Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Azerbaijan Grand Prix

  • F1 to race in Azerbaijan until 2030

    Formula 1 has announced that the Azerbaijan Grand Prix will remain on the race calendar for a further four years, securing the future of the event until 2030 inclusive.

    Located on the shores of the Caspian Sea, the six-kilometre Baku City Circuit tests drivers with a combination of tight, technical corners and wide, sweeping straights.
    As the circuit winds through the Icheri Sheher old town, the castle section hosts on of the narrowest turns on the F1 Calendar, which tests the drivers’ nerve and skills to the limit.

    The circuit debuted on the Formula 1 calendar in 2016 as the European Grand Prix, before becoming a permanent fixture on the calendar in 2017 as the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
    In 2024, the race weekend welcomed fans from over 70 countries and delivered strong viewership figures, with a global TV audience of more than 66 million.

    With seven different winners across eight editions, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix has become one of the most open contests on the calendar.

    There’s an incredible energy to the city of Baku and since our first Grand Prix here in 2016 Formula 1 has consistently received a warm and enthusiastic welcome from the people of Azerbaijan. The circuit is unique, with technical sections and long straights that run through the stunning shoreline and historic old town, delivering an eventful and entertaining race every year. This renewal reflects the strong trust and commitment between Formula 1, the Azerbaijani Government, and the promoter, and paves the way for an exciting future in the country. I would like to thank President Ilham Aliyev and Minister Gayibov for their continued investment and commitment to evolving the event; Anar Alakbarov and the Azerbaijan Automobile Federation for championing Formula 1 in the country; and the team at Baku City Circuit for their year-round efforts in delivering an exceptional experience for our fans, drivers, and teams.
    Stefano Domenicali, President & CEO of Formula 1.

    The extension of our partnership with Formula 1 reflects the vision and direction of Azerbaijan’s leadership, ensuring that our country continues to stand as a global hub for major sporting events while leaving a lasting legacy of inspiration for future generations through the power of sport. Over the years, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix has grown into one of the most anticipated races on the F1 calendar, showcasing not only thrilling on-track action but also the beauty, energy, and hospitality of our capital. This extension reaffirms our commitment to hosting world-class events and further strengthens Azerbaijan’s position on the international stage. Together, we will continue to present Baku as a vibrant, world-class sporting destination, welcoming fans from across the globe to experience both the excitement of Formula 1 and the unique spirit of our city and country.
    Dr Farid Gayibov, Minister of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

  • R17 – Azerbaijan

    Max Verstappen claimed a lights-to-flag victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, while Lando Norris closed the gap to title rival Oscar Piastri to 25 points after the Drivers’ Championship leader crashed out on the opening lap.

    Verstappen was never headed on the streets of Baku, leading all 51 laps and winning by over 14 seconds from Mercedes’ George Russell and Carlos Sainz who claimed his first podium for Williams having just lost out on pole position.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Russell, P3: Sainz, P4: Antonelli, P5: Lawson, P6: Tsunoda, P7: Norris, P8: Hamilton, P9: Leclerc and P10: Hadjar.

    What a result for Max Verstappen, he done no wrong this weekend and his reward from that is he is starting to come into this title fight with Piastri and Norris. A few more races like that for the Dutchman and McLaren will start thinking they are in trouble (if they are not doing that already).
    As for Tsunoda, he finished 6th! A good result for the Japanese driver, he had a good weekend overall, he needs to start putting in performances like this to make sure he has a seat next year.

    P2 for Russell! A great result for the Mercedes man, they had the pace this weekend which was good, they also got to capitalise on McLaren and Ferrari not being in the top five. This has benefited the team massively in the Constructors’ Championship as they move up a spot.
    A good result for Antonelli, P4, a shame for him to miss out on the podium but still a really good result.

    P3 for Mr Carlos Sainz! What a result for Sainz and Williams, this just shows how much work they have put into the past couple of years and with Sainz you could see the result coming but he just had to work for it.
    This helps the team massively in the constructors putting them in fifth on 101 points, with a 29 point gap to Racing Bulls.

    Talking of Racing Bulls, P5 for Liam Lawson. A good result from him, it’s a shame he couldn’t hold onto a podium position but still a really good showing from him.

    A weekend to forget for McLaren, especially Piastri, hitting the wall in Qualifying and then crashing out on Lap 1 and ending his race there. As for Norris he had a bad race, not many moves being made.

