Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Azerbaijan

  • F2 – RND 4 – Recap

    Formula 2 was back at the weekend for Round 4, lets take a look at how the weekend went/

    Day 1, Practice-

    Oliver Bearman wasted no time getting up to speed on his first visit to Baku, topping the opening session of Formula 2 weekend and ending Free Practice fastest of all.

    The PREMA driver went quickest late on gaining a nice slipstream down the main straight to set a 1:54.063. Fellow rookies, Isack Hadjar and Kush Maini followed in second and third places respectively.

    The early laps in the session were tricky with the freshly resurfaced circuit offering little grip. Ralph Boschung was the first driver underneath the two minute barrier, but times continued to fall with every lap on the board as the surface continued to clean up.

    With just over one minute left of practice, Arthur Leclerc spun in his DAMS out of the first corner, bringing out the Red Flags and ending the session early.

    Qualifying-

    Oliver Bearman turned his fortunes around in the final seconds of a tense Qualifying session in Baku to claim his first Formula 2 pole position. Utilising the slipstream from the train of cars ahead, the PREMA Racing rookie stole first from Rodin Carlin’s Enzo Fittipaldi by just 0.012s at the chequered flag.

    Less the a tenth of a second separated the front-runners, as Theo Pourchaire and Frederik Vesti benefitted late on to seal their spots in third and fourth.

    After a delayed start to running, an early Red Flag halted the session inside the opening seven minutes before any representative laps could be put on the board. Brad Benavides overshot the entry to Turn 1 and planted the PHM Racing by Charouz car into the barriers.

    With the tow around the Baku City Circuit proving so powerful, drivers squabbled for track position entering the final stages. Punching in a 1:53.271, Vesti went 0.085s clear of Pourchaire on his penultimate lap, just as PREMA Racing teammate Bearman brushed the barriers at the exit of Turn 2, bending his steering in the process.

    Day 2, Sprint Race-

    Oliver Bearman demonstrated that to finish first in Baku – first you have to finish, as the British rookie claimed his first Formula 2 victory in a dramatic Sprint Race.

    Off the back of his maiden pole position, he lined up 9th on the grid and carved his way through the field to snatch the win from teammate Frederik Vesti.

    A late restart with only three laps to go brought drama, as race leader Dennis Hauger and second-placed Victor Martins crashed out. The PREMA pair were there to pick up the pieces as the race concluded behind the third and final Safety Car. HiTech Pulse-Eight’s Jak Crawford also kept himself out of trouble to take his second podium in third.

    Reserve pole sitter Verschoor didn’t hold the lead for long. Contact with the wall at Turn 1 left the Van Amersfoort Racing driver with damage and forced to retire.

    After making his way up into the points, Ralph Boschung’s race came to an end on Lap 3, clipping the inside wall at Turn 11. His retirement triggered an early Safety Car appearance.

    Locking up his front left tyre, on the approach to Turn 15, Roy Nissany found the wall on the exit, which brought out the Safety Car once again.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Bearman, P2: Vesti, P3: Crawford, P4: Maini, P5: Fittipaldi, P6: Correa, P7: Novalak, P8: Stanek, P9: Cordeel and P10: Benavides.

    Day 3, Feature Race-

    Oliver Bearman made it a clean sweep in Baku, adding the Feature Race victory to his Sprint win from Saturday. The PREMA Racing driver put together a controlled race at the front, managing the gap to rivals behind him after losing the lead briefly early on,

    Enzo Fittipaldi secured his first rostrum visit of 2023 for Rodin Carlin with second place, pulling off a move around the outside of Theo Pourchaire in the closing stages.

    Martins’ charge continued as Frederik Vesti became the first driver to peel into the pits and swap the supersofts for mediums on Lap 7. He was followed in by Jehan Daruvala, Arthur Leclerc and Ralph Boschung, kicking off the first of the mandatory pitstops.

    The Virtual Safety Car was deployed briefly after Brad Benavides found the barriers at Turn 4. His PHM Racing by Charouz car was quickly recovered and racing resumed on Lap 11.

    There was a few close calls for Bearman during the middle phase of the race, almost scraping the wall at Turn 15 on multiple laps as he began to drop Pourchaire to the tune of 2.3s by Lap 20.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Bearman, P2: Fittipaldi, P3: Pourchaire, P4: Vesti, P5: Maini, P6: Hauger, P7: Hadjar, P8: Verschoor, P9: Crawford and P10: Leclerc.

