George Russell

George Russell’s remarkable streak of finishing every race in 2022 in the top five continu🎶ed with his third rostr♕um appearance of the year.

Russell made an early pit stop under the Virtual Safety Car which allowed him to jump the midfield traffic, unlike teammꦺate Lewis Hamilton, who wa♐s forced to queue and lost significant ground.

Wi🍸th Russell in clear air, he w🦹as able to pull clear of the rest of the midfield with ease before making a second stop under the other VSC period to ensure he finished third.

Sunday also means Russ꧑ell has beaten Hamilton seven races in a row - equalli♛ng Nico Rosberg’s record from Mexico 2015 to Russia 2016.

Could he make it eight and beat the record i🦂n Canada?

Pierre Gasly

After a difficult Monaco weekend where he was eliminated in Q1, P🐠ierre Gasly was back to his very bes🍸t in Baku.

The Frenchman managed to split the two Mercedes cars in qualifying and was on for fourth before AlphaTa🔴uri’s decision not to pit him under the second VSC period.

If he did, a fine drive to fourth was on the cards but regardless fifth is impressive given AlphaTauri’s lack of form, relative to 2021, thi💫s year.

Max Verstappen & Red Bull

It was a timely 𝓰reminder to everyone who was getting carried away about Sergio Perez that the reigning F1 champion is still the main man at Red Bull.

W🉐hile Verstappen continues to struggle to unlock the RB18’s one-lap pac𝕴e, his race-day performances are as devastating as ever.

The Dutchman quickly r🔯educed a two-second deficit to Perez once Charles Leclerc stopped under the Virtual Safety Car before overtaking his teammate, quickly ꧋building a five-second lead.

Verstappen did benefit from team intervention - not team orders though, a𒈔ccording to boss Christian Horner, but in the context of the race, Red Bull were right to do soꦑ given that the 24-year-old was their best shot at beating Leclerc.

Once Leclerc was out of the race due to his engine failure, it was a comfortable afternoon for Red Bull, which secured their third 𝕴1-2 of the season.&nb🍸sp;

Verstappen now has a 21-point lead🎀 over Perez in the championship, w൩hile Red Bull are 80 points clear of Ferrari.

Sebastian Vettel

The four-time F1 champion chur💞ned out another vintage performanceꦅ in Baku as he made it back-to-back Q3 appearances.

Vettel converted his top 1♉0 start into Aston Martin’s first top-six finish of the year.

It wasn’t a completely straightforward race for the German as he was forced to take to the Turn 3 escape road ♍when 🅠he misjudged his braking while battling Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.

However, Vet🌱tel deserves credit for his fast reactions and 360-degree spin to get back on track with minimal time loss.

And the losers…

Charles Leclerc & Ferrari

It was the worst day possible for Leclerc and F🧜errari as their title hopes went up in smoke.

༺Carlos Sainz’🃏s retirement on Lap 9 due to a hydraulic issue set off an awful day for the Scuderia in Azerbaijan.

Ferrari opted to pit Leclerc under the ꧂VSC - their only chance of beating the two Red Bulls to the victory.

But, we didn’t get to see how that strategy would have played out after L🍬eclerc’s engine blew on Lap 🌞21.

After such great promise, Leclerc and Ferrari’s season is slowly꧒ going down the drain.

Yuki Tsunoda

Yuki Tsunoda has enjoyed a remarkable leap in performance in 2022 and his performance in Baku was a 𒉰mature one.

Tsunoda was running comfortably🍌 in sixth before an unusual rear wing issue occurred in the closing laps of the race, forcing him into an unscheduled pit stop.

AlphaTauri were forced to apply gaffer tape in an amusing fashion and Tsunoda was told to a🌞void using DওRS.

🍌H♐is race was already over with Tsunoda ultimately finishing down in 13th.

Lance Stroll

With Vettel finishing in🅰side the top six, where was his Aston Martin teammate, Lance Stroll?

Stroll enduꦕred a miserable qualifying outing in Baku where he qualified twice in two laps, putting him out in Q1 for the third race in succession.

The Canadian drove an anonymous race, struggling for outright pace meaning he wa🐻s never a contender for points in Azerbaijan.

Vettel is getting the most from the Aston Martin while Stroll appeaꦦrs to have gone backwards compared to last year.

Alfa Romeo

It was a missed opportunity for Alfa Romeo in Baku with rookie Guanyu Zhou enjoying his best weekend as an F1 dr🍰iver. 

Zhou was on course to finish inside the top eight💟 🐠as he was running right behind Vettel before his latest retirement. 

It’s Zhou’s third DNF in four r💙aces with mechanical gremlins💙 impacting his debut season severely. 

On the other hand,🉐 Valtteri Bottas had a weekend to forget.

The 2019 Azerbai▨jan GP winner’s pace was nowhere in qualifying and in the race - in complete contrast to his forܫm this year.

B🤡ottas eluded to there be♛ing an issue with his car but given his display for Mercedes in the 2020 race, perhaps the Finn simply lacked confidence around Baku’s tight streets.

Mick Schumacher 

The only positive for Mick Schumဣacher in Baku is that he avoided another Monaco-like shunt.

Haas team bos💧s Guenther Steiner warned after Monaco that the team simply couldn’t afford any more major crashes due to the cost cap.

Schumacher qualified 1.1s behind teammate Kevin Magnussen and didn’t really feature in Sunday’s grand prix, only running ♎ahead of Nicho🅺las Latifi, who got hit with two penalties.