After a grueling one month break, Formula One is finally back! The teams return to the coastal city of Baku, home to the longest straight on the F1 Calender. This weekend the teams will bring upgrades in hopes to gain ground after their early season reprieve, among other things. Here is the 2023 Formula One Azerbaijan Grand Prix preview and predictions.
The 6km (3.73 mile) street circuit will run through the city, along the Caspian Sea and feature two DRS zones. The 51-lap feature race will be live on ESPN at 7 a.m. on Sunday, June 12 and on F1TV.
After weeks of reports and suggestions around upgrade packages, this weekend will see this season’s first set of major upgrades. Among the notable upgrades, McLaren will bring their long-awaited upgraded car concept that was delayed due to changes mid-development. The former top of the midpack team has suffered greatly to start this season partially due to the car concept. McLaren hopes that these changes will bring them back into the top half of the grid.
Their main competition from last season Alpine meanwhile reportedly is aiming to “gain six tenths worth of performance” with their string of upgrades starting in Baku. The French outfit sit firmly as the fifth best car on the grid at this moment. It remains to be seen who among these two teams manage to gain the most time on the top four, but these two will be the teams to watch.
Prediction: Lando Norris outpaces both Alpines, but they finish ahead of Oscar Piastri
Rumors swirled surrounding approved F1 sprint weekend changes over the month-long break, but they are rumors no more. F1 officially announced Tuesday the rumored changes to the sprint weekend on social media. Friday will now feature free practice one and qualifying for the main race. Saturday will now host an abbreviated qualifying session for the sprint race followed by the sprint race itself, with Sunday housing solely the main race. This structural change ensures that every day on a race weekend has competitive racing.
These changes conceptually will coax drivers and teams to take bigger risks in the sprint races. The results of the sprint race would set the grid for the main race prior to these changes. This meant that any damage to the car or mess up in general could cause a driver to start at the back of the grid. With separate qualifying sessions now in effect, the sprint race will likely be even a much better viewing experience for fans.
Prediction: The Sprint Race Will Have 25+ overtakes
Aston Martin are the surprise team of the 2023 F1 Season. In a year’s time, the Silverstone-based outfit went from the back of the grid to now firmly in the top four. The addition of former Red Bull engineer Dan Fallows has paid dividends in his first full season in charge of development. The Red Bull influence is clear in the design on this year’s car in all but one aspect. Aston Martin have arguably the second best car on the grid except for its DRS efficiency.
Among the top four teams, they have the worst DRS efficiency and top speed data by a significant margin. In fact, data from the Australian Grand Prix shows they had the third worst DRS efficiency at various sections of the track. This was easy to see on track during the grand prix. Fernando Alonso would get close to Lewis Hamilton, but Hamilton’s DRS and straight line speed combined to hold the Spaniard off through the end of the race. If the green machines want to fight for race wins, they will need to improve their DRS. The impact will be felt this weekend at Baku given the street circuit is home to the longest straight on the F1 calendar. This could very well lead to a disappointing weekend for Aston Martin.
Prediction: Alonso Misses out On the Podium
What do you think heading into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix?
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