Charles Leclerc may have set the fastest lap of the race – and bagged a bonus point – using the soft, C4 compound tyres, but for the rest of the time this wasn’t the rubber most drivers wanted to be on in Baku.
Early in the race, those who started on the soft tyres found it went off quickly. But Leclerc, who had the added advantage of being able to start on a new set of medium tyres, having damaged the set he used in Q2 in his crash, soon got in among them.The first sign of Leclerc’s potential speed came when he briefly sniffed clear air on lap five, and was instantly on the pace of the race-leading Mercedes. Moreover, he was a whopping 1.3 seconds faster than his soft-shod team mate.
“Sorry for the beginning,” sais Sebastian Vettel to his team after the race, “but I was shitting myself a little bit around here, I had no grip.”
As Leclerc moved ahead of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull with no difficulty, the Ferrari driver was consistently fastest lap seven to 12, at which point his team mate fitted the medium tyres. The Mercedes drivers found more pace on it initially, but as the stint wore on Vettel and Verstappen were able to match them, indicating they could operate at their rival’s level once they had the tyres in the correct operating window.
The preferred strategy of most drivers was to start on the softs and switch to mediums. A few tried switching to softs during the Virtual Safety Car period at the end of the race, to no real benefit.
Following his qualifying penalty, Kimi Raikkonen raced from the pits to claim the final point. He gained a total of nine places, the most of any driver during the race.
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2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix lap chart
The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
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2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix race chart
The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
Position change
| Driver | Start position | Lap one position change | Race position change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Valtteri Bottas | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Charles Leclerc | 8 | -2 | 3 |
| Max Verstappen | 4 | -1 | 0 |
| Pierre Gasly | 20 | 1 | |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 10 | 1 | |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 15 | 1 | 1 |
| Romain Grosjean | 14 | -2 | |
| Kevin Magnussen | 12 | -1 | -1 |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | 9 | 1 | 2 |
| Lando Norris | 7 | 1 | -1 |
| Sergio Perez | 5 | 1 | -1 |
| Lance Stroll | 13 | 2 | 4 |
| Kimi Raikkonen | 19 | 2 | 9 |
| Antonio Giovinazzi | 17 | 2 | 5 |
| Daniil Kvyat | 6 | -1 | |
| Alexander Albon | 11 | -1 | 0 |
| George Russell | 16 | -2 | 1 |
| Robert Kubica | 18 | -2 | 2 |
2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix lap times
All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:
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2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix fastest laps
Each driver’s fastest lap:
| Rank | Driver | Car | Fastest lap | Gap | On lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1’43.009 | 50 | |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’44.024 | 1.015 | 50 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’44.166 | 1.157 | 48 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’44.629 | 1.620 | 46 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1’44.794 | 1.785 | 39 |
| 6 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Renault | 1’45.394 | 2.385 | 43 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’45.524 | 2.515 | 49 |
| 8 | Pierre Gasly | Red Bull-Honda | 1’45.712 | 2.703 | 34 |
| 9 | Alexander Albon | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’45.754 | 2.745 | 49 |
| 10 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren-Renault | 1’45.807 | 2.798 | 43 |
| 11 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’45.969 | 2.960 | Set on 2 laps |
| 12 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point-Mercedes | 1’46.009 | 3.000 | 38 |
| 13 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1’46.479 | 3.470 | 48 |
| 14 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’46.682 | 3.673 | 42 |
| 15 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1’46.767 | 3.758 | 29 |
| 16 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1’47.251 | 4.242 | 42 |
| 17 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’47.407 | 4.398 | 43 |
| 18 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Honda | 1’47.681 | 4.672 | 28 |
| 19 | Robert Kubica | Williams-Mercedes | 1’47.709 | 4.700 | 45 |
| 20 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’48.517 | 5.508 | 33 |
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2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix tyre strategies
The tyre strategies for each driver:
| Stint 1 | Stint 2 | Stint 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valtteri Bottas | C4 (12) | C3 (39) | |
| Lewis Hamilton | C4 (13) | C3 (38) | |
| Sebastian Vettel | C4 (11) | C3 (40) | |
| Max Verstappen | C4 (14) | C3 (37) | |
| Charles Leclerc | C3 (34) | C4 (13) | C4 (4) |
