The cars were on the starting grid Saturday afternoon for the first sprint race of the race ahead of the FORMULA 1 AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX 2023 at the Baku City Circuit.
This was the first of six sprint races this season, with brand new rules approved only a few days before the start of the weekend. The sprint race is now a standalone event that does not impact the Grand Prix starting positions on Sunday, with a separate Sprint Shootout qualifying session having been held on the morning of the sprint race. Points were up for grabs, with 8 for a victory and points all the way down to P8.
Charles Leclerc got away well off the start, maintaining his lead into the first corner. Behind, George Russell had a fantastic start to get himself alongside Max Verstappen in the first corner. The two stay side-by-side into the second corner, making some minor tyre-to-tyre contact. They were neck and neck again into the third corner. Verstappen ran a little wide and tapped the wall on the exit and had to concede the position to the Mercedes driver.
Yuki Tsunoda damaged his front wing in a collision with his teammate. Later in the lap, we understeered into the wall on the outside of the flat-out turn 14. This caused the rubber of the rear tyre to come loose and roll down the circuit. Tsunoda limped back to the pit lane, where the team fitted new tyres. But when he returned to the circuit, it was clear that he had suspension damage and he was forced to return.
The virtual safety car was deployed initially, but it was upgraded to a full safety car to allow the marshals to clear debris from the circuit.
The cleanup process took a while, eating up 5 of the 17 laps in the race. Leclerc led the way, waiting until the very last moment to launch. Verstappen timed the start perfectly, getting by Russell in the first corner. Lewis Hamilton lost two positions on the restart to Carlos Sainz then Fernando Alonso.
The DRS was enabled the following lap, making Leclerc a sitting duck to the quick Red Bull of Perez. Perez was able to overtake the Ferrari with DRS down the main straight. After a few laps, Leclerc fell out of DRS range. He briefly regained DRS a few laps later, but Perez picked up the pace again to extend his lead.
At the end, it was Sergio Perez who took the victory of the sprint race, picking up an extra 8 points this season. Leclerc was fast enough to stay on the second step of the podium alongside Max Verstappen.
The sprint race gave us a small taste of hopefully what is the come in the feature Grand Prix tomorrow.
| Pos. | Driver | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 |  | |
| 2 | 7 | ||
| 3 | 6 | ||
| 4 | 5 | ||
| 5 | 4 | ||
| 6 | 3 | ||
| 7 | 2 | ||
| 8 | 1 | ||
| 9 | |||
| 10 | |||
| 11 | |||
| 12 | |||
| 13 | |||
| 14 | |||
| 15 | |||
| 16 | |||
| 17 | |||
| 18 | |||
| DNF |
