BAKU (Azerbaijan), June 12: Max Verstappen once again pounced when rival Charles Leclerc faltered in their race for the Formula One title.
Verstappen extended his F1 championship lead by winning the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday – his fifth victory of the season – following yet another Leclerc early retirement.
Leclerc started from pole, immediately lost the lead in the first corner to Sergio Pérez, Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, then used smart strategy to cycle his Ferrari back to the front. Leclerc regained the lead when he pitted under “virtual safety car” speed restrictions while the two Red Bull cars stayed out.
Leclerc seemed poised to challenge for the win, but the Monaco driver’s car started spewing smoke on lap 20 of 51 and he had to pull into the pits. His engine had failed – Leclerc’s second retirement in three races.
“It hurts. We really need to look into that for it to not happen again. I don’t really find the right words to describe, obviously it is very disappointing,” Leclerc said.
Verstappen had passed Pérez shortly before Leclerc’s failure and the reigning F1 champion cruised to his fifth win in seven races. Red Bull has won five consecutive races, and although Leclerc has two wins this year. (AP)