  • Azerbaijan stays on F1 calendar until 2026

    Formula 1 has announced that the Azerbaijan Grand Prix will remain on the calendar through the 2026 season, with a new three-year agreement being signed.

    Conceived by legendary F1 circuit designer Hermann Tilke, the 6 kilometre, 20 corner Baku City Circuit is one of the fastest on the F1 schedule, which gives the drivers a unique challenge.

    This was underlined by the fact no driver has triumphed on the streets of Baku more than once: however with Sergio Perez, doing the double first in 2021 and now 2023 that has now changed.

    In 2023, Azerbaijan hosted the first of six F1 Sprint events scheduled for the season, and the first under a new format which saw the whole of Saturday dedicated to Sprint.

    The Baku City Circuit has become a hugely popular venue for Formula 1. It is an incredible circuit which always delivers huge drama, and has played host to some of the most exciting races in recent memory. We are delighted to extend our relationship with the country of Azerbaijan and look forward to continuing our growth together.

    Stefano Domenicali, President and CEO of Formula 1.

    We are thrilled to confirm our continued partnership with Formula 1. Ever since we first hosted this event in 2016, the economic, social, and cultural impact of the sport on our city and country has been remarkable. The FORMULA 1 AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX will now continue to inspire and excite our fans for a further three years. The past six races have been some of the best and most dramatic in the sport’s long history and we look forward to creating more magical moments for F1 fans at home and abroad over the next three years – starting with this weekend. Moreover, today’s agreement has come during a weekend that sees us hosting a record number of fans from over 100 countries, which only serves to make this moment even more special.

    Farid Gayibov, Minister of Youth and Sports of Azerbaijan.

  • Azerbaijan Tyre Selection

    We are back with another race week, but this time we are going around the street of Baku! Where Formula 2 will also be joining us.

    The tyres which have been selected are: C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium), C5 (Soft.

    This is the softest trio of compounds in Pirelli’s range, which are well suited to the tight corners on this city circuit as well as the long straights where the cars can reach a maximum speed of 340kph.

    The most common strategy for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is a one stopper, although some teams stopped twice last year to take advantage of a virtual safety car before the chequered flag.

    The race was held at the beginning of June in 2022, with thermal degradation becoming a factor due to the high asphalt temperature.

    With having such technical sections, especially around the famous Turn 9 in the old city centre. The teams tend to go for a low to medium downforce set up in Baku.

    NominationsAZ-EN

  • F1 confirms Sprint changes for 2023

    Formula 1 has confirmed adjustments to the F1 Sprint format for the six events that will be staged across the 2023 season, beginning with this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

    F1 Sprint first made its debut back in 2021, with the original format seeing qualifying shifted to Friday and setting the grid for a new 100- kilometre dash on Saturday, which in turn determined the starting order for the main event on Sunday.

    However, the changes this year means that F1 Sprint will effectively become a standalone feature of race weekends when the format is used – with the outcome bearing no impact on the grid for the Grand Prix itself.

    Fridays will now include an FP1 session and standard qualifying session to set the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix, while Saturdays will include the continuing 100km race with an additional preceding qualifying session called the ‘Sprint Shootout’.

    The shootout will be a shorter session than the tradition qualifying with SQ1 set to run for 12 minutes, SQ2 for 10 minutes and SQ3 for eight minutes, and replaces the previous FP2 seen on the Saturday morning of Sprint weekends. New tyres are also mandatory for each phase, with Mediums for SQ1 and SQ2, and Softs for SQ3.

    Given that the F1 Sprint is now contained within the race weekend, and any incidents will not compromise starting positions for the Grand Prix, drivers should now have more incentive to push across the 100km race.

    To remind you of the six venues of Sprint this season are, Azerbaijan, Austria, Belgium, Qatar, the United States and Sao Paulo.

    Penalties-

    The process for applying penalties at F1 Sprint events has been set out as follows:

    Any grid penalties incurred in first practice or qualifying will apply to the race; any grid penalties incurred in the Sprint Shootout will apply to the Sprint ; and whilst any grid penalties incurred in the Sprint will apply to the race.

    In addition, a breach of parc ferme will result in a pit lane start for the Sprint and race, whilst power-unit related penalties will only apply to the race, unless they are also a parc ferme breach.

    Not only has the Sprint format changed but also the power unit usage, with approval given to increase the number of internal combustion engine (ICE), turbocharger, MGU-H and MGU-K elements for 2023 only from three to four.

