Azerbaijan Grand Prix preview: Red Bull dominance set to continue

With just three races down this season the drivers travel to Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Will we see a non-Red Bull winner for the first time this season?

Red Bull seem the likeliest to dominate but can the British teams provide a challenge?

We preview the action below.

The frontrunners

Carrying their momentum through from last season, Red Bull have certainly started this season as they mean to go on. They are the dominant force in Formula One at the moment, topping the Constructors’ Championship with 123 point, and odds of 1/8 for a Red Bull win in Baku come as no surprise.

Max Verstappen is looking to make it a hat-trick of Drivers’ World Championship titles this season and has had a near-perfect start to his title defence with two wins and a second place which included an additional fastest lap point. At 4/11 the Dutchman is clear favourite for the win and no one looks capable of stopping him at the moment.

With two championships to his name already Verstappen is now a seasoned winner and looks set to continue his success as the 1/8 clear favourite to win the Driver’s Championship for a third time.

His teammate, and Red Bull’s second driver, Sergio Perez couldn’t have asked for much more from the start of the season as he kicked off with a second-place finish followed by a win in Saudi Arabia, but a qualifying from hell hindered seriously hindered his chances in Melbourne last time out and he will have been more than pleased to have recovered to fifth place on the day. He is unlikely to let that blip affect him with odds of 9/2 to win the race and we certainly expect him to be on the podium at 2/5.

Aston Martin have had a better start to the season than anyone could have predicted, with 65 points they have already surpassed last season’s total of 55. Fernando Alonso has been their standout driver finishing third in every race this season and the Spaniard is 8/13 to continue his run of podium finishes.

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The midfield

It seems unjust to be mentioning the great Sir Lewis Hamilton in the midfield conversation but that is a bleak reality for the seven-time world champion. The last three seasons have seen Mercedes’ slow decline from dominance with Hamilton managing just two fourth place finishes and a second place so far this season. At 3/10 finishing in the top six should be no problem for Hamilton but it’s progressing beyond that which poses a problem and he seems unlikely to do so at 12/1 to win the race.

Lance Stroll has been another positive for Aston Martin this season with the 24-year-old playing the role of a steady point-scorer with a sixth place and fourth place finish so far this season. The young Canadian is 8/11 to finish in the top 6 and with bags of ability and potential, a podium finish is not out of the question at 13/2.

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