In Pictures: 2023 Azerbaijan
Formula 1 arrived in Azerbaijan for the first race after a long spring break and the first of six Sprint Weekends of 2023. This was the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix…
This year, the Sprint format has been modified, trying to spice up the concept. There was only one practice session on Friday, followed by the first of two Qualifying sessions, this one to set the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix. Then on Saturday, the Sprint Race Qualifying early on, followed by the Sprint Race. On Sunday the Grand Prix. In other words, Saturday became a whole new unrelated event, except for the respective championship points awarded.
FRIDAY
FP1
Busy session as it was the only practice for the whole weekend. A few minutes into the session, Carlos Sainz clipped the wall but not hard enough, so he kept going with the practice. A few minutes later, Pierre Gasly’s Alpine caught fire! bringing out the first Red Flag of the weekend.
The session resumed with 32 mins on the clock.
And as fast as it started, it was over. Max Verstappen set the fastest time with a 1:42.315 lap, closely followed by Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari. A bit further back were Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz, and Lando Norris, the Top-Five.
QUALIFYING (Grand Prix)
Q1
The clouds, literally, covered the city and thus, it began… Seventeen cars came out on track immediately, with the other three coming out just a bit later, so it was twenty cars on track for the first flying laps around Baku. Then, the first red flag as Nick de Vries crashed his AlphaTauri at turn 3. He was set to be the last car to set a timed lap but carried too much speed into the turn.
Qualifying resumed with 10:17 left on the clock. And before we could get a new timed lap from anyone, Pierre Gasly clipped the wall at Turn 3, damaging his recently repaired Alpine, another Red Flag. Somewhere else on track, Carlos Sainz spun his Ferrari without any damage to it.
Once the barrier was repaired and the Alpine recovered, qualifying resumed, and in the end, it was Charles Leclerc the fastest, followed by Verstappen and Alonso. At the other end of the table, it was Zhou Guanyu, Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen, Pierre Gasly, and Nick de Vries not going on to Q2.
Q2
Fifteen drivers fighting for one of the available ten spots in the next round. And after some magnificent swaps between Verstappen and Leclerc for the top of the charts, it was the Dutchman setting the pace. Eliminated were George Russell, Esteban Ocon, Alex Albon, Valtteri Bottas, and Logan Sargeant.
Q3
And then there were ten… The first round of timed laps ended with Verstappen and Leclerc doing the exact same time! A 1:40.445… Wow… And after the second round was over, it was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc taking Pole Position, his third at Baku, 2021, 2022, and now 2023. Next came Verstappen, Perez, Sainz, Hamilton, Alonso, Norris, Tsunoda, Stroll, and Piastri.
Fantastic, dramatic, chaotic, and thrilling Qualifying at Azerbaijan.
SATURDAY
It was all about Sprint Saturday at Baku. The day was glorious, not too warm, not too cool.
SHOOTOUT (Sprint Qualifying)
There were many changes to the Sprint Qualifying called Shootout. Every driver must use new mediums in SQ1, new mediums in SQ2, and new softs in SQ3. But before cars started, it was known that Lando Norris and Yuki Tsunoda had no new softs so they couldn't take part in SQ3, no matter where they finished in SQ2.
SQ1
Everyone came out as soon as possible in this twelve-minute-long session. It went rather calm as the twenty cars were on track until Logan Sargeant, who was eleventh fastest at the time, found the wall at turn 15, destroying his Williams, and with just 25 seconds on the clock, the session was not resumed. Out were Zhou, Bottas, Tsunoda, Gasly, and De Vries.
SQ2
The start of the ten-minute second round of Shootout was delayed just a bit while the Williams was recovered, and the barrier repaired. Eliminated were Piastri, Hulkenberg, Ocon, Magnussen, and the already out Logan Sargeant.
SQ3
The final Sprint Shootout was an eight-minute-long session where everyone used the mandated soft tires, but since Norris had no soft tires left, he wasn’t ’t able to take part, so, in the end, there were nine fighting for the top spot.
The slipstream is so strong in the main straight that many cars bunched up behind Perez for the last round of laps. Then, Leclerc, who had set the fastest lap at the time, went straight at Turn 5 and found the wall, breaking the front wing on his Ferrari, ruining Carlos Sainz last dash. In the end, his lap was enough to claim P1, ahead of Sergio Perez, Max Verstappen, George Russell, Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton, Alex Albon, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, and Lando Norris.
SPRINT RACE
8 points for the winner with the top-eight earning points towards the championship. The 17-lap long race started with Leclerc defending from Perez, and a very aggressive George Russell forcing his way through into third. A lap later, Yuki Tsunoda touched the wall, damaging his AlphaTauri. VSC was deployed to clean up debris on track. Tsunoda was able to get to his pit box and change tires and front wing, going back onto the track, but clearly, his car was damaged beyond repair. Safety Car was then deployed, and on lap 6, racing resumed.
And after the race was finished, it was Sergio Perez winning the Sprint Race, followed by Charles Leclerc, and Max Verstappen. After them came Russell, Sainz, Alonso, Hamilton, and Stroll the Top-Eight.
It was interesting to see the subdued celebrations (or lack of them) from the top three finishers and their respective teams. Verstappen has been very vocal on how he dislikes the Sprint concept.
Did you enjoy Saturday’s event?
SUNDAY
Since the race was two and a half hours earlier than the Sprint, it was warmer, and many drivers wore cooling vests under their suits.
Everyone started the race on Mediums, except De Vries, Ocon, and Hulkenberg on Hards.
The race started with a brave Charles Leclerc defending from the Red Bulls of Verstappen and Perez, but the RB19s proved too much for the Ferrari, especially with DRS and by lap 6, Leclerc was third, with leaders Verstappen and Perez pulling away at a blistering pace from the rest of the field and trading Fastest Laps between themselves.
On Lap 10, Nick de Vries clipped the wall at Turn 5, stopping his AlphaTauri at Turn 6 with damaged front suspension, bringing out the first Safety Car of the race.
Those who hadn’t pitted yet, dove into the pits for an almost free tire change. The order now was Perez, leading from Leclerc, Verstappen, Sainz, and Alonso the Top-5.
On Lap 14, the race resumed, and a charging Verstappen overtook Leclerc for second, and Alonso doing the same on Sainz for fourth.
The rest of the Grand Prix saw a few good overtakes, but in the end, it was the Mexican street fighter Sergio Perez winning the Azerbaijan Grand Prix for the second time in his career. Max Verstappen finished second and Charles Leclerc third, first podium for Ferrari this season. George Russell in eighth place had a big enough gap to Norris in ninth to come into the pits and get fresh softs, allowing him to claim the Fastest Lap point on the last lap of the race.
Funny interaction in the cool-down room:
Charles: “What lap times were you doing at the end?" Max: "34, but you were quite quick at the end." Charles to Checo: "Do you want your [P1] seat?" Checo: "No, it's good." Charles: "Let me have it, at least the seat!"