    Elsewhere, they updated definitions of ‘working on a car’ while serving a pit stop penalty, which was recently issued in a Sporting Directive, will now be included within the Sporting Regulations.

  • F2 Baku- Day 2 & 3

    F2 Baku- Day 2 & 3

    Day 2-

    Speaking ahead of the Sprint Race, Mercedes junior Frederik Vesti believed it would be decided on the final lap around Baku, but I don’t think he even could predict what happened. Throwing caution to the wind late on, the ART Grand Prix driver charged his way to the front and to his first victory in Formula 2.

    Having led the majority of the race, Jehan Daurvala had to settle for second after three safety cars in the second half of the race wiped away his advantage. Whilst Liam Lawson, demonstrated Baku’s overtaking capabilities as he carved his way through from P9 to get the final podium spot.

    Hauger was the first to bring out the safety car as he tried to make a move past Pourchaire into Turn 3, but went straight into the barrier after locking up. Once we was racing again, it didn’t last long as Vips HiTech was cut off by Enzo Fittipaldi and was unable to turn left, sending the duo into the run off area at Turn 2.

    Leaving it late on the restart, Daruvala locked up leaving the door wide open for Vesti to storm past the PREMA and up into the lead. Lawson then made his way past Drugovich, and set his sights on Verschoor ahead for P3, unfortunately for the Trident driver he went in to deep at Turn 7 and planted himself in the barriers bringing out the Safety Car.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Vesti, P2: Daruvala, P3: Lawson, P4: Armstrong, P5: Drugovich, P6: Sargeant, P7: Pourchaire, P8: Iwasa, P9: Hughes and P10: Nissany.

    Day 3-

    Dennis Hauger claimed his first F2 Feature Race win after a tense battle with Juri Vips, which saw the Estonian driver crash out of the race. The pair were battling sector by sector in the closing stages and with just over five minuted remaining, the Hitech GP man clipped the wall in the castle section.

    Logan Sargeant completed a measured drive to take second, whilst our Championship leader, Felipe Drugovich extended his points advantage finishing third.

    Contact between Amaury Cordeel and Olli Caldwell at Turn 4 brought out the Safety Car early on. Racing then resumed on Lap 5, and Marcus Armstrong was immediately on the attack for P2.

    The Safety car was then back out on Lap 12 following an incident between Roy Nissany and Cem Bolukbasi – the Charouz Racing driver went into Turn 2 but on the exit the pair made wheel to wheel contact which saw both drivers go into the wall.

    Back to back fastest laps for Vips on Lap 19 and 20 but couldn’t quite break Hauger’s pursuit. Vips then clipped the wall with 5 minutes remaining and the frustration was clear on the Estonian’s face when he got out the car. The race finished under the Safety Car due to the HiTech car still being on track and debris.

    The top 10 were: P1: Hauger, P2: Sargeant, P3: Drugovich, P4: Daruvala, P5: Verschoor, P6: Fittipaldi, P7: Vesti, P8: Sato, P9: Boschung and P10: Hughes.

    We haven’t got that long to wait until we see F2 cars back on track, we have just under 3 weeks and we will be at Silverstone for Round 7 which marks the halfway mark in the championship!

  • Round 8- Azerbaijan Qualifying

    Round 8- Azerbaijan Qualifying

    The grid is all set for tomorrow’s Azerbaijan GP! With a mixed qualifying which saw a red flag, a stunning lap for a Ferrari driver and an Aston Martin driver in the top 10…

    But it was Charles Leclerc who took pole position once again, his 6th this year. He is joined by Sergio Perez who out qualifies his teammate for the second weekend in a row. Max rounds out the top 3.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Leclerc, P2: Perez, P3: Verstappen, P4: Sainz, P5: Russell, P6: Gasly, P7: Hamilton, P8: Tsunoda, P9: Vettel and P10: Alonso.

    I am actually quite surprised at the McLaren’s it looked like both drivers had pace to be in the top 10 but things don’t always work out that way – they are in the middle of the pack which isn’t always the best but they could benefit by any first lap incidents and starting from 11th and 12th you can still get into the points, especially because it’s Baku and anything can happen!

    The Alpha Tauri’s WOW! They needed a good result and they got it, Gasly starting P6 which we love to see and takes us back to his great qualifying form from last year. And Yuki Tsunoda starting 8th is like a dream for the team. Hopefully both drivers can keep out of trouble and score a good amount of points and make up for this season!

