

Ferrari engine reliability questioned

The weeks follow one another and are therefore alike, since for the third consecutive race, after Barcelona (retirement) and Monaco (strategic error), the Monegasque driver did not manage to convert his pole position into victory. “Words are hard to find, it hurts”he reacted when he got out of his car, at the microphone of Canal +.

Read also: Formula 1: in Monaco, Charles Leclerc still misses the boat

This new retirement for an engine problem, as in Spain, also underlines the problems of reliability of the Ferrari engine, especially as other single-seaters which are equipped with it, including the Alfa Romeo of Guanyu Zhou and the Haas of Kevin Magnussen, have also given up in Azerbaijan.

Read also: Formula 1: “The Ferrari behaves as it was thought, designed and developed”

Frenchman Pierre Gasly offered his best performance of the season with fifth place. In addition to having seen a good result escape him, Charles Leclerc also lost his second place in the drivers’ standings, still led by Max Verstappen, ahead of his teammate and now new runner-up, Sergio Perez.

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