We are done and dusted with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and it was a special one for the FIA as it is the first Sprint Weekend of the year. Adding to that, a new weekend format was introduced.
RACE CLASSIFICATION
Checo ❤️ Baku#AzerbaijanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/OUSjtFKz4u
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 30, 2023
Sergio Perez took the chequered flag after 51 laps of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. It was a crucial win for Perez in his battle for the Championship with his teammate, Max Verstappen.
Charles Leclerc secures pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
After just 1 practice session on Friday morning, the drivers took part in the qualifying session on the same day. A lot of fans were wondering how some drivers will tackle the narrow streets of Baku after just 1 practice session, especially the rookies, Nyck de Vries and Logan Sargeant.
A few minutes into Q1 and we saw the first Red Flag of the session when the rookie Nyck de Vries showed his inexperience in a Formula 1 car and went into the wall. Soon after the session restarted another Red Flag was brought out as Pierre Gasly in the Alpine took himself out of contention by going into the wall.
🚩 RED FLAG 🚩
De Vries into the barriers #AzerbaijanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/yHvO9wDIQ9
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 28, 2023
Frustration for Gasly and Alpine 😖
When we restart they’ll be just seven-and-a-half minutes remaining in Q1 #AzerbaijanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/GLvWxDPy9r
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 28, 2023
The end of Q3 saw Zhou Guanyu, and both the Haas cars along with the 2 drivers with DNFs at the bottom 5, preventing them to proceed. Logan Sargeant, however, was able to scrape through to Q2 for the first time in his career.
As Q2 started, Ferrari started showing their qualifying pace as Leclerc posted a few fastest sectors, especially in sector 2. Surprisingly, George Russell showed a poor performance in Q2 which led to him getting knocked out by his teammate by 4 thousandths of a second. The session also saw Yuki Tsunoda get into Q3 for the first time this season.
QUALIFYING CLASSIFICATION
What a session! 🤩#AzerbaijanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/CBs0CXrFcT
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 28, 2023
The final qualifying session was proving to be an exciting one as Ferrari had finally come to challenge the Red Bulls. In the first runs in Q3, Leclerc, and Verstappen posted the exact same time. As the final runs of qualifying started, Leclerc posted an incredible lap to take pole position at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and beat Max Verstappen by almost 2-tenths of the second.
The first-ever Sprint Shootout
For those who are not aware, the Sprint Shootout is a similar format to the original qualifying, except Q1 will be for 12 minutes, Q2 for 10 minutes, and Q3 for 8 minutes. It is basically a shortened version of the original Qualifying session.
🚩 RED FLAG 🚩
It’s a big hit for Logan Sargeant! 😩
Sargeant is OK, but it’s a devastating end to what was looking like a promising Sprint Shootout for the rookie!
SQ1 will not be resumed#AzerbaijanGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/F0QLifhNWv
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 29, 2023
As the session started, both Alpha Tauris, Bottas, and Gasly posted poor times on the board. Going into the final runs, Logan Sargeant lost control of the car and took himself out of the shootout. He was quick to blame the Ferraris saying that they were blocking his way, however, no investigation was initiated by the FIA.
The red flag caused by the incident meant that the bottom 5 could not improve their time. Sargeant did make his way out of SQ1 but was not able to take part in SQ2.
SPRINT SHOOTOUT CLASSIFICATION
Charles Leclerc takes the top spot with the Bulls rounding up the Top 3! #AzerbaijanGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/BfN3mVVwZY
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 29, 2023
SQ3 saw Charles Leclerc post a good time on the board during his first lap but crashed into the wall in his second lap. Luckily for Leclerc, the first lap was good enough to secure the top spot on the grid for the Sprint race.
The Verstappen-Russell drama
As the first Sprint Race of the weekend was underway at Azerbaijan, Leclerc had a good start maintaining his position. But behind him, Max Verstappen was battling with George Russell who was trying to overtake him on the inside. The Red Bull and the Mercedes clashed as they have multiple times before, resulting in George Russell taking 3rd place and a huge hole on Max Verstappen’s left sidepod.
SPRINT LAP 1/17
Russell tries to send it round the inside of Verstappen at Turn 1!
The two seem to tangle but continue on! #AzerbaijanGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/vJvdqBpHP0
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 29, 2023
As this was happening, a few meters behind, Yuki Tsunoda and his teammate were having their own battle which led to Tsunoda losing his right rear tire. Although the team tried to repair the car and send him out again, there was damage to the driveshaft forcing Tsunoda to retire. This and the debris from Verstappen’s car brought out an early safety car.
