formula 1
Perez wins sprint in Baku ahead of Leclerc and Verstappen
Team Red Bull’s Sergio Perez wins the sprint in Baku. photo
© Lisi Niesner/Pool Reuters/dpa
Sergio Perez has won the first sprint race of the Formula 1 season. The 33-year-old Mexican prevailed in Baku ahead of Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari and world champion Max Verstappen in the second Red Bull.
Sergio Perez has won the first sprint race of the Formula 1 season. The 33-year-old Mexican prevailed in Baku ahead of Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari and world champion Max Verstappen in the second Red Bull.
With eight points for victory, Perez reduced his gap to team-mate Verstappen in the overall World Championship standings and gained self-confidence for the Grand Prix on the demanding street circuit in Azerbaijan. The only German in the field, Nico Hülkenberg, only finished 15th in his Haas racing car at the Caspian Sea.
Perez without mistakes
A total of six sprint races will take place this year. For the first time in Baku there was a separate qualification five hours before the start. In the so-called sprint shootout, Leclerc had secured pole position, just as he had for the main race. Perez drove flawlessly from second place to victory. The next sprint will take place in Spielberg, Austria, in early July.