F1 Azerbaijan Sprint Results: What Happened In The Sprint?
The first sprint race of the 2023 F1 season was held today ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix racing weekend.
Charles Leclerc started the race in pole position followed by Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen starting from second and third place, respectively.
Logan Sargeant was unfortunately not able to take part in the sprint race due to damages that he incurred earlier today, and Esteban Ocon started from the pits due to the team breaking parc ferme.
Overview
The race began with a brilliant duel between George Russell and Sergio Perez with the Brit pulling ahead with the first lap of the race. At the same time, Charles Leclerc extended a good lead ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Lando Norris was also able to get ahead of Lance Stroll to P9.
Only two laps in however, disaster struck for AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda who lost a tyre after hitting a wall forcing a safety car due to debris on the track and his wheel, separated from the car, sat on the racing line. The Japanese driver was able to limp back to the pits where the car was serviced and released again, but it was hugely damaged so was returned to the pits where his race ended.
A fine or penalty for AlphaTauri will likely follow.
While under safety car, Verstappen and Red Bull complained of damage caused by a moment with Russell. The car sustained floor and sidepod damage, which Russell later apologised for. At the same time, Leclerc complained of "a cut", potentially stemming from the power unit.
Green flag and Hamilton immediately lost two places to Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso leaving him in P7 and Norris also lost the place he just gained against Stroll, despite the Canadian (and his teammate) having broken DRS.
Red Bull however has a very well-functioning DRS, and Perez uses it to pass Leclerc with ease under the long straight. Oscar Piastri also used DRS to his favour, overtaking his British teammate who was then passed by both Haas drivers as he struggled on soft compound tyres. He was pitted, drops to last place.
Esteban Ocon proves his talent as he expertly dispatched Nyck de Vries after starting from the pits, but it didn't last with his car also struggling on softs before dropping to the bottom of the pack.
In fact, even the medium tyres started to overheat by the end of the sprint race, but Perez the 'tyre whisperer' was easily able to hold on to his lead of over 3 seconds.
Verstappen wasn't able to reach Leclerc despite the Monegasque driver struggling on his medium tyres, but the race win goes to Sergio Perez, his second win of the season.
Azerbaijan Sprint Race Results
- Perez
- Leclerc
- Verstappen
- Russell
- Sainz
- Alonso
- Hamilton
- Stroll
- Albon
- Piastri
- Magnussen