IN an unusual race of who’s who in the zoo, Daniel Ricciardo came out tops at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, beating the front runners.
The other surprise was young Lance Stroll, in the Williams, who earned his first podium after just being beaten to second position by Valtteri Bottas at the flag.
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The race featured no less than three safety car periods and one red flag stoppage, which all added to the surprise result.
Earlier, Lewis Hamilton had led Sebastian Vettel and they had a controversial coming together during the safety car period when Hamilton brake-tested Vettel.
The fiery Ferrari driver then tried bumping Hamilton in return and was penalised for unsafe driving. It was a spectacular and drama-packed event.
After being demoted, behind the top three of Ricciardo, Bottas and Stroll, came Vettel and Hamilton in fourth and fifth places while Esteban Ocon drove another good race in his Force India into sixth position.
He was followed closely by Kevin Magnussen in the Haas and Fernando Alonso, another 10 seconds further back, in an improved McLaren Honda.
Pascal Wehrlein was in the final point scoring position in his Sauber.
This was Ricciardo’s fifth victory in what he described as a crazy race around what I call a crazy track, which is less forgiving than Monaco in parts.
It is pre-destined to have safety car periods because of the unusual nature of the track and lack of run-off area.
As we approach halfway in the season before going to Austria in a fortnight’s time the point position is as follows: Top 6: 1 Sebastian Vettel 153 pts; 2 Lewis Hamilton 139 pts; 3 Valtteri Bottas 111 pts; 4 Daniel Ricciardo 92 pts; 5 Kimi Raikkonen 73 pts; 6 Max Verstappen 45 pts.
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