Latest F1 updates from Baku

And welcome to our protection for the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix from the Baku Metropolis Road Circuit. There was a hell of a variety of speak concerning the rejigging of the dash weekend format and we’ve got now seen it in motion for the primary time. Verdict: it isn’t so unhealthy and kind of is sensible, but it surely might be higher. It is good to do away with one meaningless follow session, however a variety of the dash – now that it now not units the grid for Sunday’s race – appears a bit meaningless, with these behind the pack seemingly losing their time for no actual benefit. 

In any case, fortunately we’ve got had one thing extra attention-grabbing to give attention to quite than the the format of a weekend. And that has been a mini-resurgence from Ferrari. Okay, that could be placing it slightly strongly because it’s solely actually Charles Leclerc who has revived in any manner, however after the primary three rounds we had, it’s encouraging – if just for the peculiarities of this weekend.

Leclerc has been a thorn within the aspect of Crimson Bull this weekend. The Monegasque has at all times gone properly right here, scoring his first factors right here with sixth for Sauber in 2018, and has been a stunning challenger to Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. On Friday he took pole place for Sunday’s race and he adopted that up with pole for Saturday’s dash race. He didn’t handle to transform that right into a sprint-race win yesterday night, however he did managed to carry off Verstappen within the second Crimson Bull, even when he was working with a broken automobile.