In the round-up: Fernando Alonso believes he will be able to gain places on his sixth place grid position for today’s sprint race and Sunday’s grand prix.
In brief
Alonso confident of gaining places after DRS fault strikes Aston Martins
Alonso secured sixth on the grid for tomorrow’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix but believes he will be able to go better in today’s sprint sessions. The Aston Martin driver was just under a tenth of a second slower than Lewis Hamilton after both he and team mate Lance Stroll suffered DRS activation problems in Q3.
“We could have been a little bit better,” Alonso said. “We had some issues in FP1 and also in qualifying with the DRS, which cost us a few tenths.
“Being so tight, I think the standings will make a difference. But nevertheless, it’s only Friday. It’s a long weekend ahead of us – another qualifying tomorrow, another race, another race on Sunday – so plenty of opportunities. Hhopefully we can recover a few places.”
Bearman on pole after reprimand
Oliver Bearman took pole position for the Formula 2 feature race despite bending the steering on his car and being investigated for an incident involving Jehan Daruvala and Richard Verschoor. The stewards ruled the Prema driver had “driven in an erratic manner that could have been potentially dangerous” but only handed him a penalty.He will share the front row of the feature race grid with Enzo Fittipaldi. Richard Verschoor has pole position on the partially-reversed grid for today’s sprint race, ahead of Zane Maloney.
Points leader Ayumu Iwasa qualified a lowly 17th for both races. Theo Pourchaire, second in the standings, qualified third for the feature race. He was given a three-place penalty for impeding Kush Maini, which will apply to the sprint race, which he will therefore start 11th.
Porsche unveil Le Mans hypercar livery
Porsche’s trio of 963 Hypercars will sport this special livery at the Le Mans 24 Hours. It has been designed to mark both the 100th anniversary of the race and 75 years of Porsche sports cars.
Garcia gains F1 Academy poles after Carlins excluded
Marta Garcia will start on pole position for the first ever F1 Academy round at the Red Bull Ring after original pole-winner Abbi Pulling was disqualified, along with her two Carlin team mates, due to a technical infringement.
Pulling had secured pole for the first and final of today’s three races until a post-session inspection found that all three Carlin cars – belonging to Pulling, Jessica Edgar and Megan Gilkes – were fitted with parts under the sidepod that did not meet homologation. All three were disqualified, handing Pulling pole position for the first race of the series ahead of Prema team mate Bianca Bustamante.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
'Under the weather' Piastri battles into top-10 in Baku (West Australian)
"It's not been the easiest days for myself, I've been a little bit under the weather but happy to be in Q3 (the third qualifying session) and nice to start the weekend off well. I've felt better before... but I'll be fine for tomorrow."
Writing the Rules – How the FIA develops new regulations for Formula 1 (FIA)
"This weekend in Azerbaijan, Formula 1 will introduce a new format designed to boost the spectacle of Sprint weekends and improve track action for fans around the world. Thanks to the close working relationship the FIA enjoys with FOM as well as the sport’s 10 teams and power unit manufacturers, moving the changes from concept to regulatory reality has been accomplished swiftly and positively through collaboration. But how does this whole process work?"
Formula 1 Academy: 'Women need to be taken more seriously (BBC)
"Two or three years ago I couldn't finish a season in an F4 championship down to the fact there was nothing left in the pot. If it wasn't for what F1 Academy are doing I wouldn't be racing - it's a simple as that."
Susie Wolff: ‘Getting a woman on the F1 grid is eight to 10 years away’ (Guardian)
"A woman in F1 is not going to happen overnight, I need to manage expectations. But I think this foundation and everything we can achieve with the F1 Academy in the medium to long term can be the real driver for change in the sport and that was what compelled me to say: ‘Count me in.’"
Lando Norris: "My theory, that was an old me, that’s the part that really uses your brain. You get questions and think ‘nah that doesn’t really matter’ when it probably does, whereas the driving part I nailed the first time. So the practical part, mega, I nailed it, the theory, forget all that."
IndyCar's New Rain Vanes Debut In Alabama (Racer via YouTube)
"IndyCar's brand-new rain vanes are designed to prevent an issue that arose in 2022."
