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Red Bull dominated yet another round of the 2023 F1 season. Sergio Perez closed the gap on Max Verstappen with his second win of the year, while the Dutchman maintained his lead in the championship with a P2 finish in Baku.
Red Bull continue to be the only team to have stepped to the top step of the podium in the current F1 season. As a result, the team enjoys nearly a 100-point advantage over Aston Martin in the constructors' standings.
Fernando Alonso missed out on what could have been his fourth consecutive podium finish of the season, bagging fourth in Baku ahead of his compatriot Carlos Sainz.
His Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll finished seventh and was sandwiched between the two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. Eleven points currently separate Aston Martin from Mercedes in the constructors' standings.
In a post-race media interaction, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton admitted that he extracted the maximum potential of the Mercedes. He emphasized that the team maintains a "winning mindset". He said:
“I think we did (get the most out of the car). There was great prep before coming here with a couple of days in the factory, plenty of sim running and I’m very proud of the team. The mentality of the team is great, there is such a winning mindset and everyone is focused on progressing and getting to where we know we can get to."
Ferrari made their first podium appearance of the 2023 F1 season this weekend with Charles Leclerc finishing P3 in the race. The Monegasque started the race from pole but the Ferrari lacked the pace to keep up with the Red Bulls over the course of the 51-lap race.
Carlos Sainz finished further behind in P5, as a result of which the Scuderia remain fourth in the standings with a 14-point gap to the Silver Arrows.
McLaren are slowly bridging the gap when it comes to the battle in the midfield, with Lando Norris finishing ninth ahead of the AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda. Alpine, Haas, Alfa Romeo, and Williams all failed to score F1 championship points this weekend.
Here are the 2023 F1 Constructor Standings after the Azerbaijan GP
