You know it wasn’t the most eventful of Formula 1 races when the highlight of the event is the host nation’s national anthem; however, following the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, that was the case.
Sunday’s race was labelled by most F1 fans as the worst of the season so far, with little overtaking having taken place around the streets of the Baku City Circuit.
This was largely due to tyre preservation being key as well as the drivers struggling to follow each other, something which has been a pressing issue once again this year.
Sergio Perez ultimately claimed a fairly comfortable victory, after inheriting the lead from Max Verstappen after the Mexican was able to pit during a Safety Car.
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Verstappen pitted moments before the Safety Car was summoned, meaning Perez was able to overtake the 25-year-old through a cheap pit-stop after pitting on the following lap, when the Safety Car had been released.
The result saw Verstappen’s championship lead reduce to just six points ahead of this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix, another venue where the Austrians will be expected to claim a 1-2.
With little action having taken place, Azerbaijan’s national anthem was the star of the show, after it was brilliantly performed by local singer Aisel le ahead of the Grand Prix.
Her rendition of “the March of Azerbaijan” went down a treat on social media, with one fan on Twitter having admitted that “one thing was fully confirmed this weekend … the national anthem of Azerbaijan is an absolute banger.”
“The Azerbaijan anthem didn’t need to go this hard,” added another.
Azerbaijan is, of course, a former Soviet state, with the country not boasting the greatest of human rights records.
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One fan did recognise how the Grand Prix could be regarded as sportswashing, something F1 has been accused of several times in recent years especially in regard to having races in the Middle East.
At the same time, though, even they had to share that the country’s “national anthem is hauntingly beautiful”.
“I know that F1 racing in Baku is problematic and as a country Azerbaijan infringes on human rights like it’s their job, but their national anthem is hauntingly beautiful,” the user said.