Perez wins in Azerbaijan, first podium for Ferrari

Signs of a possible fight for the World Championship, signs of vitality for Ferrari. Sergio Perez makes 2-2 with Max Verstappen and after 4 races the world champion experiences first-hand what Lewis Hamilton experienced years ago with Nico Rosberg. It is unlikely that Max will be surprised with over 20 races on the calendar but in 4 challenges Checo won two of them, in addition to Saturday’s sprint-race.

The signs of vitality in the Ferrari house essentially come from Charles Leclerc. On the weekend in which he also had to answer a few questions about the (so far lacking) renewal of the contract with the Reds, the Monegasque made almost full loot. Two poles between Friday and Saturday, two podiums in the short race and in the real one. First podium for the Cavallino and the sensation that at times this car is not so far from Red Bull. Unfortunately for Ferrari, the signals are still intermittent, in the sense that when Leclerc (not Sainz, always uncomfortable throughout the Azeri weekend) can push without having to protect the tyres, the gap with the Bulls is not very heavy. It’s there, it’s noticeable, but not as embarrassing as in some previous races. Then it happens that red 16 has to do some administration and the other two go off on the trumpet.

The long straight in Baku was a sentence. When the Red Bulls opened up the mobile wing there was none for anyone. The race was frankly boring. It was decided by a safety car called on the track by a bang from De Vries. It was lap eleven, Perez was behind Max and seemed to be able to chase him. And at that point it may be that at the Austrian wall they wanted to prevent the two from getting into a fight. They called Verstappen to the pits when De Vries was still broken down and safety was almost a certainty. Max went in, put on the white tires and when he came out he found himself having to ascertain that all the others would have done his operation in a different regime and therefore with a big advantage over him. The race was decided there, Perez and Leclerc passed him coming out of the pits and the Dutchman managed to recover the position only on the Ferrari driver. From the 14th lap nothing more happened. For a few laps everyone went under the pace to save the tires as Pirelli had said that no one would be able to finish the race on the white. It didn’t go like this and when from the pits they gave the order to push the whole thing, the real challenge became taking the point of the fastest lap. Russell managed it, but only because he was so far away that he could afford one more pit and put on the new reds at the last lap. Whoever writes this continuous need to calibrate their destinies based on tire degradation is starting to tire. It will also be intriguing for the strategists at the low wall but sooner or later a reflection will have to be done.

Red Bull’s lead remains consistent and Russell’s prediction that they will win every race of the season is still possible. Leclerc proved to be a great “handle”, he went beyond the limits of the car. It will be necessary to understand in the next races if the level of the Reds is what Sainz can express and if the peaks can only come from Charles’s inventions. That, whether it’s true or not he’s already thinking about 2025, on the podium in Baku he didn’t have the body language of a happy one. After a month’s hiatus, the circus will be back on track immediately from Friday in Miami. A weekend to be sipped with extreme care, amidst assorted tawdry and continuous monkeying in the worst Yankee style. Then luckily he’ll be back in Europe at Imola to finally (hopefully) see some Formula 1.