adminBAKU. — Max Verstappen lost victory to a late puncture in a dramatic finish to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix yesterday that also saw Lewis Hamilton throw away a chance to reclaim the championship lead.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez won the race from Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly in a two-lap sprint to the finish when the race was stopped after Verstappen crashed out with five laps to go.
Hamilton was second on the grid at the restart and was ahead of Perez into Turn One but locked up his tyres and ran into the escape road, dropping to 15th at the flag.
His uncharacteristic error meant Verstappen retained the championship lead by four points from the Mercedes driver.
Verstappen had dominated the race after passing Hamilton during the pit stops only for his hopes to explode with his left-rear tyre on the pit straight with five laps to go.
Verstappen crashed at high speed in an incident almost identical to one suffered by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll at half-distance.
Both Verstappen and Stroll were uninjured after smashing into the wall when their tyres failed at close to 200mph.
But both incidents will raise questions about the integrity of Pirelli’s tyres — not for the first time since the Italian company came into F1 in 2011.
Verstappen’s late retirement brought out the red flag and led to a chaotic two-lap sprint to the finish. — BBC Sport
Online Reporter