BAKU, Azerbaijan — Lewis Hamilton took his first victory of the season at a dramatic and chaotic Azerbaijan Grand Prix after a collision between the Red Bulls resulted in a late Safety Car period and turned the race on its head.
Sebastian Vettel looked set for a comfortable victory for the majority of the race, but the Safety Car changed everything. Bottas, who had yet to pit up until that point, inherited the lead as Vettel and Hamilton, who had pitted earlier and were therefore behind him on track, also took on new tyres for a four-lap dash to the flag.
As the race restarted, Vettel attempted to pass Bottas to retake the lead into Turn 1 but went too deep and conceded places to Hamilton and teammate Kimi Raikkonen. One lap later and race leader Bottas hit some debris on the pit straight, causing a left rear puncture that took him out of the race two corners later.
It was then Hamilton’s turn to inherit the lead and he crossed the finish line 2.460s ahead of Raikkonen in second. Sergio Perez pulled an overtaking move on Vettel in the closing stages to take third for Force India, leaving the Ferrari off the podium.
Vettel finished fourth ahead of Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, Stoffel Vandoorne and Brendon Hartley.
More to follow
http://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/23354543/lewis-hamilton-claims-stunning-win-thrilling-baku-finish
