Five things to know ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

It’s time to go racing again! After what has felt like an eternity since the chequered flag in Melbourne, we’re all set to hit the circuit once more.

We’re in Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and there are extra points on offer thanks to it being the first F1 Sprint event of the year.

Here are five things you should know ahead of the fourth instalment of the 2023 Formula 1 season.

You have probably already seen that from this weekend, F1 Sprint events will run a little bit differently from how they’ve done so in the past two years.

Friday will once again consist of FP1 and Qualifying, but the former will be the only practice session of the weekend, whilst the latter will set the grid for Sunday’s full-length Grand Prix.

Saturday, or Sprint Saturday, now begins with a Sprint Shootout. A shortened and more restrictive qualifying session sets the grid for the Sprint race later that same day.

The Sprint is 100km of racing where the drivers now know that any mistakes made will not compromise the rest of their weekend, as the starting order for Sunday’s Grand Prix was already set.

Points are on offer for the top eight finishers, with P1 getting eight points and P8 picking up one.

As mentioned, the Sprint Shootout is shorter than a conventional qualifying session – a 12-minute Q1, 10-minute Q2 and an 8-minute Q3, with a 7-minute gap in between.

Drivers are also given a mandatory tyre selection for each phase. Mediums for Q1 and Q2, with softs for Q3.

Both of these new aspects combined mean there is more pressure on a driver to nail the lap on their first run.

It’s not just the F1 Sprint format that has been given a refresh, the Baku City Circuit has as well.

As a street circuit located on some of Baku’s busiest roads, it had garnered a reputation as becoming a pretty bumpy venue. An issue exacerbated by this era of ground effect machines.

As a result, the circuit has undergone extensive resurfacing. What this means is by the time cars take to the tarmac for the only practice session of the weekend, there will be substantially lower grip.

This is something Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance, has alluded to, saying: “The circuit is challenging for the drivers and the engineers and with very little time to set the car up ahead of Friday evening qualifying, there will be more uncertainty than normal when the cars enter Parc Ferme.

“The FW45 should be well suited to the layout in Azerbaijan, but we will need to be agile and pragmatic to get the most out of it given the track resurfacing, the cooler temperatures and the lack of free practice time.”

One section of the 6.003km venue that is resurfaced every year is the run between the Old City walls.

The narrow run from Turn 8 to Turn 11 is actually a cobbled street when F1 isn’t in town, meaning a protective cover has to be put over it before any resurfacing can take place.

Just 7.6 metres separate the barriers at the narrowest point through this section, the thinnest ribbon of track anywhere on the calendar.

Thankfully our two drivers both have previous experience around the streets of Baku, meaning the limited practice running won’t hinder their weekend from a track discovery point of view.

Not only have they raced here before, but both Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant have also visited the podium in Azerbaijan.

Albono drove a stellar and crucially clean race to convert pole position into his first Formula 2 victory here in 2018.

In an equally dramatic race, Logan finished P2 in F2 here last season, his second taste of the podium in that series.