Which Formula One driver made the most of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend?
It’s time to give your verdict on which driver did the best with the equipment at their disposal over the last five days.
Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most at Baku City Circuit.
Driver performance summary
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Vote for your driver of the weekend
Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?
Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?
Cast your vote below and explain why you chose the driver you picked in the comments.
Who was the best driver of the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend?
- No opinion (1%)
- Robert Kubica (0%)
- George Russell (0%)
- Alexander Albon (0%)
- Daniil Kvyat (0%)
- Antonio Giovinazzi (0%)
- Kimi Raikkonen (6%)
- Lance Stroll (0%)
- Sergio Perez (27%)
- Lando Norris (2%)
- Carlos Sainz Jnr (1%)
- Kevin Magnussen (0%)
- Romain Grosjean (0%)
- Nico Hulkenberg (0%)
- Daniel Ricciardo (1%)
- Pierre Gasly (2%)
- Max Verstappen (4%)
- Charles Leclerc (4%)
- Sebastian Vettel (0%)
- Valtteri Bottas (48%)
- Lewis Hamilton (3%)
Total Voters: 233
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Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
28th April 2019, 21:12
Difficult one to call. Come race day, Gasly impressed. Over the weekend? No, definitely not. Leclerc was the logical choice up until Q2, and drove an acceptable race. Bottas won from pole so that’s very strong.
In the end, I voted Perez. Dominated team mate in quali before keeping the McLaren cars behind all race to finish best of the rest. Solid.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
28th April 2019, 21:19
Same vote. Same reason.
ColdFly (@)
29th April 2019, 9:05
The McLarens keeping Perez honest should have given that vote to either one of them; especially Norris as a rookie.
My vote went to Bottas. Beating Hamilton on Saturday and Sunday deserves my recognition.
PS Gasly had a very impressive Sunday as well. Starting 12 places behind Leclerc on the same strategy and being within 20s when the latter stopped.
carbon_fibre (@carbon_fibre)
28th April 2019, 21:23
Bottas, Verstappen and the McLaren boys did great. But Perez was the best.
erikje
29th April 2019, 0:08
Agreed!
MacLeod (@macleod)
29th April 2019, 8:06
If I use this to answer the question:
Which driver do you think did the best job throughout the race weekend?
Who got the most out of their car in qualifying and the race? Who put their team mate in the shade?
Bottas, Perez, Verstappen and McLaren
I wish i could give a top 3 so this time Perez.
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
28th April 2019, 21:30
Perez by a country mile!!
Jere (@jerejj)
28th April 2019, 21:36
DOTW: Bottas with an honorable mention to Perez, and for the race alone, Leclerc with honorable mentions to Gasly, and Stroll.
erikje
29th April 2019, 0:09
Whu Leclerc, binned his car, started 8e and ended 5e in probably the fastest car on track.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
29th April 2019, 4:57
If ferrari was the fastest car vettel is a terrible driver, and as much as I don’t think he’s great I think that’s a bit of a stretch, mercedes was fastest, then ferrari, then red bull, leclerc was faster than vettel but the mistake in qualifying cost him the race.
Abel Archundia (@aquataz68)
28th April 2019, 21:37
Perez showed up for an outstanding weekend, and drove the wheels off that RP.
He was precise, smart and bold when called for … what an exciting start vs. Verstappen.
Ricciardo said it best on Friday: Checo is a G around this circuit.
Jorge Lardone (@jorge-lardone)
28th April 2019, 21:41
Kimi, Perez, Bottas… Kimi Raikkonen this time.
ColdFly (@)
29th April 2019, 9:16
What about Alonso ?
Mashiat (@mashiat)
29th April 2019, 19:47
@coldfly Alonso? Are you talking about the driver who is worse than Lance Stroll, Max Chilton, Haryanto and Ide? Such a terrible driver. He couldn’t even finish in the top 20 this race, I just checked the standings. /s
CareyPatrick (@careypatrick)
28th April 2019, 21:47
I voted Bottas for the simple reason that he did a better job of disguising Mercedes potential till it counted. Then, in quali, he beat Lewis fair and square, same with the race. At this point, its fairly obvious that Mercedes is toying with Ferrari and can just dial in a sec a lap more juice at will. This season is basically over. Mercedes learned from the Lewis vs Nico years that an intra-team battle is only ok if they are dominant, which they are this year. So, I’m rooting for BOT for the remainder of the season, because HAM has enough titles.
