You can't beat a bit of verbal to get Formula One onto the back pages. For all the closeness of competition between Mercedes and Ferrari this year and the accompanying matey banter between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, 'Man likes Man' stories do not sell newspapers. The Azerbaijan Grand Prix coverage proves it.
Despite strong stories from international rugby and cricket, the post-Baku tale makes the lead on all sports pages, with 'Road Rage' being the obvious and popular theme. The interesting thing is that journalistic opinion is thin on the ground, if only because quotes from the main players tend to speak for themselves, specifically, the view of the race stewards and the penalty handed down to Vettel for his part in the collision. 'Guilty as Charged' would seem to sum up the written media judgement.
There is one exception. In the Daily Mail, Jonathan McEvoy adds a withering commentary to the report by Joe Downes, McEvoy describing the stewards as "cowardly" and suggesting Vettel should have been black-flagged. "I'm a big admirer of Hamilton, though not an uncritical one, and I absolve him of all blame," writes McEvoy, who draws a parallel with Michael Schumacher's controversial 'crash' during qualifying at Monaco in 2006 when his stalled Ferrari interfered with Fernando Alonso's final attempt to win pole.
A more light-hearted comparison in The Sun refers to the Grand Prix as 'Wacky Baku' and F1's version of the Wacky Races. The clash between Hamilton and Vettel was also a good excuse to list previous 'F1 bust-ups', leading with Nelson Piquet's physical attack on Eliseo Salazar at Hockenheim in 1982.
Hamilton and Vettel didn't speak to each other, never mind coming to blows, during the red flag period on Sunday, each driver wisely holding their comments until the race had finished. Hamilton branding his rival a "disgrace" received the widest coverage.
A spread inside The Guardian gives detail analysis with a range of photographs, including the damning head-on image of the Ferrari at an angle to the Mercedes as Vettel gestures and makes his views known. Giles Richards respectfully remembered as early as the third paragraph that the race was actually won by Daniel Ricciardo (unlike The Times, which did not mention the victor until the 20th paragraph but made up for it in part by being one of the few papers to pay tribute to Lance Stroll's performance). Richards perhaps summed up the effect of the Baku bash best when he described the championship as "suddenly developing a ferocious edge".
The actual mechanics of one F1 star driving into another may not, as many reports agree, send out a good example to young drivers. But, rightly or wrongly, a ferocious edge seems to be good for F1 business.