Azerbaijan Grand Prix

The 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix saw sprint race weekend of 2023 with a new format. On Friday FP1 and qualifying for the race took place. Charles Leclerc took the fastest lap in qualifying meaning he would start on pole position for the grand prix on Sunday ahead of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

On Saturday FP2 was removed and replaced with sprint qualifying to determine the grid for the sprint race later in the day. This is apart of Formula 1's idea to seperate the sprint race from having any effect on the grand prix. Charles Leclerc once again took pole position for the sprint race this time leading Sergio Perez and then Max Verstappen who would start third. The sprint race was won by Sergio Perez who managed to get passed Leclerc after an early race safety car due to debris spread all over the track thanks to Yuki Tsunoda who hit the wall and ended up with a puncture and broken suspension.

The main story to come out of the race was the lap 1 battle between Max Verstappen anda Mercedes driver George Russell. The two fought down to turn 1 and into turn 2 where they made contact after Verstappen tried to go around the outside of the Brit who had locked up and understeered into the sidepod of the Red Bull punching a 30cm hole in the car. The fight continued on down to turn 3 where Verstappen once again tried to go around the outside of the Mercedes but ended up clipping the wall on the exit. The two ended up having words in parc ferme afterwards with Verstappen promising he would do the same to Russell next time the two are fighting on track.

In the race there was a lot less chaos and more controversy with Sergio Perez taking the win over teammate Max Verstappen. The 1-2 meant that they scored the 25th 1-2 finish for Red Bull in the teams history. Verstappen pitted one lap before a safety car for Nyck De Vries who hit the wall at turn 5 and braking a toe-link on the front left corner of his AlphaTauri. With the safety car pausing the race Perez managed to pit and comeback out on track leading. The two drivers would go onto trade fastest laps throughout the race until the chequered flag.

Meanwhile further down the grid Esteban Ocon managed to do a 50 lap stint on a set of hard tyres and pitting on the last lap. However in the pitlane the FIA had released the photographers into the pitlane early, with Ocon having no idea what was waiting for him the pitlane. When he got onto the limiter he was greated with photographers coming into his way nearly hitting some other before they quickly jumped out of the way. The person who was responsible for releasing the photogrpahers ended up being summoned to the stewards immediately after the race with a further investigation waiting.