    A driver who I expected to be in the top 10 was Bottas, his starting P15, behind his teammate so it will be interesting to see how both Alfa Romeo’s can get through the field…

    It feels good, this one. Obviously all pole positions feels good, but this one I probably did not expect it, because I thought Red Bull were stronger, especially in Q1 and Q2, I really struggled to see that we were faster, but then in the last lap, everything came together and I managed to do a good lap, so extremely happy… I’m really excited for tomorrow.

    Charles Leclerc on pole position in Baku!

    Predictions-

    My top fie for the race tomorrow is – P1: Leclerc, P2: Verstappen, P3: Perez, P4: Sainz and P5: Russell.

    I feel like we will have a crazy race tomorrow, no doubt that there will be a safety car which the teams will have a strategy for as they know how this circuit can be, but who will get that strategy right and will we see a surprise podium? Or something we didn’t expect…

    Times for tomorrow-

    Feature Race F2 – 08:05am (BST)
    F1 Race – 12:00pm

  • F2 Baku- Day 1

    F2 Baku- Day 1

    Free Practice-

    Juri Vips was the fastest man in the free practice session today, he set a 1:55.924 to end practice ahead of Lawson and teammate Marcus Armstrong.

    Strong winds kept the trees that line the circuit blowing as the drivers took to track for their initial laps. A dusty surface meant times were unrepresentative in the early phases of the session.

    Enzo Fittipaldi was the first to have a brush with the wall, the Charouz racing driver nudged the exit wall at Turn 4 but was able to continue without any visible concerns. Clement Novalak found himself facing the wall soon after in the first sector, bringing out the red flag.

    The session was back to green with 20 minutes, but it didn’t stay that way as Boschung’s joy at the top was short-lived as he was the next to find the wall – the Campos Racing man lost the rear end of his car on downshift and spun backwards into the barrier at Turn 5, bringing out the red flags for the second time.

    The full top were- P1: Vips, P2: Lawson, P3: Armstrong, P4: Doohan, P5: Vesti, P6: Daruvala, P7: Drugovich, P8: Boschung, P9: Verschoor and P10: Hauger.

    Qualifying-

    Mr Juri Vips narrowly missed out on pole position last year, but made amends this year as he stormed to P1 in a highly competitive qualifying session in Baku. The HiTech driver had been stuck down in 10th following his opening run, but a surprise burst of pace was enough to put him 0.163s clear of Lawson as Dennis Hauger made it an all Red Bull junior top three.

    As drivers started to back out with 11 minutes remaining, and the flying laps started they was brought to a hault due to Ayumu Iwasa who was determined to push his car to the limits- he carried to much speed into Turn 4 and collided with the barrier – he looked untouchable earlier on in the session as he was sitting comfortably on provisional pole.

    The Japanese driver’s mistake blew the fight for pole wide open as Richard Verschoor and Hauger both clocked in personal bests. But it was the final minute of the session that showed who had mastered the streets of Baku.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Vips, P2: Lawson, P3: Hauger, P4: Armstrong, P5: Drugovich, P6: Verschoor, P7: Sargeant, P8: Daruvala, P9: Vesti and P10: Hughes.

  • Azerbaijan Grand Prix

    The Azerbaijan GP is here once again, and it hosts Round 8 out of 22! After an unexpected race here last year, what could happen this year and will Max settle his unfinished business here after last year’s retirement?

    Just like Monaco, the Baku City Circuit has areas where mistakes can’t be made, but unlike in Monaco there is more overtaking chances, especially down the straight.

    Who needs a good weekend?

    The Ferrari boys need a good weekend, the last 4 races a Red Bull has won, which has led them to lead both championships and have Perez close in on Charles in 2nd. Sainz needs to get a good amount of points on the board as he is 27 points away from Perez who is in 3rd. Either way a Ferrari needs to win this weekend to get back on form which we saw in the early few races.

    Both Haas’ will also be wanting to do well this weekend, as they look to try and score double points (fingers crossed). After having both cars DNF last time out, Haas will be wanting to score to get further up in the constructors, they currently sit in 8th just two points away from Alpha Tauri in 7th.

    Guanyu Zhou will be hoping for a good weekend, having scored a point in his first ever F1 race, it hasn’t all gone his way this year, finishing just outside the points in both Saudi Arabia and Australia, he then finished 15th in Imola and had two DNF’s in Miami and Spain, he then bounced back to finish 16th in Monaco. In F2 last year, he finished 3rd in Sprint Race 1 – hopefully he can put that to good use and get in the points this weekend!…

    Predictions for qualifying-

    My top five are- Pole: Verstappen, P2: Leclerc, P3: Perez, P4: Sainz and P5: Hamilton.

