Azerbaijan Sprint Race Reaction
Image: Red Bull Racing
The first sprint weekend of the season definitely threw up some surprises. With so many things to analyse including a resurgent Ferrari, problems for Aston Martin, and that off-track tussle between Verstappen and Russell, allow us to give you the key takeaways from the sprint qualifying and sprint race sessions.
With so much confusion about the sprint format in the run-up to the weekend, many questioned whether having only one practice session would put teams at a disadvantage. This proved to be very very true. With not much time to get a feel for the track, certain teams and drivers didn’t immediately acclimatise to the Baku City Street Circuit as well as they’d have liked to.
The sprint shootout, which decides the grid for the race that follows a few hours after, turned out to be very straightforward to understand. As the grid for Sunday’s race was decided by Friday’s full qualifying session, the sprint shootout and race act as a risk-free opportunity at getting valuable points.
SQ1
The first session of the sprint shootout began with a dominant display from the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. Previously unable to keep up with the Aston Martin cars, Ferrari hasn’t had the best start to the 2023 season.
However, Leclerc’s increase in pace should come as no surprise. Leclerc has an amazing track record around Baku and, following his pole position during Friday’s event, the Monegasque has three consecutive poles at the circuit. Leclerc’s pace was evident as the gap between him and Verstappen, who finished in second for the session, was nearly five tenths.
The session was seemingly drama-free apart from the odd lock-ups or brushes with the barriers. This was until Logan Sargeant crashed his Williams car after blaming Carlos Sainz for getting in his way. The rookie driver brought out a red flag and ended the session prematurely with just 30 seconds remaining. Sargeant did make the next session but was unable to compete in SQ2 and the sprint race itself.
SQ2
In comparison, SQ2 was a pretty boring session. With Leclerc losing out to Verstappen for P1 by just 0.082 seconds, it was clear Leclerc meant business.
Both Haas cars, Ocon and Piastri were knocked out of the session although the end of the session could have had a different outcome. With Piastri knocking out Stroll in the closing stages of the session, Stroll received a tow from teammate Fernando Alonso, proving beneficial as the Canadian finished P7 in the session, promoting him to the final stage of the sprint shootout.
SQ3
An unlikely contender in the weekend so far, Sergio Perez saved his speed for the last session as he beat teammate Max Verstappen in the first run of SQ3, putting two tenths between him and the Dutchman.
However, this result prompted Leclerc to go even quicker with a 1:41.697, almost two tenths quicker than Perez’s lap. Both Red Bull drivers tried to improve on their lap times but to no avail.
A crash from Charles Leclerc at the end of the session brought out a set of double yellow flags, hindering the progress of his teammate Carlos Sainz’s lap, meaning the Spaniard could get fifth at the end of the session.
Once again, Russell put in a rapid performance, beating Lewis Hamilton, and leaving both Aston Martin cars in P8 and P9, with Lando Norris in P10, having not run his car due to McLaren having no spare mandatory soft tires left. Alex Albon also did a fantastic job to get Williams into P7 for the sprint race.
The sprint race — does this new format work?
The start of the race was pretty hectic. A good start from both front-row starters Leclerc and Perez meant that Verstappen was compromised going into Turn 1 with nowhere else to go, coupled with an electric start from George Russell in P4, and a wheel-to-wheel battle between Verstappen and Russell came alive.
Going into the second corner, Russell had the inside line yet run wide, causing minor contact with Verstappen, resulting in a small chunk of the Red Bull driver’s sidepod becoming damaged.
Yuki Tsunoda also suffered damage and had a rather strange collision with the wall in the second sector, resulting in his rear right tyre becoming detached from his car, thanks to contact with his teammate Nyck de Vries. This incident came with a lot of confusion about whether Alpha Tauri should retire Tsunoda’s car or not, this meant the race transferred from a virtual safety car to a full course safety car, allowing the pack to close up.
Image: Formula One Management
On the restart, Verstappen flew past Russell and as did Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso on Lewis Hamilton when the Mercedes driver was compromised by the overtake from Verstappen on Hamilton’s teammate.
Perez, who sat patiently in P2, roared past the Ferrari of Leclerc on Lap 8 and increased his gap after the Ferrari driver’s tyres started to lose grip very quickly. Leclerc did keep up the pace however as he prevented a last lap charge from Verstappen behind who, despite deploying his Drag Reduction System (DRS), could not get past Leclerc.
After the cars pulled into Parc fermé, Verstappen directed his anger towards Russell, who he blames cost him the win. Verstappen accused Russell of purposely running wide whilst the Brit denies these claims. Strong language was exchanged between the two drivers, adding tension to a previously friendly relationship.
Perez claimed the chequered flag, closing the gap at the top of the championship, reducing the gap to just 13 points. The final classification is as follows:
