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" While the FIA has come under significant pressure for scheduling any sort of race during Le Mans weekend, let alone one at a questionably-designed track with an unproven and controversial host, the first-ever European Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan was a surprising\u00A0success. While many expected the narrow and untested track to produce many incidents and safety cars, as it had earlier in the weekend in support races, the race would instead be just the second all year to go without any sort of full-course interruption. The race itself wasn&amp;#039;t exactly one to remember, thanks in no small part to an again-massive Mercedes advantage over the field, durable tires that allowed most to stop only once\u00A0and a flawless drive by Nico Rosberg, but the clean race, free of any major logistical issues, was a rousing victory for the hosts of a debuting Grand Prix in an era where debuting races have been littered with issues. Behind Rosberg, the day&amp;#039;s main drama came from teammate Lewis Hamilton, who had to fight from 10th on the grid after a disastrous crash in qualifying. He would move up to fifth in the first ten laps, but could progress no further, and would have to settle for fifth. While the middling finish lost him fifteen points to championship rival Nico Rosberg, the once-massive gap between the two is still just 24 points, and if Hamilton were to win and Rosberg were to retire in the next race, Hamilton would take the championship lead immediately. The poor start for one of the two dominant cars in the field opened a spot on the podium to Sergio Perez, who was bumped from his second-place start by a five-spot grid penalty but still fought back to an impressive third for Sahara Force India\u00A0behind Ferrari&amp;#039;s Sebastian Vettel. It&amp;#039;s just the fourth podium in the history of the program but notably, their second in two races. Kimi Raikkonen put in a respectful but unimpressive performance in fourth for Ferrari on a day when they a significant speed disadvantage to the Mercedes entries but\u00A0had more to show than anyone else, while Valtteri Bottas would come in sixth for Williams ahead of front row starter Daniel Ricciardo and his teammate Max Verstappen. With Force India driver\u00A0Nico Hulkenburg and Williams pilot Felipe Massa rounding out the top ten, just five teams would score points. After a strangely tight Canada-to-Asia\u00A0back-to-back that many inferred to be an intentional clash with Le Mans in response to an active driver winning the race overall last year, the series takes a week off before reconvening in Austria at the former A1 Ring in the first week of July. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/news/a29629/nico-rosberg-wins-in-azerbaijan/>