    I feel like the battle for 5th will be between both Mercs, Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas – all have very good cars and it looks like McLaren and Alfa Romeo have unlocked a bit more than Mercedes at this moment in time.

    Times for the weekend-

    Friday 10th

    • Free Practice F2 – 09:35am – 10:20am (BST)
    • Free Practice 1 F1 – 12:00pm – 13:00pm
    • Qualifying F2 – 13:30pm – 14:00pm
    • Free Practice 2 F1 – 15:00pm – 16:00pm

    Saturday 11th

    • Sprint Race F2 – 10:30am – 11:15am (BST)
    • Free Practice 3 F1 – 12:0pm – 13:00pm
    • Qualifying F1 – 15:00pm – 16:00pm

    Sunday 12th

    • Feature Race F2 – 08:05am (BST)
    • F1 Race – 12:00pm

  • Azerbaijan tyre allocation

    After a weeks break, we are back racing once again as we have another double header, with our first destination being Azerbaijan this weekend.

    Pirelli have chosen the tyres for this weekend those being the softest tyres in the range, C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium), C5 (Soft). This is the same selection as last year’s Azerbaijan GP.

    Baku’s street circuit has a personality of its own, combining rapid straights with some narrow and technical sections, especially around Turn 9 in the old city centre. As a result, the high downforce setups which the teams used in Monaco won’t be used here, teams prefer to go for a low to medium downforce set up.

    The weather can be warm in Baku, with the track temperature in excess of 50 degrees, but the tight confines of the building around the circuit mean that there are areas around the track with light and shade, varying the track temperature quite a bit around the lap.

    The winning strategy last year was effectively a one-stopper (although the race was red flagged close to the end). The favoured strategy was soft to hard, with the soft tyre being fitted for the last three laps.

    Until Jeddah came along, Baku was the fastest street circuit of the year. But the demands of this city track are still relatively low, as none of the corners take a huge amount of energy out of the tyres due to the low levels of abrasion and contained lateral loads – which means that we can have the same nomination as Monaco. Having said that, the high speeds in Azerbaijan still place a certain demand on the tyres. The main point is all about traction, with finding the right balance between front and rear axles being the key challenge for all the teams: you need to have enough heat in the front tyres to generate grip, despite the long straights that cool them down, but not too much heat at the rear, otherwise it’s easy to overheat them in the traction zones. Track temperature is also inconsistent in Baku, so all in all it’s quite a specific track with a few different technical challenges, which are nonetheless the same for everyone.

    Mario Isla, Motorsport Director.

    Formula 2

    The Medium and Supersoft tyres have been chosen for this weekend in Baku for Formula 2. This is the same nomination as previous years, even though the supersoft is a new compound for 2022. But the same compounds have already been seen this season at Imola.

  • Pirelli tyres

    So following on from the weekend in Azerbaijian, during the race we have two high speed crashes from Lance Stroll and Max Verstappen because of tyre blowouts.

    Both drivers were on the hard tyre compound, Lap 30 of the race is when Stroll crashed and spun violently into the wall which could of been a lot worse! Verstappen was leading the race with only 5 laps to go and then he suffered the exact same.

    However, Pirelli’s Head of F1 and Car Racing didn’t believe that tyre wear had been the issue in either of the incidents Mario Isola told the media: “I don’t want to give any preliminary conclusions. But it seems that it is a cut due to debris, because as I said, it’s not the most stressed tyre… We had other cars with the same number of laps [on the] same tyres without any issue. So the preliminary investigation is that it is probably due to an external factor, or debris, or kerb or whatever.” Isola then went on to add “Another element was there was no sign, or any warning according to the teams, we have to receive the telemetry from them but what they told us was that there was no warning, no vibration nothing to seem that there would be something in the tyres.”

    Isola suggested that Verstappens crash could have been caused by running over debris from Stroll’s crash. Meanwhile Pirelli announced that they have also spotted a cut in the hard tyre of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, this was discovered when everyone pitted under the red flag.

