Renault: its best result since 2011

Carlos Sainz Jr was behind his teammate Nico Hulkenberg since the start of the season, but the son of the double champion WRC shined brilliantly last weekend at the Azerbaijan GP by taking fifth place on the streets of Baku.

Starting from ninth position, the driver Renault climbed to the edge of the provisional podium before his first stop. The Spaniard subsequently moved up the places in the Top 10 to finish in fifth place and offer Renault its best result since the return of the Losange to the discipline in 2016. The French manufacturer had no longer placed a car in the first five since Vitaly Petrov's fifth place at the 2011 Canadian GP in Montreal.

“The race was full of twists and turns, as you can always expect in Baku, recalled Carlos Sainz Jr who climbed to tenth place in the Championship with one point ahead of Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso). I got off to a very good start which allowed me to gain several places. We were fighting against the Red Bull at the start of the test. »

“My pit stop was a bit depressing as I went from fighting for third position to fighting to get back into the points,” pointed out the Spaniard.

His teammate Nico Hülkenberg was less successful since the winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2015 dropped out after making a mistake.

Discover the analysis of the Azerbaijan GP carried out by our special correspondents in AUTO issue 2163hebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from this Thursday on newsstands.