Baku 2023! Everything You Need To Know...
Updated: Apr 30
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 |