The 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

[cmlean]

This is the place to discuss everything related to the 4th round of the 2023 season in Baku, Azerbaijan between the 28th and 30th of April.

The event timetable for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Friday
1st Practice 13:30 local time - 09:30 GMT
Qualifying 17:00 local time - 13:00 GMT

Saturday
Sprint Shootout 13:30 local time - 09:30 GMT
Sprint Race 17:00 local time - 13:00 GMT

Sunday
Race 15:00 local time - 11:00 GMT

[cmlean]

FP1 Results

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Pos	Time		Driver		Team
1	1:42.315	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing
2	1:42.352	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari
3	1:42.454	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing
4	1:42.899	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari
5	1:43.125	Lando Norris	McLaren
6	1:43.414	Nyck De Vries	AlphaTauri
7	1:43.455	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin
8	1:43.560	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin
9	1:43.628	Alexander Albon	Williams
10	1:43.748	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo
11	1:43.798	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
12	1:43.980	Oscar Piastri	McLaren
13	1:44.010	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo
14	1:44.137	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri
15	1:44.323	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas
16	1:44.900	Logan Sargeant	Williams
17	1:45.082	George Russell	Mercedes
18	1:45.955	Esteban Ocon	Alpine
19	1:46.321	Pierre Gasly	Alpine
20	1:47.498	Kevin Magnussen	Haas

[cmlean]

Drivers were exploring the track limits with numerous spins and light touches to the barriers.
Pierre Gasly had a session to forget with a fire in his Alpine. He stopped at a flag point allowing the marshals to extinguish it but damage was fairly heavy. The team also pulled in Esteban Ocon's car as a precaution.
Kevin Magnussen was troubled with a fuel pump problem which hindered his running time.
Yuki Tsunoda tagged a wall which deflated the right rear. The drive back to the pits caused some minor damage which will be repaired between sessions.

[cmlean]

Qualiftying

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Pos	Time		Driver		Team
1	1:40.203	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari
2	1:40.391	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing
3	1:40.495	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing
4	1:41.016	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari
5	1:41.177	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
6	1:41.253	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin
7	1:41.281	Lando Norris	McLaren
8	1:41.581	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri
9	1:41.611	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin
10	1:41.611	Oscar Piastri	McLaren
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11	1:41.654	George Russell	Mercedes
12	1:41.798	Esteban Ocon	Alpine
13	1:41.818	Alexander Albon	Williams
14	1:42.259	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo
15	1:42.395	Logan Sargeant	Williams
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16	1:42.642	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo
17	1:42.755	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas
18	1:43.417	Kevin Magnussen	Haas
19	1:44.853	Pierre Gasly	Alpine
20	1:55.282	Nyck De Vries	AlphaTauri

[cmlean]

A disrupted Q1 with first Nyck De Vries run ending in the barriers after missing his braking marker and then Pierre Gasly doing the same at the same corner. It has been a horrible weekend for this side of the Alpine garage.
Q2 and it was all about getting through to Q3. For the first time this season, George Russell was out qualified by his team mate, Lewis Hamilton, and failed to make it through.
Improvements by the McLaren duo saw both make it through into the final session as did the AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda.

[cmlean]

Shootout Qualifying

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Pos	Time		Driver		Team
1	1:41.697	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari
2	1:41.844	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing
3	1:41.987	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing
4	1:42.252	George Russell	Mercedes
5	1:42.287	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari
6	1:42.502	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
7	1:42.846	Alexander Albon	Williams
8	1:43.010	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin
9	1:43.064	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin
10	No Time		Lando Norris	McLaren
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11	1:43.427	Oscar Piastri	McLaren
12	1:43.806	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas
13	1:44.088	Esteban Ocon	Alpine
14	1:44.332	Kevin Magnussen	Haas
15	No Time		Logan Sargeant	Williams
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16	1:45.177	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo
17	1:45.352	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo
18	1:45.436	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri
19	1:46.951	Pierre Gasly	Alpine
20	1:48.180	Nyck De Vries	AlphaTauri

[cmlean]

Logan Sargeant brought out the red flags inside the final minute of Q1 exiting turn 15. Unfortunately for him, he had made it through to the next stage but the damage to his Williams was severe and he was unable to participate.
Lando Norris made it into Q3 but, due to the rules stating that you had to start the session on a set of new soft tyres of which he had none, he was not permitted to participate.

[cmlean]

Sprint Results

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Pos	Driver		Team
1	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing
2	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing
4	George Russell	Mercedes
5	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari
6	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin
7	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
8	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin
9	Alexander Albon	Williams
10	Oscar Piastri	McLaren
11	Kevin Magnussen	Haas
12	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo
13	Pierre Gasly	Alpine
14	Nyck De Vries	AlphaTauri
15	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas
16	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo
17	Lando Norris	McLaren
18	Esteban Ocon	Alpine
DNF	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri
DNS	Logan Sargeant	Williams

[cmlean]

On lap 1, Yuki Tsunoda hit the wall around turn 14 leaving magnesium rim debris and a tyre carcass on the track bringing out the virtual safety car. This was replaced by a full course safety car as Tsunoda, who had made it back to the pits and was released back onto the circuit, found that the damage sustained in the incident was more substantial than initially thought and began limping back to the pits. It also enabled the track marshals the opportunity to remove the debris from the circuit.
The damage sustained to Logan Sargeant's Williams in sprint qualifying was substantial and couldn't be repaired in time to make the grid.

[cmlean]

Race

Code: Select all

Pos	Driver		Team
1	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing
3	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari
4	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin
5	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari
6	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
7	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin
8	George Russell	Mercedes
9	Lando Norris	McLaren
10	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri
11	Oscar Piastri	McLaren
12	Alexander Albon	Williams
13	Kevin Magnussen	Haas
14	Pierre Gasly	Alpine
15	Esteban Ocon	Alpine
16	Logan Sargeant	Williams
17	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas
18	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo
DNF		Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo
DNF		Nyck De Vries	AlphaTauri

Next: Round of USA Miami '23
Date: May 5th-7th 2023