Welcome Drivers!

For the first time this season F1 unveiled the new format for the Sprint races going forward. I went through the format changes in the last post so take a look at the link below if you want the rundown on all of the format changes.

Other than interest in the new format it was a pretty anticlimactic weekend for Baku standards. A race that usually features multiple red flags during the race only had a single incident involving a safety car. To couple this, Red Bull flexed their muscles once again and really main it uncompetitive with the rest of the paddock.

McLaren are finally starting to get their mojo back while Alpine have a very frustrating weekend. If you would have told me McLaren would be leading Alpine after Baku after the first race in Bahrain I would have laughed in your face. Now here we are.

Alfa Romeo continue to have terrible performances with Bottas coming in last or second to last of all drivers who finish the race in the last 3 races. Not the type of consistency an F1 driver dreams of.

The Sprint race didn’t live up to expectations in my opinion and there are a few things that F1 will need to address if they want to make the Sprint a mainstay in F1 (especially at street circuits). I will get into these points and provide my updated F1 Power Rankings following the Azerbaijan GP.

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The First Sprint Race Review

VSC/SC Takes Too Much Out of the Race

F1 needs to consider the impact of Virtual Safety Cars and normal Safety Cars when choosing the location of the Sprint race. While VSCs don’t have much of an impact to the normal race given the amount of laps, it essentially halves the race when running the sprint format.

On top of that, Baku is notorious for accidents and crashes into the wall resulting in a ton of stoppage time while the track is cleaned up and debris moved. While there wasn’t much of that in the sprint or race this year we did get a taste when Yuki lost his wheel on lap 3 of the sprint.

F1 should try to avoid running the Sprint race format at circuits well known for frequent VSC/SC/RF. It doesn’t make sense when the already shortened sprint race spend 4 laps under the safety car. It isn’t what the fans want to see and it takes the wind out of the sails of the sprint race.

Sprint Felt Even More Meaningless

The new format was supposed to make the race more exciting to watch but in doing so it made it somewhat irrelevant. Why would the top midfield (Alpine/McLaren) teams even try to go for it when the risk-reward is tiny. There is maybe one point available to these teams.

Lets take a look at the Sprint race results in Baku. All of the points scoring positions were taken by the top teams. There isn’t a strong likelihood that an Alpine or McLaren will be able to beat the likes of Aston Martin or Mercedes in their current form.

It just seems like it is a race simulation for any team that isn’t a contender. If it continues like this the midfield teams may end up using the Sprint race to test different compounds for the actual race since there isn’t a realistic chance for them to score any points.

A thought that I had brought up on my last post was the standalone Sprint race has to potential to be a great platform to trial a reverse grid style format. I doubt this would be very popular amongst traditional fans or the drivers themselves but it is something that has been talked about for a few years. The fact that the Sprint has no bearing over the actual race would give the best teams relief that they do not have to fight through the field to score points and would also provide the midfield and backmarker teams valuable opportunities to score more points.

Teams Weren’t “Sending It” Like F1 Thought They Would

While the thought was in the right place to make the Sprint separate from the race, it didn’t exactly pan out as expected. Other than George Russell sending it into Verstappen’s sidepod in the first lap there wasn’t a lot of aggressive overtakes in the Sprint race.

The standalone Sprint was pitched as an opportunity for drivers to take more risk when trying to overtake and create a more exciting event. It was good on paper but in reality it just felt like a normal race that was shortened. No one was “sending it” and there were few hard racing, wheel-to-wheel moments.

Overall it was an anti-climatic start to the new format that was very much hyped up.

F1 2023 Power Rankings

1. Red Bull

4 races, 4 wins for the defending champs. They have done nothing but prove they are the best team in Formula 1 through and through. Their only competition is themselves and the rivalry between Verstappen and Perez is heating up as both drivers have two wins apiece.

Perez had a phenomenal weekend taking advantage of the Safety Car to overtake Verstappen and then holding his teammate at bay for the majority of the race. While he was under pressure at points it was clear that Perez had the race under control. Baku has always been a strong circuit for Perez so it will be interesting how his pace compares in Miami this week.

Verstappen was on the other end of fortune for the Safety Car as he pit literally right before the SC was announced. Verstappen entered the pits in 1st and at the restart he was in 3rd. He made quick work overtaking Leclerc for the second time in the race but at that point Perez had already established a 1.5s lead and was able to keep in front of Verstappen. Who knows what would of happened if Verstappen had kept that lead but he made it seem like it was just some misfortune and nothing more.

2. Ferrari

It was the strongest race of the season for Ferrari. Everything seemed to go right and they were able to score their highest point total of the season in Baku. While they weren’t able to keep pace with the unstoppable Red Bull cars it was clear that they had the pace to keep ahead of Aston and Mercedes.

Leclerc is finally back in the mix with his first podium of the season. It was been a dreadful start to the year for the Monegasque driver but everyone knew that Ferrari had pace if they could fix their issues. Tire degradation may still be an issues thought as Fernando Alonso made a late charge for 3rd and very nearly took it off of Leclerc.

