The Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2022 was the 8th round of the 2022 F1 season, and took place at the Baku City Circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan, during the weekend of the 10th to the 12th of June.
Max Verstappen won the race after starting in the 3rd position, followed by Sergio Pérez, and George Russell completing the podium.
Charles Leclerc started from the pole position, but didn't manage to cross the finish line, as he had a power unit failure, and had to retire on lap 21st.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 27 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 9-9: 10 stops
- Laps 16-18: 4 stops
- Laps 33-33: 7 stops
The fastest pit stop was Sebastian Vettel's, stopping the clock at 20.249 seconds during his pit stop on lap 9, while the slowest one was was Yuki Tsunoda's, who stopped the clock at 41.500 seconds, 21.251 seconds slower than Vettel, during his pit stop on lap 38.
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
The race was not obvious in terms of pit stop strategy, with different teams and different drivers choosing to make anywhere from 1 to 2 stops.
The race winner, Max Verstappen, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
3Sebastian Vettel
-
1Kevin Magnussen
-
1Pierre Gasly
-
18Charles Leclerc
-
4Guanyu Zhou
-
3Fernando Alonso
-
2Lando Norris
-
3Lance Stroll
-
4Daniel Ricciardo
-
4Valtteri Bottas
-
3Esteban Ocon
2 stops
-
3Nicholas Latifi
-
3Lewis Hamilton
-
2George Russell
-
5Alexander Albon
-
5Yuki Tsunoda
-
6Mick Schumacher
-
-Sergio Pérez
-
2Max Verstappen
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 2.86 positions on average, while those on a 2 stops strategy gained 2 positions on average.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option, even if Max Verstappen managed to win the race making 2 stops.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Baku City Circuit, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There were some incidents during the race, with 5 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Lance Stroll, who suffered from unhandable vibrations on lap 46, Kevin Magnussen, and Charles Leclerc, both had a power unit failure, and Guanyu Zhou, and Carlos Sainz, both experienced an hydraulic malfunction.
Vibrations
-
Lance StrollLap 46
Power Unit
-
Kevin MagnussenLap 31
-
Charles LeclercLap 21
Hydraulics
-
Guanyu ZhouLap 23
-
Carlos SainzLap 8
Qualifying
Charles Leclerc managed to get the pole position by 0.282 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:41.359. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Sergio Pérez.
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 14 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 all of the drivers that took place in Q3 managed to improve their times in this last session.