Mika Hakkinen: Azerbaijan Grand Prix Preview

This weekend sees Formula 1 try an entirely new format, one which I believe will create a lot of challenges and opportunities.  With only one practice session on Friday before the teams move into qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix, there is very little time for teams to gather data and play with set-ups.

There is no possibility of getting the usual overnight support from the factory before heading into qualifying, so you need a really good baseline set-up and a driver who feels confident in the car.

The fact that Friday qualifying sets the grid for Sunday means that Saturday’s Sprint Race event really becomes an entirely separate race in which the drivers and teams can go for it.  Where I feel the Sprint format has the potential to really affect Sunday is if a driver has a big accident of the kind in which the gearbox or engine suffers damage, or where a penalty hits a driver’s grid position on Sunday.

Saturday’s Sprint Qualifying Shoot-Out will be really interesting to watch,  It’s split into three parts lasting 12, 10 and 8 minutes, and the pressure is really on. The 100kms Sprint Race takes on a different perspective for the teams and drivers since it no longer sets the grid for Sunday, and I think that is fantastic move.

F1 is introducing this to create more excitement for fans, spectators and TV broadcasters, and I really think it will work.  The teams are already quite nervous about the potential for extra damage!

It’s brilliant to see how popular Formula 1 has become and I believe F1’s CEO Stefano Domenicali is right to experiment with new form

Looking at the World Championship, two things really stand out.

Despite their problems with the Mercedes W14, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have put the team in third place in the teams’ World Championship, only 9 points behind Aston Martin.  Toto Wolff is pushing hard to bring the team back to a fully competitive position, but even if they cannot catch Red Bull I believe that second place run the championship is possible.  That’s potentially a good result for a team which has made some big changes already, including bringing James Allison back in as Technical Director this week.

George Russell was really unlucky to have a red flag ruin his strategy in Australia, a race which he led with great confidence.  Max Verstappen would still have won, his car’s advantage was so great but, if Mercedes can aim for consistent podium finishes, 2023 will be not be a disaster.

Ferrari is currently fourth in the championship, Charles Leclerc 10th in the World Championship for Drivers.  That’s a problem for the team and for him.  It’s easy to forget that Ferrari had the fastest car in qualifying last year, Charles taking nine pole positions, two more than Max Verstappen, but the progress made by Red Bull, Aston Martin and Mercedes this year has given the red cars a difficult start to the season.

Can Ferrari recover?  That’s a big question.  Team boss Frederic Vasseur remains confident.  Let’s hope the team has used the one month break between races to unlock performance.