Azerbaijan Grand Prix LIVE results: Valtteri Bottas beats Lewis Hamilton to lead home Mercedes one-two and take championship lead
Re-live the latest updates live from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku as Valtteri Bottas sealed a convincing victory to retake the world championship lead.
Starting from pole position, Bottas briefly saw teammate Lewis Hamilton move in front off the start, but the Finn had the racing line and was able to re-take the race lead by the time they'd reached Turn Two. From there, Bottas controlled the race to perfection, and even though Charles Leclerc led the Grand Prix through the middle phase of the race, his eventual pit stop took him out of the reckoning.
Hamilton closed the gap to fight Bottas for the lead over the final few laps, but he left it too late to mount a charge as Bottas took the chequered flag ahead of Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, with Max Verstappen beating Leclerc to fourth. Re-live the live action below.
Good morning and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where Valtteri Bottas starts from pole position ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.
Stewards have confirmed that Kimi Raikkonen will start from the pits after switching his front wing for one that is classified as legal, meaning *yet another* grid reshuffle.
So what happened during Saturday's eventful qualifying? It was billed as three sessions, two red flags and one pole-sitter, but the surprise was that Bottas pipped Hamilton on the final run to seize top spot. Pole is not as important here as some other tracks given the ability to overtake in Baku, but it might give Bottas any strategy advantage at the pit stops.
There's a lot of confusion over which tyres Charles Leclerc is supposed to be starting on, having crashed during Q2 on the medium tyres that he was supposed to start the race on. However, Ferrari currently have the car on soft tyres, and there's a few other teams who have been to take a look and have a word over what the actual ruling is.
Our friends at Pirelli believe that the one-stopper is the way forward today, with the pit window opening around lap 15 for those on sort tyres, and much later for those starting in mediums.
As the drivers climb into their cars, the grid starts to clear and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is just minutes away.
The start here is always guaranteed to be frantic, with drivers able to overtake going into turns one, two and three after the long run on the back straight. Will all 20 drivers make it through unscathed? History suggests no...
Five drivers are on the mediums, with Leclerc confirmed on the tyres he had in Q2. He's joined by Grosjean, Russell, Kubica and Gasly, who are all looking to run deep and hope for a safety car at some stage to take advantage of a free pit stop.
There's a queu forming at the end of the pit lane, with Kubica and Raikkonen already stationed to start and Gasly leaving it as late as possible before lining up in last.
Lap 1: Hamilton gets the better start and briefly has the lead through the first corner, but in giving his teammate space it allows Bottas to get the better traction out of Turn 2 and re-take the lead.
Lap 2: Bottas is flying now and as they cross the line to start the second lap, he already has a sizeable lead. Vettel has maintained third ahead of Sainz, who has got by Verstappen to take fourth in the Racing Point. Verstappen has Norris all over him while McLaren teammate Sainz is doing the same to seventh-placed Kvyat.
Meanwhile, Leclerc has lost two places to drop to 10th.
Lap 3: Vettel is really struggling on the medium tyres and is already 5.5 seconds behind leader Bottas as DRS is enabled. Leclerc meanwhile is starting to make progress, passing Ricciardo in the Renault to take ninth. Next up is the McLaren os Sainz.
Lap 4: A bad two corners for Kvyat sees him jumped by Sainz going into Turn 1, before Leclerc follows through in Turn 2. That's the Ferrari up to eighth.
Lap 5: Just as they cross the finish line, Leclerc gets his next victim as he Ferrari blasts past the McLaren. Kvyat meanwhile is in freefall and gets jumped by Stroll, Ricciardo and his teammate Albon. His rear tyres already look in a bad state, and it could be that he;s taken the life out of them by pushing too hard early on.
Lap 6: Ooph that was tight. Verstappen lines up Perez for fourth and Perez defends as much ad legally possible, with Verstappen having to run right up against the wall before passing the Racing Point. Behind him, Leclerc makes another overtake to get by Norris for sixth. Kvyat pits at the end of the lap.
Lap 7: This is supreme stuff from Leclerc! He passes Sainz to seal his fifth overtake in five consecutive laps. Raikkonen has pitted early, and despite setting the fastest speed in excess of 350mph, he's not happy with the balance of his team.
Lap 10: Another lap, another overtake for Leclerc as he makes light work of Verstappen on the main straight to move up to fourth. Pirelli's expectation that tyres would hold on to lap 15 has proven very wrong indeed, as nearly everyone outside the top eight have pitted.
