F1. Azerbaijan 2023 review

By Chelsea Wintle, Aiden McLaughlin and Gavin Huet

Driver of the day
Gavin – Checo Perez, the master of the street circuit. He may not have gotten the pole positions but he took his chances and managed both the Sprint Race and the main Race to take home all the points. Honourable mention to Charles Leclerc who set a blistering qualifying time for both the sprint and main race.
Chelsea – I’m going to give it to Charles Leclerc. He showed excellent pace to qualify on pole and come second in the sprint race. There was little doubt that he’d be hunted down by a Red Bull in the main event, but holding on for a podium was a welcome respite from Ferrari’s angst of late. As for the rumours of a move to Mercedes? I’m calling them just that.
Aiden – Sergio Perez, adding his second win of the weekend, yet again proved his strength when it comes to street circuits. He’s now just six points behind teammate Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship. An honourable mention for Oscar Piastri who managed just four pieces of toast and lost three kgs over the weekend due to a severe stomach bug, yet still finished P11 in Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Moment of the weekend
Gavin – Max Verstappen threatening (princess) George Russell. For some reason Max hates the Sprint Race (maybe he should read our thoughts on this further in this post) mentioning things like the risk being too high. It could be that he feels this way because he is nailed on to win the title again. Maybe this is a negotiation strategy. But whatever it is I think it is weird to go around threatening rivals when it is you that is taking the risk of being hit by driving around the outside of the corner in the first place. Max v George in a fair fight would be interesting but I don’t think Max fights fair.
Chelsea – Max having a tantrum, obviously. Their squabble during the sprint race was great viewing, almost as delightful as seeing Max hold on to his resentment for the duration of the sprint race. It culminated in Max calling George a princess, in a display of petulance fit for exactly that. Also enjoyable – seeing Lando Norris finally get the overtake on Nico Hulkenberg in the final stages of the race. It was a surprisingly drama-free race, especially for Baku, and hearing the Sky Sports team shout, “Yay Lando!” brought some welcome levity.
Aiden – Nyck de Vries clipping the wall on lap 10. At the end of that lap, Red Bull elected to pit fellow Dutchman Verstappen for a tyre change, but then the safety car emerged to allow the marshals to clear up de Vries’ debris. This allowed Perez and Charles Leclerc to change their tyres with pitstops that, under a safety car, saw them get out in front of the championship leader. Credit to Perez for his strong drive, and he deserved his win, but would he have managed to get in front of Verstappen without the safety car? We’ll never know.

Hot take of the weekend
Gavin – If Checo can beat Max on a faster track the pressure will be on Max and as we have seen above, Max does not like being under pressure like that (shades of Michael Schumacher). Also, Red Bull do not like their drivers competing against one another, they like it much more when they have an obvious number one and second driver setup, and how Max would react to the team resources being more dedicated to his team mate is anyone’s guess but it will provide a lot of entertainment, Drive To Survive season 6 will be fun.
Chelsea – It was almost unnerving seeing the pally teamwork between Alonso and Stroll. Either they spent spring break falling madly in love on the Costa del Sol, or there’s been some serious in-house therapy happening. Either way, I can’t see it lasting and the surly undertones will be back in time for Monaco.
Aiden – I’m a big fan of Sky Sport UK’s coverage, but their ongoing attempt (and indeed that of the press) to turn the Verstappen/George Russell conversation at the end of the Sprint Race into a big deal, shows just boring a race weekend it was and indeed what a predictable season we are having. Verstappen is a sore loser; he’ll assign blame wherever he can – but we’ve seen far more juicy stuff over the years than one driver having a go at another (and that other driver not really engaging). Yet it’s captured endless column inches and plenty of airtime as there isn’t too much else to talk about.

