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16:30: Hello and welcome to ESPN's live coverage of the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. ---------------------------------- 16:59: The formation lap is underway. Keep it here to find out who will come out on top in the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix! ---- 16:58: Salman says: "predictions for todays race. Lewis P1, Seb P2 and Bottas P3.. double DNF for Mclaren today. Ocon and Stroll will clash on Lap1." ---- 16:57: Not long to go here in Baku. The drivers are all in their cars on the grid, which is about to be cleared for the formation lap. ---- 16:55: We are just five minutes away from lights out! ---- 16:53: Stroll put in a star performance to claim his best qualifying result of the year in eighth, one place ahead of Massa -- the first time he has out-qualified his teammate in F1. ---- 16:51: It will be worth keeping an eye on the progress of the Force Indias and Williams during the race, too. It was another encouraging qualifying performance from Force India, who will be looking to claim another strong points haul in Baku. ---- 16:48: Red Bull were another team to fade in qualifying, after a promising showing from Verstappen on Friday. The Dutchman could only manage fifth on the grid, while teammate Ricciardo starts from a lowly 10th after clouting the barriers on the exit of Turn 6 in Q3. ---- 16:45: It's time for the national anthem of Azerbaijan! ---- 16:42: Though it is coming to the end of its shelf-life now, which won't make Vettel's job any easier this afternoon. The German will be looking to get past his Ferrari teammate as soon as possible and try to hunt down the Mercedes pair and see if he can limit the damage points-wise. ---- 16:40: Behind the Mercedes duo come the Ferrari pair headed by Raikkonen on the second row. Qualifying turned out to be a bit of a disappointment for the Scuderia, with Vettel doing a respectable job to salvage fourth on the gird following an engine change ahead of the session. The engine is Vettel's first power unit of the year, and has already powered him to victories in Australia and Bahrain. ---- 16:38: Incidentally, if Hamilton does win today, he will have won every grand prix on the current F1 calendar. Another record for the Briton to chase. ---- 16:35: Hamilton starts from the best possible position on pole position, with his Mercedes teammate alongside. Bottas will be keen to make the jump on Hamilton and try to take his second win of the season and claw back some points to his teammate in the process. ---- 16:34: Can Lewis Hamilton take his first win in Azerbaijan to reduce the gap to championship leader Sebastian Vettel? ---- 16:32: The pitlane is open as the drivers head out to complete their laps to the grid. |
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Lap 1 |
Lights out! Hamilton makes a great start but there's contact behind as Raikkonen hits Bottas. That means Vettel is up to second. Bottas is slow and falling down the order. Sainz also had a spin on the first lap -- calls his teammate a "madman" |
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Lap 2 |
Perez has taken advantage to move up to third place, behind Vettel and Hamilton. Raikkonen is now down to fifth. Bottas pits for a front wing change. |
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Lap 3 |
Bottas has been lapped by his teammate Hamilton. Verstappen reports he might have damage. |
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Lap 4 |
Hamilton sets a new fastest lap of the race as he extends his advantage over Vettel to over 2s. Four seconds cover the top four drivers. Vandoorne pulls off a nice move down the inside of Wehrlein at Turn 1, before Alonso out-drags the German-Mauritian along the straight to Turn 3. |
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Lap 5 |
A new fastest lap from Hamilton, who sets a 1:46.942s. Replays show Bottas clipped the inside kerb at Turn 2, which sent him into Raikkonen. Grosjean has also pitted for a set of super-softs. "I have no battery," reports Ericsson. |
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Lap 6 |
Hamilton starts lap 6 3.2s clear of Vettel, with Perez just 1.9s further back. Ricciardo pits. Palmer has made a good start from the back of the grid, he's up to 15th place. |
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Lap 7 |
Stewards confirm no action is necessary following the Turn one incident between Sainz and Kvyat. The Turn 2 incident involving Raikkonen and Bottas is under investigation. No further action between Raikkonen and Bottas. |
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Lap 8 |
The gap between Hamilton and Vettel stands at 3.3s at the start of Lap 8. Ricciardo makes a simple pass on Wehrlein along the start/finish straight to move up to 15th. Palmer is slowing on his way to the pitlane. The under-pressure Brit had just complained about vibrations and smoke coming from the back of his Renault. |
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Lap 9 |
Another new fastest lap from Hamilton, who sets a 1:46.294. Alonso steams past Ericsson on the run down to Turn 3 and sweeps around the outside of the Swede before the corner. |
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Lap 10 |
"If the car becomes dangerous because of the brakes, you stop me", Grosjean asks his Haas team. Sainz passes Ericsson on the run to Turn 1, before Ricciardo slipstreams the pair of them and snatches 13th. |
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Lap 11 |
Kvyat has stopped by the side of the track. Verstappen enters the scrap over third place with Perez. Kvyat is stopped on the exit of Turn 12. "issue with the engine," reports Verstappen. |
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Lap 12 |
Verstappen is now tumbling down the order with an engine issue. He carries on past the pits but he is struggling. "Here we go again, f--k me!," the Dutchman bemoans. Hamilton comes into the pitlane for his stop. Vettel also makes his stop.
