2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

The 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race that was held on 25 June 2017 at the Baku City Circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan. The race was the eighth round of the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship,[5] and was the maiden running of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship. It was the second time that a race was held at the circuit and the second time that a Grand Prix was held in Azerbaijan.[6][N 1]

2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Race 8 of 20 in the 2017 Formula One World Championship
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Layout of the Baku City Circuit
Race details[1]
Date 25 June 2017
Official name 2017 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix[2][3]
Location Baku City Circuit
Baku, Azerbaijan
Course Temporary street circuit
Course length 6.003 km (3.730 mi)
Distance 51 laps, 306.049 km (190.170 mi)
Weather Sunny
Attendance 71,451[4]
Pole position
Driver
Mercedes
Time 1:40.593
Fastest lap
Driver Sebastian Vettel Ferrari
Time 1:43.441 on lap 47
Podium
First
Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer
Second
Mercedes
Third
Williams-Mercedes

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel entered the round with a twelve-point lead over Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton in the World Drivers' Championship, while Mercedes led Ferrari by eight points in the World Constructors' Championship. Lewis Hamilton started the race from pole.[7] Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo recovered from a crash in qualifying to claim his fifth career victory ahead of the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas,[8] while Lance Stroll became the first Canadian to stand on the podium since Jacques Villeneuve at the 2001 German Grand Prix, and the second youngest driver ever to finish on the podium.

Report

Free practice

Red Bull's Max Verstappen went fastest in first practice, setting a time of 1.44:410. He was followed by his teammate Daniel Ricciardo in second with the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel in third.[9] In second practice the Red Bull of Max Verstappen was fastest (despite crashing heavily into the barriers at Turn 1 in the closing stages of FP2) followed by Bottas and Ricciardo.[10] Saturday's third and final practice was topped by Bottas, with Kimi Räikkönen second and Hamilton third.[11] Bottas set the quickest time of all three practices with a 1.42.742.[11]

Qualifying

Jolyon Palmer failed to set a lap time in Q1 due to a fire during Practice 3.

In Q3, Lewis Hamilton secured pole position with a 1:40.593, 0.434 seconds quicker than teammate Bottas in second, and 1.100 seconds quicker than Räikkönen in third. Lance Stroll out-qualified teammate Felipe Massa for the first time in the season. Daniel Ricciardo hit the wall and started in tenth.

Race

The race was full of incidents and talking points. Hamilton started in front, followed by Bottas, Räikkönen and Vettel. Daniil Kvyat ran wide at turn 1. As he was returning to the track, his teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. spun off, to avoid a collision. In corner 3 of the first lap, both Finnish drivers (Bottas and Räikkönen) collided, causing a puncture in Bottas's front right tyre. Vettel took advantage to seize second place, followed by Sergio Pérez and Max Verstappen. Bottas was forced to stop in the pits, falling one lap behind the leaders.

Daniel Ricciardo on the podium with the winner's trophy

Ricciardo pitted in lap 6 to clean off debris from his brakes. He rejoined in 17th place. His teammate Verstappen had to retire due to an issue with his engine on lap 12. Hamilton led Vettel until the first safety car was deployed on the same lap to remove the stranded Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat. This safety car period allowed Bottas to unlap himself. On lap 17, racing resumed but another safety car was deployed almost immediately to clear more debris off the track, which came from Räikkönen's Ferrari.

During both safety car periods, Hamilton repeatedly complained that the safety car was moving too slowly. On lap 19 whilst still under Safety Car conditions Vettel ran into the back of Hamilton, damaging his front wing and Hamilton's rear diffuser. He then proceeded to drive alongside Hamilton to protest what he believed was Hamilton brake-testing him, and swerved into the side of Hamilton's car. However TV replays and car data proved that Hamilton did not apply his brakes at any point during the first collision. The race stewards put the incident under investigation. Racing resumed on lap 20 with Felipe Massa moving up to third and pressurizing Vettel, however within a few corners the Force India's of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Pérez collided and left debris on the track. The collision gave Ocon a puncture and dropped him to the back of the field. Pérez lost his front wing, and suffered damage to the front left wishbone which forced him to retire after making his way to the pit lane. Räikkönen, who was following the two Force Indias closely, got a puncture as a result of debris from the crash, and after the broken tire caused damage to the floor of his car as well as his rear wing, he too was pushed to his garage to retire. A third safety car was then deployed almost immediately, and after Fernando Alonso complained over Team Radio about the amount of debris the race was red-flagged on lap 22 so that marshals could clear the track.

