Azerbaijan GP: Stroll secures a fantastic 3rd

The Williams Martini drivers would start the fifty one lap Azerbaijan Grand Prix from eighth and ninth with Lance Stroll ahead of team-mate Felipe Massa. With the start of the race the positions would be reversed with Felipe been able to make up several places running in sixth while Lance was in eighth. Felipe was running behind Raikkonen and Lance was behind Ocon. Leading the race in the opening laps was Hamilton followed by Vettel and Perez. The start of the race had seen Bottas make contact with Raikkonen seeing the Mercedes suffer damage and a flat right front tyre seeing him pit.

Verstappen was to challenge Perez looking to take third place. Felipe and Lance were running comfortably in their positions but they both would gain a place when Verstappen was to suffer and engine issue seeing Felipe now fifth and Lance seventh. But the Safety car would be deployed in order to recover the retired car of Kvyat. Both Hamilton and Vettel would pit joined by Perez, Raikkonen, Felipe, and Ocon. Verstappen would retire in his pit. Hamilton was leading followed by Vettel, Lance, Perez, Raikkonen, Felipe, Ocon, Hulkenberg, Magnussen, and Ricciardo in tenth. Lance and Hulkenberg had not pitted under the Safety Car.

Lap fifteen and Lance would pit taking on the soft tyre like all those ahead of him. Lance would drop to seventh with the Williams drivers now fifth and seventh. Of the top ten Ricciardo had swapped from soft to super soft tyres having pitted twice. With the restart on lap eighteen Felipe was to be in fourth but the Safety Car would come out again. On the previous restart Felipe had been involved in a fight with Raikkonen and Ocon going into Turn one. Lance was running in seventh with the cars running through the pit lane as debris was cleared from the main straight.

The drivers were all weaving trying to get temperature in their tyres. The Safety Car would come in on lap twenty and Hamilton would get away but Vettel would be under attack from Felipe and both Force India cars. With all the contact between drivers including Ocon making contact with team-mate Perez and Raikkonen would get a flat right rear puncture. On the leadup to the restart Vettel would make contact with Hamilton when the Mercedes slowed in front. Both Force India cars would pit joined by Raikkonen. Raikkonen would retire joined by Perez. They would replace a flat tyre on Ocon's car seeing him return.

Hamilton was still leading from Vettel but in third was Felipe followed by Lance. Both Williams cars had gained from the chaos around them. Ricciardo was now fifth followed by Hulkenberg, Magnussen, Alonso, Sainz, and Grosjean tenth. But the race would then be red flagged most likely due to all the debris around the track. With the available time Raikkonen's car would be repaired and would be taken to the front of the line of cars and then would return to the track. He was joined by Perez seeing them a lap down. Everyone had switched to the super soft tyre for the restart of the race. The Safety Car would lead the field back out with the restart to be done under the Safety Car.

At the restart Ricciardo would pass both Williams at Turn one and Lance would pass Felipe. The Williams drivers were running fourth and fifth. Felipe had gone onto the radio saying that he had an issue. Felipe would lose places to Magnussen and Hulkenberg at Turn one. He had dropped to eighth and was ow behind Alonso. Felipe was told that he had a broken rear damper. Hulkenberg would hit the wall ending his race. Bottas was now up in tenth behind Grosjean on lap twenty six of fifty one. Felipe would pit retiring in his pit after the team checked his car. While this was happening Lance was running close behind Ricciardo.

Lap twenty eight and the order was Hamilton followed by Vettel, Ricciardo, Lance, Magnussen, Alonso, Sainz, Ocon, Bottas, and Grosjean in tenth. But now Hamilton would have an issue with the head rest coming lose and he was told by his engineer to see if he can pish it back down. Ocon would pass Sainz for seventh with Hamilton leading Vettel by 2.1 seconds with thirty one laps completed. Bottas was now eighth while Hamilton was told to pit so that they could fix the head rest issue. he would pit but it was announced that Vettel was to receive a ten second stop and go penalty for dangerous driving. Hamilton would come back out in ninth. Vettel was leading from Ricciardo, Lance, Magnussen, and Alonso fifth.

Vettel would pit taking his penalty. Ricciardo was now leading with Lance second and Magnussen third. Vettel would come back out in seventh ahead of Hamilton. In fourth was Ocon followed by Bottas, Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton, Sainz and Grosjean tenth. Vettel would pass Alonso for sixth and Hamilton was also able to get past seeing Alonso drop to eighth. Hamilton was running close behind Vettel while Ocon was looking to get past Magnussen. He would get past using his DRS with Bottas also able to get past the Hass. Ocon was now third followed by Bottas and Magnussen. Ocon through to Hamilton were all now running close together. Vettel would pass Magnussen followed by Hamilton.

Lap forty and Ricciardo was leading from Lance, Ocon, Bottas, Vettel, Hamilton, Magnussen, Alonso, Sainz, and Ericsson tenth. Bottas would pass Ocon for third using DRS and Turn one. Lance was leading Bottas by twelve seconds with ten laps remaining. Vettel would pass Ocon for fourth and as the laps counted down Bottas was able to close the gap to Lance. Lap forty seven and Lance's lead was 4.4 seconds. Ricciardo was leading followed by Lance and Bottas. Vettel was fourth followed by Hamilton, Ocon, Magnussen, Sainz, Alonso, and Wehrlein. With two laps remaining second through to fourth were now running close together while in the Williams garage the team was getting really excited about the fact that they were looking at as second place finish with Lance.

The final lap would be completed and Ricciardo would win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in what was a bit of a surprise win. But for second it would be Bottas who would just pip Lance for second as they crossed the line. But Lance would still finish in an amazing third. Lance would say that "he got me" but he was told that he still got a third place finish. A result that would see Lance the youngest podium finisher at 18 years 239 days. In fourth would be Vettel followed by Hamilton, Ocon, Magnussen, Sainz, Alonso, and Wehrlein tenth. As Rod Smedley would say a result from Lance that was well above his years.