F1: Nico Rosberg wins Baku GP to extend championship lead

Mercedes-Benz driver Nico Rosberg has successfully managed to extend his lead for the world championship title this year, after winning the inaugural grand prix in Azerbaijan. Rosberg's team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who was continuously narrowing his lead on the championship charts from the last couple of races, only managed to secure the fifth spot, after suffering some engine mode setting issues with his car.

Rosberg led the race from the first corner to the checkered flag, without any significant challenge from any of his fellow drivers. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton started from position 10 after what he claims was his 'worst qualifying session' at the European GP. But the British F1 racing driver soon started picking up positions, and was able to reach the fourth place after just 11 laps. But since Hamilton was still on the same set of tyres that he had damaged by locking up in Q2, the Mercedes-Benz started facing vibration related issues and thus could not pass Force India's Sergio Perez who was on third.

After both Hamilton and Perez made a pit stop, the Mercedes driver started suffering some problems with the engine setting. Moreover, due to new radio restrictions enforced in this year's Formula 1 season, the team couldn’t really help him get out of the incorrect mode setting. Mercedes later clarified that the issue was related to a setting configuration which was not working properly, and it wasn't the driver's fault. Interestingly, Nico Rosberg too suffered a similar issue during the race, but managed to get out of the culprit mode setting soon.

On the other hand, Hamilton rectified the issue with just 10 laps remaining. He did try to speed up a bit after that, and even clocked the fastest first sector time of the race. But with just a few laps remaining, the British driver decided to cruise comfortably to a fifth position finish.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel secured the second spot for his second consecutive race, while Force India's Sergio Perez came in third after overtaking Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari in the final lap. Williams' Valtteri Bottas came sixth, ahead of the Red Bull duo of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen. Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and Williams’ Felipe Massa completed the top ten.

After the Baku GP, the driver rankings are as follows:
1. Nico Rosberg - 141 points
2. Lewis Hamilton - 117 points
3. Sebastian Vettel - 96 points