The Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2021 was the 6th round of the 2021 F1 season, and took place at the Baku City Circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan, during the weekend of the 4th to the 6th of June.
Sergio Pérez won the race after starting in the 6th position, followed by Sebastian Vettel, and Pierre Gasly completing the podium.
Charles Leclerc started from the pole position, but only managed to finish 4th.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 59 pit stops during the race, although only 42 which can be considered "normal". A red flag on lap 48 caused all drivers to pit on that lap.
The most popular pit stop windows, considering that these were affected by the red flag, were:
- Laps 7-13: 15 stops
- Laps 34-34: 5 stops
- Laps 46-48: 17 stops
The fastest pit stop was Antonio Giovinazzi's, stopping the clock at 14.881 seconds during his pit stop on lap 47, while the slowest one was was Nikita Mazepin's, who stopped the clock at 1 minutes, 26.440 seconds, 1 minutes, 11.559 seconds slower than Giovinazzi, during his pit stop on lap 48.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 3 stops. Only 1 driver tried a 1 stop, 1 driver tried a 2 stops, 3 drivers tried a 4 stops, 1 driver tried a 5 stops, and 1 driver tried a 6 stops.
The race winner, Sergio Pérez, was on a 3 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
15Max Verstappen
2 stops
-
-Nicholas Latifi
3 stops
-
4Lando Norris
-
3Charles Leclerc
-
-Yuki Tsunoda
-
3Carlos Sainz
-
13Lewis Hamilton
-
4Daniel Ricciardo
-
2Valtteri Bottas
-
1Pierre Gasly
-
4Kimi Räikkönen
-
5Sergio Pérez
-
9Sebastian Vettel
4 stops
-
2George Russell
-
9Antonio Giovinazzi
-
2Fernando Alonso
5 stops
-
4Mick Schumacher
6 stops
-
4Nikita Mazepin
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy didn't gain or lose any positions on average, the ones on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 0.55 positions, the ones on a 4 stops strategy gained 5.5 positions on average, the ones on a 5 stops strategy gained 4 positions on average, while those on a 6 stops strategy gained 4 positions on average.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 4 stops strategy was the best option, even if Sergio Pérez managed to win the race making 3 stops.
That is for this particular race, with all its unique circumstances, amongst which, let's not forget was the red flag on lap 48, so it is very likely that this would have not been the ideal strategy under normal circumstances.
Incidents
There were some incidents during the race, with 4 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, George Russell, who experienced issues with the gearbox on lap 48, Max Verstappen, and Lance Stroll, both had to retire due to an accident, and Esteban Ocon, who had a turbo failure on lap 3.
Gearbox
-
George RussellLap 48
Accident
-
Max VerstappenLap 45
-
Lance StrollLap 29
Turbo
-
Esteban OconLap 3
Qualifying
Charles Leclerc managed to get the pole position by 0.232 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:41.218. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Lewis Hamilton.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 12 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 6 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.