Azerbaijan GP: Tough race for Williams Racing

The grid for the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix would see the Williams Racing Team drivers George Russell and Nicholas Latifi start from 15th and 16th grid positions. The pair would start the race on the medium tyre. On pole was Leclerc followed by Hamilton, Verstappen, Gasly, Sainz, Perez, Tsunoda, Alonso, Norris and Bottas tenth. The top ten would all start on the soft tyre, those used in qualifying. Outside the top ten those on the medium would only be Raikkonen and the Williams cars. Stroll was on the hard while the rest of the field were on the soft tyre.

The grid would complete the parade lap and form up and with the start it would be Leclerc leading at the start from Hamilton. The Williams drivers were running in 16th and 18th but George would pit taking on the hard tyre which might run to the end of the race. Lap three and Hamilton would pass Leclerc using the DRS. Verstappen was third followed by Perez, Gasly, Sainz, Alonso, Tsunoda, Vettel and Bottas tenth. Nicholas was running in 16th still on the medium tyre. Giovinazzi had also pitted changing to the hard tyre. Lap five and Ocon would pit to retire with a mechanical failure. Nicholas was now 15th as Hamilton continued to lead.

Lap eight and Verstappen would pass Leclerc for second using his DRS. Lap nine and we would see more drivers pitting changing to the hard including Alonso and Norris. Nicholas would move up to 13th as a result of all the stops. Schumacher would pit dropping to last now on the hard tyre. Hamilton was leading from Verstappen, Perez, Leclerc, and Gasly but Leclerc would pit taking on the hard tyre with Tsunoda also coming in. Nicholas and Mazepin would both pit taking on the hard as well. The Williams drivers were now 16th and 17th. Sainz would pit on lap twelve taking on the hard tyre. Hamilton remained in the lead from Verstappen and Perez.

Sainz would go off into one of the run off areas as Hamilton pitted. He was joined by Gasly and Bottas. Ricciardo was also in with all these drivers switching to the hard tyre. Sainz had dropped to 15th as a result of a lock-up seeing him not make the corner. Verstappen would pit on lap fourteen taking on the hard tyre. Perez was now leading from Vettel and Verstappen. Hamilton would lose some time been held in the pit lane. Perez would pit from the lead on lap fifteen seeing Vettel now leading. But Perez's stop was a slow one even so Perez would come out in front of Hamilton with Verstappen second.

Raikkonen would pit on lap fifteen coming out in 15th ahead of the Williams pair. With Vettel leading Verstappen was second followed by Perez, Hamilton, Stroll, Gasly, Leclerc, Tsunoda, Norris and Bottas still tenth. Lap twenty and Vettel would pit seeing Verstappen now lading and Vettel seventh running on the hard tyre. Lap twenty four and the top three would remain the same while the Williams drivers were 16th and 17th. Mazepin would lock up at turn 4 but would rejoin the track without any issues. On lap thirty two we would see Stroll crash seeing the Safety Car being deployed. The pit lane would be closed as we would see Stroll having a left rear tyre failure sending him into the barrier. This would see the Williams drivers now 15th and 16th. The debris would be cleared while for Williams George would pit taking on new hard tyres. He would eventually pass Nicholas for 15th while Verstappen continued to lead after the restart.

lap forty two and Verstappen was still leading from Perez, Hamilton, Vettel, Gasly, Leclerc, Tsunoda, Norris, Sainz, and Ricciardo tenth. The Williams drivers continued to run in 15th and 16th with just seven laps remaining. But the race would take a dramatic turn as Verstappen would suffer a tyre failure seeing him crash on the main straight. It was the left rear that had failed like Stroll. This would see Perez leading from Hamilton and Vettel. Gasly was now fourth followed by Leclerc, Tsunoda, Norris, Sainz, Ricciardo and Alonso tenth. The Williams drivers were now in 14th and 15th. The crash would see the Safety Car deployed and the cars would have to drive through the pit lane. But the race would be Red Flagged seeing the field return to their pits. At this time Nicholas was 13th and George 15th with George now on the soft tyre.

But the race would be restarted with Nicholas would receive a ten second stop and go penalty after a mix up between Nicholas and his engineer as to whether Nicholas should enter the pit lane with Nicholas failing to drive through the pit lane. There would only be two laps remaining in the race as the cars formed up on the grid with the whole field on the soft tyre including both Williams. The grid would take the restart and it would be Hamilton who would make the biggest mistake going off with a lock-up. George would not take the start limping into the pit lane seeing his race end. Nicholas was 13th but with his penalty. Gasly and Leclerc were fighting over third place.

But it would be Perez who would take victory in the race with Vettel second and Gasly third. Leclerc was fourth followed by Norris, Alonso, Tsunoda, Sainz, Ricciardo, and Raikkonen tenth. For Williams Nicholas would finish in 16th and George would fail to finish. Another race of simply not been able to find any pace as well as not been able to see situations give the team any advantage. So tough for all at Williams Racing.