Azerbaijan Grand Prix preview: Verstappen on the road to second title

Seven races into the 2022 F1 season and we’ve still only seen three drivers top the podium. Could we see a new one in Azerbaijan?

Will Max Verstappen comfortably protect his title, or can Leclerc keep applying the pressure?

Check out our preview below.

The frontrunners

Another race down and there is still no separating the top two going into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2022.

Max Verstappen, the winner of last year’s Drivers’ Championship and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, have been scrapping it out from day one with the former claiming the first top spot of the season.

Leclerc is proving to be a worthy adversary for Verstappen with two wins and four podiums already this season, and though he missed out on the top three in Monaco two weeks ago, is 15/8 to win the race in Baku and close the gap on top spot.

An incredible start to the season has seen Verstappen pick up where he left off after last year’s dramatic last-minute title win. He is set to break the record set by Sebastian Vettel for most Red Bull podium finishes if he places in the top three on Sunday and is 1/3 to do so in Baku.

He now leads the way in the Driver’s Championship by a slender nine points over his close rival and is 11/10 to finish at the top of the pile and add another 25 points to his tally in Azerbaijan.

Sergio Perez is doing a good job of pegging them back when he gets the chance and is tagging along nicely in third, only six points behind Leclerc.

It was a clear-cut start to the season with Verstappen and Leclerc quickly steaming ahead, but while both have failed to completely dominate for various mechanical reasons, Perez has been sturdy and dependable.

Consistently finishing on the podium and placing in the top five every time since the first race when a fault with the car caused a DNF, Perez is ensuring 2022 isn’t a two-horse race and the Mexican driver is 11/2 to follow up his Monaco success with another win.

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The midfield

There is healthy competition lower down the table and some good drivers who won’t be making life easy for the leaders in Azerbaijan.

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton who have struggled this season due to car issues, are underdogs to get the win compared to the top three but Russell who is in fourth place in the Drivers’ Championship is more favoured than his Mercedes teammate to secure a podium finish at 7/2.

Lewis Hamilton, the man who was literally metres away from a record 8th title last season, is 4/1 to finish in the top three after failing to podium since the first race of the season.

Elsewhere on the track, Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas are 4/6 and 23/20 to finish in the top six while Guanyu Zhou is 17/2 favourite to be the first driver to retire.

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