By: Mike Sullivan/RaceCanada  
April 29 2019 

After mixed results in qualifying, the SportPesa Racing Point team must have left the Baku circuit in pretty good spirits.

Sergio Perez pushed his Force Point into Q3, eventually qualifying 5th, just over a second off Valtteri Bottas pole winning time.

Lance Stroll, continuing his qualifying struggles, again failed to get out of the first qualifying session, ending in 16th. In four races so far this season, Stroll has yet to make it out of Q1.

Fortunately for Stroll, Kimi Raikkonen's qualifying time was disqualified for a front wing infringement and Pierre Gasly's Red Bull was disqualified after a weigh bridge infraction in practice, and for a second time in qualifying for fuel flow issues, meaning Stroll would go off from the 14th spot.

Where Stroll struggles in qualifying, he excels off the start, and on the opening laps. Stroll was up a couple of spots on the opening lap, past Ricardo for 10th on lap 4, and Kvyat for 9th the following lap.

At the end of lap 10, Stroll hit the pits, and came out 18th. Stroll certainly shows good race pace, and good race craft and was able to move up the field again, getting past Russell, Räikkönen, Grosjean after his quick trip up the escape road, Magnussen and finally up to 10th when Ricardo outbraked himself down the escape road, taking Kvyat with him. For good measure, Ricardo backed into Kvyat's stalled car just to make sure neither of them would finish.

Stroll got his final place, 9th, when Gasly's Red Bull pulled off with driveshaft failure.

Perez seemed to have a pretty uneventful race. After a move on Verstappen early in the race to take 4th, he didn't have the pace to keep the Red Bull behind him for long, and ended up coming home 6th. Leclerc's Ferrari started 9th after a Q2 crash prevented him from taking part in Q3, and was the only car to get by Perez at the finish, making Perez the best of the rest, finishing behind only a pair of Mercedes, a pair of Ferrari's and Verstappen's Red Bull Honda.

If Stroll can get his qualifying issues sorted out, his finishing performance will improve greatly. He has pace in the race, as shown by the number of cars he passed in Baku. The McLaren's were definitely in Stroll's sight by the end of the race, and with a better qualifying effort might have had an opportunity to

outscore both of them. None the less, I think the whole team will leave Baku feeling pretty good about their grand prix.

Driver Quotes:

P6 - SERGIO PEREZ - CHASSIS 01

Used Soft (10 laps) – New Medium (41 laps)

Sergio: “It has been a fantastic day. It was looking good at the start when I passed Verstappen, but we didn’t have the pace to fight against the Red Bulls over the race distance. I was actually focussed on keeping the McLarens at bay. It was not easy to keep them behind and I had to drive carefully for the whole of the race. After the VSC I was able to get good temperature in the tyres and this helped me stay in P6. I am happy we succeeded in keeping our position, now we can celebrate a good day for the team with both cars in the points. We have an upgrade coming in Barcelona and I am looking forward to our performance there.”

Lance Stroll

P9 - LANCE STROLL - CHASSIS 02

New Soft (10 laps) – New Medium (41 laps)

Lance: “It feels good to be back in the points because it was a very challenging race from start to finish. This is a track that has no margin for error, keeping concentration was a key factor and that is what we did today. It was fun; we overtook cars on track and brought the car home in P9. We were fortunate with the contact between Kvyat and Ricciardo because we picked up a couple of places there, then we overtook a few more cars on track, but the car felt good throughout the race. I am really happy with where we are right now, fighting for points at every race but there’s no doubt that it’s very tight in the midfield and we are going to have to keep pushing.”

OTMAR SZAFNAUER, CEO & TEAM PRINCIPAL

“We can leave Baku feeling pleased with a job well done. It’s our first double points finish of the season and our strongest performance so far. Baku has traditionally been a competitive track for us and it was important we took advantage this weekend. Sergio’s strong qualifying and great opening lap laid the groundwork for a clean one-stop race with few dramas. He delivered great pace, raced intelligently, and brought the car home for sixth place.

