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Toto Wolff has supported the decision to discuss change s to the sprint race weekend schedules, but believes dramatic change s may not be best for the sport. Formula 1 , the FIA and F1 team bosses are in talks to change the schedule for the upcoming Azerbaijan Grand Prix. RacingNews365 understands that an agreement has been reached between the ten Formula 1 teams to alter the format to include two qualifying sessions; one for the main grand prix, and one for the sprint. Whilst F1 team principals have been largely unanimous in their support for a schedule change, the finer details, such as the exact format of the additional qualifying session and tyre usage, will have been key topics for the team's figureheads. Viewed by others: Charles Leclerc Leclerc makes urgent appeal to fans over privacy ...

Williams Team Principal James Vowles has revealed talks remain ongoing over whether Formula 1 's Sprint format will change for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Baku City Circuit will host the first Sprint event of the season next weekend as the four-week spring break comes to a conclusion. Concerns have been aired over the validity of the Azeri capital hosting a Sprint race given the tendency for incident, with teams constrained financially by a stringent budget cap. But ahead of the event, teams are understood to have agreed to alterations to the format that sees a race take place on Saturday, with tweaks set to bring in a second qualifying session to split the 100km Sprint from the grand prix on Sunday. These changes must be ratified officially, however, with Vowles confirming the saga continues ahead of the sport's return to action. Viewed by others: ...

Toto Wolff is expecting the new Sprint weekend format to pose an " interesting challenge " for Mercedes at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Sprint will make the first of six appearances in 2023 during the Baku event, with a new Sprint Shootout also being introduced in place of Free Practice 2. This new session will set the grid for the Sprint, while Friday's traditional qualifying determines the order for Sunday's main race, and Wolff hopes that the structure can provide additional excitement for the fans. Wolff on new Sprint format "After just under a month with no F1 action, everyone's eager to be back out on track," Wolff explained. "Thankfully we've got plenty of that coming up. It's a busy window in the calendar with five races in six weekends, starting with Azerbaijan. "The racing in Baku is always dramatic and entertaining. It's a challenging track with the walls close, so there's no room for er...

McLaren boss Andrea Stella is confident that the team have prepared for the "risk" posed by the upcoming Sprint race at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Sprint will make its first of six appearances during the weekend in Baku, which will also see the introduction of a Sprint Shootout in place of Free Practice 2. This will determine the starting order for the Sprint, while Friday's qualifying will set the grid for Sunday's main race. While McLaren have had mixed fortunes in the opening races of the 2023 season, both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri scored points last time out in Australia, and Stella feels that the squad are in a positive frame of the mind for the Azerbaijan event. McLaren prepared for 'risk' in Baku "We come to Baku following a solid result in Australia, a short period away from track to refocus and with good spirits in the team so we're ready to go again for the first double-header of the season," Ste...

Lando Norris says McLaren 's much-vaunted Azerbaijan Grand Prix Formula 1 upgrade package is "where we should have started the year" following their slow start to the season. At the launch of the MCL60, McLaren were quick to downplay the new car, saying a new development route had been identified late in the process - with the new parts, relating to the floor - not being able to be brought to the car before Baku. The team have had a difficult start to the season, but scored their first points in Australia, and now with the upgrade coming, Norris is cautiously optimistic, but "does not want to get ahead of myself." Viewed by others: Guenther Steiner Steiner outlines how many races Magnussen has to prove himself ...

Max Verstappen has clarified his apparent threat to quit F1 after changes to the sport's Sprint format were confirmed. Drivers will face a single practice session before qualifying on Friday, which will now set the grid for Sunday's Grand Prix. Saturday is in effect a standalone Sprint day, with a second qualifying session used to determine the line-up for the 100km race, with the changes coming in time for this weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Red Bull driver Verstappen had seemingly threat ened to leave F1 should tweaks keep being made but has moved to clear up any misconceptions surrounding his remarks. Speaking to media including TheFOXposts.Com , two-time champion Verstappen explained: "I always said that even if there wouldn't be any more Sprints, if we keep expanding the calendar and the whole weekend is that long, at one point you question 'is it worth it?' "I do like racing, I like winning, I know the salary... you have a good lif...

Lewis Hamilton believes Mercedes will only be stronger for James Allison returning as Technical Director. Allison has returned to the role he left 20 months ago as part of a major technical team shake- up at the Brackley-based outfit which saw him switch roles with Mike Elliott, who he had handed the reins over to in 2021 when moving into the Chief Technical Officer role. Mercedes has struggled to find a com Pet itive edge within the new regulatory era of F1 , finishing third in last season's Constructors' Championship with only one victory to show for its efforts whilst Hamilton clinched a first podium of the current campaign in Australia last time out. Addressing the changes, Hamilton told media, including TheFOXposts.Com : "James has always been a part of the team, was obviously focused on another area before. "I think having him step back in a little bit is only going to strengthen the team moving forwards. He has got an amazing amount of experienc...

With the Azerbaijan Grand Prix being the first Sprint event of the 2023 Formula 1 season, there's a change in the weekend format from this year's previous races. Instead of qualifying taking place on a Saturday, the one-hour session setting the grid order for Sunday's race will instead take place on Friday. A separate qualifying session, dubbed the Sprint Shootout, will replace FP2 on Saturday to set the grid order for the Sprint race later that day, meaning Saturday will be dedicated solely to Sprint qualifying and race. See our handy table below to find out exactly when Friday's qualifying session start s wherever you are the in the world. 2023 F1 Azerbaijan GP Qualifying start times Time zone Race start time ...

