THE BAKU DOUBLE

The fourth stage of the Formula 1 World Auto Racing Championship completed in Baku recently was announced under the slogans of "the best race of 2017-2018" and "the unpredictable final fuelled by plenty of accidents".

Indeed, the main difference of the Baku city circuit from, say, the one in Monte Carlo is its special configuration favourable for making overtaking manoeuvres. At the same time, the Baku city circuit is absolutely intolerable to all sorts of pilot mistakes, vigorously shuffling the 'deck' and forcing the teams to change their strategies during the race. Perhaps that is why the owners of the race extended the contract for the Grand Prix of Azerbaijan until 2023.

The fans of the royal race expected that the main battle in Baku would be between the teams of Ferrari and Mercedes, which could make three remarkable doubles in a row during the last race of the season, when the first place was taken twice by the five-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and once by his teammate Valtteri Bottas. None of the teams has accomplished such a success since 1992. But before the start of the season, following the results of the winter tests in Barcelona, ​​absolutely everyone believed that Ferrari was leaving behind the rest of the teams by 0.3-0.5 seconds per lap and would not allow Mercedes to win the next competition. The victory of the Mersedes in Baku actually put an end to ambitions of the Italian team. That is why Ferrari came to the Grand Prix of Azerbaijan with upgraded cars to improve speeds particularly in corner turns, as no one can beat the Italians on straight runs anyway.

Given that the track in Baku has the longest straight run of the championship (more than 2 km), Ferrari's ambitions to win this stage looked even more reasonable. Free practice runs on April 26-27 showed that these ambitions are not groundless at all — in both cases, the young Ferrari pilot Charles Leclerc showed the best time. Even before the race, he stated that the track in Baku was his favourite: "I just like it. I have always performed well there, winning the race and climbing the pedestal of Formula 2. Last year I earned my first points in Formula 1. I always like driving in Baku, especially where the track runs along the fortress wall with all these narrow turns. The track is unique; there is nothing like that anywhere in the world."

Qualification runs during the initial stage also showed that Ferrari seriously intends to fight for the pole position. However, in the second qualification practice, Charles Leclerc crashed his car in the narrowest place of the track near the fortress walls. His only teammate on the track, Sebastian Vettel, was unable to compete with Hamilton and Bottas, hence starting the third on the grid. Because of his mistake, Leclerc had to start the tenth, although he would lead the race if he had passed to the final qualification stage. Toto Wolf of Mersedes, the main competitor of Ferrari, also confirmed this: "We did not have a chance for pole, but then the temperature suddenly dropped a couple of degrees and the tyre grip with the track improved significantly. But if Charles qualified for the third segment, he would probably have won the pole."

Unlike in previous years, the start of the race was rather calm, without collisions, although Hamilton tried to immediately seize the lead, but his partner, Valtteri Bottas, firmly stopped all attacks. But they had softer tyres that needed a replacement. That is why a series of pit stops at 11-14 laps opened the way for Leclerc to be the temporary lead of the race. On laps 32-34, Leclerc, who was on worn-out tyres, was forced to let Bottas, Hamilton and Vettel lead the way and stopped at pits to replace the tires, hence letting Max Verstappen of Red Bull to overtake him too. Ferrari hoped that the leaders would have to stop on one more pit, which would automatically ensure victory for Leclerc. But the Baku track, which has always been very demanding on tyres, nevertheless allowed Mercedes refrain from stopping for the second time.

As a result, Bottas and Hamilton managed to get to the finish line without any problems, depicting sort of a battle between each other in final laps. Bottas, as at the beginning of the race, was able to repel Hamilton's attacks and finished first. The third came Ferrari's Sebastien Vettel, the fourth — Verstappen, and the fifth was Leclerc.

In general, of the 20 pilots who started in the race, 16 reached the finish line. Pierre Gasly (Red Bull) and Romain Grosjean (Haas), as well as Daniel Riccardo (Renault) and Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) did not reach the finish line due to mechanical problems.

If not a miracle, Mercedes will be the champion of this season again. It depends on whether Hamilton can get the sixth title of a championship for his team or Bottas can prove that he is in the team not only for the sake of Lewis. Back in 2016, Nico Rosberg of Mercedes was able to prove it and became a world champion competing against Hamilton. Now it is time for Bottas, who can etch his name in gold in the history of Formula 1.