Chapter 439: Azerbaijan Grand Prix | The Race II

Christian Horner, following his tradition of watching the race start from the garage, watched as Fatih, followed by Max behind him, left their grid positions for the formation lap.

Although he had full confidence in their car’s pace being the fastest, AlphaTauri had gone for the middle ground, giving them better speed on the straight compared to the Red Bull, which went with a chunkier rear wing to dominate the castle section and protect their rear tires. So, if Max didn’t overtake him into turn one, overtaking might be slightly difficult and take a few laps, laps where he would be losing ground to Hamilton, who might create an undercut-proof gap.

Or even worse, Fatih might be too aggressive against Verstappen, considering that the two sides now had a relationship worse than neutral. He could take Verstappen out, either deliberately, which was unlikely, or accidentally by both drivers being too aggressive at the race start. It was bad news either way for him, so deep down, he hoped Max could either make a clean overtake at the start or take his time with the overtake if it guaranteed he remained in the race.

With his hands behind his back and his lanyard in his front pocket, Horner watched as the drivers finally arrived on the long start-finish straight, swerving left and right to continue generating and retaining the temperature in their tires.

With a few final burnouts, one by one, led by Charles, the drivers entered their grid positions. The way Max had positioned himself made it clear that he was targeting an overtake on Fatih, as his car was facing Fatih’s car more than it was facing forward. His right hand, which was on top of his left, closed into a fist as he took a deep breath in preparation for what was to come.

.......

"What a season this is turning into for Formula One in 2021. The midfield is very, very tight with great competition there, and out in front, Red Bull and Mercedes are scrapping like a couple of heavyweights prepared for the long haul. As we go through the season, it should still be 23 races with no Singapore this year, but there are races in reserve that we can go to.

And we are just waiting now for the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll on the Hard compound, and the Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi to line up on the grid.

It’s only a short dash down to turn one. 138m from pole to the first braking zone, and the polesitter has always led the first lap here in Baku. Five lights are ON ahead of the drivers.

AND IT’S LIGHTS OUT AND AWAY WE GO! CHARLES LECLERC GETS AWAY WELL AHEAD OF LEWIS HAMILTON AS FATIH MOVES TO COVER VERSTAPPEN. THEN YOU HAVE SAINZ AND GASLY BATTLING AWAY BEHIND THEM.

BUT IT’S CHARLES LECLERC WITH A CLEAR LEAD GOING THROUGH TURN ONE. HE’S GOT THE START, HE’S GOT THE POLE, AND HE’S GOTTEN AWAY FROM LEWIS HAMILTON.

Gasly is ahead as Sergio Perez is making up places as well. The two McLarens are getting bogged down in the midfield, and a charge is on now.

Down towards turn three, Leclerc leads from Hamilton, and then comes Fatih, shutting Verstappen off as Sergio Perez, having made up two positions, finally joins the group as they go into turn three. With Sergio now joining the group, he is playing the team game, which is exactly what Red Bull needs at the moment if they’re going to challenge up front. Sergio Perez started seventh and is now running in fifth while the McLarens are still scrapping away.

Lando Norris has dropped down to twelfth and is still ahead of his teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who you can see there on your screen. The two papaya cars are getting out of the way. George Russell could see the lockup from Lance Stroll behind him and feared the Aston Martin was about to hit him, but they don’t make contact. We’re through turn eight with the backmarkers in this race up ahead.

Leclerc leads from Hamilton and Fatih, with Max and Perez completing the top five. Then come Gasly and Sainz. After them comes Fernando Alonso, who’s made up places as well, completing the top eight," David Croft finally paused amidst his high-energy commentary to take a breather and allow Martin Brundle to take over.

Martin Brundle immediately focused on the two championship contenders who will most likely be fighting for the win. "Verstappen looks like a man on a mission. You can see Hamilton is going to benefit from the Ferrari in front of the slipstream, and the same for Fatih, who is managing to keep up close with them. But this is where you put it to the scale: have you got the right setup, mechanical versus aero? The race is bunched up at the moment, but it will start spreading, and that’s when you need to pick your moment."