During the red-flag period which lasted over 20 minutes, teams worked on their cars. Force India replaced Ocon's tyres and Ferrari replaced Vettel's front wing. Mercedes worked on Hamilton's rear diffuser, which only had minor cosmetic damage. Other drivers got out of their cars and talked to their engineers and team principals. The previously retired cars of Räikkönen and Pérez were also being worked on by their teams in their garages. Works were completed in time and both drivers were allowed to rejoin the race, albeit a lap down.

After the track was cleared of debris, the race was restarted behind the safety car. Hamilton led at the restart from Vettel, Massa, Stroll, and Ricciardo. Ricciardo passed both Williams cars at turn 1 and settled into third place. Massa however was struggling with an issue on his Williams, the front suspension shaking violently at high speed. Kevin Magnussen in the uncompetitive Haas managed to take advantage of Massa's issue and a lax Nico Hülkenberg to overtake both for 5th place whilst Massa was easily passed by the entire field. Hülkenberg then collided with the wall on lap 25 and was forced to retire from 6th place with suspension damage. On the next lap, Massa retired due to the problem with his car, which turned out to be a broken suspension damper.

By lap 29 Hamilton, Vettel, Ricciardo and Lance Stroll, who had avoided any incidents thus far, had managed to pull away from the rest of the field and built a healthy gap of 10+ seconds back to Magnussen in 5th. But on this lap the headrest on Hamilton's car suddenly became loose. He initially tried to fix it himself by pushing it back into its position, but on lap 31 he was forced by race control to pit for safety reasons. Almost simultaneously as Hamilton pitted, Vettel was given a 10-second Stop/Go Penalty for Dangerous Driving, relating to the earlier incident with Hamilton. The stewards had found Hamilton to be completely blameless and instead punished Vettel for his reaction to the initial collision, when he deliberately turned in and as a result hit Hamilton. Two laps later, on lap 33, Vettel served his penalty, rejoining the track in 7th place just ahead of Hamilton, who became stuck in traffic following his unscheduled stop. This meant the lead was gifted to Ricciardo ahead of Stroll, with Kevin Magnussen a remarkable third. The group of faster drivers consisting of Ocon, Bottas, Vettel and Hamilton started chasing the leaders, overtaking Alonso and Magnussen relatively comfortably. Bottas would then clear Ocon to move into third and a podium position, despite being a lap down at one stage. Räikkönen and Pérez were both given drive-through penalties since during the red-flag period their cars were being worked in their garages instead of the pit lane. Both drivers eventually retired from the race.

Lance Stroll, second youngest podium finisher

With Ricciardo comfortably in the lead in his competitive Red Bull, the pressure was all on rookie Stroll to try and hang on to second place in what was only his eighth Grand Prix. Despite having a 12-second advantage Bottas, Vettel and Hamilton were all easily catching up to Stroll in his slower Williams. Hamilton asked for team orders to be applied and for Bottas to help him overtake Vettel by slowing his pace, but the team refused since Bottas still had a very good chance of catching Stroll in the closing laps. The Saubers of Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein briefly collided as they were fighting for 10th place, but both drivers managed to continue without major damage. At the chequered flag, Ricciardo cruised to victory, taking Red Bull's first win in the 2017 season. Bottas then managed to pass Stroll on the start–finish straight just metres from the line, getting second place by a mere 0.105 seconds. However Stroll still managed to pick up his maiden podium finish in third, becoming the second youngest driver to finish in the top three. Vettel finished in fourth, Hamilton in fifth, Ocon in sixth, Magnussen in seventh, Sainz in eighth, Alonso in ninth (scoring McLaren's first points of the season), and Wehrlein in tenth. In all, nine different constructors scored points in this race.

