Valtteri Bottas won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after starting on pole on Sunday, finishing ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton. The victory marks Mercedes-AMG’s fourth straight 1-2 finish in Formula 1 this year and puts Bottas one point ahead of Hamilton in the championship.
“Lewis was putting me under pressure all the time so I couldn’t do any mistakes, but honestly everything was under control so I am happy to see the checkered flag,” Bottas said in a post-race interview.
Sebastian Vettel put his Ferrari in third place, rounding out the podium. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc came in fifth position, just behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Leclerc did score an extra point for setting the fastest lap of the race.
Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo was one of four retirements in the race. Stewards handed him two penalty points and a three-grid penalty for the next F1 race in Spain after a bizarre off-track incident saw the Australian driver backing his car into fellow racer Daniil Kvyat’s Toro Rosso.
“As soon as I went down the escape road I guess it was just a sense of urgency and a bit of panic, if you will. Just trying to minimize damage and lose as little time as possible,” Ricciardo said after the race. “I found reverse and started going and to be honest I had no idea he was there. I guess the urgency stopped me from looking.”