David Croft continued his commentary, "Sebastian Vettel has made up two places at the start, as Lando Norris has not had a good getaway and has dropped three places. Antonio Giovinazzi has gone up five places on this first lap, and Charles Leclerc leads over the line by just three-tenths of a second as he starts the second lap. He has managed to get clear, but he’s not pulling away."

The feed immediately changed to showing the pitlane, and Brundle took over. "George Russell is in the pits at the end of lap one. Did he pick up a puncture, or is this a strategy? He takes on the Hard tire, which might just make it to the end of the Grand Prix..."

......

As the commentators excitedly went ahead with their work, Christian Horner breathed a sigh of relief. The feed showed the race start replay, and his driver had made it through safely, meaning they could still make an on-track overtake based on their pace.

Max, on the other hand, was not feeling good at all because he was now going to have to waste his tire grip to overtake one more driver before he could reach Hamilton and go for the lead.

......

LAP 2.

Fatih could be seen constantly turning his head to his rearview mirrors as he tried to gauge how close Verstappen was through the middle sector while also maintaining a very close gap to Hamilton in P2 ahead of him, planning to take full advantage of a double slipstream on the upcoming long straight.

Max was about seven-tenths behind him, which at the moment was enough for him to survive the long straight with him on his rear. Though unfortunately, a gap had slightly opened during the Castle section due to their setup making it difficult to follow closely. However, thankfully, he knew there was going to be debris on the track before turn 15. The drivers ahead, caught off-guard, would slow down and have to get out of the way, but knowing it was going to be there, he took full advantage. He fully avoided it, closing the gap back to Hamilton down to only about four-tenths as they finally arrived at turn 16.

Fatih deliberately sacrificed the entry by braking earlier, but it allowed him to get back on power earlier and reduce the gap to Hamilton down to three-tenths as he entered what he considered to be the final straight because from there all the way to turn one, it was going to be a full-throttle slipstreaming war.

"Early pit stop for Williams, aiming to go to the end of the race, potentially. If there’s a safety car, it will bring George Russell right back into contention. As of now, we see the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who has Lewis Hamilton and Fatih closely behind him. And Leclerc has been leading throughout this race, but not for long, because Hamilton has got the tow and Fatih has got a double tow as he keeps closely behind the two, with both of them gaining from the slipstream.

THEY DON’T NEED DRS AS THEY MAKE THEIR MOVE! HAMILTON TO THE RIGHT, FATIH REMAINING BEHIND FOR A MOMENT BEFORE COMMITTING TO THE LEFT AS THEY SLINGSHOT THEMSELVES FROM THE SLIPSTREAM, SANDWICHING THE FERRARI AND OVERTAKING HIM BEFORE CROSSING THE START-FINISH LINE!

THE TWO OF THEM, HAVING GAINED A SPEED ADVANTAGE, ARE NOW SIDE-BY-SIDE AS THEY BARREL INTO TURN ONE! WHO IS GOING TO BE BRAVER AND BRAKE LATER TO TAKE THE RACE LEAD?

FATIH, ON THE INSIDE LINE, TAKES THE GAMBLE, OUTBRAKES HAMILTON BY A SMIDGE, AND MANAGES TO BARELY CONTROL THE CAR INTO TURN ONE! BUT IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW HE DID IT, AS WE HAVE A NEW RACE LEADER, AND IT IS NOT A MERCEDES, BUT A ROOKIE BEATING THE SEVEN-TIME WORLD CHAMPION IN A LATE-BRAKING CONTEST!

WHAT AN UNBELIEVABLE SIGHT WE HAVE FOR OURSELVES HERE! WHAT AN INCREDIBLE OPENING TO THE RACE, AND WHAT A SHOW CHARLES LECLERC IS GETTING AS A CONSOLATION FOR LOSING HIS RACE LEAD AND DROPPING TO P3, AS THE ROOKIE TAKES THE LEAD OF A GRAND PRIX FOR THE SECOND TIME IN HIS TWO-RACE CAREER!" David Croft shouted with as much energy as possible.