Putting all discussion of Ferrari Azerbaijan dominance aside, Red Bull's speed owned the 8th Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku Circuit on Sunday, April 30 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Red Bull driver Sergio Perez took the checkers of the 51 lap Grand Prix followed by teammate and two time World Champion Max Verstappen. The win was the sixth for the Perez, a native of Mexico, and the 29th podium position of his 13 year F1 career.

"Perez absolutely excelled today. He had the pace and really controlled the race, he benefitted from the timing of the safety car but it was a phenomenal performance from him today and all weekend," said Red Bull Team Principal, Christian Horner.

"I think today we were the fastest car on track and regardless of the safety car we would have won the race," said Perez. "I am definitely in the fight for the title, not just because of Baku, I believe I can be very good anywhere this season and now I am just thinking of Miami. "

Early in the race, with drivers behind him pitting under green, Perez was able to take advantage of a safety car when rookie driver Nick de Vries went off track with suspension damage. The self-inflicted suspension damage retired the 28-year old Dutch driver from the Grand Prix.

Despite not winning, Ferrari did have a good Sunday in Baku with pole sitter, Charles Leclerc, filling out the final podium position, a first for Scuderia Ferrari this season. Teammate, Carlos Sainz, rounded out the top five.

"Overall, this has been a positive weekend for the team," said Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari Team Principal. "We took two pole positions and one podium finish with Charles and our overall points total, thanks also to Carlos' fifth place, is satisfactory.

"In the four week break, we worked hard in Maranello and here in Baku we have made further progress which translated into a good result." added Vasseur.

Aston Martin had a successful double-points weekend with two time World Champion Fernando Alonzo finishing fourth and teammate, Lance Stroll, taking P7. Alonzo has finished in the top five in all four F1 races this season.

"I think we had a tricky weekend with the DRS issue on Friday and Saturday, but despite this we have finished only one second away from the podium at the chequered flag," said Alonzo. "With that in mind, I have to be happy with fourth position and our overall performance which was encouraging all race."

Mercedes drivers, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, finished sixth and eighth, respectively. Hamilton started fifth on the grid Sunday afternoon while Russell started in P11.

Hamilton was one of the drivers who pitted under green before the safety car came out for the de Vries incident.

"We're never going to get excited about sixth and eighth place, but it was a day where the car wasn't particularly quick and neither driver had much luck during the race," said Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director.

"Lewis had a decent opening lap; he'd started to get a bit of pressure from Alonso towards the end of the stint, so we came in to protect the position. Unfortunately, that was the lap before the Safety Car, so he lost out. A good restart helped the recovery, but he just couldn't get past Sainz," added Shovlin.

Lando Norris finished P9 for McLaren. Lando's teammate, rookie driver Oscar Piastri, finished P11.

"It was a shame to miss out on points by one spot, but we were just lacking a bit of pace in the middle of the race, so there wasn't really much more we could do," said Piastri "I'm happy I survived the weekend after being unwell and we've got some really good learning in the bank."

AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top ten - the second top 10 of season for the third year driver, a native of Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, just outside of Tokyo.

Pos	Driver		Team		Laps	Gap


1	Perez		Red Bull	51	1h 32:42.436
2	Verstappen	Red Bull	51	+ 0:02.137
3	Leclerc		Ferrari		51	+ 0:21.217
4	Alonso		Aston Martin	51	+ 0:22.024
5	Sainz		Ferrari		51	+ 0:45.491
6	Hamilton	Mercedes	51	+ 0:46.145
7	Stroll		Aston Martin	51	+ 0:51.617
8	Russell		Mercedes	51	+ 1:14.240
9	Norris		McLaren		51	+ 1:20.376
10	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	51	+ 1:23.862
11	Piastri		McLaren		51	+ 1:26.501
12	Albon		Williams	51	+ 1:28.623
13	Magnussen	Haas		51	+ 1:29.729
14	Gasly		Alpine		51	+ 1:31.332
15	Ocon		Alpine		51	+ 1:37.794
16	Sargeant	Williams	51	+ 1:40.943
17	Hulkenberg	Haas		50	+ 1 Lap
18	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	50	+ 1 Lap
	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	36	Retired
	de Vries	AlphaTauri	9	Accident Damage

(image provided by Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN)