Ricciardo wins in Azerbaijan

The 8th round of the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship - the 2017 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix started June 23 in Baku.

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix restarted today, after a series of incidents saw a red flag at the end of the 22nd lap due to debris littered across the Baku city circuit.

While Vettel's sanction saw him drop from second to ninth, he eventually recovered to extend his championship lead over Hamilton to 14 points.

The incident allowed Vettel to gain two places and run second behind Hamilton, with Sergio Perez moving up to third for Force India ahead of Max Verstappen and Raikkonen down in fifth, the Finn unamused by Bottas' move at Turn 2.

He was still giggling later on a freaky podium, Bottas had come from a lap-down to claim second while Stroll, at 18 years and 239 days became the youngest driver to make the podium in his first Formula One season. "I like to think that I remain respectful and I'll continue to do so. Just a little bit unfortunate as a team today but we still got a second and fifth, which is more team points than the Ferraris, which I think is a positive thing to take from it". "Then they said Lewis' headrest was loose, he's pitting, I was like is unreal, I am now leading this race and it's is in my hands". Then, the 29-year-old German, furiously gesticulating with both hands, pulled alongside Hamilton, before inexplicably driving into the side of his rival's auto.

It was described as "potentially dangerous" driving and in addition to the time penalty in the race he was also given three penalty points on his racing licence, taking him to a total of nine. "The rest is all just noise in the background and I don't really care for it".

Bottas kept the inside line and bounced over the kerb, pitching him into Raikkonen and pushing the Ferrari into contact with the wall.

Speaking on Britain's Channel 4 television just after the race, Hamilton went as far as to say that Vettel "disgraced himself", adding that "if he wants to prove he is a man we should do it out of the auto". But the Australian was able to move forward during the race's jockeying for position, and had moved up to 6th by the time of the race's second safety vehicle stint.

"So yeah, just went over the kerb, bottomed out, the vehicle jumped and hit him and I got a puncture". Both Vettel and Hamilton were left in deep conversation with their teams regarding their clash, with the stewards doing much the same, confirming the incident was under investigation.

Hamilton bolted early as the safety vehicle peeled in, dropping the surprised Vettel into the clutches of Perez behind.

Although they have both been racing in F1 since 2007 this is the first year in which they have both had competitive cars.

Ricciardo was then in 5th when a safety auto was called for the third time, and the race was eventually red-flagged for a brief period.

At least the chilled drink cooled him down, for when the race started at 5 p.m. local time the track temperature was still a roasting 53 degrees Celsius (127 Fahrenheit). His race took a twist when his head rest started to come loose, forcing the Briton to try to push it back down while running at 200 miles per hour on the main straight.

"I don't know why but it looked like the Safety Car driver was not driving flat out, which is a little bit unusual", Hamilton said.

After his penalty, imposed by the stewards for unsafe driving, Vettel recovered to finish fourth, one place ahead of Hamilton.

Hamilton's Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas finished second after overcoming a first-lap collision with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Canadian teenager Lance Stroll came home third to secure his first podium after being overhauled by Bottas on the line.