SPRINT LAP 1/17
⚠️ VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR ⚠️
Tsunoda hits the wall and loses his right rear tyre! 😩#AzerbaijanGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/aZWMp3eHQX
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 29, 2023
As the race restarted, Verstappen was able to take back 3rd place from George Russell despite the damage in his car. A few laps later Sergio Perez overtook Charles Leclerc for the lead of the Sprint Race. Leclerc was able to stay close enough to Perez to use the tow to stay in front of Verstappen.
George and Max have a tense post-Sprint debrief over their Lap 1 contact 😅#AzerbaijanGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/TjtwOyu5ff
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 29, 2023
🏁 SPRINT CLASSIFICATION 🏁
Sergio Perez takes victory in the Baku Sprint 🏆#AzerbaijanGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/tdeXX74q9H
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 29, 2023
Max Verstappen was not happy about the contact George had with him as it slowed him down a lot. The two drivers exchanged a few not-so-pretty words after the race.
The “king of the streets strikes again” at Azerbaijan
As we head on to the main race of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, let us keep in mind that the Sprint race and Shootout do not affect the grid for the race on Sunday. The grid for the main race is determined by the Qualifying session which took place on Friday.
As the race started with Leclerc on pole, he was able to maintain the lead going into the first few corners. But he was not able to build a big enough gap in the opening laps to avoid Verstappen behind him from using his DRS to overtake.
Verstappen was 𝟯𝟬 𝗸𝗺/𝗵 faster than Leclerc when he breezed past 😳 pic.twitter.com/ZIpb2Oen1h
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) April 30, 2023
Sooner than later we saw Perez overtake Leclerc as well, making it a Red Bull 1-2. Most of the cars on the grid started the race on medium tires which proved to have an unexpectedly short life. We saw cars start to come into the pits by lap 10.
After a couple of cars had already pitted for fresh hard tires, Nyck de Vries once again made contact with the wall taking himself out of the race and bringing out the safety car. Unfortunately, just before the safety car came out, we saw Verstappen pit for hard tires. Perez and Leclerc pitted under the safety car and came out in front of Max Verstappen.
LAP 10/51
De Vries has ground to a halt. The Dutchman’s out!
⚠️ @MercedesAMG SAFETY CAR ⚠️#AzerbaijanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/CnEOcTtg3m
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 30, 2023
As the safety car came into the pits, Sergio Perez was able to keep Leclerc behind him, but Leclerc was not able to do the same with Max Verstappen. Verstappen overtook Leclerc going into turn 3.
The Safety Car restart also saw an exceptional overtake from Fernando Alonso on Carlos Sainz in a corner where we do not see many overtakes. This was probably one of the better overtakes of the season so far.
LAP 14/51
We are racing again and Alonso sneaks past Sainz down the inside at Turn 6
What a move! 💪#AzerbaijanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/QjBIJnepFn
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 30, 2023
The following laps saw the Red Bulls peel away from the rest of the grid. Fans were expecting a battle for the lead between Perez and Verstappen, but the Mexican was able to keep his teammate 2 seconds behind him for the entirety of the race.
The rest of the race went smoothly without any major incidents or overtakes. However, we did see a few cars face some oversteer including the Red Bulls.
Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon both started the race in medium tires and were able to stay on the track without pitting until the last couple of laps in the race. Before they pitted, they were running in the points but had to pit as per the regulations.
The onboard footage from Esteban Ocon’s near miss in the pitlane 😳 pic.twitter.com/OqyKq79nFj
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) April 30, 2023
Esteban Ocon pitted at the very last lap of the race at which time, the track officials were already setting up the pit lane for the podium. There were even some officials placing barricades to block the pitlane. It was a close call for the officials in the pit lane as they were able to move out of the way of Ocon just in time. The commentators on Sky Sports called it “absolute shambles”.
Sergio Perez proved himself to be the “king of the streets” once again as he took the chequered flag and won another Street Race at Baku.
Six points separate Max and Checo after Baku 👀#AzerbaijanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/MugPSKZhj5
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 30, 2023
We now head to the United States for the Miami Grand Prix next weekend. The championship battle between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez is slowly gaining momentum with just 6 points between the two. Let’s see how much of a threat Perez can pose to Max Verstappen this season.