F1 Paddock Notebook - Azerbaijan GP Sunday

- Lewis Hamilton's victory in Baku on Sunday broke his longest F1 win drought since the start of 2016 when then-Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg took seven straight wins. Hamilton's most recent victory before today came six races ago at the United States Grand Prix.

- The result catapulted Hamilton into the lead of the drivers' championship, leading by four points from Sebastian Vettel. Kimi Raikkonen sits third on 48 points.

- Had Valtteri Bottas' tyre not failed and he won the race ahead of Hamilton and Raikkonen with Vettel fourth, just three points would have separated the top three in the standings after the opening four races. Instead, the Finn sits 30 points off the pace in the standings.

- Sergio Perez's podium finish marked both his and Force India's return to the top three for the first time since the inaugural Baku race back in 2016. It was also just the second podium to be scored by a team outside of the 'big three' since that race, the other being Lance Stroll's run to P3 in Baku last year. The result also lifted Force India from P9 to P6 in the constructors' championship.

- Haas saw another big chance for points go begging after Romain Grosjean's spin into the wall behind the Safety Car while running P6. Kevin Magnussen sustained significant damage to his car early on after a clash with Marcus Ericsson, and was P13 at the finish after a late run-in with Pierre Gasly.

- Gasly was left fuming by the clash, with the on-board footage yet to have been released publicly. Gasly suggested Magnussen deserved to have six points added to his Super Licence. Magnussen received a 10-second time penalty for the clash and two penalty points, taking him to eight for the 12-month period.

- A litany of stewards' notices were called post-race, including three drivers under investigation for misusing DRS manually when the system failed for the entire grid nearing half-distance. Perez, Stroll and Magnussen were all deemed not to have gained an advantage and cleared of wrong-doing.

- Kimi Raikkonen and Esteban Ocon also had to face the stewards after the race over their clash on Lap 1 that left Ocon in the wall and out of the race. The stewards deemed neither driver to be wholly responsible, putting it down as a racing incident.

- Red Bull suffered its second double-DNF of the season after Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo's clash, costing the team a possible 22 points in the constructors' championship. The team still runs P3, but has just half as many points as Mercedes in second now, with Ferrari returning to the top thanks to its double-score.

- Charles Leclerc scored Sauber's best result since Russia 2015 with an impressive run to sixth, bagging his maiden F1 points in the process. Brendon Hartley also grabbed his first F1 point after finishing 10th, benefitting from the late drama.

- Williams got off the board for 2018 thanks to Stroll's run to P8. Teammate Sergey Sirotkin was hit with a grid penalty for Spain for hitting Perez on the opening lap, with a clash with Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg moments later eliminating the Russian from the race.

- Sirotkin is now one of just two drivers yet to score a point this season, the other being Romain Grosjean.