F1 Azerbaijan GP Practice Results: What Happened In the Dramatic Session?

Your Sports Illustrated reports of the only Practice Session at the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

It's good to hear the F1 theme song after such a long break, and what a way to return to the calendar with a sprint race weekend at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. This is the first and only Practice session of this weekend, culminating in only an hour on track before qualifying later today. 

Overview

Red Bull were the first to leave the pits, but let the majority of the grid pass with them practicing a launch out onto the dusty tarmac. With George Russell complaining of low grip, Nyck de Vries of AlphaTauri was the first to put in a timed lap, quickly beaten by Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas. 

Alpha Tauri put both their drivers on softs, hoping to get as much practice in as possible with the admission they likely won't make it through much of qualifying. And while they were hitting fast laps, both Mercedes drivers complained of poor braking with Lewis Hamilton quickly being called into the pits for repairs. With the drivers complaining of "passive brakes", it sounded as though it could be an issue with the ERS. Not ideal. 

Ten minutes into the session, Yuki Tsunoda hit the outside wall on Turn 3, puncturing his rear tyre and breaking the rim, forcing him to limp back to the pits with plumes of smoke erupting from the car as the right rear disintegrated. It's assumed he was driving too fast.

Soon after, Pierre Gasly's Alpine bursted into flames due to a hydraulic leak causing a red flag as flames licked up the rear of the car's bodywork. Esteban Ocon was also pulled out of the session - I assume Alpine is worried that the same thing will happen to both drivers. And to continue this wave of disaster, Kevin Magnussen also came to a stop after narrowly avoiding hitting a wall and finding himself stranded in a run-off area with potential fuel pressure issues. 

13 minutes were lost - very precious minutes with there not being any further practice this weekend, especially for Lewis Hamilton who was camped in the pits with his W14 undertaking repairs for almost half of the session. On his return after the lifting of the red flag, he was 3.6 seconds off the pace of the Red Bulls. It must be noted that both Mercs were running on a low power mode, confirmed by Bono to Lewis. 

Despite the drama of the session, Red Bull placed solid times maintaining their place at the top of the timesheet, followed by Aston Martin and Ferrari - the expected lineup. Although it's worth noting that Ferrari was on hards. Alex Albon put in surprisingly fast times in his Williams, placing himself deep into the top 10, while his teammate Logan Sargeant wasn't looking too confident in the tight corners. 

The outliers however, were Nyck de Vries and Lando Norris, placing themselves solidly into the top 10, a great show from both drivers who haven't had a lot of luck so far this season. 

Results

1. Max Verstappen
2. Charles Leclerc
3. Sergio Perez
4. Carlos Sainz
5. Lando Norris
6. Nyck de Vries
7. Lance Stroll
8. Fernando Alonso
9. Alex Albon
10. Zhou Guanyu
11. Lewis Hamilton
12. Oscar Piastri
13. Valtteri Bottas
14. Yuki Tsunoda
15. Nico Hulkenberg
16. Logan Sargeant
17. George Russell
18. Esteban Ocon
19. Pierre Gasly
20. Kevin Magnussen