Lance too drove incredibly well and was involved in some great battles in the midfield. His strong start brought him right into contention straight away – up inside the top ten – where he raced for the most of the afternoon to pick up a couple of points. I think we are beginning to see the potential of the RP19 be released, which is encouraging. This was certainly one of our more competitive tracks, but the car has been well balanced for most of the weekend and that should be a good sign for the races to come.”

Latifi Leads In F2

In F2 action, Nicholas Latifi continued the strong start to his season. After winning the opening race in Bahrain, followed by a third in the Sunday sprint race, Latifi came into Baku in 2nd place, just 2 points behind UNI-Virtuosi Racing driver Luca Ghiotto, who left Bahrain with a win and a second place.

In the feature race on Saturday, Latifi qualified 7th and ran as high a third in the race, before dropping back to 4th at the finish. Latifi's 4th combined with Ghiotto's 9th place finish vaulted the Canadian to the top of the driver standings heading into Sunday's sprint race.

On Sunday, Latifi started 4th, and immediately forced his way up to third in the first corner, which was followed by carnage in turn 1 behind them, leading to an early Safety Car.

Just like the start, when the Safety Car came in, Latifi pounced with a great outside move to take 2nd place, eventually moving in to the lead on lap 6 of the 21 lap race.

After a mid-race yellow for second-generation driver Giuliano Alesi getting into the wall led to another Safety Car, Latifi saw his 4.5 second lead vanish. Latifi lost the lead on the re-start, very briefly, to a dive-bomb by Juan Manuel Correa, but immediately slipped back into the lead after Correa ran wide. Carnage again followed in turn 2, leading to yet another Safety Car.

After cleaning up the 3 parked cars, the race restarted with 2 laps to go. Latifi made another great get-away and was never really challenged to the checker, taking his second win in four races in 2019.

Latifi leaves Baku with the F2 points lead, 62 to 43 over Jack Aitken, while Latifi's team DAMS leaves with the team points lead, 95 to 55 over Campos Racing, run by former F1 Driver Adrian Campos.

Formula 2 pays 25 points for the Saturday feature win and 15 points for the Sunday sprint race win.

The full DAMS race report can be read here.

Electrifying Result For Rzadzinski In Paris

The FIA Formula E Championship took to the streets of Paris this weekend, and back behind the wheel of the TWR Techeetah purple and white #18 Jaguar iPace was Stefan Rzadzinski.

Rzadzinski was quick from the outset, setting 3rd fastest time in Friday practice and repeating that performance in qualifying to start the race from the second row.

In a race that switched between rain, sun and hail, and more closely resembled a Formula 1600 race at Mosport where Stefan got his start than springtime in Paris, Rzadzinski avoided the elements and contact in front of him to bring the TWR Cheetah entry home in 2nd place, for Rzadzinski's second podium in the series, following his 3rd place finish in China in March.

The full TWR Cheetah race report can be read here.

Next up for Rzadzinski and TWR Cheetah team will be the Monaco ePrix on May 11.

DeFrancesco Back In Action In Spain

With the F1 circus moving back to Europe for the next round, May 10-12 in Spain, the FIA Forumula 3 Championship will make it's 2019 season debut, and along with it, Canadian Devlin DeFrancesco.

Defranceso joins the Trident Motorsport 3 car effort for 2019, alongside team mates Pedro Piquet, son of 3 time F1 champ Nelson Piquet, and Fin Niko Kari.

Spengler Returns For Another DTM Season

Bruno Spengler is back for another season with BMW in the German DTM series. The 2012 DTM champion has 177 DTM starts under his belt, taking 15 wins, 18 poles and 49 podiums along the way. Spengler will be back in his familiar flat-black BMW Bank M4 DTM.

With Wickens move to Indy Car last season, Spengler is the only Canadian left in the series.

The DTM gets under way next weekend at Hockenheim.