Formula 1®

DHL Fastest Lap Award: 2017 FORMULA 1 AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX

Sebastian Vettel takes the DHL Fastest Lap for the first time this season with a time of 1:43.441 minutes in the 2017 FORMULA 1 AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX.

DHL Fastest Lap Predictor Game

Fastest Driver Group 1: Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) - 1:43.441
Fastest Driver Group 2: Lance Stroll (Williams) - 1:45.108
Fastest Driver Group 3: Fernando Alonso (McLaren) - 1:45.168

Enter the DHL Fastest Lap Game

Sebastian Vettel takes DHL Fastest Lap in Baku

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix was once again dominated by the battle between Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton led the race from Vettel in the initial stages until the safety car came out on Lap 19 and an incident then subsequently occurred that has since provoked a lot of controversy.

Hamilton braked behind the safety car, causing Vettel to run into the Mercedes driver. An annoyed Vettel then came alongside Hamilton and rammed him. Race stewards investigated the incident and handed Vettel a ten-second stop-and-go penalty.

The road to victory should now have been free for Hamilton once more, but the Mercedes driver had to stop again without intending to. The headrest on his car had come loose, and he had to head for the pits so that his Mercedes mechanics could fix the problem.

Vettel rejoined the track in front of Hamilton after serving his penalty. Neither of the two drivers had any chance now of winning but went at it hammer and tongs instead as they fought one another, which resulted in ever faster lap times.

Vettel ultimately secured the DHL Fastest Lap with a time of 1:43.441 minutes on Lap 47 and was 0.028 seconds faster than Hamilton had been on his personal best lap. "I drove my heart out today – I gave it everything," said Hamilton, who finished fifth behind Vettel. Daniel Ricciardo won the race from Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll.

Fastest race laps: 2017 FORMULA 1 AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX

Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) on Lap 47 - 1:43.441
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) on Lap 46 - 1:43.469
Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) on Lap 51 - 1:43.925
Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) on Lap 46 - 1:44.882
Lance Stroll (Williams) on Lap 44 - 1:45.108
Fernando Alonso (McLaren) on Lap 49 - 1:45.168
Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) on Lap 44 - 1:45.542
Sergio Pérez (Force India) on Lap 37 - 1:45.588
Esteban Ocon (Force India) on Lap 39 - 1:45.634
Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso) on Lap 46 - 1:45.866

History: DHL Fastest Laps in the FORMULA 1 AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX

The race was still known as the Grand Prix of Europe when Baku first hosted Formula 1 in 2016. World champion Nico Rosberg posted the DHL Fastest Lap last year with a 1:46.485 minutes, a time that Sebastian Vettel has now beaten. The Ferrari driver set a new lap record for the Baku City Circuit.

This was Vettel's 29th fastest race lap of his career, putting him in sixth place behind Michael Schumacher (77), Kimi Räikkönen (45), Alain Prost (41), Lewis Hamilton (35) and Nigel Mansell (30).

Hamilton leads DHL Fastest Lap Award

Lewis Hamilton still leads the overall standings in the DHL Fastest Lap Award. The Mercedes driver has posted four fastest race laps this season, followed by Kimi Räikkönen with two and Sebastian Vettel and Sergio Perez with one each.

F1 racing continues at Spielberg in two weeks' time. Take part in the the DHL Fastest Lap Game! Send us your tip right away for the 2017 FORMULA 1 AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX and win great prizes!

Enter the DHL Fastest Lap Game

Posting Guidelines

All communications on Logistics of Things should be appropriate for a professional community, respecting the diverse views of individuals from different backgrounds. We will review all comments and reserve the right to terminate or restrict access to user's account and to delete any content posted through it, without notice and at our discretion, if we deem it to be overly promotional, offensive, or off topic.

All posting become property of DHL.