It's the return of the still-Marmite weekend format of F1 Sprint — the short-form 100 km Saturday race ahead of Sunday's main event. Earlier this week, F1 announced tweaks to the Sprint structure for 2023 that it hopes will succeed in winning fans over. Now, just one Free Practice session remains for the drivers to perfect their car setup.
Like it or loathe it, Sprint's 2023 debut is the first of six races to have the altered weekend structure this season. New for this year is the 'Sprint Shootout' on Saturday, a shorter qualifying session to set the order of the Sprint race. While previous Sprint weekends had the regular qualifying to establish Sprint's starting order, which, in turn, set the grid for the Grand Prix, the Shootout and Sprint are now self-contained.
Away from format changes, three weekends without racing means the 10 teams had plenty of time to focus on car development and close the gap to their competitors. In Red Bull's case, that switches to maintaining their sizeable advantage over their peers, albeit with far less wind tunnel time than others, thanks to their handicapped hours from winning the 2022 title.
All teams will hope an upgrade package will steer them well. However, not everyone's behind-the-scenes developments will debut in Baku, with Mercedes already committing to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix for their changes. Irrespective, the altered weekend format should mean each driver has less time to find the ideal setup, which might mean upsets in the two qualifying and race sessions.
Pirellis's three softest F1 tyres are available for the drivers in Baku. The C3, C4, and C5 compounds should let the 20 racers find all the necessary grip to navigate the 90-degree corners with close-by walls in the street circuit's first and second sectors.
Tyres will be the talk of the paddock on Saturday, too, as the Sprint Shootout features mandatory tyre usage across Q1, Q2, and Q3. In the first two sessions, the drivers must use new yellow-walled medium rubber, while Q3 will see the remaining 10 drivers only use Pirelli's soft C5 compound. Furthermore, reduced time for each session (Q1 is 12 minutes, Q2 is 10, and Q3 is just eight minutes) means drivers might not have time to pit for fresh rubber in the final minutes of the Shootout.
Red Bull looked peerless across all three 2023 Grands Prix, and Max Verstappen will again enter the race as the man to beat. The single practice session could prove critical if the Dutchman isn't happy with his car's setup, as only minor tweaks are possible once Friday's Qualifying session begins.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell's Mercedes team will hope their improved showing in Australia indicates broader progress, with Hamilton looking largely unchallenged for P2 last time out and only a mechanical failure denying Russell his chance of Melbourne silverware.
Elsewhere, Aston Martin may find their extra wind tunnel time gives them another step forward to establish themselves as a contender for the fight to be the second-best team. Meanwhile, Ferrari will seek to re-find the early pace they enjoyed in Bahrain that evaporated in the trip Down Under.
If you're a weekday worker, you may need to adjust your Friday plans as Qualifying for the Grand Prix isn't in its usual Saturday slot. Unlike Australia, however, the Grand Prix has a far more palatable noon start time.
Qualifying – On air: 1 PM, Session start: 2 PM Friday 28th April
Sprint Shootout - On air: TBC, Session start: 9:30 AM Saturday 29th April
Sprint - On air: 1:30 PM, Session start: 2:30 PM Saturday 29th April
Race – On air: 10:30 AM, Session start: 12 PM Sunday 30th April
Qualifying/Sprint – 7:50 PM Saturday29th April
Race – 5:30 PM Sunday 30th April
Qualifying, Shootout, Sprint & Race – Friday's conditions are cooler than Saturday and Sunday's, but it'smostly sunny across all three days, with any threat of rain holding off until Monday.
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