F1 2019 live stream: Azerbaijan Grand Prix start time, TV schedule, and. how to watch online Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes trails his teammate in the 2019 Drivers’ Championship, but he has another pole position going into Sunday’s Formula One Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The race is set to begin bright and early at 8 a.m. ET on ESPN2. It will also be live streamed via WatchESPN, ESPN App, and F1 TV Pro.
Bottas finished just ahead of Lewis Hamilton, his teammate, while Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari once again has the third spot on the grid. Charles Leclerc of Ferrari failed to set a time after a qualifying crash, and will have to start from ninth on the grid. Carlos Sainz Jr. is behind Leclerc at 10th.
“I deserve what happened today,” Leclerc told Sky. “I am very, very sad for what happened but I deserve it. I’ve been stupid as I said on the radio. I calmed down but I still think I’ve been stupid, this doesn’t change.”
Leclerc felt he had a chance at pole position, and now will have some real overtaking to do to catch up to his teammate, let alone the two Mercedes cars.
After Vettel, as usual, is Max Verstappen of Red Bull. The other Red Bull, though, will have to start the race from the pit lane after missing the weigh bridge in practice. That’s the car of Pierre Gasly, who also took a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change and was excluded from qualifying for exceeding the maximum fuel flow limit.
Instead of Gasly, it will be Sergio Perez of Racing Point behind Verstappen. Daniil Kvyat of Toro Rosso, Lando Norris of McLaren and Kimi Raikkonen of Alfa Romeo round out the rest of the top 10 from qualifying.
Mercedes utilized a tactic in the third qualifying session that they believe won qualifying for them. They sent their cars out near the end of the session and as usual, Vettel followed suit. But they stopped at the end of the pit lane and let Vettel and the rest of the pack go by, getting clear — and cooler — track at the back.
“The tow effect is massive,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said. “Between minimum tow following other cars within a few seconds, which can gain you between one and three tenths, and the mother-of-all-tows that can gain you around Baku maybe six tenths, it is a real disadvantage. Cars in front of you that cut a hole in the air is really good around here and advantageous. “o it was a double whammy: [Vettel] was out [by] himself, no tow, and the ambient temperatures and track temperatures came towards us.
