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F1: Sergio Perez's victory, Max Verstappen's upset in Baku Sprint race

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Nina Angela Mikaela Cruz, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Photo: Sergio Pérez/Twitter" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/life/04/30/f1-sergio-perez.jpg"/><figcaption>Photo: Sergio Pérez/Twitter</figcaption></figure></div>The &#x27;Street Fighter&#x27; dominated the 17-lap race in Baku on Saturday to maintain the winning streak for the Red Bull so far this year. Starting on the front row at P2, he easily got ahead of pole sitter Charles Leclerc on Lap 8 and powered through until the end in medium tyres. Ferrari’s Leclerc, who got double pole positions for both the Sprint and the main race, admitted to not fighting too much due to tyre degradation. “I didn&#x27;t fight too much [with] Checo because I just wanted to try and keep my tyres. I knew this was our weak point,” he said in a post-race interview. “Our car is very aggressive on the tyres. Like even now I was checking the tyres at the end of the race and our tyres looked dead, when the Red Bull’s actually looked really, really good so we need to find something because they found something on that. And on that we need to do a big step,” Leclerc said in another interview. Finishing behind him with more than one second gap was World Championship leader Max Verstappen who got in contact with Mercedes’ George Russell on the first lap. The Dutchman sustained a hole in his left sidepod which devastatingly disabled him to challenge Leclerc and Perez. Verstappen and Russell got into a heated argument right after the race, with Verstappen telling him off about not giving him enough space in the first turns in Lap 1. “I was down the inside, and as a driver, you know the risks when you’re on the outside,” Russell said in an interview. “I was quite surprised that he was still trying to hold it out around the outside on a street circuit, and he has a lot more to lose than I have. None of the contact was intentional,” he said. However, Verstappen had a different view and did not mince his words about the incident. He said about Russell, “He’s very good in explaining and creating excuses. I mean, everyone had cold tyres and I think I had every right to be on the outside.”He continued, “I also didn’t really risk anything too much. I gave him enough space because I knew we were going side by side but you know, you need two guys to work together to make the corner—clearly, he didn’t.” Pérez snagged 8 points for the team. He also had the fastest lap record but it had no merited points in this race format. Leclerc got 7 and Verstappen had 6. Other drivers in the points were Russell, Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin). They got 5 points down to 1, in that order. Alpine&#x27;s Pierre Gasly and AlphaTauri&#x27;s Nyck De Vries, who both moved 4 places up, were the biggest position gainers but were not within the points bracket. They finished P13 and P14 respectively. Joining Leclerc on the front row for the Azerbaijan GP on Sunday is Verstappen. Pérez qualified P3.

Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez did it again in another street circuit—this time, at the first Sprint race of the 2023 season in Azerbaijan. 

F1: Sergio Perez's victory, Max Verstappen's upset in Baku Sprint race

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F1: Sergio Perez's victory, Max Verstappen's upset in Baku Sprint race

Nina Angela Mikaela Cruz,

ABS-CBN News

Published Apr 30, 2023 02:07 PM PHT

Read More:

Baku Sprint

Azerbaijan GP

Formula 1

Sergio Pérez

Max Verstappen

Red Bull

Ferrari

Mercedes

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