Another race, another Verstappen collision

Editor

It was on the cards all afternoon. Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen were fighting hard from the start and it inevitably ended in tears…

Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen headed off to the track together. They’ll probably be taking separate cars away from the track…

The two title rivals on the front row were also getting in the zone…

No sign of any rain in Baku on race day, but the wind would prove to be a tricky factor to overcome for the drivers.

It almost caught out the drivers on their way to the grid with Kimi Raikkonen having a close shave with the wall…

Erm, Christina Aguilera was loving it.

It was the usual quiet start in Baku. Kimi Raikkonen and Esteban Ocon collided, ending the latter’s race.

Sergey Sirotkin also retired on the first lap.

Fernando Alonso picked up a double puncture, Raikkonen was forced to pit with damage, as was the likes of Sergio Perez.

After the Safety Car restart, Renault took the fight to Red Bull, both Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg getting ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.

But Hulkenberg became the latest DNF victim after finding the wall at Turn 4.

Back out at the front, Vettel was dictating the pace and Hamilton was losing precious time by running wide at Turn 16 and a huge lock up at Turn 1.

Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were trading blows in a ding-dong battle for P4.

And Ricciardo got the job done on Lap 36.

Valtteri Bottas quietly drove his way into contention, showing good pace on the old supersoft tyre and trying to make them last so he could switch to ultrasofts for the final stint.

Then the inevitable happened. At Turn 1, Verstappen performed a double move under braking and Ricciardo went flying into the back of him as a result. Another double DNF for Red Bull.

The Safety Car came back out with Bottas retaining the lead, but the SC was out longer than anticipated after Romain Grosjean lost it in the wall. Bizarrely blaming Marcus Ericsson.

The Safety Car came in with just four laps to go. More than enough time for plenty of drama.

Sebastian Vettel tried a daring move on Bottas for the race lead at Lap 1, locked up and eventually fell to P4.

Bottas then picked up a loose piece of debris and retired, with Lewis Hamilton taking the most unlikeliest of victories.

And an incredible podium for Sergio Perez!

Azerbaijan GP