Grand Prix 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

after a massive 4 week break since the last time we had any racing because of Chinese GP still not appearing on the calendar due to covid. i think you might have to go back to 1999 for the last time there was month gap between races that wasnt either the summer break or post season break. strangely that after Australia as well & in 1999 they had 3 races in 2 months. 7th march, 11th april & 2nd may which would never happen now. but to reward all F1 fans for their patience there will be 6 F1 races in 8 weeks, Baku, Miami, Imola, Monaco, Spain & Canada. to add to that Le mans 24 hrs is happening in the week between Spain & Canada. but the way this season is going Max Verstappen might enter Le Mans & win that as well LOL

Baku has become an modern classic almost as soon as the 2nd year with the chaotic 2017 race where everyone came away saying they could've won but Daniel Riccardo did from 10th, Baku is a street circuit that feels like it has everything, its high speed but also has very technical middle sector, which features narrowest point of the F1 season the 12th century castle section is just 7.6 m wide & where Leclerc put it in 2019 qualifying when he looked certainty for pole. discounting the Inaugural Baku race which was the European GP which was because appartantly F1 drivers watched the GP2 races which were best races of 2016 & spooked into being very cautious. but since its been Azerbaijan GP it has been 1 of the highlights of the season on this forum bar 2019 it has been highly rated & in the top 5

on this weekend it is fully expected that this will be 1st of the new Stand Alone Sprint Format as Sprint Schedules are increased from 3 to 6, as Liberty media are desperate to shoehorn & find its place on the weekend calendar. unsurprisingly for F1 its Tuesday & despite FP1 starting in 70 hours nothing is official yet on whether Friday qualifying will set the grid for Saturday or Sunday :dunno:

but to the best of my Knowledge this should be schedule (UK time)

Friday
Free Practise 1 - 10.30am
Qualifying - 2 pm

Saturday
Free Practise 2 or Sprint Qualifying - 10.30am
Sprint Race - 2.30pm

Sunday
Race - 12pm
 
well knock me down shows what we know as we already given max the victory on Wednesday LOL

but what a lap from charles leclerc. but now the question is that weekend specific. or are we seeing beginnings of a red bull car being reeled by that development punishment
 
As much as it is a surprise with Leclerc on Pole. Unless Ferrari have sorted there high wear rate, it could be more about grid position than playing the long game.
 
So on Friday they qualify for Sunday. On Saturday they qualify for Saturday. What do they qualify for on Sunday?
 
at the moment albeit i found it tougher to wake for sprint shootout than the Australian GP LOL

im warming to this idea of the weekend format. id give them old 90 min session in FP1. its better than have FP2 after qualifying as that was the most pointless session
 
That was a big hole in Verstappen‘s car! I’d assumed that the touch might have taken a bit off the floor, but a gaping hole in the side pod was a surprise!
 
I guess that’s the cost of weight restriction. Paper thin cars.
Doesn’t excuse Max and his teams utterly childish behaviour though. Grown men acting like 10 year old girls. Pathetic, nasty little team.
 
whisper this as it might be unpopular but i think F1 May have cracked it with the format. as i think it was most action we've seen. we were promised risks & freedom. i believe that we got that. i would say maybe sprint qualifying could be tinkered with. but we might have found something

Max Verstappen telling George Russell "you need to leave a bit of room" is the ultimate pot calling the kettle black. & 1 of laughable things to come out of his mouth. he has zero self awareness. max shouldve heeded his own advice a few years as considering what weve seen him do particularly just off the top of my head Austria 2019 Spain 2021 & Brazil 2021. he the last one who can talk. dont dish it out unless your prepared to take it
 
whisper this as it might be unpopular but i think F1 May have cracked it with the format. as i think it was most action we've seen. we were promised risks & freedom. i believe that we got that. i would say maybe sprint qualifying could be tinkered with. but we might have found something
It would appear we want very different things from F1.
 
It would appear we want very different things from F1.
earlier this week i was in leaning toward the no camp & i wouldnt want this every week as that would be too stressful, & its not perfect. id have a 90 min free practise & i would maybe tweak qualifying try out a new format. but as concept this has been the most successful

sometimes you have to embrace change, look at qualifying if we didnt change we would still be be having 2 1 hour sessions of qualifying on a friday & saturday afternoon. where most people would only tune in for final 15 mins on saturday afternoon
 
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whisper this as it might be unpopular but i think F1 May have cracked it with the format. as i think it was most action we've seen. we were promised risks & freedom. i believe that we got that. i would say maybe sprint qualifying could be tinkered with. but we might have found something

Max Verstappen telling George Russell "you need to leave a bit of room" is the ultimate pot calling the kettle black. & 1 of laughable things to come out of his mouth. he has zero self awareness. max shouldve heeded his own advice a few years as considering what weve seen him do particularly just off the top of my head Austria 2019 Spain 2021 & Brazil 2021. he the last one who can talk. dont dish it out unless your prepared to take it
Personally, I don’t understand why they need two qualifying sessions. Just run a single qualifying session, and then run the sprint as a reverse grid, so that drivers are rewarded for taking risks!
 
My fundamental problem with the sprint race, or whatever it's called, (as I've mentioned before) is that it gives more value to some races than others. Either there is a sprint event at ever race, or at none.
 
Personally, I don’t understand why they need two qualifying sessions. Just run a single qualifying session, and then run the sprint as a reverse grid, so that drivers are rewarded for taking risks!
thats a good point i would like to see a reverse grid at some point i think it works very well in F2

& yeah FB it does give an imbalance to some races but then havent that always been the case back in the day everyone wants to win at Nordschleife in 70's. recently its means more to win in Monaco, Japan, Britain, Spa & Monza than Spain or Canada
 
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