At 16:00 Moscow time, the qualification for the fourth Formula 1 race of the 2023 season, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, started in Baku.
The session determined the starting order for Sunday’s race. The sprint qualification and the sprint itself will take place on Saturday, April 29th.
Main events:
15:55 5 minutes before the start of qualifying, one of the main questions is whether Alpin will have time to fix Gasly’s car. Recall that in the first (and only in Baku) practice, the engine burned out on Pierre’s car.
16:00 The session started – everything is in order with the fireball Gasly. The Frenchman is one of the first to go to the track, including to practice.
16:08 The first attempts are over. Ahead without any surprises: Verstappen, Leclerc, Alonso. In the relegation zone there are two Alpha Tauris, Gasly and Okon. And also Sainz, who did not have time to drive a fast lap.
16:09 And we have red flags – the session was stopped after the accident of de Vries, who powerfully put his car against the wall.
16:24 The de Vries car was removed, the barriers were repaired, the session resumed – 10 minutes until the end of the first segment.
16:27 Extravaganza. Again qualification is stopped by red flags. This time the culprit was Pierre Gasly, who hit the barriers and broke the rear suspension. True, the Frenchman managed to get to the security zone. But the barriers need to be repaired again.
16:37 Attempt number three. The first segment resumed – until the end of 7.5 minutes.
16:45 The long-suffering first segment is over. In general, there were no surprises. Is that Magnussen was forced to end the fight early due to problems with the car.
16:52 The second segment starts. We hope no more incidents. However, the sun sets, the track cools down – and the grip of the tires with the track is getting worse.
17:00 After the first attempts, two Red Bulls are ahead – with Perez ahead of Max. Leclerc is also very close. The rest are far away. The struggle for the top 10 can also be interesting, outside the top 6 (Red Bull, Ferrari, Aston Martin) is very tight. Even Mercedes can have problems. Well, we are waiting for the final attempts.
17:08 The second segment is over. All the same ahead. but in the struggle for the top 10 there was a sensation – George Russell is only 11th and does not go any further! Lewis was on edge too.
17:16 Started the third segment – begins the fight for pole position.
17:19 The first attempts are behind – ahead of Verstappen and Leclerc. The riders showed exactly the same time – 1.40.445! Max is ahead because he completed the lap earlier. Power.
17:24 We are getting ready for the final, the participants have one attempt each. While Leclerc is the only one holding the pace of the two Red Bulls, the others are at least 0.5 behind.
17:27 Pole at Leclerc! The most powerful circle of the Monegasque, Verstappen and Perez could not answer. The rest – including Sainz – are very far away.
Baku
April 28, 2023
Qualification
Top 10
1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 1.40.203
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.188
3. Sergio Perez (Red Bull) +0.292
4. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +0.813
5. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +0.974
6. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +1,050
7. Lando Norris (McLaren) +1,078
8. Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) +1,378
9. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +1,408
10. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +1,408
Eliminated after the second segment:
11. George Russell (Mercedes)
12. Esteban Ocon (Alpin)
13. Alex Albon (Williams)
14. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)
15. Logan Sargent (Williams)
Eliminated after the first segment:
16. Zhou Guangyu (Alfa Romeo)
17. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
18. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
19. Pierre Gasly (Alpin)
20. Nick de Vries (“Alpha Tauri”)
Three segment results:
The image is clickable.
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2023-04-28 14:30:00