    My Opinion:

    I personally have very mixed views on this, I think that Pirelli need to review there Hard compound tyre, I don’t think Stroll’s was due to debris as no one had crashed before him and to make that big of impact to the tyre and car you’d expect it to be a big piece of debris off a crash. Where as Verstappen’s could possibly be a bit of debris, when you watch the replay you can see no debris on the track big enough to cut the tyre but then again this isn’t the first time the hard tyre has had a blowout etc as last year at Silverstone’s first race, Bottas, Sainz and Hamilton all suffered tyre blowouts on the hard tyre.

    I’d love to know your view on this so I have added a poll and video below!

    Sky Sports Video on Youtube

  • Round 6- Baku Race

    Baku’s race today is the most craziest race I’ve seen in a while and it did not disappoint!

    Sergio Perez is now a two time race winner and Sebastian Vettel is back on the podium in P2 and P3 for Gasly! Big congratulations to all three on the podium, very well deserved!

    The rest of the top 10 are, P4- Charles Leclerc, P5- Lando Norris, P6- Fernando Alonso, P7- Yuki Tsunoda, P8- Carlos Sainz, P9- Daniel Ricciardo and P10 to Kimi Raikkonen!

    It’s very nice to see Tsunoda and Ricciardo in the points! Yuki has had a very strong weekend here and Ricciardo made up for the qualifying!

    Esteban Ocon had to retire from the race due to a sudden loss of power!

    Lance Stroll had a big crash halfway through the race, as he had a problem with his rear left tyre and the same happened for Max Verstappen, he was leading the race and then a problem occurred with his rear left and that was him out and that brought a red flag out and stopped the race! George Russell had to retire just before the restart which is sad to see!

    I have got to mention Mercedes, Hamilton looked like he was going to take P1 or P2 at the re-start but he made a mistake at turn 1 and ended up towards the back of the grid and out the of the points, meaning no Mercedes scored points and it’s a real shame :( Now onto Valterri Bottas I’m not to sure what he was doing today? He finished P12 which is just shocking you’d expect him to be up there in the points supporting his team mate and helping his team with strategy. He definitely is pushing himself away from getting another Mercedes contract and it’s all his own doing really…

    Going into round 7 we have Max Verstappen still leading the championship by only 4 points… In two weeks we have the start of our first triple header of the season and it’s the French Grand Prix on the 18th to 20th June!

  • F2 Baku- Day 2 & 3

    Honestly wow what a weekend! As always at Baku there was drama left, right and centre on the streets circuit! But here’s all the updates from day 2 and 3

    Day 2-

    Sprint Race 1-

    First up we had sprint race 1 where Robert Shwartzman won for the first time in 2021! Safe to say I think he is about to bounce back from a terrible start to his season. Followed him is Dan Ticktum in second and then Guanyu Zhou in third.

    The drama started on lap 1 where Jack Aitken spun at the start where as his team mate run wide and neither of them made it through to turn 2. We then had contact between Liam Lawson and Oscar Piastri after they had a tap from Felipe Drugovich, which resulted in Lawson and Piastri to retire and Drugovich was handed a 10 second time penalty.

    Sprint Race 2-

    Now onto sprint race 2 and the drivers wanted to get to the first two corners unscathed but that wasn’t the case. Zhou and Ticktum locked up and spun at the first corner, Ticktum got by and contiued with the race where as Zhou had to retire. Then Ralph Boschung got caught by Theo Pourchaire, he managed to contiue on in the race where as Boschung had to retire. The two retirements were then joined by Zendeli after going wide at Turn 2.

    Beckmann managed to ace his restart once the safety car returned to the pits but the same could not be said for Viscaal as he lost another position and fell back to third behind Vips. The saftey car didnt stay in the pits for long as Nissany went into the back of Richard Verschoor.

    Once again another restart and there was drama further back in the field as Drugovich caught Christian Lundgaard and he went into the wall at turn 1. We then had Armstrongs DAMS end up in the wall as well, it only required a VSC but with six retirements and three separate stoppages, it gave the grid a very big shake up- Lawson who started in 20th was in 8th and Tickutm was back up in sixth after dropping to last on the opening lap. But it was Juri Vips who took the win along side Beckmann and Darauvala!

    Day 3-

    Now onto todays Feature Race! And what a race it was! Juri Vips claimed a back to back win in Formula Two this weekend, he was joined by Prema team mates Oscar Piastri and Robert Shwartzman.

    Jack Aitken was the only driver to line up on the mediums however the driver ended up starting from the pit lane after stopping on track during formation lap, there was also similar problems for Campos driver Matteo Nannini but he couldn’t get going again.