    Not a very good weekend for Ferrari either, P8 for Hamilton and P9 for Leclerc, they will be looking forward to Singapore as normally the Ferrari’s do well there.

    I think this weekend has been incredible for us. Of course, last weekend was already great, but for us to win here again is just fantastic. I think also in the race, the car was working really well on both of the compounds. We had clean air all of the time and then you could look after your tyres, and it was pretty straightforward. Of course, it’s not easy around here. It was very windy today, so the car was always moving around a lot, but of course, I’m incredibly happy with this performance.
    Verstappen on the win.

  • RW 17 – Azerbaijan Qualifying

    Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc made it four successive poles in a row at the Baku City Circuit.

    Leclerc produced a blistering lap of 1m 41.365s to finish some three-tenths clear of Piastri in the final Q3 phase, adding to his 2021, 2022 and 2023 poles. He also had teammate Carlos Sainz round out the top three.

    The full top 10 are – Pole: Leclerc, P2: Piastri, P3: Sainz, P4: Perez, P5: Russell, P6: Verstappen, P7: Hamilton, P8: Alonso, P9: Colapinto and P10: Albon.

    What a result for Ferrari! Especially Leclerc taking pole, he loves this circuit so much so he will be wanting to grab the win today! It helps Sainz is in third, so hopefully the strategy will be good enough to get a double podium.

    A semi decent day for McLaren’s drivers, a lovely result for Piastri P2, he will be looking for that win today aswell – so it will be an interesting fight between the two teams. However, Lando Norris was a shock Q1 exit he will be starting 17th which isn’t what the championship contender would have wanted. He has a lot of work to do in the race…

    A decent result for Red Bull! Perez starts P4 which is a lovely result from the Mexican! He does love these streets, so don’t count him out in the race. Verstappen starts 6th – it could’ve been better but it also could’ve been worse.

    Now onto the Silver Arrows, a decent qualifying for them! P5 for George and P7 for Hamilton, they will be looking to get a good haul of points this weekend.

    Now onto Williams, what a performance!! Colapinto outperforms Albon and will be starting 9th and 10th respectively. Both drivers in Q3 for the first time this season. It will be interesting to see how Colapinto does this weekend with it being his second F1 race.

    Bearman who is in for Haas this weekend was close to the top 10, the Brit will be starting P11 and will be looking to score more points aswell…

  • RW 17 – Tyre Selection

    Round 17 is here and we are officially in the final third of the season at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

    For the first time ever, the race takes place in September rather than the usual April or June and that will be the case next year aswell due to wanting to achieve a more logistically coherent calendar.

    Pirelli has chosen the three softest compounds in the range C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium), C5 (Soft).

    The track is 6.003 kilometres in length and has pretty much unchanged since 2016, it features 20 corners.

    Some of these, such as the first seven are practically right angle turns while others through the city are slow and some flat out.

    The track also varies in width, going from seven metres at turn 8 to being wide enough to accommodate three cars abreast down the main straight.

    The track evolution is an important factor as the circuit is normally open to city traffic not only that but the weather can also play a part. Usually it’s hotter in September, than the usual race in April. With track temperature varying around the race track depending on which parts are in sunlight or the shade from surrounding buildings.

    Baku is a typically one-stop race, with the hardest tyre doing the majority of the work. Although a glance at the circuit layout may seem like overtaking is straightforward, but that is not always the way.

  • Mini to replace Bearman in Baku

    PREMA Racing have confirmed that Gabriele Mini will replace Oliver Bearman for Round 12 of the FIA Formula 2 season. It will mark the Italian’s F2 debut.

    Mini finished the 2024 Formula 3 campaign second in the standings with PREMA after narrowly missing out on the Drivers’ Championship to compatriot Leonardo Fornaroli.

    He secured a race victory in the Monte Carlo Feature Race along with a further four podium finishes en route to P2 in the Standings.

    The Alpine Academy driver said that he was looking forward to learning as much as possible about the car and the Championship across the weekend in Azerbaijan.

    The 19 year old is expected to step up to an F2 seat next season, likely with Prema given both Mercedes-bound Antonelli and Bearman with Haas are both graduating to F1 for 2025.

    He knows Prema very well as he competed for the team in the Italian F4 and ADAC F4 championship in 2020, before he went on to link up with Hitech and ART as he competed in Formula Regional competitions.

