Verstappen equals Clark and Lauda’s win counts, Vettel and Gasly record their best results of the season so far and Leclerc becomes the first polesitter to fail to win four races in a row in 20 years. Here are the facts and statistics from the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix!
VERSTAPPEN WINS IN AZERBAIJAN
Max Verstappen won the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, taking his fifth victory of the season. This was Verstappen’s 25th win in total, equalling Jim Clark and Niki Lauda for ninth in the all-time list of most F1 wins.
Verstappen became the sixth different winner from the first six races at Baku City Circuit. The track is the tenth to not crown a repeat winner during its first six appearances on the calendar.
With his 66th podium finish, Verstappen surpasses Sebastian Vettel as the driver to have taken the most podium finishes with Red Bull. As a result, he moves up to third in the list of most podiums with a single team. This was the first time Verstappen has finished on the podium at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Verstappen’s win margin of 20.823 seconds is the largest ever Azerbaijan win margin. It’s the largest win margin of the season to date.
Red Bull become the second team to take wins in consecutive seasons in Azerbaijan and equal Mercedes’ record of three wins at the venue.
Verstappen finally broke Nico Rosberg’s record of laps led in Baku. Rosberg held the record having led all 51 laps in 2016. Verstappen’s tally of Azerbaijan Grand Prix laps led now stands at 65.
This is the first time consecutive races have been won from third on the grid since the 2019 Japanese and Mexican Grands Prix
ON THE PODIUM IN BAKU
With second place, Sergio Perez recorded his fifth top two finish of the year, and became the 51st driver in Formula 1 driver to reach 20 top three finishes.
Having previously shared the record with Sebastian Vettel, Perez set a new record for most podium finishes in Baku. This was his fourth top three result at the circuit.
Red Bull became the second team to record a 1-2 finish at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Mercedes are the only other team to have done so, in 2019. This was Red Bull’s 20th 1-2 finish, making them the fifth team to record 20 1-2 results in Formula 1.
This was the first time since 2016 that both Red Bull drivers have reached the chequered flag at Baku City Circuit.
The Red Bull drivers are now first and second in the Drivers’ Championship. This is the first time Red Bull have had their drivers first and second in the standings since Sebastian Vettel led from Mark Webber after the 2011 Belgian Grand Prix.
With George Russell finishing third, Mercedes extended their record of most podium finishes in Azerbaijan. Russell’s third place was Mercedes’ sixth top three finish at the track.
This was only the second race at Baku City Circuit, after 2019, in which all of the podium finishers started inside the top five on the grid.
Sergio Perez took the lead from Charles Leclerc at the start of the race, marking the first time that the polesitter has not led the first lap in Azerbaijan.
IN THE TOP 10
Lewis Hamilton finished in fourth place, recording his fifth top five finish in the six races at Baku City Circuit. This was the first race in Azerbaijan in which Lewis Hamilton has not led a lap since the inaugural event in 2016.
With fifth place, Pierre Gasly recorded his best result of the season to date. It was his first top five result since finishing fifth at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel recorded his best result of the season so far with sixth place. It’s his best result since finishing fifth at the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix. Vettel remains the only driver to have scored in every race held at Baku City Circuit, with sixth place being his worst result here to date.
Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel remain the only drivers to have completed every racing lap held so far at Baku City Circuit. They became the first drivers to have reached 300 laps raced at the track on Lap 45 of the race, with Valtteri Bottas joining them a few laps later.
Fernando Alonso set a new record for the longest Formula 1 career at the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, eclipsing Michael Schumacher’s former record. Alonso finished seventh in the race, equalling Schumacher for second place in the all-time list of most races in which a driver has scored points.
With ninth place, Lando Norris maintained his 100% points-scoring record at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. He became the 49th driver to have scored in 50 Grands Prix.
Both McLaren drivers finished in the points at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. This is the fourth consecutive Baku race in which both McLaren cars have scored. It’s only the second time this year that both cars have finished in the points. It last happened at the Australian Grand Prix.
This was the first time since the Bahrain Grand Prix that Daniel Ricciardo finished ahead of his team-mate.
Esteban Ocon finished tenth, picking up his first point at Baku City Circuit since 2017.
Both Alonso and Ocon scored points in the race, making this the first Grand Prix at Baku City Circuit in which both of the Enstone-based team’s cars have scored points.
THE OTHER FINISHERS
Valtteri Bottas failed to score with Alfa Romeo for only the second time. This was the first time the Finn has finished a race in a position outside of the points since the 2021 Mexico City Grand Prix. Despite this, Bottas gained four positions in the race – equalling the most positions he has gained in a race so far this season.
With Mick Schumacher finishing 14th and Kevin Magnussen retiring, this was Haas’ worst combined result at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. This was the first race at Baku City Circuit in which a Haas driver did not finish in 13th place.
Finishing in 13th, Yuki Tsunoda became the first driver starting eighth on the grid at Baku City Circuit to fail to score points in the Grand Prix.
THE RETIREES
Carlos Sainz was the first driver to retire from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, pulling off the circuit at Turn 4. He recorded Ferrari’s first ever retirement at Baku City Circuit. It was his third DNF of the season.
Just a handful of laps later, Ferrari’s day got much worse as race leader Charles Leclerc retired. The team recorded their first double DNF since the 2020 Italian Grand Prix. Ferrari became the fourth team to record a double retirement in Baku, after Toro Rosso in 2016, Renault in 2017 and Red Bull in 2018.
This was Leclerc’s second retirement in the last three races. He also retired when leading the Spanish Grand Prix.
Leclerc has taken pole for all of the last four races but has failed to win any of them. The last driver to take pole for four or more races in a row and fail to win any was Juan Pablo Montoya, between the 2002 Monaco and French Grands Prix.
Leclerc becomes the first polesitter at Baku City Circuit to fail to finish the race.
Zhou Guanyu retired from the race when running inside the top ten. This was Zhou’s third retirement in the last four races. All three retirements have been caused by mechanical issues.
Zhou is the first Alfa Romeo driver to retire from a race at Baku City Circuit.
Kevin Magnussen became the fourth Ferrari-powered car to retire from the race, also recording his third retirement in the past four races.
Magnussen recorded the first retirement from 16th on the grid at Baku City Circuit, while Leclerc recorded the first retirement from pole. That means that second and eighth are now the only grid slots yet to record a DNF at the track.
Lance Stroll pulled to the side of the track towards the end of the race, becoming the fifth and final retirement of the afternoon. This was Stroll’s first retirement of the season. He last failed to finish at the 2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
This is the second consecutive season in which Stroll has retired from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.