The joker McLaren holds over Max Verstappen with vital Azerbaijan GP advantage

McLaren holds a major strategic advantage over the rest of the
leading contenders for victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Max
Verstappen was able to keep his head whilst all about him were
losing theirs in the chaotic qualifying to land a sixth pole of the
season – as McLaren will start seventh and ninth following Lando
Norris's poor final lap and Oscar Piastri's crash.  But heading
into the 51-lap race, McLaren, which is expected to come through
the field, holds a key advantage over Verstappen.  Both Norris and
Piastri have at their disposal a brand-new set of the C5 medium
compound tyres, which have proven to be strong throughout the
weekend, with some drivers even prefering them to the softer C6
tyre in qualifying.  Pirelli's prediction for the race is a simple
one-stop strategy with drivers either taking medium-hard or
hard-medium.  For the McLarens, this second strategy could prove
more beneficial of running long on the hards and hoping for a
safety car around the time of the Lap 29-35 pit-window, and
swapping to their new set of mediums.  Lewis Hamilton has two new
sets of mediums as well, and as he didn't make Q3, also has a new
set of C6 tyres available, but unless there is a restart with less
than 10 laps to go, they are unlikely to be used. Check out the
full strategy prediction and tyre sets available below!