Safety Car is coming out |
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Lap 13 |
Hamilton and Vettel have now switched onto the soft tyres and should be able to remain on those tyres until the end. Verstappen's car is being checked over in the pit lane. Looks like it could be an early end to his race. "That is it for us, I'm afraid," confirms Red Bull. Hamilton complains the safety car is driving too slowly, adding it's dangerous for the drivers. |
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Lap 14 |
Stroll finally pits, having initially stayed out. The Canadian returns to the track in seventh. The Safety Car remains out on Lap 14 as marshals continue to try to clear Kvyat's stricken car. |
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Lap 15 |
Lap 15 begins behind the Safety Car. Three retirements so far in Baku, with Palmer, Kvyat and Verstappen all out. Perez is the latest driver to complain about the speed of the Safety Car. |
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Lap 16 |
Bottas is now able to unlap himself and catch up to the rear of the field. Safety car is coming in at the end of this lap. |
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Lap 17 |
Perez attacks Vettel but cannot make the move as Vettel defends the inside.
Raikkonen has dropped behind Massa and Ocon with a slow restart. The Safety Car appears to be out to clear debris on the main straight, after Raikkonen's car began to implode, shedding bits of barge board across the track. |
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Lap 18 |
The field is instructed to filter through the pitlane as debris are cleared along the pit straight. Hamilton asks why the Virtual Safety Car hasn't been deployed, instead of the Safety Car. |
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Lap 19 |
Ricciardo is warned about potential debris around the circuit. Bottas has now caught the back of the field and is on the lead lap in 16th. "The Safety Car needs to speed up", reports Hamilton. Safety Car is in this lap. |
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Lap 20 |
Hamilton leads away but Vettel is under pressure. Contact between the Force Indias as Perez loses his front wing.
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Lap 21 |
In all that chaos, Massa is up to third ahead of Williams teammate Stroll. The two Force India's head into the pitlane. Raikkonen is slow with damage. Looks like his race is run. Ricciardo is up to fifth, ahead of Hulkenberg, Magnussen, Alonso, Sainz and Grosjean. |
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Lap 22 |
The stewards are looking into the incident between Hamilton and Vettel under the Safety Car at Turn 16. Hamilton backed up the back in order to stay behind the Safety Car, while Vettel bumped into the back of the Mercedes driver. Alonso calls for the red flag -- says the circuit is too quick to be driving around with debris on track.
All the drivers have now filtered into the pitlane. Replays showing the incident between Hamilton and Vettel. After hitting the back of Hamilton, Vettel drew alongside Hamilton and turned in on the Brit, bumping wheels. |
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Lap 23 |
Still under red flag conditions, where mechanics are working on their respective cars -- there is plenty of damage up and down the pitlane. The race will resume in 10 minutes. Five minutes until we get back underway in Baku. What will happen at the re-start? Will we see further confrontation between Hamilton and Vettel? Can Massa and Stroll make a move on the German? Keep it with ESPN to find out. Both Perez and Raikkonen have been wheeled out of their garages and are set to rejoin the race -- top work from both sets of mechanics. Perez and Raikkonen have been allowed to head out on to the track.
