top of page
Search

Baku 2023! Everything You Need To Know...

Updated: Apr 30, 2023

After a painstakingly long April break, F1 is back and resumes at the Baku street circuit for the Azerbaijan GP!


It's the first sprint of the weekend, and the first sprint with the new format:

  • Friday will see 1 free practice session and qualifying for Sunday's GP.

  • Saturday will see the sprint shootout (qualifying session for the sprint race) and the sprint race.

  • Sunday will see the GP as usual.


The sprint shootout is 30 minutes long, divided into 3 sections (like quali). Q1 is 12 minutes, and drivers must drive with a medium tyre. The slowest 5 cars are then eliminated. Q2 is 10 minutes long, and drivers again must drive with a medium trye. The slowest 5 cars are eleminated. Finally, Q3 is 8 minutes long, and drivers must drive with a soft tyre.


There have also been a number of upgrades brought to the cars this weekend, hopefully these will pay off for the teams.

 

JUMP TO:


 

Baku Schedule (BST):


Friday 28th April 2023:

Free Practice 1: 10:30-11:30

Qualifying: 14:00-15:00


Saturday 29th April 2023:

Sprint Shootout: 09:30-10:00

Sprint: 14:30


Sunday 30th April 2021:

The Race: 12:00

 

About The Track:

  • The Baku City Circuit held its first GP in 2016.

  • The drivers will race 51 laps of the 6.003km track.

  • The lap record was set by Charles Leclerc in 2019 at 1:43.009.

  • The track has 2 DRS zones.

 

Free Practice Updates:


Times By Teams -


Alfa Romeo

  • Valtteri Bottas: P13. 1:44.010. Completed 23 laps.

  • Zhou Guanyu: P10. 1:43.748. Completed 23 laps.


AlphaTauri

  • Yuki Tsunoda: P14. 1:44.137. Completed 18 laps.

  • Nyck De Vries: P6. 1:43.414. Completed 24 laps.


Alpine

  • Esteban Ocon: P18. 1:45.955. Completed 8 laps.

  • Pierre Gasly: P19. 1:46.321. Completed 7 laps.


Aston Martin

  • Fernando Alonso: P8. 1:43.560. Completed 20 laps.

  • Lance Stroll: P7. 1:43.455 Completed 23 laps.


Ferrari

  • Carlos Sainz: P2. 1:32.352. Completed 21 laps.

  • Charles Leclerc: P4. 1:42.899. Completed 23 laps.


Haas

  • Kevin Magnussen: P20. 1:47.498. Completed 8 laps.

  • Nico Hulkenberg: P15. 1:44.323. Completed 21 laps.


McLaren

  • Lando Norris: P5. 1:43.125. Completed 22 laps.

  • Oscar Piastri: P12. 1:43.980. Completed 23 laps.


Mercedes

  • Lewis Hamilton: P11. 1:43.798. Completed 21 laps.

  • George Russell: P17. 1:45.082. Completed 20 laps.


Red Bull

  • Max Verstappen: P1. 1:42.315. Completed 22 laps.

  • Sergio Perez: P3. 1:42.454. Completed 22 laps.


Williams

  • Alex Albon: P9. 1:43.628. Completed 25 laps.

  • Logan Sargeant: P16. 1:44.900. Completed 16 laps.


OVERALL RESULTS OF FP1 -

Position

Driver

Team

Time

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull

1:42.315

2

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

+0.037

3

Sergio Perez

Red Bull

+0.139

4

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

+0.584

5

Lando Norris

McLaren

+0.810

6

Nyck De Vries

AlphaTauri

+1.099

7

Lance Stroll

Aston Martin

+1.140

8

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin

+1.245

9

Alex Albon

Williams

+1.313

10

Zhou Guanyu

Alfa Romeo

+1.433

11

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

+1.483

12

Oscar Piastri

McLaren

+1.665

13

Valtteri Bottas

Alfa Romeo

+1.695

14

Yuki Tsunoda

AlphaTauri

+1.822

15

Nico Hulkenberg

Haas

+2.008

16

Logan Sargeant

Williams

+2.585

17

George Russell

Mercedes

+2.767

18

Esteban Ocon

Alpine

+3.640

19

Pierre Gasly

Alpine

+4.006

20

Kevin Magnussen

Haas

+5.183

 

