Motorsports
Azerbaijan GP: Perez faster in Baku’s first tests
RBR’s Sergio Perez continued his excellent form and set the fastest lap in the first free test of the Azerbaijan GP after winning Monaco, with 1 tenths from Charles Leclerc and 3 tenths from Max Ferstappen. Problems for the teams with the wind and the jumps.
In warm and sunny Baku, Sergio Perez scored his first year in the free skate Tests that opened the 8th race of Formula 1 this year, the Azerbaijan GP – a year after his first win of his career with Red Bull Racing at the same circuit.
The Mexican stopped the timer at 1:45.476 and it was 0.127 and 0.334 seconds faster than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and his RBR counterpart Max Ferstappen respectively The two contenders for the title didn’t seem particularly good satisfied with the settings of F1-75 and RB18, for which they will try to improve the second tests will start at 17:00 (Greek time).
Behind Ferrari’s fourth Carlos Sainte, in the final minutes Fernando Alonso made the jump to 5th place of the years – and ahead of Lewis Hamilton Mercedes, which this time (38 milliseconds) was faster than its counterpart to Mercedes-George Russell.
However, on the streets of the Azerbaijani capital, the two are separated by more than a second Top RBR and Ferrari teams, from the rest. However, all faced in these first tests the big problems of the wind and dusty road surface, as well as porpoises in the long straight lines of the racetrack.
The jumps of the Mercedes W13 were particularly problematic in this area so that Hamilton stepped onto the exit line of the pits and announced this to the radio “There was so much commotion I couldn’t even see the line!”
At the same time, Ferstappen expressed his concern about the effects of the wind RB18 settings. The rear wing of Milton Keynes’ car also seemed to have it so much flexibility on the straights that it piqued Ferrari’s interest and sparked rumours to its legality.
Alpha Tauris Yuki Tsunoda passed in 7th place among the two Mercedes a tenth faster than his counterpart and 9th Pierre Gusli. Esteban closed the dozen Okon, with the other Alpine. Alpine, Mercedes, Alpha Tauri seem to be leading the way Present, the battle of medium dynamic teams.
Haas ended up having problems with Mick Schumacher’s car (a fluid spill which the German wasn’t to blame this time), but also Williams with the new engine of Nikolas Latifi’s car.
Source: sport 24
Sophia Jhon is a sports journalist and author. He has worked as a news editor for Sportish and is now a sport columnist for the same publication. Alberta’s professional interests lie largely in sports news, with an emphasis on English football. He has also written articles on other sporting topics.