As a result of the race, Vettel increased his lead over Hamilton in the World Drivers' Championship to 14 points, while Mercedes increased their lead over Ferrari in the World Constructors' Championship to 24 points.[12]

Classification

Qualifying
Pos. Car
no.		 Driver Constructor Qualifying times Final
grid
Q1 Q2 Q3
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:41.983 1:41.275 1:40.593 1
2 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:43.026 1:41.502 1:41.027 2
3 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:42.678 1:42.090 1:41.693 3
4 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:42.952 1:41.911 1:41.841 4
5 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 1:42.544 1:41.961 1:41.879 5
6 11 Sergio Pérez Force India-Mercedes 1:43.162 1:42.467 1:42.111 6
7 31 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes 1:43.051 1:42.751 1:42.186 7
8 18 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes 1:43.613 1:42.284 1:42.753 8
9 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1:43.165 1:42.735 1:42.798 9
10 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 1:42.857 1:42.215 1:43.414 10
11 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:42.927 1:43.186 11
12 55 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso 1:43.489 1:43.347 151
13 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1:44.029 1:43.796 12
14 27 Nico Hülkenberg Renault 1:43.930 1:44.267 13
15 94 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber-Ferrari 1:44.317 1:44.603 14
16 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda 1:44.334 192
17 8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1:44.468 16
18 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1:44.795 17
19 2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Honda 1:45.030 183
107% time: 1:49.121
— 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault No time 204
Source:[7]
Notes
  • ^1 – Carlos Sainz Jr. received a three-place grid penalty for causing a collision with Felipe Massa at the previous race.
  • ^2 – Fernando Alonso received a forty-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit components.
  • ^3 – Stoffel Vandoorne received a thirty-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit components and a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.
  • ^4 – Jolyon Palmer failed to set a lap time in Q1, and was allowed to race at the discretion of the stewards.

Race
Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 51 2:03:55.573 10 25
2 77 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 51 +3.904 2 18
3 18 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes 51 +4.009 8 15
4 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 51 +5.976 4 12
5 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 51 +6.188 1 10
6 31 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes 51 +30.298 7 8
7 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 51 +41.753 12 6
8 55 Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso 51 +49.400 15 4
9 14 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda 51 +59.551 19 2
10 94 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber-Ferrari 51 +1:29.093 14 1
11 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 51 +1:31.794 17
12 2 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Honda 51 +1:32.160 18
13 8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 50 +1 Lap 16
141 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 46 Oil leak 3
Ret 11 Sergio Pérez Force India-Mercedes 39 Steering 6
Ret 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 25 Suspension 9
Ret 27 Nico Hülkenberg Renault 24 Accident 13
Ret 33 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer 12 Oil pressure 5
Ret 26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 9 Electrics 11
Ret 30 Jolyon Palmer Renault 7 Engine 20
Source:[8]
Notes
  • ^1 – Kimi Räikkönen retired from the race, but was classified as he had completed 90% of the winner's race distance.

Championship standings after the race
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

Notes
  1. The Baku City Circuit previously hosted the 2016 European Grand Prix before the event became the Azerbaijan Grand Prix ahead of the 2017 season.
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References
  1. "2017 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix". formula1.com. Formula One World Championship Limited. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  2. Mitchell, Malcolm. "2017 Formula 1 World Championship Programmes - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". Progcovers.com. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  3. Mitchell, Malcolm. "Baku City Circuit - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". Progcovers.com. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  4. "F1 reveals overall rise in 2017 attendance". Gpupdate.net. 8 December 2017. Archived from the original on 9 December 2017.
  5. "FIA Announces World Motorsports Council decisions". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 30 November 2016. Archived from the original on 30 November 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  6. "No German Grand Prix on F1 2017 calendar but Azerbaijan race is official". The Guardian. Reuters. 30 November 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  7. "2017 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Qualifying". Formula1.com. Formula One World Championship Ltd. 24 June 2017. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
  8. "2017 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Race Result". Formula1.com. Formula One World Championship Ltd. 25 June 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  9. "2017 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Practice 1". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  10. "2017 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Practice 2". Formula1.com.
  11. "2017 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Practice 3". Formula1.com.
  12. "F1: Ricciardo wins Azerbaijan Grand Prix after Hamilton and Vettel clash – as it happened". Guardian. 25 June 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
  13. "Azerbaijan 2017 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
Previous race:
2017 Canadian Grand Prix		 FIA Formula One World Championship
2017 season		 Next race:
2017 Austrian Grand Prix
Previous race:
None
For previous year's race at Baku Circuit,
see 2016 European Grand Prix.		 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Next race:
2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
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