Qualifying:


Eliminated in Q1 -

Zhou Guanyu

Nyck De Vries

Nico Hulkenberg

Pierre Gasly

Kevin Magnussen


Eliminated in Q2 -

Logan Sargeant

George Russell

Valtteri Bottas

Esteban Ocon

Alex Albon


Through to Q3 -

Oscar Piastri

Charles Leclerc

Lance Stroll

Max Verstappen

Yuki Tsunoda

Sergio Perez

Lando Norris

Carlos Sainz

Fernando Alonso

Lewis Hamilton


OVERALL RESULT OF QUALIFYING:


*this does not take into account any penalties, final starting grid can be found under 'The Race' section*


The time listed shows the driver's fastest qualifying lap for their respective final qualifying sessions. Blue is for Q3, red is for Q2, and no background colour is Q1. For the driver's times for Q1, Q2, Q3, see below in 'Times by Team'.

Position

Driver

Team

Time

1

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:40.203

2

Max Verstappen

Red Bull

1:40.391

3

Sergio Perez

Red Bull

1:40.495

4

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

1:41.016

5

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

1:41.177

6

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin

1:41.253

7

Lando Norris

McLaren

1:41.281

8

Yuki Tsunoda

AlphaTauri

1:41.581

9

Lance Stroll

Aston Martin

1:41.611

10

Oscar Piastri

McLaren

1:41.611

11

George Russell

Mercedes

1:41.654

12

Esteban Ocon

Alpine

1:41.798

13

Alex Albon

Williams

1:41.818

14

Valtteri Bottas

Alfa Romeo

1:42.259

15

Logan Sargeant

Williams

1:42.395

16

Zhou Guanyu

Alfa Romeo

1:42.642

17

Nico Hulkenberg

Haas

1:42.755

18

Kevin Magnussen

Haas

1:43.417

19

Pierre Gasly

Alpine

1:44.853

20

Nyck De Vries

AlphaTauri

1:55.282

Times By Teams -


Alfa Romeo

  • Valtteri Bottas: P14. Q1 = 1:42.582. Q2 = 1:42.259.

  • Zhou Guanyu: P16. Q1 = 1:42.642.


AlphaTauri

  • Yuki Tsunoda: P8. Q1 = 1:42.234. Q2 = 1:41.569. Q3 = 1:41.581.

  • Nyck De Vries: P20. Q1 = 1:55.282.

De Vries caused a red flag early on into Q1 as he crashed into the wall at Turn 3.


Alpine

  • Esteban Ocon: P12. Q1 = 1:42.622. Q2 = 1:41.798.

  • Pierre Gasly: P19. Q1 = 1:44.853.

Just past the area where De Vries caused a red flag, Gasly also collided with the wall and caused a red flag.


Aston Martin

  • Fernando Alonso: P6. Q1 = 1:41.720. Q2 = 1:41.370. Q3 = 1:41.253.

  • Lance Stroll: P9. Q1 = 1:42.524. Q2 = 1:41.576. Q3 = 1:41.611.


Ferrari

  • Carlos Sainz: P4. Q1 = 1:42.197. Q2 = 1:41.369. Q3 = 1:41.016.

  • Charles Leclerc: P1. Q1 = 1:41.269. Q2 = 1:41.037. Q3 = 1:40.203.


Haas

  • Kevin Magnussen: P18. Q1 = 1:43.417.

  • Nico Hulkenberg: P17. Q1 = 1:42.755.


McLaren

  • Lando Norris: P7. Q1 = 1:42.154. Q2 = 1:41.485. Q3 = 1:41.281.

  • Oscar Piastri: P10. Q1 = 1:42.455. Q2 = 1:41.636. Q3 = 1:41.611.


Mercedes

  • Lewis Hamilton: P5. Q1 = 1:42.113. Q2 = 1:41.650. Q3 = 1:41.177

  • George Russell: P11. Q1 = 1:42.073. Q2 = 1:41.654.


Red Bull

  • Max Verstappen: P2. Q1 = 1:41.398. Q2 = 1:40.822. Q3 = 1:40.391.