Sainz did what he needed to do and not much else. It was a very quiet day for him once he got passed by Alonso after the Safety Car restart. He fended off Hamilton for the majority of the race and was able to claim P5. It was a solid result for Ferrari in what feels like a “return to normal” race for them.

3. Aston Martin

Aston was a bit lacking this weekend in comparison to the first three races of the season. It seemed like had a competitive race pace but they qualified P6 and P9 to start the race. Both drivers were able to improve 2 places to P4 and P7 but it still felt a bit lackluster after three consecutive podium appearances.

While he couldn’t manage to get on the podium Fernando Alonso certainly made a valiant effort near the end. He finished under a second behind Leclerc and had there been another lap he might have been able to get it done. Alonso is continuing his outstanding year for Aston and sits P3 in the drivers championship, an incredible achievement so far.

Similar to Sainz, Lance Stroll had a bit of a quiet day. He made a mistake coming out of turn 16 and Hamilton promptly took advantage to get by. Other than that it was a pain free race for the Canadian driver. He held off George Russell and finished P7 in what is becoming his best season as a Formula 1 driver.

4. Mercedes

I think we are beginning to see where Mercedes may actually shake out in the standings and unfortunately for them that is likely 4th at the moment. They have upgrades coming later on but it seems like it will be a bit late if they want to turn this season around. Neither driver was shown much during the race on Sunday in what was somewhat of a boring race for them.

Hamilton got very unlucky with his pit stop coming one lap before the Safety Car causing him to lose a good number of positions. He ultimately made up for all but one as Alonso was able to stay in front of him. It was just a reminder of how far off the pace Mercedes is at this point. Their main rivals are Aston and nothing more.

George Russell had a poor qualifying session leading to him starting P11. Fortunately for him most of the cars in front were slower than the Mercedes and he was able to finish 8th and claim the fastest lap of the race. This result is the type that Russell wanted when coming over to Mercedes and he will be expecting the team to improve going forward.

5. McLaren

McLaren are finally returning to form with two straight races finishing in the points. While this is not nearly where they wanted to be at the start of the season they are starting to make moves in the right direction. As bad as the start of the season was for them, they currently sit P5 in the constructors championship ahead of their Alpine rivals.

McLaren relied heavily on their star driver Lando Norris. Norris qualified an outstanding P7 but ultimately gave two positions back to finish in P9. After his start to the season any points come as good news. McLaren and Norris will hope to carry this momentum forward for the rest of the year.

6. Alpine

A very frustrating weekend for Alpine especially when their rivals in McLaren appeared to have righted the ship. Ocon started the race from the pit lane while Gasly failed to get out of Q1. Last season Alpine had great straight-line speed but this season it hasn’t translated. They will need to get it sorted quickly if they want to stay competitive with McLaren.

Adding to their woes was the fact that they had brought a significant upgrade to Baku and it seems like it did not pay off. It was their second consecutive race in which they were unable to score points.

7. Williams

Williams still is trying to find a way to put everything together to covert more points out on track. Albon is putting on some outstanding performances while their rookie Sargeant has shown pace at times albeit inconsistently. Williams has managed to get themselves into points scoring opportunities multiple times this year but have been unable to convert.

Alex Albon is the clear cut leader of the team and started the race just outside the points. The Williams has shown to be very fast in a straight line so the opportunity was there to score points. Ultimately nothing materialized for Albon and he finished the race where he started in P12.

Logan Sargeant had a frustrating weekend. He started the race in P14, only two places behind his teammate but he lost out to the two faster Alpine drivers and finished P16. It will continue to be a learning season for the rookie and he will have to make the most of the moments when they come to him.

8. Haas

It was a poor weekend from the US team as neither driver was able to make it out of Q1 and Nico Hulkenberg ended up starting from the pit lane. Kevin Magnussen was able to make up three places and finish P13 but he was caught up in the DRS train caused by Ocon and his teammate.

Hullkenberg started the race from the pit lane and Haas opted to go with the alternate strategy of starting on the hard tires and going long with the hopes of a late race Safety Car. That SC never came and Hulkenberg slowly lost his tires and he finished a lap behind the leaders when it was all said and done. Strategy plays never seem to work out for Haas.

9. AlphaTauri

Yuki Tsunoda continues to prove himself in a car that is just pretty awful all around. AlphaTauri’s season has gone so wrong that they are parting ways with their longtime team boss Franz Tost. They have only been able to muster two points this season both coming from Tsunoda who is having a stellar year despite how much AlphaTauri have fallen.

Nyck de Vries is showing just how green he is in F1 as he clipped the wall on the inside of turn 5 and broke his left wheel. He also crashed during qualifying. de Vries has struggled with the Alphatauri car this year and who can blame him.

10. Alfa Romeo

Something strange is going on at Alfa Romeo. Baku was their first retirement of the season when Zhou Guanyu was unable to finish but it isn’t the first time we have seen issues with Alfa.

Ever since Bahrain, Bottas has finished dead last of all drivers who have finished the race 2/3 times. This should have been 3/3 but Carlos Sainz was dealt a cruel penalty in the Australian GP. While they haven’t had many retirements they certainly haven’t put on any good performances since the initial race.

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