    Just like the sprint races this weekned, we had a safety car on the first lap due to Dan Ticktum, Theo Pourchaire and Marcus Armstrong, unfortunatley Armstrong ended up in the wall and then Pourchaire had to retire from the pits. Ticktum got a 10 second time penalty for that which I personally think is very harsh.

    Liam Lawson was also handed a 10 second time penalty for forcing Pourchaire off the track at the beginning of the race. Liam ended up finishing P6 and Ticktum P8 with fastest lap.

    Now we have a little break until the next round, and we will be returning to Silverstone, on the 16th to 18th July!

  • Round 6- Baku Quali

    Wow what a qualifying that was!! Baku did not disappoint and it’s not even the race yet!

    It’s back to back pole positions for Charles Leclerc! I don’t think many people expected him to put it there but he did, joining him on the front row is Lewis Hamilton, his managed to find some pace and put the car back to the front🔥

    We then have Max Verstappen in P3 who is then followed by Pierre Gasly in P4 which is his best ever qualifying performance. The rest of the top 10 are P5- Carlos Sainz, P6- Sergio Perez, P7- Yuki Tsunoda, P8- Fernando Alonso, P9- Lando Norris and P10 for Valtteri Bottas. Lando Norris got a 3 place grid penalty for not following red flag procedure. Yuki Tsunoda has had his best qualifying result as well and he put himself in the top 10 for the very first time!

    We had four red flags during the qualifying session! The first one was from Lance Stroll in Q1 then again another in Q1 which was from Antonio Giovinazzi, they both went into Turn 15 at two separate times. The third was from Daniel Ricciardo at Turn 3 in Q2 and then the fourth was from Yuki Tsunoda and Carlos Sainz for separate reasons but at the same corner in Q3.

    A couple of people I’m gutted for are Russell, Vettel and Ricciardo I felt like Russell could of put his car further up to the top 10 but the red flag ruined his chances and that goes for Vettel and Ricciardo too, they both had the pace to get into Q3 but Daniels red flag ruined there chances as well but it’s tomorrow what counts as that’s where the points are!

    My Predictions-

    P1 for Hamilton, P2- Carlos Sainz, P3- Pierre Gasly, P4- Max Verstappen and P5 for Lando Norris. There will be at least one safety car, could possibly be a red flag too depending on the crash and how many are involved.

    I’d love to see Tsunoda, Vettel and Ricciardo finish in the points tomorrow👏🏻 I feel like it will be a very crazy race so anything could happen so make sure you tune in!

    Times for tomorrow are: 13.00pm (BST) and 14.00 (CEST)

  • F2 Baku- Day 1

    We are back racing once again and we are in Baku! It will be interesting to see how the grid handles this track as for many of the drivers it is a first experience of the Baku City Circuit.

    Free Practice-

    Juri Vips topped the charts as he was finding the limits of Baku, he went seven-tenths faster than Ralph Boschung, and then we had race winner Theo Pourchaire finishing the top 3.

    Marino Sato skidded against the wall and destroyed his front right tyre. Where as Zendeli just got stuck in the run off area at Turn 16 which then brought out the virtual safety car.

    With only minutes to go it looked as if Boschung had it under control for topping the leader board however, Pourchaire and Vips found more time which made them go ahead of the Campos driver. However action was brought to a stop as Roy Nissany spun and struck the wall which ended out bringing the red flag and the session came to a close.

    Qualifying-

    The Hitech duo Liam Lawson and Juri Vips secured a 1-2 for Sunday’s feature race! It is Lawson’s first ever pole in Formula 2 and i’m sure it won’t be his last. Then in P3 we have Oscar Piastri.

    The rest of the top 10 look like this: P4- Pourchaire, P5- Ticktum, P6- Armstrong, P7- Boschung, P8- Zhou, P9-Daruvalva and P10- Shwartzman. This means Shwartzman will start P1 in tomorrows first Sprint Race👏🏻

    Roy Nissany had to sit out of Qualifying as he crashed out in free practice and because of the short turn around time they were unable to mend his car! He will be starting at the back of the grid tomorrow.

    After qualifying ended there were 3 penalties given out and one from before qualifying too they include- Marino Sato for creating a potential safety hazard for all other cars in free practice after his crash, he got a three place grid penalty which makes him start 20th after qualifying P19.

    Lundgaard, AItken and Samaia have all been handed three place grid penalties for tomorrows sprint race as they all impeded other drivers on push laps in qualifying. Lundgaard will start from P15, instead of P12. Aitken will now start P17 instead of P14 and Samaia will start P21 after qualifying 20th.