Max Verstappen topped the free practice session ahead of qualifying for the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, finishing ahead of Charles Leclerc. The reigning World Champion's lap of 1:42.315 was fractionally faster than the Ferrari driver's, with Sergio Perez just over one tenth off the pace in the second Red Bull. Carlos Sainz was fourth fastest in the other Ferrari, with Lando Norris putting his McLaren in P5, ahead of a surprise Nyck de Vries. The Aston Martin duo of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso finished seventh and eighth. The vitality important sole practice session of the weekend was interrupted by red flags, which were brought out for the dual stoppages of Pierre Gasly and Kevin Magnussen. Gasly's Alpine met a fiery end as he stopped at Turn 12, with the Frenchman now facing a tough ask to be ready for qualifying. To view the full report from the Azerbaijan free practice session, click here. Result Fre...

A majority of the Formula 1 field have taken new power unit components at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix - after the allocation was increased for 2023. Teams were given an extra Interval Combustion Engine, Turbo-Charger, MGU-K and MGU-H components only for the 2023 season, owing to the length of the calendar with 23 Grands Prix and six Sprint events - the first of which takes place in Baku this weekend. As such, teams have taken most of their new components straight away - although Pierre Gasly could be forced to take yet more after a fire on his Alpine during the sole practice session ahead of qualifying. The tables below show which drivers have taken which engine components . Viewed by others: Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2023 Verstappen fastest in sole, disrupted Azerbaijan GP practice ...

Charles Leclerc nabbed pole position for Formula 1 's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and will be joined on the front row by Max Verstappen. Having set the exact same time as Verstappen on the first runs in Q3, Leclerc improved by 0.242s on his second run, as Verstappen could only find 0.188s. It will be a Sergio Perez/Carlos Sainz second row with Lewis Hamilton fifth and Fernando Alonso sixth. You can check out the full results from Qualifying for the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix below. Result Qualification - Azerbaijan Pos. Driver Team Time Results are being loaded... View full results ...

Red Bull believe the aerodynamic loss from the damage sustained by Max Verstappen during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix Sprint race was " massive ." The Dutchman was involved in a first-lap crash with George Russell, who overtook him into Turn 3 for third but punctured a sizeable hole in Verstappen's left sidepod when pulling off the move. Post-race the pair were seen having a heated argument over the incident in Parc Ferme, which culminated in Verstappen branding Russell a "d***head" for the manoeuvre. Chief engineer Paul Monaghan believes the aerodynamic loss from the damage was " massive " and prevented Verstappen from progressing further up the order. "In terms of the aerodynamic loss, massive," confirmed Monaghan to media, including TheFOXposts.Com . "It's difficult to know precisely because we don't put the car in the wind tunnel like that, but lap time was notable." Team boss Christian Horner believes the ...

There are three possible strategies that can be used to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, all of which involve a one-stop strategy. As shown in the Sprint race on Saturday, tyre graining is a big issue for the teams to contend with on the softer compound tyres. Those who started on the Soft found themselves towards the back of the field at the finish, so it is likely that the Medium tyre will be used most along with the Hard. F1 tyre supplier Pirelli say the fastest strategy is to start on the Medium tyre before switching to the Hard tyres between Laps 13 and 20. An alternative would be to start on the Hard tyre and switch to the Soft between Laps 38 and 45. It is possible to go on a two-stop strategy, which is slower on paper but could yield results if there is a stoppage. The first option is to start on the Medium, then a swap to the Hard between Laps 8 to 16, then another set of Hards between Laps 27 to 35. It is possible to start on the Medium and switch to the Medi...

Mike Krack has detailed the steps Aston Martin were forced to take to try and overcome their Formula 1 DRS problems over the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend. The Silverstone squad were hit with problems affecting their rear-wing system throughout the Baku weekend - with Fernando Alonso believing it cost him a shot of qualifying higher than sixth on Friday for Sunday's race. In the end, Alonso managed to finish fourth in the Grand Prix, helped by an audacious overtake on Carlos Sainz while Lance Stroll came home in seventh, losing sixth to Lewis Hamilton after a mistake at Turn 16. And while boss Krack did not know what had caused the problem with the flap, he did talk about some of the steps Aston took to try and rectify the issue. Viewed by others: FIA OPINION: FIA must wake up after Baku calamity ...

George Russell feels that Lance Stroll's tactics as both drivers made a pit stop during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix were "questionable". The pair entered the pits at the same time as a flurry of drivers opted to make a stop when the Safety Car was deployed in the early stages of the race. As such, Aston Martin decided to double stack Fernando Alonso and Stroll, with the Canadian seemingly dropping back behind Alonso to avoid any delays in the pits. Russell managed to overtake Stroll as they both drove down the pit lane. The incident was noted by the FIA but no further action was deemed necessary. Russell on pit lane overtake When asked if frustration had led to his pit lane pass on Stroll, Russell told media, including TheFOXposts.Com : "Well, it played [into] my hands. "I managed to overtake him on the way into the pit lane. I think it's against the rules to do what he did. "It was obviously a bit questionable but it was quit...

Alpine Sporting Director Alan Permane has conceded the team "didn't do a good enough job" after a nightmare Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend . The event got off to the worst possible start for the squad, with Pierre Gasly's A523 catching fire within the first 15 minutes of the only practice session during the alternative Sprint format, whilst teammate Esteban Ocon was also confined to the garage with concerns focused around the rear of his car. Gasly went on to crash out of qualifying later in the day, although Ocon made the best of a bad situation to reach Q2. But the pace was never present for the French manufacturer and the team failed to pick up points in either the Sprint or Grand Prix. Viewed by others: z73rFHnvU2FFNzb6N F1 PiViTE2t Lewis Hamilton Hamilton questions FIA over crucial Baku change ...