| Sergio Perez | C4 (10) | C3 (41) | |
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | C4 (12) | C3 (39) | |
| Lando Norris | C4 (9) | C3 (30) | C4 (12) |
| Lance Stroll | C4 (10) | C3 (41) | |
| Kimi Raikkonen | C4 (6) | C3 (44) | |
| Alexander Albon | C4 (12) | C3 (38) | |
| Antonio Giovinazzi | C4 (7) | C3 (43) | |
| Kevin Magnussen | C4 (7) | C3 (32) | C4 (11) |
| Nico Hulkenberg | C4 (8) | C3 (26) | C4 (16) |
| George Russell | C3 (25) | C3 (13) | C4 (11) |
| Robert Kubica | C3 (23) | C3 (19) | C4 (7) |
| Pierre Gasly | C3 (38) | ||
| Romain Grosjean | C3 (34) | C4 (4) | |
| Daniil Kvyat | C4 (5) | C3 (28) | |
| Daniel Ricciardo | C4 (10) | C3 (21) |
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2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix pit stop times
How long each driver’s pit stops took:
| Driver | Team | Pit stop time | Gap | On lap | |
| 1 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | McLaren | 19.755 | 12 | |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 19.819 | 0.064 | 9 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 19.857 | 0.102 | 47 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 19.981 | 0.226 | 11 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 19.993 | 0.238 | 13 |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 20.006 | 0.251 | 12 |
| 7 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 20.118 | 0.363 | 7 |
| 8 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 20.382 | 0.627 | 34 |
| 9 | George Russell | Williams | 20.475 | 0.720 | 25 |
| 10 | Robert Kubica | Williams | 20.703 | 0.948 | 42 |
| 11 | Alexander Albon | Toro Rosso | 20.720 | 0.965 | 12 |
| 12 | George Russell | Williams | 20.751 | 0.996 | 38 |
| 13 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 20.776 | 1.021 | 7 |
| 14 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 20.859 | 1.104 | 39 |
| 15 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 20.870 | 1.115 | 34 |
| 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 20.884 | 1.129 | 10 |
| 17 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 20.906 | 1.151 | 34 |
| 18 | Sergio Perez | Racing Point | 20.939 | 1.184 | 10 |
| 19 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 20.973 | 1.218 | 14 |
| 20 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 21.013 | 1.258 | 5 |
| 21 | Robert Kubica | Williams | 21.037 | 1.282 | 23 |
| 22 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 21.325 | 1.570 | 8 |
| 23 | Kimi Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | 21.401 | 1.646 | 6 |
| 24 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 22.080 | 2.325 | 39 |
| 25 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point | 23.099 | 3.344 | 10 |
2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
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edvaldo
28th April 2019, 21:28
Mercedes’s race pace advantage was massive. Vettel was close at some stages mostly because he had an uneventful evening and was just there.
when they went for it on the final laps, Vettel was nowhere.
Ferrari has a really big problem on their hands. The car isn’t faster as it was believed and last year showed us that even if were as fast, their guy isn’t the same anymore.
Jere (@jerejj)
28th April 2019, 21:33
@edvaldo I share the same sentiments.
ColdFly (@)
29th April 2019, 10:04
Red Bull was actually very impressive.
We’ve all seen Verstappen’s stint before the VSC (after which the teams asked him to be careful).
But at least as impressive is Gasly compared to Leclerc: from lap 10 (when Gasly passed most of the midfield) he drove as fast as Leclerc, and kept his tyres alive to gain time to within the pit-stop window.
frood19 (@frood19)
29th April 2019, 10:58
does anyone know what happens if two or more driver share fastest lap? I guess it’s pretty unlikely but i noticed giovinazzi set his FLAP on two separate laps.
MattDS (@mattds)
29th April 2019, 11:13
@frood19 I can’t offer you any certainty, but I’m pretty sure the first one to set a given lap time gets it.
Just look at Jerez ’97 when three drivers set the exact same pole time. Villeneuve, Schumacher and Frentzen set the exact same time but Villeneuve was the first to set it followed by Schumacher and Frentzen. They started in that order as well.
MattDS (@mattds)
29th April 2019, 11:34
@frood19 adding to the above, the regulations do not contain information about what happens if two drivers set the fastest lap. I guess the FIA will be at liberty to decide how to handle this, but going purely by the letter of the rule it seems that if two drivers set an identical fastest lap time of the race and both drivers finish in the top 10, then both drivers could be awarded the point.
Or they just go for whoever set it first, as said above, and the rules will probably be amended after that ;)
ColdFly (@)
29th April 2019, 16:23
It should only be awarded to the first, @mattds, @frood19.
The first who sets it has truly a ‘fastest lap’, the second only has a ‘just as fast lap’.
frood19 (@frood19)
30th April 2019, 10:16
@coldfly @mattds thanks both, jerez ’97 is a good precedent, that sounds logical and sensible (and perhaps therefore entirely different to what the sport decides to do!)