    He then continued on with Hitech for his maiden F3 season last year, but rejoined Prema for the Macau Grand Prix, a relationship which continued into the recently ended F3 season.

    Very happy to be joining PREMA Racing for the FIA Formula 2 event at Baku. We had a strong season in 2024, and we have been fighting for the title until the last corner. Formula 2 is the main option for 2024 so it’s also very important to join early at Baku. It’s a good opportunity for me to learn with the new car and series.
    Mini on the news.

    We cannot wait to see Gabriele make his FIA Formula 2 debut. It’s very rewarding to see him graduate to the top junior single-seater series after making his very first steps with our team back in 2020. It will be a useful opportunity for both him and the team. On the other hand, we want to wish Ollie the best in his second Formula 1 start and we look forward to having him back for the final part of the year.
    Rene Rosin, PREMA Racing Team Principal.

  • Bearman to replace banned Magnussen

    Ollie Bearman will be standing in for Kevin Magnussen at Haas for this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix following the Dane’s race ban for reaching the maximum 12 penalty points on his super licence.

    Magnussen was handed a 10-second penalty and two penalty points when the stewards deemed he was “wholly to blame” for banging wheels with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly when trying a pass at the Italian Grand Prix.

    With Bearman set to race full-time for Haas in 2025 alongside Esteban Ocon, the team decided to promote Bearman – who is dovetailing his role as reserve for both Haas and Ferrari aswell as his campaign in F2 this year – for the race in Baku.

    It made the most sense for Haas to give Bearman the weekend in the Haas so he can familiarise himself with the team for a full weekend before he makes his debut.

    It means Bearman who won his second F2 race of the season in Monza will be missing the F2 Sprint and Feature races in Baku.

    The young Brit has been building up his F1 preparations with runs in FP1 for Haas this year, the fourth of six taking place in Hungary just before the summer break.

    Magnussen can return back to his Haas for the following race in Singapore, as his Super Licence will be wiped clean of points.

    It’s definitely more of a challenge stepping in to race as a reserve driver, with limited prep-time and so on, but I’m in the fortunate position of having done it earlier in the year with Scuderia Ferrari, so I can at least call on that experience. I’ve also had four FP1 sessions with MoneyGram Haas F1 Team in the VF-24 already this season, so undoubtedly that will also prove to be valuable in tackling the full race weekend in Baku. The team is in good form at the moment and I’ll do my best to be prepared with the time we have available. The aim is to get out there and have a solid weekend in Azerbaijan.
    Bearman on his reserve duties.

    I’m excited that Ollie will be driving the VF-24 alongside Nico in Baku. He’s already shown great promise in his FP1 outings and post-season test, and he performed very well when he drove for Scuderia Ferrari in Saudi Arabia, picking up points in the process. This is another excellent opportunity for both Ollie and the team to work together, this time throughout an entire race weekend, and he couldn’t ask for better teammate than Nico to provide him with a reference.
    Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal.

  • Magnussen banned for Azerbaijan

    Kevin Magnussen has been hit with a one-race ban after being penalised for clashing with Alpine rival Pierre Gasly during the Italian Grand Prix, with the penalty points received tipping him over the limit for the season.

    It was an eventful race for Haas at Monza as Nico Hulkenberg was handed a 10 second time penalty earlier on in the race following a collision with the RB of Yuki Tsunoda, before Magnussen later received the same punishment but with Gasly.

    The Dane tried to overtake the Alpine down the inside of Turn 4 but locked up and subsequently made contact. In their verdict, the stewards felt that Magnussen was “wholly to blame for” this, having deemed that he did not drive in a “safe and controlled manner through the manoeuvre”.

    Despite scoring a point by crossing the line in P10, Magnussen’s penalty means that he has received an additional two penalty points on his licence. This takes his total to 12 and should a driver reach this total over a 12 month period, they will be issued a one-race ban.

    As such, Magnussen will now be forced to miss the next Grand Prix in Azerbaijan, with an official document from the FIA confirming the punishment.

    Stating a breach of Article 4.2 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations, the note reads: “The Super Licence of the driver of Car 20 is suspended for the next Competition of the 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship. Following this suspension, 12 penalty points will be removed.”

    The last F1 driver to receive a race ban was Romain Grosjean back in 2012, when he was racing for Lotus, after he caused a multi-car crash at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix.