  • Sergio Perez: P3. Q1 = 1:41.756. Q2 = 1:41.131. Q3 = 1:40.495.


Williams

  • Alex Albon: P13. Q1 = 1:42.171. Q2 = 1:41.818.

  • Logan Sargeant: P15. Q1 = 1:42.242. Q2 = 1:42.395.

 

Sprint Updates:


Sprint Shootout -


Eliminated in SQ1 -

Nyck De Vries

Pierre Gasly

Zhou Guanyu

Yuki Tsunoda

Valtteri Bottas


Eliminated in SQ2 -

Kevin Magnussen

Logan Sargeant (he crashed at the end of SQ1 so he could not continue the shootout and had to withdraw from the entire sprint race.)

Oscar Piastri

Nico Hulkenberg

Esteban Ocon


Through to SQ3 -

Lando Norris (he could not drive SQ3 however as he did not have a new set of softs which are the requirement.)

Charles Leclerc

Lance Stroll

Sergio Perez

Fernando Alonso

Max Verstappen

Alex Albon

George Russell

Lewis Hamilton

Carlos Sainz


OVERALL RESULT OF SPRINT SHOOTOUT:


*this does not take into account any penalties, final starting grid can be found under 'The Race' section*


The time listed shows the driver's fastest qualifying lap for their respective final qualifying sessions. Blue is for SQ3, red is for SQ2, and no background colour is SQ1. For the driver's times for SQ1, SQ2, SQ3, see below in 'Times by Team'.

Position

Driver

Team

Time

1

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:41.697

2

Sergio Perez

Red Bull

1:41.844

3

Max Verstappen

Red Bull

1:41.987

4

George Russell

Mercedes

1:42.252

5

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

1:42.287

6

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

1:42.502

7

Alex Albon

Williams

1:42.846

8

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin

1:43.010

9

Lance Stroll

Aston Martin

1:43.064

10

Lando Norris

McLaren

Q2 = 1:43.395

11

Oscar Piastri

McLaren

1:43.427

12

Nico Hulkenberg

Alpine

1:43.806

13

Esteban Ocon

Haas

1:44.088

14

Kevin Magnussen

Williams

1:44.332

15

Logan Sargeant

Williams

Q1 = 1:44.042

16

Zhou Guanyu

Alfa Romeo

1:45.177

17

Valtteri Bottas

Alfa Romeo

1:45.352

18

Yuki Tsunoda

AlphaTauri

1:45.436

19

Pierre Gasly

Alpine

1:46.951

20

Nyck De Vries

AlphaTauri

1:48.180

Times By Teams -


Alfa Romeo

  • Valtteri Bottas: P17. SQ1 = 1:45.352.

  • Zhou Guanyu: P16. SQ1 = 1:45.177.


AlphaTauri

  • Yuki Tsunoda: P18. SQ1 = 1:45.436

  • Nyck De Vries: P20. SQ1 = 1:48.180.


Alpine

  • Esteban Ocon: P13. SQ1 = 1:44.433. SQ2 = 1:44.088.

  • Pierre Gasly: P19. SQ1 = 1:46.951.


Aston Martin

  • Fernando Alonso: P8. SQ1 = 1:43.789. SQ2 = 1:42.976. SQ3 = 1:43.010.

  • Lance Stroll: P9. SQ1 = 1:43.879. SQ2 = 1:43.375. SQ3 = 1:43.064.


Ferrari

  • Carlos Sainz: P5. SQ1 = 1:43.622. SQ2 = 1:42.909. SQ3 = 1:42.287.

  • Charles Leclerc: P1. SQ1 = 1:42.820. SQ2 = 1:42.500. SQ3 = 1:41.697.


Haas

  • Kevin Magnussen: P14. SQ1 = 1:44.101. SQ2 = 1:44.332.

  • Nico Hulkenberg: P12. SQ1 = 1:44.843. SQ2= 1:43.806.


McLaren

  • Lando Norris: P10. SQ1 = 1:43.938. SQ2 = 1:43.395.

  • Oscar Piastri: P11. SQ1 = 1:44.179. SQ2 = 1:43.427.


Mercedes

  • Lewis Hamilton: P6. SQ1 = 1:43.561. SQ2 = 1:43.061. SQ3 = 1:42.502.

