Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Ricciardo rampant after red flag drama

The safety car played a huge role in the first third of the race, deployed three times in quick succession because of errant cars, their subsequent debris, and then a knock between the Force Indias. Lewis Hamilton, leading the pack, wasn't happy with the speed he was being forced to follow.

The Brit and Sebastian Vettel had a duel, necessitating some work for the stewards and an eventual ten-second stop-go penalty for the Ferrari...

...before Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon had their coming together.

And then the red flag came out because of the amount of detritus on the track.

After the road was clear and all the cars were put together again, it was Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull who benefited on his fresh super-softs, slipping nicely into the lead and driving a sensible race from the front. He had worked magnificently to get to that position, though, having started in 10th. Valtteri Bottas came in second, beating Williams' Lance Stroll at the death by millimetres.

And everyone knows what a Ricciardo podium means...it means a shoey. Rookie Stroll was the brave volunteer this time.

Two stars out of five. His road-rage battle with Vettel kept things interesting, as did the spell he had when driving with his headrest loose, which meant he had to pit. Coming back in midway down the pack, he had plenty of overtaking to do, and still managed to clock the fastest lap of the day. It wasn't enough to get him on to the podium, though, trailing in fifth, behind his Ferrari rival as well as his team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

Hamilton took time out of leading the race to offer his advice to race director Charlie Whiting about how best to discipline Vettel.

Daniel Ricciardo had a horrible start to his race, picking up debris from the early collisions that blocked his brake ducts. He got himself up the field quickly, though, most impressively with a double overtake on both the Toro Rossos to move into 13th place.

Mind, he did pretty well after the red flag restart as well, scything past three other cars to move up to the podium places, and then to the front and the win.

Let's give the nod to the McLaren tag-teaming in Lap 4 - both cars even managed to finish the race, imagine! Stoffel Vandoorne led the way down the straight past the Sauber of Pascal Wehrlein, and Fernando Alonso followed. Imagine the Honda engines outstripping the Ferraris.

Difficult to attribute anything to tactics in a race that was so intermittent and with so many clips and collisions.

Hats off to Carlos Sainz, who drove steadily and stayed out of trouble for a creditable eighth.

Jolyon Palmer cannot get his car round this track. After the engine fire earlier in the weekend, his Renault couldn't even crawl into the pits when it conked out on Lap 9, with marshals having to give him a helpful shove back to the garage.

The Black-Eyed Peas popped in to help Red Bull's mechanics out.

And Mariah Carey also paid them a visit. No word if she had a go at leading the crew on a pit stop.