Perez becomes Baku’s first repeat winner, Verstappen overtakes Senna’s podium tally and Zhou maintains his 100% DNF rate in Azerbaijan. Here are the facts and statistics from the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix!
PEREZ WINS THE 2023 AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX
After winning Saturday’s Sprint, Sergio Perez won the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, becoming the first repeat Grand Prix winner at Baku City Circuit.
This was the sixth victory of Perez’s career, seeing him move into the top 50 of drivers who’ve won the most races in Formula 1 history. His sixth win sees him equal the career win tallies of Tony Brooks, John Surtees, Jochen Rindt, Gilles Villeneuve, Jacques Laffite, Riccardo Patrese and Ralf Schumacher.
Perez recorded the 29th podium finish of his career, putting him 36th in the all-time list – overtaking Clay Regazzoni and putting him one away from Juan Pablo Montoya’s podium total.
Perez’s win at the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix makes him the first driver to record five podium finishes at Baku City Circuit. No other driver has finished on the podium in Azerbaijan more than three times.
Red Bull overtake Mercedes as the team to have won at Baku City Circuit on the most occasions. They’re also the first team to record three consecutive wins at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Red Bull have now won all of the first four races of the 2023 season. This is the 12th F1 season in which a single team has won all of the first four races of the year. It’s the first time Red Bull have achieved the feat making them the seventh team to do it, after McLaren, Williams, Benetton, Ferrari, Renault and Mercedes.
Perez’s 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix win means that Mexico overtakes Germany and sets a new outright record as the nation to have taken the most podium finishes at Baku City Circuit. Impressively, Perez has done so single-handedly.
Already the driver to have scored the most points in Baku, his points scored in the Sprint and the Grand Prix made Sergio Perez the first driver to have scored 100 points in Azerbaijan. His total of points scored at the track now stands at 115 – 30 more than Lewis Hamilton, who sits second on the list.
The 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was the first Formula 1 race to be won from third on the grid since the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. It was also the first race not to be won from the front row of the grid since the 2022 Italian Grand Prix and the first not to be won from pole position since the 2022 United States Grand Prix.
ON THE PODIUM
Max Verstappen finished on the podium for the 81st time, overtaking Ayrton Senna for seventh in the list of most podium finishes in Formula 1.
Verstappen’s second place finish made the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix the 23rd consecutive race in which he finished in the points-paying positions. Verstappen equals Fernando Alonso for the fifth longest points-scoring streak in Formula 1 history.
With both Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen finishing on the podium, Red Bull equalled Mercedes as the team who’ve recorded the most podium finishes in Baku.
Perez and Verstappen’s 1-2 finish made this Red Bull’s 25th 1-2 finish in Formula 1. They are the fifth team to reach the milestone.
The points scored by Verstappen at the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix sees car number 1 overtake car number 5 as the car number which has scored the most points in Formula 1.
Charles Leclerc finished in third place, recording the 25th podium finish of his career. He equalled Jacky Ickx for 42nd in the all-time list of most podiums in F1.
Leclerc gave Ferrari their first podium finish of the 2023 season. It’s the 72nd Formula 1 season in which Ferrari have recorded a top three finish. 1973 and 1980 are the only seasons in which Ferrari have not finished on the podium.
Leclerc’s podium finish puts Ferrari one top three finish away from becoming the first team to record 800 podium finishes.
This was Leclerc’s first podium finish at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. It’s the 17th circuit at which he has recorded a top three result.
This was the seventh Formula 1 race in which the top three drivers on the grid finished on the podium in the reverse order of how they started. It last happened at the 2020 Russian Grand Prix.
IN THE POINTS
Fourth place for Fernando Alonso in the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix made this the first race of the season at which the Spaniard did not finish on the podium.
Fourth place is Alonso’s best ever result in Azerbaijan, bettering his previous top result of sixth at the circuit, recorded with Alpine in 2021.
With Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso both scoring in the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Spain became the sixth nation to score 3,000 points in Formula 1.
Along with Sergio Perez, Lewis Hamilton equalled Sebastian Vettel as the driver to have scored at Baku City Circuit on the most occasions.
The first lap of the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was the first Grand Prix lap in Baku which Sebastian Vettel did not complete. That made Lewis Hamilton the outright record holder for most laps completed at Baku City Circuit. Hamilton completed every lap of the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, meaning he has completed all 357 racing laps at the track.
Lance Stroll finished the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in seventh place. It’s his second-best result in Baku and marks the first time he has scored at the track since 2019.
With both Aston Martin drivers finishing in the top seven, this was the first race in Azerbaijan in which both of the Silverstone-based team’s drivers have finished in the top seven. It was the team’s first double points scoring appearance in Baku since 2019.
George Russell recorded the fastest lap of the race on the 51st and final lap. This was the 200th fastest lap for a Mercedes-powered car in Formula 1. Mercedes are the second engine manufacturer to reach the milestone. Ferrari did so at the 2007 European Grand Prix.
Finishing in ninth place, Lando Norris maintained his record of scoring points in every Azerbaijan Grand Prix appearance to date.
Yuki Tsunoda finished in tenth place at the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, picking up a single point for a second consecutive race. This is the second time that Tsunoda has picked up points at Baku City Circuit.
THE OTHER FINISHERS
With Oscar Piastri just missing out on points in 11th place, this was the first Azerbaijan Grand Prix in which only one McLaren driver scored since 2017.
Alex Albon finished 12th for the second consecutive year at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Though he’s yet to score in Baku, Albon maintained his 100% finishing record at the circuit.
This is the first time that both Alpine drivers have failed to score at two consecutive races since the 2022 Italian and Singapore Grands Prix.
For the third time in his last four appearances at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Kevin Magnussen finished the race in 13th place.
Nico Hulkenberg finished 17th at the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, recording his worst result of the 2023 season to date.
Valtteri Bottas lost five positions from his starting place to finish 18th in the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. It’s the most positions he’s lost in a Grand Prix since the 2021 Mexico City Grand Prix.
THE RETIREES
There were two retirements from the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Nyck de Vries and Zhou Guanyu.
Having also retired from the Australian Grand Prix, this was De Vries’ second consecutive retirement.
De Vries is now in an unlucky group of four drivers who’ve retired on every appearance at Baku City Circuit.
Zhou recorded his first retirement since the 2022 Singapore Grand Prix. This was his second consecutive retirement at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, meaning he is yet to reach the chequered flag at Baku City Circuit. Daniil Kvyat is the only other driver to have made multiple appearances in Azerbaijan without ever crossing the finish line.