Red Bull’s Sergio Perez wins the F1 season’s first ‘sprint’ race at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku

The first ‘sprint’ race of the F1 season during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was won by Sergio Perez in the Red Bull.

Sergio Perez drove his Red Bull to victory in the sprint race around the Baku City Circuit at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix this afternoon, Saturday, April 29.

“To get away with maximum points today was the objective, but we know tomorrow is the main race. We will do our best to fight for another win”, the Mexican tweeted.

To get away with maximum points today was the objective, but we know tomorrow is the main race. We will do our best to fight for another win.

Salir con la mayor cantidad de puntos era el objetivo y se logró. Pero mañana es la carrera importante vamos a darlo todo para pelear… pic.twitter.com/3h1ZrRBfHu

— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) April 29, 2023

Yuki Tsunoda shunted his Alpha Tauri into the wall on the second lap at Turn 15. This resulted in the virtual safety car being deployed after the Japanese driver’s car lost a tyre in the impact. This left the field bunched up for five laps while marshals cleared the resulting debris from the track.

Ferrari driver Charles LeClerc had the lead as the safety car was withdrawn but the Mexican managed to pass him once DRS kicked in. The Frenchman had to settle for second position after that, crossing the finishing line 4.5 seconds adrift.

Max Verstappen endured a dismal sprint, taking the chequered flag in third after colliding with George Russell’s Mercedes on Turn 2 early in the race. The Dutchman had an angry confrontation with the British star after the race as he remonstrated with him.

The moment was captured by the television cameras but Russell walked away after refusing to accept the blame for their coming together.

He later tweeted: “Well, we scored some good points @redbullracing For the rest, it is what it is. We focus on tomorrow’s race”.

Well, we scored some good points @redbullracing 👊 For the rest, it is what it is. We focus on tomorrow's race 🇦🇿 pic.twitter.com/wmbdTVdJz8

— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) April 29, 2023

Russell took fourth, followed home by Carlos Sainz in the other Ferrari. Another magnificent drive by Spain’s Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin saw him take sixth. Lewis Hamilton was relegated to seventh after a brilliant manoeuvre by Alonso as the cars restarted.