Safety car is coming in at the end of this lap, as Massa reports a possible issue with his Williams. |
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Lap 24 |
What a move from Ricciardo! The Australian steams up the inside of Stroll to take third. Massa is dropping down the order. Stroll is back down to fourth. |
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Lap 25 |
Magnussen passes both Massa and Hulkenberg into Turn 1! The Dane is up to fifth for Haas. Hamilton has pulled a second clear of Vettel out front. Hulkenberg has damage and is out! |
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Lap 26 |
Massa is tumbling down the order, he's now out of the points. Ocon passes Grosjean to move into eighth. DRS is now enabled as Massa pits into retirement. Replays show Hulkenberg hit the wall at Turn 8, breaking his front right suspension. |
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Lap 27 |
A new fastest lap from Hamilton on a 1:45.577s. |
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Lap 28 |
Hamilton has a 2.2s buffer to Vettel, who is 3s clear of Ricciardo. Stroll doing a fantastic job in fourth. He's just over a second shy of Ricciardo in third. Hamilton's headrest has come loose! |
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Lap 29 |
Hamilton is now trying to force his headrest down while driving at over 200mph. |
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Lap 30 |
Hamilton told to just keep doing what he's doing in trying to keep his headrest secure. |
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Lap 31 |
Bottas makes a move on Sainz to move up to eighth. Hamilton is told to pit on the next lap. |
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Lap 32 |
Vettel gets a 10s stop/go penalty for driving into Hamilton. Hamilton has pitted for a new headrest and returns out in ninth. When told about his penalty, Vettel asks how was he driving dangerously. |
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Lap 33 |
"Can you give me an explanation," asks Vettel. Hamilton moves up to eighth as he passes Sainz. Vettel pits to serve his penalty. |
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Lap 34 |
Vettel comes out ahead of Hamilton in seventh. Meanwhile Raikkonen has been given a drive-through penalty. |
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Lap 35 |
Ricciardo leads from Stroll and Magnussen. What a crazy race this has been! Hamilton is less than a second behind Vettel. "This is absolutely amazing," Magnussen is told by his Haas team. |
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Lap 36 |
Vettel passes Alonso into Turn 2, before Hamilton takes the Spaniard into Turn 3. "The brakes have gone," reports Grosjean. |
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Lap 37 |
Hamilton closes up to Vettel on the pit straight but he can't quite find a way through. "What a shame, we could have won this race," says Alonso |
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Lap 38 |
Ocon and Bottas both pass Magnussen. |
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Lap 39 |
Vettel gets up to fifth as he passes Magnussen, seconds before Hamilton gets by as well. The Brit moves up to sixth. |
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Lap 40 |
Bottas slipstreams past Ocon to move up to third! |
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Lap 41 |
Bottas sets a new fastest lap as Vettel closes up to the back of Ocon. Ocon is told to retire with a broken seat. |
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Lap 42 |
Vettel easily gets passed Ocon for fourth. Hamilton can't get past into turn three and remains sixth. Wehrlein currently running in 10th place for Sauber. |
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Lap 43 |
Hamilton drives around the outside of Ocon to grab fifth place. Ricciardo continues to lead up front for Red Bull -- is he heading for Red Bull's first win of 2017? |
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Lap 44 |
Another fastest lap from Bottas, who is flying and quickly catching onto the back of Stroll. |
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Lap 45 |
Hamilton posts a 1:43.840s to set a new fastest lap and close the gap to Vettel to 1.5s. |
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Lap 46 |
"I have no battery, no power, so you have to risk a lot in the corners," says Alonso, after dropping to ninth. Stroll has a 7second buffer to Bottas behind, but the Finn is lapping around a second quicker. |
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Lap 47 |
Another new fastest lap from Hamilton, this time a 1:43.469s as he continues to catch Vettel, who in turn is lapping on a similar pace. |
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Lap 48 |
Four laps remain! "Stay focused now, stay focused, this is good!" Stroll is told over team radio. Raikkonen heads into the pits and retires from the race. |
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Lap 49 |
Hamilton closes the gap to Vettel to just over a second -- he is within a tenth of getting DRS. Bottas has closed to within 2.6s of Stroll. |
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Lap 50 |
The gap between Hamilton and Vettel is now under a second. |
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Lap 51 |
Hamilton closes in on Vettel but is not close enough into Turn 1. Ricciardo crosses the line to take his fifth victory in F1 and Red Bull's first of the year! Bottas sneaks past Stroll on the drag to the finish line! But Stroll hangs on to take a podium in third! Vettel pips Hamilton to fourth, with Ocon rounding out the top six. Magnussen comes home seventh, ahead of Sainz, Alonso and Wehrlein, who completes the top 10. "Argh, he got me!," Stroll bemoans over team radio. Still a sterling drive from the rookie, who claims his first podium in F1. |
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That's Ricciardo's first win since Malaysia 2016, 13 races ago. "That was a drive past your age," Rob Smedley tells Stroll over team radio. Bottas congratulates Stroll in parc ferme. Hamilton also comes over to say well done to the young Canadian. An incredibly composed drive -- and weekend -- from Stroll. That wraps our coverage of what was a truly remarkable Azerbaijan Grand Prix! We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did and we'll see you in a fortnight's time in Austria. |
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We are racing again in Baku!
The officials have obviously listened to Alonso, as the red flag comes out.
