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Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2023

The one-year anniversary that does not reflect well on F1

30 April 2024 marks a year to the day since the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but it is a more significant anniversary than just that...

Baku 23
Article
To news overview © XPBimages

One year ago today was the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - a race won by Red Bull's Sergio Perez, who led home team-mate Max Verstappen for a third one-two finish in the opening four rounds of the season.

Interestingly, the duo would only achieve three more such finishes in the remaining 18 rounds of the year, but that is not the central focus of this unwanted anniversary.

30 April 2024 marks one year since an F1 driver other than Max Verstappen or Carlos Sainz won a grand prix.

In that time, 23 grand prix have been held, with the Dutchman claiming victory in 21 of them - leaving the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix and this season's Australian Grand Prix to the Ferrari driver.

It is a record that not only shows Red Bull's dominance, but also Verstappen's stranglehold on the championship as well.

Does it say more about Perez than it does about F1?

It perhaps reflects even more poorly on Sergio Perez than it does on F1, but with the Mexican starting the current year in strong form, his next grand prix victory is surely coming sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately for him, the next round of the season is the Miami Grand Prix - a race last year that saw him beaten by his team-mate, despite starting on pole with Verstappen lining up in ninth.

That was the beginning of the run that saw only three more one-two finishes for Red Bull in the subsequent 18 grand prix, even though Verstappen won 17 of those race.

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