  • George Russell: P4. SQ1 = 1:43.763. SQ2 = 1:43.112. SQ3 = 1:42.252.


Red Bull

  • Max Verstappen: P3. SQ1 = 1:43.288. SQ2 = 1:42.417. SQ3 = 1:41.987.

  • Sergio Perez: P2. SQ1 = 1:43.858. SQ2 = 1:42.925. SQ3 = 1:41.844.


Williams

  • Alex Albon: P8. SQ1 = 1:43.987. SQ2 = 1:43.376. SQ2 = 1:42.846.

  • Logan Sargeant: P15. SQ1 = 1:44.042


The Sprint -


Starting Grid:

Position

Driver

Team

1

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

2

Sergio Perez

Red Bull

3

Max Verstappen

Red Bull

4

George Russell

Mercedes

5

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

6

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

7

Alex Albon

Williams

8

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin

9

Lance Stroll

Aston Martin

10

Lando Norris

McLaren

11

Oscar Piastri

McLaren

12

Nico Hulkenberg

Haas

13

Kevin Magnussen

Haas

14

Zhou Guanyu

Alfa Romeo

15

Valtteri Bottas

Alfa Romeo

16

Yuki Tsunoda

AlphaTauri

17

Pierre Gasly

Alpine

18

Nyck De Vries

AlphaTauri

PITS*

Esteban Ocon

Alpine

*Ocon had to start from the pit lane after modifying his car under Parc Ferme conditions.


Sprint Results -

Position

Driver

Team

Gap

1

Sergio Perez

Ferrari

33:17.667

2

Charles Leclerc

Red Bull

+4.463

3

Max Verstappen

Mercedes

+5.065

4

George Russell

Ferrari

+8.532

5

Carlos Sainz

Aston Martin

+10.388

6

Fernando Alonso

Mercedes

+11.613

7

Lewis Hamilton

Aston Martin

+16.503

8

Lance Stroll

Aston Martin

+18.417

9

Alex Albon

Williams

+21.757

10

Oscar Piastri

McLaren

+22.851

11

Kevin Magnussen

Haas

+27.99

12

Zhou Guanyu

Alfa Romeo

+34.602

13

Pierre Gasly

Alpine

+36.918

14

Nyck De Vries

AlphaTauri

+41.626

15

Nico Hulkenberg

Haas

+48.587

16

Valtteri Bottas

Alfa Romeo

+49.917

17

Lando Norris

McLaren

+51.104

18

Esteban Ocon

Alpine

+60.621

DNF:

Yuki Tsunoda - AlphaTauri


 

Pre-race Penalties

  • Both Hulkenberg and Ocon will begin Sunday's GP from the pit lanes as their cars were modified under Parc Ferme conditions.

  • De Vries races at stewards discretion after failing to set a qualifying time within the Q1 107% regulation.

 

The Race


Starting Grid -

Position

Diver

Team

1

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

2

Max Verstappen

Red Bull

3

Sergio Perez

Red Bull

4

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

5

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

6

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin

7

Lando Norris

McLaren

8

Yuki Tsunoda

AlphaTauri

9

Lance Stroll

Aston Martin

10

Oscar Piastri

McLaren

11

George Russell

Mercedes

12

Alex Albon

Williams

13

Valtteri Bottas

Alfa Romeo

14

Logan Sargeant

Williams

15

Zhou Guanyu

Alfa Romeo

16

Kevin Magnussen

Alfa Romeo

17

Pierre Gasly

Alpine

18

Nyck De Vries

Alphatauri

PITS

Esteban Ocon

Alpine

PITS

Nico Hulkenberg

Haas

Race Updates -


Lap 1 - Verstappen gets ahead of Perez and challenges Leclerc at the end of the lap. Magnussen has had some damage to his front wing.

Lap 4 - Verstappen is able to use DRS and overtake Leclerc to now lead the race.

Lap 6 - Perez is now able to challenge Leclerc and take P2. Stroll (P7) and Alonso (P6), comes on the radio to say he "will not attack" and will work for the same team as Alonso is just out of DRS to take P5. Bottas pits for hards.