  • 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.

  • RND 4 – Azerbaijan Grand Prix

    Round 4 is complete, lets take a look at how it went.

    Sergio Perez took victory on the streets of Baku, adding to his Sprint race triumph and being the only driver to win twice at the Azberaijan Grand Prix.

    Max Verstappen made it a 1-2 for Red Bull Racing, and Charles Leclerc rounded out the top three, grabbing his first podium of the season.

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

    It wasn’t the usual Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as normally we expect a bit more drama than what we had, there was only one safety car during the race, which was for Nyck de Vries who stopped on track at Turn 5 as he hit the wall, which caused terminal damage.

    Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg both started from the pit lane to hold points-paying positions for most of the race as they extended their first stints on hard tyres but the late mandatory pit stops meant they were banking on another Safety Car to get an easier pit stop.

    It was an important win for Checo as it now puts him in the title fight and only 6 points away from Max who is the Championship leader, both drivers have a big gap to Alonso in third so nothing to worry about too much.

    Looking further at the Driver standings, Leclerc and Russell are equal on points with the Monegasque being 6th and Russell 7th, they also have Stroll behind them who is in 8th one point behind…

    Looking at the Constructors, Red Bull obviously are in the lead, almost 100 points clear of Aston Martin who are in P2 but the Silverstone based team need to watch out for Mercedes as they are only 11 points away from them. Ferrari are close behind in 4th on 62 points, still a bit of work to do for the Italian team.

    We don’t have to wait too long until the next race, as Round 5 is only next week and we are back in the US, for the Miami Grand Prix.

  • RND 4 – Azerbaijan Sprint

    Sergio Perez claimed the first Sprint race victory of the season at the Baku City Circuit on Saturday afternoon, where he beat Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen to the chequered flag.

    With F1’s Sprint format being revised for 2023, a new ‘Shootout’ qualifying session set the grid for the 17 lap dash.

    One driver did not take part, it was Logan Sargeant as he crashed during the Shootout and was withdrawn from the Sprint due to significant damage.

    Meanwhile, the grid was another car lighter after Alpine made suspension changes on Esteban Ocon’s car under parc ferme conditions.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Perez, P2: Leclerc, P3: Verstappen, P4: Russell, P5: Sainz, P6: Alonso, P7: Hamilton, P8: Stroll, P9: Albon and P10: Piastri.

    A good result for Perez, he took Charles Leclerc spot for the lead and didn’t look back, and left the drama behind him too.

    There was a little tangle between Russell and Verstappen on lap 1. With the pair going side by side through the opening sequence of corners, before the Mercedes nosed ahead of the Red Bull at Turn 3.

    Verstappen was not happy though, as he jumped on the radio and accused Russell of barging his way through – replays confirmed contact and a thump of the wall for reigning two-time world champion.

  • RND 4 – Azerbaijan Qualifying

    Charles Leclerc claimed pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after getting the better of reigning world champion, Max Verstappen in a thrilling qualifying session, with the Monegasque making it three poles on the bounce at the Baku City Circuit.

    Incredibly, Verstappen and Leclerc posted identical 1m 40.445s lap times during their first Q3 runs, only for Leclerc to step forward with a 1m 40.203s on the decisive final laps.

    The full top 10 for the race are: P1: Leclerc, P2: Verstappen, P3: Perez, P4: Sainz, P5: Hamilton, P6: Alonso, P7: Norris, P8: Tsunoda, P9: Stroll and P10: Piastri.

    Finally! The Ferrari’s are back fully (hopefully) a good result for Charles him taking pole position, which hopefully can be turned into a win on Sunday, not only this Carlos Sainz starts fourth aswell, so there’s a big opportunity for the entire team to score wekk.

    Shout out to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both in the top 10! A really good result for the McLaren team, hopefully they’ve turned things now and can continuously score points or be close to the points.

    A good result for Tsunoda aswell, starting P8 in the thick of it all, as we all know there’s always a bit of drama at Baku so some drivers like Tsunoda, Piastri etc they will be hoping to benefit of others downfall.

    Was a shock to see George Russell out of the top 10, but its all to play for on Sunday, and if he wants to score big points tomorrow then he will need to put in the work.

    Predictions-

    The top 5 predictions for the race on Sunday are: P1: Perez, P2: Leclerc, P3: Hamilton, P4: Sainz and P5: Norris.

  • 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.