    The times for the rest of the weekend are the following: Sprint Race 1- Saturday at 8.25am (BST), 9.25am (CEST), Sprint Race 2- Saturday at 14.40pm (BST), 15.40pm (CEST) Feature Race- Sunday at 9.45am (BST), 10.45am (CEST).

  • Azerbaijan

    We are back and in Baku after missing out last year! And the title fight is only just beginning as we go into our sixth round out of 23.

    Max Verstappen leads the championship for the first time ever in his career and only 4 points ahead of 7 time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Will Max be able to extend his lead or will trouble arise in Baku for the Red Bull driver? It’s all to play for…

    Daniel Ricciardo will be hoping for Baku to bring him some luck his way, and show all the doubters he has still got it!! His team mate Lando Norris will be wanting to carry on with his amazing results so far and he will want to extend his lead from Bottas.

    Talking about Bottas, he will be wanting to make up for Monaco after missing out on a podium due to a bad pitstop which caused him to DNF. I feel like it’s a tough one for Bottas, I personally don’t think his had the best start to the season this year, whether that be because his seat may be under threat by Russell? Or simply his just having a bad time but that doesn’t end well in a competitive sport like this…

    The Baku City Circuit is made up of 51 laps, 20 turns and two DRS zones and let me tell you I have missed Baku! I always look forward to this race as I feel like anything can happen here!

    Predictions for Qualifying:

    My top 5 for qualifying are P1: Hamilton, P2: Verstappen, P3: Norris, P4: Bottas and P5: Perez.

    I would like to see Ricciardo qualify top 10 as well as Vettel, I am hoping he carries on his streak from Monaco and hoping that it has gave him some confidence! I feel like Tsunoda may do well at this track? I’m not to sure why but I feel like he could redeem himself here from other race weekends where he hasn’t done too well. I’m sure the Ferrari boys will make it to the top ten but I don’t think it will be their strongest track this year!

    Times for Friday and Saturday sessions are: Friday- FP1- 9.30am (BST), 10.30am (CEST). FP2- 13.00pm (BST), 14.00pm (CEST). Saturday- FP3- 10.00am (BST), 11.00am (CEST). Qualifying- 13.00pm (BST), 14.00pm (CEST).

  • Petecof confirms F2 exit

    Gianluca Petecof took to social media last night and told his followers he will not be taking part in Baku this weekend for Campos racing, this comes as he has had to pull out due to budget limitations.

    Petecof hasn’t had the best start to a season, in the opening round in Bahrain his in-car fire extinguisher went off in the feature race which forced him to retire. We then go onto the second round, Monaco which Petecof had only managed 9 laps in free practice before his engine blew up, he then qualified 10th in his group but then crashed out of the sprint race on the Friday, that was then followed by another crash at the start of Saturdays sprint race and then a 16th place in the feature race despite showing pace. In the two rounds we have had he hasn’t managed to score a single point yet.

    However Campos Racing have now announced that they have singed Matteo Nannini for Round 3 this weekend. Nannini has experience in F2 as he drove for HWA Racelab in Round 1 of this season where he scored a point but he gave up his spot so he can focus on Formula 3 and Williams Formula 1 reserve Jack Aitken took his spot for Round 2 & 3.

    Could we possibly see Nannini stay in F2 this year and juggle F3 as well? Or could we see Petecof return? Will Jack Aitken stay? There is so many unanswered questions but it will be very interesting to see what happens after Azerbaijan as we could potentially have two seats up for grabs…

  • Tyres for Azerbaijan

    This weekend we will be back in Azerbaijan not just with Formula One but Formula Two also and Pirelli have announced which tyre compounds they are bringing to the race weekend.

    Unlike 2019, this years Azerbaijan Grand Prix will see the teams use the softest tyres in Pirelli’s F1 range C3 (hard) tyre, C2 (medium) tyre and C5 (soft) tyres. This is one step softer than the last Azerbaijan race weekend.

    For the third round of the season for Formula Two, they will be using 18-inch tyres, yellow striped medium and purple striped super soft tyres, making this the first time the mediums have been used in this season.

    With the Formula One race being 51 laps and Formula Two’s sprint race being 21 laps and the feature race 29 laps, it will definitely be an interesting and crazy race as always in Baku! All eyes onto the weekend🤩

    This weekend we are expected sunshine so no rain at the moment, however things can always change👀 look below to see more information on Pirelli and Azerbaijan.