We always endeavour to credit original sources. If you have a tip for a link relating to single-seater motorsport to feature in the next RaceFans round-up please send it to us via the contact form.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
80th birthday celebrations for Helmut Marko at @redbullracing. #F1 #AzerbaijanGP #RaceFans pic.twitter.com/xqkySYOYyo
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) April 28, 2023
First pole of the season, it feels really good and the lap was 🔥
The feeling with the car was really good too, proud @ScuderiaFerrari ❤️ pic.twitter.com/edaZ7tmxV9— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) April 28, 2023
Up late pic.twitter.com/96rSsl4HQs
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) April 28, 2023
Surviving to Drive is officially a #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER! 📕
Click here to get your copy ➡️ https://t.co/Nf43ZrS1mE#HaasF1 pic.twitter.com/V54GuHRpzs
— MoneyGram Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) April 28, 2023
Just landed in #Baku and while going towards the passport control saw an #F1 volunteer holding a sign saying #MarkWebber. Turned around and saw the man himself. Turns out we were on the same plane. 😃 #AzerbaijanGP
— Ali Sadikhov (@Rossonero96) April 28, 2023
At what point is the other shoe going to drop and everyone at @F1 realises 'oh, we've scheduled grand prix qualifying for a Friday afternoon when everyone's at work…'.https://t.co/YzDEkneL7b #F1 #AzerbaijanGP
— Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) April 28, 2023
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
With Charles Leclerc on pole for Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, not everyone is thrilled about Saturday now being dedicated solely to sprint sessions…
As a fan I enjoy watching three hours of practice, Especially when attending the races as it gives time to walk the track and watch from different places. You just don’t have time to do that with this awful sprint format so it immediately for me makes attending a sprint weekend less worthwhile. And then consider that under this revised format people attending on Saturday are going to see an hour or so less track action than under a normal format yet ticket prices are no lower.
And having the sprint race itself just devalues the main race. Partly because we’ve seen a full race build-up but also because it’s effectively taking the opening stint of the GP and moving it to the day before which takes away some of the excitement. It additionally takes away many of the unknowns we usually go into the opening stint of a GP having as we have a better idea of what starts will be like, How tires will act, What everyone’s race pace is and how easy/difficult passing is and that just makes that opening stint of the GP far less interesting.
And of course these awful sprints also introduce the fact that some race weekends become more valuable than others due to more points been on offer. Why should the six weekends chosen this year for sprints have more points available? What makes Baku this weekend more deserving of extra points than other race weekends?
It’s just an awful format and altering the timetable will do nothing to improve it.
lynn-m
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Alvino!
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
29th April 2023, 0:34
CoTD is spot on!
There’s enough global viewers of F1 that if everyone chipped in a quid, Liberty would take the money and return Saturday to the drivers and the fans. Or… they’d just take the fans’ money and report that the fans have spoken – and paid for more sprint races. ;-)
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
29th April 2023, 1:53
I’m not explicitly agains COTD but the comment
is no longer true. The sprint is effectively entirely seperate and has no direct impact on the feature race (other than exceptional scenarios such as destroying a car and not being able to fix it/replace it before the feature race…. though this is so unlikely it really wasn’t a good example, but I can’t think of much else by way of exception except perhaps dirver damage)
It ‘could’ also be argued that whilst the amount of ‘action’ on track is reduced, it is more intense (though I realise thisis subjective).
In fact I’ll get off the fence and state that I am not personally against mixing up the weekend, as long as it does not detract from the main race. On balance I have enjoyed the sprints so far potentially more than the practices they have replaced (Although I have for many many years watched all of the practices, missing no more than one or two sessions a year). And I think the new approach is better than last year’s, though how close to the ‘best’ compromise it is remains to be seen.
Palindnilap (@palindnilap)
29th April 2023, 9:09
A measured and well-thought comment about sprint races ! You are my hero.
Nick T.
29th April 2023, 11:17
Let’s all chip in a quid for them to race on even terms in spec cars. The problem with three practices is that it punishes talent and solidifies a noah’s ark effect because a decent to good driver can work their way very close to a great driver using their data and endless laps to work on driving how the data tells them they need to drive. I don’t think it’s much coincidence Ocon was always wayyy slower than Alonso in Q1 sessions and then would get progressively closer after seeing the data or that Alonso was so much faster in the rain when the data couldn’t save Ocon.
Meanwhile, unless you attend every single GP of the year, just don’t attend GPs with the sprint races. Beyond that, many of the tracks have so off the track visually blocked along the circuit and restrict freedom of movement enough that it is impossible to be able to see more than a few angles.
Darryn Smith (@darryn)
29th April 2023, 1:29
Why not have women on the grid now by way of the sprint race? Points count for constructor championship. Otherwise the sprint race is just something I will continue to skip as there is no point to them.
