What’s going on?
The Saturday race called “Sprint” in Formula 1 does not quite convince everyone, and it is a race that does not take place in all circuits of the F1 season.
In this case it was the first of the 2023 season, it can even be considered an event apart from the important race that is held as is tradition on GP Sunday.
The sprint is only 17 laps, it took place on the Saturday before the GP and the starting order was as follows:
- 1.Charles Leclerc (1:41:697)
- 2. Checo Perez
- 3. max verstappen
- 4. George Russell
- 5. Carlos Sainz
- 6.Lewis Hamilton
- 7.Alex Albón
- 8. Fernando Alonso
- 9. Lance Stroll
- 10. Lando Norris
- 11. Oscar Piastri
- 12.Nico Hulkenberg
- 13. Esteban Ocon (will start from pitlane)
- 14.Kevin Magnussen
- 15. Logan Sargent
- 16.Guanyu Zhou
- 17. Valtteri Bottas
- 18.Yuki Tsunoda
- 19.Pierre Gasly
- 20. Nyck DeVries
RACE Sprint
Checo had a good start and despite not being able to fight the 1st. position to Charles Leclerc, he stayed behind him always close and moving away from the rest of the other competitors.
In the first lap of the race, Tsunoda collided with the wall, broke the rim and the tire, which forced the entry of the Safety Car, which was maintained for four laps.
At the restart Checo Pérez always remained very close to Leclerc, less than a second waiting for the DRS to be enabled.
On the eighth lap, Checo, with the fastest maneuvering speed, beat the Monegasque driver (Leclerc) on the inside of the first corner and thus took first place.
Charles Leclerc tried to recover the position, but the superiority of the Czech Red Bull in sectors 1 and 3 were key. The Ferrari kept 2nd position but was never able to work on a pass for 1st place.
With nine laps to go in Baku, Pérez had precise handling, kept a distance from Charles Leclerc and also Checo set several lap records and with four laps remaining to finish the race Charles was already two seconds ahead of him, while Max Verstappen , did not put pressure on the Ferrari either and decided to secure third place.
The results of the Saturday Sprint
- 1. Checo Perez (8 points).
- 2. Charles Leclerc (7 points).
- 3. Max Verstappen (6 points).
- 4. George Russell (5 points).
- 5. Carlos Sainz (4 points).
- 6. Fernando Alonso (3 points).
- 7. Lewis Hamilton (2 points).
- 8. Lance Stroll (1 point).