Lap 9 - Verstappen clipped the wall at Turn 4, but no damage has been detected. Tsunoda, Piastri, and Sargeant pit for hards.

Lap 10 - Hamilton and Norris pit for hards. Yellow flag as De Vries is stranded at turn 6. Verstappen pits for hards.

Lap 11 - Safety car is deployed. Perez, Leclerc, Russell, Zhou, Sainz, Stroll, and Alonso pit under safety car. Everyone is now driving on hards.

Lap 13 - Bottas pits again for a fresh set of hards. The safety car will end this lap.

Lap 14 - Vertsappen takes P2 from Leclerc at Turn 4, and Alonso takes P4 from Alonso at Turn 6.

Lap 15 - Stroll hit the wall in the same spot as De Vries, fortunately he has not taken too much damage.

Lap 24 - Hulkeberg touches the wall, but similaraly to Stroll, he gets away with very little to no damage.

Lap 33 - Gasly is able to overtake Bottas out of Turn 1.

Lap 36 - Bottas pits again for a set of mediums.

Lap 37 - Zhou told to box due to an issue with the car; Alfa Romeo retire the car.

Lap 46 - Norris finally is able to get past Hulkenberg to take P10 at Turn 7.

Lap 50 - Russell and Hulkenberg pit for softs.

Lap 51 - Ocon tries to pit, however, photographers and the parc ferme barriers are already starting to come out. Luckily no one was injured, but this was extremely dangerous to have the pit lane flooded with people when a car has yet to pit.


Fastest Lap - George Russell


Driver of the Day - Sergio Perez


Race Results -

Position

Driver

Team

Gap (seconds)

Pit Stops

1

Sergio Perez

Red Bull

​

1

2

Max Verstappen

Red Bull

+2.137

1

3

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

+21.217

1

4

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin

+22.024

1

5

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

+45.491

1

6

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

+46.145

1

7

Lance Stroll

Aston Martin

+51.617

1

8

George Russell

Mercedes

+74.24

2

9

Lando Norris

McLaren

+80.376

1

10

Yuki Tsunoda

AlphaTauri

+83.862

1

11

Oscar Piastri

McLaren

+86.501

1

12

Alex Albon

Williams

+88.623

1

13

Kevin Magnussen

Haas

+89.729

1

14

Pierre Gasly

Alpine

+91.332

1

15

Esteban Ocon

Alpine

+97.794

1

16

Logan Sargeant

Williams

+100.943

1

17

Nico Hulkenberg

Haas

+1 lap

1

18

Valtteri Bottas

Alfa Romeo

+1 lap

3

DNFs:

Nyck De Vries - AlphaTauri

Zhou Guanyu - Alfa Romeo

 

Any Other News

  • Charles Leclerc's debut single enters the top 10!

  • Laurent Mekies, Ferrari's deputy Team Principle, will take over from Franz Tost as the AlphaTauri Team Principle at the end of the 2023 season.

 

Championship Standings


World Constructors Championship

Position

Team

Points

Gap

1

Red Bull

180

​

2

Aston Martin

87

-93

3

Mercedes

76

-11

4

Ferrari

62

-14

5

McLaren

14

-68

6

Alpine

8

-6

7

Haas

7

-1

8

Alfa Romeo

6

-1

9

AlphaTauri

2

-4

10

WIlliams

1

-1

World Drivers Championship

Position

Driver

Points

Gap

1

Max Verstappen

93

​

2

Sergio Perez

87

-6

3

Fernando Alonso

60

-27

4

Lewis Hamilton

48

-12

5

Carlos Sainz

34

-14

6

Charles Leclerc

28

-6

7

George Russell

28

-0

8

Lance Stroll

27

-1

9

Lando Norris

10

-17

10

Nico Hulkenberg

6

-4

11

Oscar Piastri

4

-2

12

Valtteri Bottsa

4

-0

13

Esteban Ocon

4

-0

14

Pierre Gasly

4

-0

15

Zhou Guanyu

2

-2

16

Yuki Tsunoda

2

-0

17

Alex Albon

1

-1

18

Kevin Magnussen

1

-0

19

Logan Sargeant

0

-1

20

Nyck De Vries

0

-0


©2020 by PELLATHORA. Proudly created with Wix.com

bottom of page