Cold take of the weekend
Gavin – Ferrari appear to have made a big step up, but like every other team are still so far behind the Red Bull, just look at the pace of the Red Bull, without DRS, breezing past the Ferrari! Will the Ferrari be as competitive on faster circuits or is this a one off? Carlos Sainz is still not happy in his Ferrari, and there are team changes going on so I think this season is (another) one of transition for the team from Maranello.
Chelsea – Is it over for Nyck de Vries already? I hope not, because he was my rookie to watch this season, but he had a tough weekend. First running Tsunoda off track in the sprint race, then crashing out after a silly mistake at turn 13 in the race, he has a lot to do to regain the hype he gained after Monza last year.
Aiden – Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso seem to be (checks notes) working together for the best interests of their team! Admittedly, Lance’s Dad owns the team, but there were plenty of radio comments broadcast over the weekend that almost made you forget just what competitive beasts these F1 drivers are. It’s paying off though; Aston Martin continue to hold second place in the constructors’ championship

Discussion point : Sprint Races and format changes
This week we bring you a brand new feature… “Discussion point“.
As the name implies this will be a discussion about some aspect of F1 that we want to delve into. This week it is the Sprint Races and their format changes.

There was a time when the race weekend was Free Practice 1 and 2 on Friday, Free Practice 3 and Qualifying on Saturday, and then the Main Race on Sunday. A couple of years ago F1 introduced the Sprint Race on a few weekends over the season which meant that Qualifying was replaced by the Sprint Race which determined the starting order for the race on Sunday. For this season all the teams have agreed to a new Sprint Race format which meant Free Practice 1 and Main Race Qualifying are on the Friday, Sprint Race Qualifying and the Sprint Race are on the Saturday, and then the Main Race is on the Sunday.
Was the change worth it, is the Sprint Race worth it?
Gavin – To be honest I have not been convinced of Sprint Races in general simply because they have not delivered the entertainment factor they were meant to. In saying that I do not mind the new format, yes it is different but I would rather F1 try something different than just repeat the same old thing forever. As someone who has been a F1 fan since the (very very very very late) 70s and had fallen out of love with the sport and then come back to it in the last decade I think it is important that the sport not be too formulaic (irony intended) and to adapt and reinvent itself. It is also one race in so we cannot really say if it is a success or not yet, but I am sure that if F1 believes it has not worked it will be changed very Swift-ly (Fernando Alonso will appreciate that joke). If the idea is to have more meaningful racing on each day of the weekend then the new format does achieves it goal. But if the goal is to deliver excitement then we are waiting impatiently like everyone who has ever ordered something from AliExpress. Maybe F1 could do away with Sprint Qualifying and just draw the starting order out of a hat, that could throw up some excitement especially if a team or driver desperately needs a couple of points to secure something. Or maybe the Sprint Qualifying and Race has to feature the reserve / rookie driver in half of the races… imagine Max having to give his car to Daniel Ricciardo for a day!
Chelsea – Look, my little brain is little. Singular of focus, I enjoy the linear progression of a race weekend – one practice, to another, then another, qualifying, and race. It makes sense. I can even comprehend the addition of a sprint race to set the grid for the race – only for occasional weekends, mind – but an entirely separate qualifying and race from the main event? It’s not for me. It’s like having two days of a test match, then throwing a T20 in the middle, and concluding the test. It runs the risk of confusing new fans, and old ones (like me). My vote is for heading back to the drawing board to try something else, because fuddy duddy over here can’t handle it.
Aiden – I like the sprint race and think it’s certainly here to stay. Other motorsports have them and they certainly add more meaning to the weekend. I liked the previous format. Not only did the sprint race offer points, but it also acted as qualifying for the main race. For me, this change of format has gone too far and also made the weekend disjointed. I know free practice sessions don’t drag in the casual viewers, but so what?! One practice session before qualifying for the main grand prix isn’t enough and with it being on a Friday, there was, for me, as sense of anti-climax. Suddenly, we put all that to one side and concentrate on the sprint qualifying/race on Saturday as its own event, when it doesn’t need to be. Saturday afternoon is to set grid positions; always has been, always should be, whether it’s via a sprint race or a traditional qualifying session. Logan Sargeant didn’t even compete in the sprint race because Williams couldn’t repair his car in time (he crashed during the Sprint Shootout) but it didn’t matter because he wasn’t going to score any points and, more significantly, he’s already qualified P14 for the main race the day before. The incentive wasn’t there for Williams to pull out all the stops to get him on the grid for the sprint. It’s important that F1 always try and innovate but for me, this new format isn’t it. Change it back to the way it was.

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