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The Azerbaijan GP promises to be a spectacle every time the F1 circus reaches the Caucasian nation. The track is notorious for producing some of the quirkiest podium finishers of the last few seasons. We had Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly make it to the podium last season (who would have thought?). We had Sergio Perez score a podium in a Force India at this track in 2016 and even win the race here in the Red Bull in 2021.
The track tends to lean more and more towards freak results because of its penchant for late-race crashes, stoppages, and unexpected incidents. As drivers get ready for the latest edition of the Azerbaijan GP, there are many on the grid who have probably not had the best of starts to the season. There are also others who did kick things off quite well but have stumbled a bit in the last few races.
In this piece, we take a look at some of these drivers on the F1 grid that are desperate for a strong showing in the Azerbaijan GP.
Top 3 Drivers looking for a strong Azerbaijan GP
#3 Lewis Hamilton
Whether he admits it or not, Lewis Hamilton is rankled by the fact that George Russell is 34 points ahead of him. The seven-time world champion has not finished ahead of his teammate since the first race of the season. Although some of these results were compromised by red flags, safety cars, and other external interferences, Russell is still on a 6-race winning streak over Hamilton.
Hamilton will be the first to admit that he's not had the best of consistency this season. He has blown hot and cold, while Russell, on the other hand, has been relatively consistent. At the Azerbaijan GP, Hamilton will be hoping to set the record straight and get one over his teammate at Mercedes.
The upgraded Mercedes had shown a rich vein of form in the Spanish GP, especially at the hands of Lewis Hamilton. If the F1 veteran can keep his nose clean early in the race, he could target a podium as well alongside beating his teammate over the weekend.
#2 Mick Schumacher
Mick Schumacher had two major issues early in the season that needed to be taken care of. The first was his comparative lack of performance as compared to new teammate Kevin Magnussen. The second was his ridiculously expensive crashing at multiple venues. The crash at the Saudi Arabian GP cost the team close to a million dollars in damages and for a team like Haas, that's a lot of money.
Ever since, Schumacher has made strides in terms of performance. He is more or less a match for Magnussen now (even though the Dane is still marginally quicker). The crashes, however, remain. The one at the Miami GP not only cost the team in terms of damage but also lost them a championship point. Additionally, it showed a clear lack of experience and maturity in the German driver's racing acumen.
To make things worse, the Monaco GP crash was almost a replica of the Saudi GP crash where the car broke in half and the damage is expected to be worth similar to what Haas incurred at Jeddah. Guenther Steiner's patience seems to be wearing thin after every disappointment. For the young German, it's about time he started showing some level of maturity and results, starting with the Azerbaijan GP. Should he fail to do so, he might become unaffordable for the team with his crashes aplenty.
#1 Daniel Ricciardo
When Zak Brown went public with his feelings about Daniel Ricciardo's performance at McLaren, he started a slow process of a rather tardy split between the driver and his team. Ricciardo was not too happy with those comments because the Australian has himself been very vocal about his struggles to get up to speed with the car.
Right now, the next few races for Ricciardo are nothing but an audition for what he can do in an F1 car more than anyone else. His time at McLaren, in all probability, ends at the end of the 2022 F1 season. If he is looking to further his career in the sport, he needs to show the other teams that he's still a capable driver. The audition to secure his future in F1 starts at the Azerbaijan GP and the Australian will be desperate to string together a strong result this weekend.