S
29th April 2023, 3:06
There’d be even less point to them if the actual F1 drivers that people want to watch weren’t participating, don’t you think?
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
29th April 2023, 6:45
I thought the same thing earlier today. Women and reserve drivers do a sprint qualy and race on Friday, and Saturday and Sunday can continue as usual. No one then has to miss GP qualifying due to work on a Friday! Never going to happen though…
SteveR (@stever)
29th April 2023, 2:21
Well, you have to consider that Liberty, the owners of F1, don’t actually care what actual fans at the track see; they don’t get a cut of the gate and don’t care how many tickets are sold – that’s an issue for the track to deal with. What Liberty are concerned with is TV money, sponsors, track fees, and the myriad of other income producing things they deal with. You, as a fan, do not count and your enjoyment is of no consequence to them.
SteveR (@stever)
29th April 2023, 2:28
To add, just look at Las Vegas. Only F1 with no support races and ‘general admission’ tickets being sold for $400 so one can stand in some area without seats or an actual view of the track. This event is being put on by Liberty – this is how they value their fans, as ATM machines……
Alan Dove
29th April 2023, 8:57
One little detail about Las Vegas GP that has gone unnoticed is they’ve bumped SKUSA Supernats from its regular week at the Rio Hotel. It’s American biggest and most important kart race. You have something like 400-500 competitors.
Hopefully the inflated hotel prices don’t bleed into the date SKUSA manage to grab. There’s no news yet, but hopefully SKUSA can get something arranged that is good for the competitors.
Jere (@jerejj)
29th April 2023, 6:17
Yes, they should be able to gain some positions with fully-functioning DRS.
I feel like I’ve read the COTD before or at least the beginning, but I see the point, although only having competitive sessions on a sprint weekend Saturday is better because of how redundant the Saturday practice has been under parc ferme restrictions.
S
29th April 2023, 7:54
Probably because the same 3 or 4 people say it every single day.
couldntstopmyself
29th April 2023, 10:02
A bit ironic that the most active user only finds out now that CoTDs have been posted the day before /s
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
29th April 2023, 6:17
I do quite like Lando’s honesty. You probably shouldn’t brag about failing the theory test (and I don’t think he is), but the fact he’s comfortable talking like that is a little a different.
I think he was asked whether he’d prefer ‘more speed or torque’ and he answered ‘speed’ because he wasn’t really sure what torque was.
As for Keith’s tweet about Friday qualifying, yeah I like many others missed it because I was at work. I could watch it at work, but with so much F1 this weekend, it almost felt like a treat to not bother. I
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
29th April 2023, 8:42
I am off work at the moment, so this weekend works for me.
But, Qualifying is very, very often the most exciting hour of the entire race weekend and if I was at work I would be seething.
Also, I think it is disgraceful that Sir Lewis has had to take a second job as a cleaner just to make ends meet!
melanos
29th April 2023, 10:27
There’s nothing disgraceful in having a real job
Nick T.
29th April 2023, 11:25
You HAVE to watch it live or it’s ruined and/or can’t avoid seeing the result prior to watching? I’ve always found that to be a comical complaint in this day and age. And you can’t be talking about attending in person because you’d need to take off at least a Friday to attend anyway, unless it’s your home race. And very few people who buy F1 tickets work a job in which they can’t secure a day off when there’s months in advance.
PeterG
29th April 2023, 12:42
I don’t like not watching live as i just don’t get the same enjoyment or excitement from it, Never have which is why I’ve not missed a live F1 qualifying or race session in around 30 years.
And the other downside to not watching live today is that you lose access to all the additional video feeds and data that is available on Sky during live coverage and i really enjoy having access to that stuff to switch to onboard cameras during less action packed moments or wgen sjy are showing ad breaks or whatever other uninteresting nonsense they decide to cut to.
SteveP
29th April 2023, 8:46
They still haven’t got their heads round the correct setup for the weekend. Let’s nudge them in increments to the right one shall we?
Next stage – swap the sprint qualy and the sprint to Friday. So, ignoring other feature races etc:
FP1, SQ, SR is your Friday
FP2, Q1-Q3 is your Saturday
Race Sunday
We will amend the use of the 2nd and 3rd items on Friday when their head around the above format.
Yellow Barron
29th April 2023, 12:21
May as well just get rid of fp1 and fp2 if the goal is the show lol. At this point a reverse grid race would be more interesting than this weekends Saturday sessions.
Shimks (@shimks)
29th April 2023, 9:24
Where can I watch F1 Academy?