The results of the 2017 Azerbaijan GP would see Williams Martini driver Lance Stroll secure his first podium with a 3rd place finish, making him the youngest rookie to secure a podium. It was a result that was described by Rob Smedley as a result well above his years. Just a great result for the young Canadian and the Williams team. For team-mate Felipe Massa his race would see the opposite result with Felipe having to retire with suspension issues. It was a race that saw crashes, penalties, and even a red flag but through it all Lance was able to keep it all together and prodce this great result. It was a shame that he was beaten for second as they went to cross the finish line.
Azerbaijan Grand Prix Race Review
The Williams
Martini drivers would start the fifty one lap Azerbaijan Grand Prix from
eighth and ninth with Lance Stroll ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa. With the
start of the race the positions would be reversed with Felipe been able to
make up several places running in sixth while Lance was in eighth. Felipe
was running behind Raikkonen and Lance was behind Ocon. Leading the race in
the opening laps was Hamilton followed by Vettel and Perez. The start of the
race had seen Bottas make contact with Raikkonen seeing the Mercedes suffer
damage and a flat right front tyre seeing him pit.
Verstappen was to challenge Perez looking to take third place. Felipe and
Lance were running comfortably in their positions but they both would gain a
place when Verstappen was to suffer and engine issue seeing Felipe now fifth
and Lance seventh. But the Safety car would be deployed in order to recover
the retired car of Kvyat. Both Hamilton and Vettel would pit joined by
Perez, Raikkonen, Felipe, and Ocon. Verstappen would retire in his pit.
Hamilton was leading followed by Vettel, Lance, Perez, Raikkonen, Felipe,
Ocon, Hulkenberg, Magnussen, and Ricciardo in tenth. Lance and Hulkenberg
had not pitted under the Safety Car.
Lap fifteen and
Lance would pit taking on the soft tyre like all those ahead of him. Lance
would drop to seventh with the Williams drivers now fifth and seventh. Of
the top ten Ricciardo had swapped from soft to super soft tyres having
pitted twice. With the restart on lap eighteen Felipe was to be in fourth
but the Safety Car would come out again. On the previous restart Felipe had
been involved in a fight with Raikkonen and Ocon going into Turn one. Lance
was running in seventh with the cars running through the pit lane as debris
was cleared from the main straight.
The drivers were all weaving trying to get temperature in their tyres. The
Safety Car would come in on lap twenty and Hamilton would get away but
Vettel would be under attack from Felipe and both Force India cars. With all
the contact between drivers including Ocon making contact with team-mate
Perez and Raikkonen would get a flat right rear puncture. On the leadup to
the restart Vettel would make contact with Hamilton when the Mercedes slowed
in front. Both Force India cars would pit joined by Raikkonen. Raikkonen
would retire joined by Perez. They would replace a flat tyre on Ocon's car
seeing him return.
Hamilton was
still leading from Vettel but in third was Felipe followed by Lance. Both
Williams cars had gained from the chaos around them. Ricciardo was now fifth
followed by Hulkenberg, Magnussen, Alonso, Sainz, and Grosjean tenth. But
the race would then be red flagged most likely due to all the debris around
the track. With the available time Raikkonen's car would be repaired and
would be taken to the front of the line of cars and then would return to the
track. He was joined by Perez seeing them a lap down. Everyone had switched
to the super soft tyre for the restart of the race. The Safety Car would
lead the field back out with the restart to be done under the Safety Car.
At the restart Ricciardo would pass both Williams at Turn one and Lance
would pass Felipe. The Williams drivers were running fourth and fifth.
Felipe had gone onto the radio saying that he had an issue. Felipe would
lose places to Magnussen and Hulkenberg at Turn one. He had dropped to
eighth and was ow behind Alonso. Felipe was told that he had a broken rear
damper. Hulkenberg would hit the wall ending his race. Bottas was now up in
tenth behind Grosjean on lap twenty six of fifty one. Felipe would pit
retiring in his pit after the team checked his car. While this was happening
Lance was running close behind Ricciardo.
Lap twenty eight
and the order was Hamilton followed by Vettel, Ricciardo, Lance, Magnussen,
Alonso, Sainz, Ocon, Bottas, and Grosjean in tenth. But now Hamilton would
have an issue with the head rest coming lose and he was told by his engineer
to see if he can pish it back down. Ocon would pass Sainz for seventh with
Hamilton leading Vettel by 2.1 seconds with thirty one laps completed.
Bottas was now eighth while Hamilton was told to pit so that they could fix
the head rest issue. he would pit but it was announced that Vettel was to
receive a ten second stop and go penalty for dangerous driving. Hamilton
would come back out in ninth. Vettel was leading from Ricciardo, Lance,
Magnussen, and Alonso fifth.
Vettel would pit taking his penalty. Ricciardo was now leading with Lance
second and Magnussen third. Vettel would come back out in seventh ahead of
Hamilton. In fourth was Ocon followed by Bottas, Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton,
Sainz and Grosjean tenth. Vettel would pass Alonso for sixth and Hamilton
was also able to get past seeing Alonso drop to eighth. Hamilton was running
close behind Vettel while Ocon was looking to get past Magnussen. He would
get past using his DRS with Bottas also able to get past the Hass. Ocon was
now third followed by Bottas and Magnussen. Ocon through to Hamilton were
all now running close together. Vettel would pass Magnussen followed by
Hamilton.
Lap forty and
Ricciardo was leading from Lance, Ocon, Bottas, Vettel, Hamilton, Magnussen,
Alonso, Sainz, and Ericsson tenth. Bottas would pass Ocon for third using
DRS and Turn one. Lance was leading Bottas by twelve seconds with ten laps
remaining. Vettel would pass Ocon for fourth and as the laps counted down
Bottas was able to close the gap to Lance. Lap forty seven and Lance's lead
was 4.4 seconds. Ricciardo was leading followed by Lance and Bottas. Vettel
was fourth followed by Hamilton, Ocon, Magnussen, Sainz, Alonso, and
Wehrlein. With two laps remaining second through to fourth were now running
close together while in the Williams garage the team was getting really
excited about the fact that they were looking at as second place finish with
Lance.
The final lap would be completed and Ricciardo would win the Azerbaijan
Grand Prix in what was a bit of a surprise win. But for second it would be
Bottas who would just pip Lance for second as they crossed the line. But
Lance would still finish in an amazing third. Lance would say that "he got
me" but he was told that he still got a third place finish. A result that
would see Lance the youngest podium finisher at 18 years 239 days. In fourth
would be Vettel followed by Hamilton, Ocon, Magnussen, Sainz, Alonso, and
Wehrlein tenth. As Rod Smedley would say a result from Lance that was well
above his years.
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