Azerbaijan delivered this year on what it failed to give last year, the race was explosive from start to finish. Perhaps the most controversial moment coming from Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.

The race saw three safety cars, one red flag period as well as lots of dramatic restarts.

Daniel Ricciardo finished in first place with his Red Bull unlike his team mate who had to retire early on. Ricciardo managed to bring it back from P17 making it one of the most impressive wins of the season so far.

Lance Stroll became the youngest person to get a podium finish in his rookie year after a dramatic race to the finish with the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas. After running P2 for the last few laps the Canadian Williams driver was finally pipped to the post by Bottas.

The incident that stole the show though came just before the third safety car returned to the pits on lap 20. The first part came when Vettel ran into the back of the Mercedes of Hamilton. Vettel accused Hamilton of brake testing and causing the collision, the initial collision caused damage to the Ferrari.

Following the collision Vettel drove up beside Hamilton and then rammed the side of their cars together. Hamilton radioed into the pit wall saying, “Vettel literally came alongside and hit me.”

Following the red flag and restart Vettel was given a 10 second stop go penalty, a decision which ultimately took any chance of a win away from him.

As well as Vettel being set back it was found that after the restart Hamilton’s head rest was out of place and although he tried to fix it whilst out on track the Briton had to be brought in for a new head rest to be fitted. This safety issue cost Hamilton the win and gave it to the Red Bull of Ricciardo.

Race Results

1 Daniel RICCIARDO
2 Valtteri BOTTAS
3 Lance STROLL
4 Sebastian VETTEL
5 Lewis HAMILTON
6 Esteban OCON
7 Kevin MAGNUSSEN
8 Carlos SAINZ
9 Fernando ALONSO
10 Pascal WEHRLEIN
11 Marcus ERICSSON
12 Stoffel VANDOORNE
13 Romain GROSJEAN
14 Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN
DNF Sergio PEREZ
DNF Felipe MASSA
DNF Nico HULKENBERG
DNF Max VERSTAPPEN
DNF Daniil KVYAT
DNF Jolyon PALMER

DISCLAIMER: All photos belong to Sutton Images