Formula 1 talking points: Hamilton needs consistency in Azerbaijan

Lewis Hamilton has demonstrated, with his three victories in China, Spain and Canada so far this season that he is fast enough to win a fourth world drivers’ title this season with Mercedes-GP.

What could end up costing him the championship is consistency, or rather lack of it.

Before his victory in Spain in May was a poor performance in Russia where he was unable to get a good set-up on his car and was well of the pace as he finished fourth.

Likewise in Monaco, after Spain, he again struggled, qualifying in the midfield and finishing a distant seventh.

He now goes to Baku with the momentum of his triumph in Montreal, and it is important that he continues his impressive form if he is to make further in-roads into Sebastian Vettel’s 12-point lead in the standings.

The long start-finish straight in Baku is unlikely to suit the Red Bull Racing cars, whose Renault engine still lacks horsepower compared to Mercedes and Ferrari.

That is unlikely to improve the mood of Max Verstappen, who has scored just 10 points from his past three races.

The Dutch teenager is driving well, he has out-qualified his more experienced teammate Daniel Ricciardo at those past three events in Spain, Monaco and Canada, but a collision with Kimi Raikkonen in Barcelona, coming off worse in a strategy gamble in Monte Carlo, and then a car failure in Montreal have not given him the rewards his speed deserves.

A podium finish will be a tall order on Sunday, but getting to the chequered flag ahead of Ricciardo and scoring a good haul of points will ease his frustration.

Twelve months ago was arguably Sergio Perez’s finest hour in F1 to date.

The Force India driver qualified second quickest in Azerbaijan, though he started seventh due to a grid penalty, and then finished third on raw pace.

Perez came underfire in Canada two weeks ago after blocking his teammate Esteban Ocon, who was on fresher tyres, in the closing laps of the race, with Force India missing out on a podium opportunity.

Perez will not be personally fussed that Ocon did not get the podium, what he will have been bothered about was that Ocon was visibly quicker throughout the race.

The Mexican will want to re-establish his dominance over his younger teammate, and a repeat of last year’s performance would go down very nicely.

One driver under real pressure this weekend is Renault’s Jolyon Palmer.

The Briton has struggled to get anywhere near the pace of his German teammate Nico Hulkenberg all season and his average deficit to him in qualifying is more than a second - a vast margin in the world of F1.

There is speculation the 2014 GP2 champion could be replaced, possibly as soon as after Sunday’s race, and what he desperately needs is to be more competitive compared to Hulkenberg

this weekend and to ideally break his points duck in 2017 and get on the board to prove to Renault that he can still be a force in F1.