AZERBAIJAN GP – Max Verstappen fastest by three hundredths from Charles Leclerc, with competitive qualifying sessions ahead in Baku
Max Verstappen was fastest in practice ahead of qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the two-time set a 42.319 on the soft tyre going ahead of Charles Leclerc by three hundredths of a second. This weekend the sport is trialling a new format with practice on Friday being the only practice for the weekend.
The new format sees FP2 on Saturday replaced by a sprint qualifying session which sets the grid for tomorrow’s sprint race where as this afternoons qualifying session sets the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix. However for all the teams the limited practice session was further limited by red flags, and several teams ran into technical issues.
Leclerc was three hundredths behind Verstappen showing pace going into qualifying, the Ferrari driver splitting the Red Bulls after going a tenth faster than Sergio Perez. However, it’s unknown going into qualifying how much the teams can turn it going into qualifying. Perez was three and a half tenths faster than the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz.
Lando Norris showed some signs of progress for McLaren going fifth fastest, the team head into this weekend follow a tough start to the season hoping that they have made progress over the break. Nyck De Vries was sixth nearly three-tenths behind the McLaren, he and his Alpha Tauri teammate were the only drivers to run on the soft tyres.
Lance Stroll was seventh fastest going a tenth faster than his teammate Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin looking to continue their strong start to the season with the team expected to turn it up and be a lot closer to Red Bull and Ferrari in qualifying this afternoon.
Alonso however didn’t manage a soft tyre run as the team split the tyre strategy, he also reported issues with his DRS before his final run but the team managed to repair the issues.
Alpine however had a difficult start to the weekend with Pierre Gasly only managing seven laps before his car caught fire while Esteban Ocon was out with a technical issue midway through the session. Not the start to the weekend they would have liked because of the limited running.
The fire, initially triggered by a hydraulic leak aboard the A523, blazed for several minutes before it was eventually brought under control, which ultimately meant the teams and drivers lost nearly a quarter of their total practice time as the session resumed with 32 minutes remaining.
Alex Albon was ninth going a tenth faster than Guanyu Zhou, they rounded out the top ten. The Alfa Romeo went five hundredths faster than Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes were another team to have problems, early on in the session, both drivers complained about braking issues which left Russell eighteenth.
Oscar Piastri put his McLaren twelfth going three hundredths faster than Valtteri Bottas’s Alfa Romeo. Yuki Tsunoda clipped the wall and punctured the tyre of the Alpha Tauri at Turn Three, then a large plume of smoke coming out the back of that AlphaTauri, Tsunoda made it back to the pits.
Nico Hulkenberg put his Haas fifteenth ahead of Logan Sargeant and George Russell. Alpine went into the weekend hoping to put the crash between Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly behind them, however looked to struggle to find pace in the only practice session. That left them eighteenth and nineteenth respectively, a second clear of Kevin Magnussen.
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Prixview – Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2023