Mike (@grippgoat)
28th April 2019, 21:54
The troll vote goes to Russell for giving Bottas that crucial tow and DRS to keep Hamilton behind.
Sihrtogg (@sihrtogg)
28th April 2019, 23:32
You can’t even see Russell ahead on the Bottos on-board pole lap.
erikje
29th April 2019, 0:11
He probably meant in the last laps of the race.
Nothing special there, but for some…
David BR (@david-br)
29th April 2019, 21:10
Neither can you see the change in air density and flow. The effect around Baku is much more pronounced, the tow can come from a car up to 5 seconds ahead (apparently).
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
29th April 2019, 7:16
Hamilton made a mistake that final corner that isn’t flat out and was 1.5 seconds behind Bottas after this and the exit there is crucial. He was closer the privious 2 laps even when Bottas didn’t have a tow and he didn’t manage. So Hamilton wouldn’t have made it then even without Russel giving Bottas a tow. Few more laps, could have done though maybe.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
28th April 2019, 22:36
Bottas. Got pole with an excellent lap and then converted pole into victory, despite huge pressure from Hamilton.
dutchtreat (@dutchtreat)
28th April 2019, 22:49
DOD to Ricciardo for making a super boring race interesting for 2 seconds with his reverse expertise
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
28th April 2019, 23:07
Just seeing that Leclerc has more votes than Vettel is just stupid. As bad as having more votes for Bottas over Hamilton in Bahrain. And Bottas had a better weekend there than Leclerc here and he got very few, if any. Which was right. Vettel didn’t have a great weekend. leclerc crashed in qualifying had nearly the best car on one of the easiest overtaking tracks and nearly finished 60 seconds behind Vettel. Very poor and if anything, shockingly bad based on his hype. Even if you take away a huge 40 seconds for his extra pitstop and the fact he wasn’t always pushing, that is still around 20 seconds off Vettel. Not good at all. How anyone can say he even had even a reasonable weekend?
Esploratore (@esploratore)
29th April 2019, 4:59
First stint of the race was great, people must be forgetting the rest.
nase
29th April 2019, 6:14
Interesting to see how Ericsson’s heritage manages to live on.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
29th April 2019, 7:19
This is nothing to do with Ericsson at all. It is about people giving credit for Leclerc for a good race with an absolutely massive time difference between himself and Vettel (who admitted he didn’t have the best of races and had been criticized a lot this year)
RP (@slotopen)
28th April 2019, 23:18
I was going to vote for Ricciardo, but decided to back out.
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
28th April 2019, 23:46
*slow clap*
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
29th April 2019, 2:26
@slotopen: I voted DannyRic – without even a glance back at the pack.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
29th April 2019, 3:23
@slotopen – hindsight is always 20/20
ColdFly (@)
29th April 2019, 9:22
I’ll back you up there.
Nigel
28th April 2019, 23:30
Perez 👏✊
Alex De (@alexde)
29th April 2019, 1:42
Yep. Bottas.
Perez is noted.
Maho Ivan (@mahoivan)
29th April 2019, 3:48
Bottas and Perez. It’s more difficult keep all the middle field behind with a RP than keep Ferrari behind with the Mercedes. So at the end Perez.
ColdFly (@)
29th April 2019, 9:25
That mid field was a McLaren with a Renault PU.
Racing Point was strong in Baku; it took Verstappen a couple of laps to pass Perez.
Todfod (@todfod)
29th April 2019, 5:26
Gave the vote to Bottas. For a fantastic quali and perfectly controlled race.
Honorable mentions to Perez, the Mclaren drivers and Kimi.
GeeMac (@geemac)
29th April 2019, 10:04
How could it not be Bottas? Out qualified and outraced his 5 time world champion teammate. To quality drive.
JMDan (@danmar)
29th April 2019, 19:39
I’m going with Bottas (although Perez is the sentimental favourite) because unlike almost everyone else he made no mistakes. He kept his cool this time and came through with some clever driving. I still think Max is probably the best F1 driver though. :) Put him in a Merc or Ferrari and he’s champion. I can easily see him replace Vettel.
jenc (@jens)
30th April 2019, 9:42
Heyi guys…
You have the list all wrong. You miss a driver…!
You have Valtteri Bottas.
It should be Bottas 2.0
I’m rooting for Bottas 2.0 :-)
DAllein (@)
1st May 2019, 16:03
Bottas
Hey, who’s so smart as to vote for Leclerc?!?