Street Circuit Specialist Sergio Perez Wins at Azerbaijan
Oct 22, 2022; Austin, Texas, USA; Red Bull Racing Limited driver Sergio Perez (11) of Team Mexico arrives at the track before practice for the U.S. Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Sergio Perez of Red Bull Racing continued his strong start to the 2023 F1 season and demonstrated his street circuit expertise by cruising to a first-place finish at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit on Sunday. That came after Perez also won the sprint on Saturday.
Perez’s teammate Max Verstappen finished second in the Grand Prix, but it was not without incident. During Saturday’s sprint race, a dust-up with George Russell let to some damage on Verstappen’s RB19 race car and also a NSFW exchange of words after the sprint race.
Que buen ambiente laboral se respira aqui entre Max Verstappen y George Russell😃. pic.twitter.com/n80jzRUxo8
— Carlos Lamb (@CarlosLamb_) April 29, 2023
Following Sunday’s Grand Prix, Perez only trails Verstappen by six points in the 2023 championship standings.
Though Red Bull is the class of F1 this season, Ferrari is making progress on closing the gap between the two teams. After a slow start to the 2023 season, Charles Leclerc had a strong showing at Azerbaijan with a second-place finish in the sprint race and third-place finish in the Grand Prix. Carlos Sainz also had a strong showing and finished 5th.
Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin Racing, who had previously finished third in three consecutive races, finished fourth. The 41-year-old racer seems to have found the fountain of youth as he continues to have strong showings in 2023.
As for Mercedes, they seem to be falling behind both Aston Martin and Ferrari with Lewis Hamilton finishing 6th and George Russell finishing 8th.
Next up on the schedule, F1 returns to the United States with the Miami Grand Prix at the Miami International Autodrome circuit, where Ferrari had a strong showing in 2023. While they still lack pace in comparison to Red Bull Racing, all eyes will be on Ferrari to see if their improvements in Azerbaijan can lead to continued success in Miami.