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Formula 1
Azerbaijan GP
F1 Azerbaijan GP Live Commentary and Updates – Sprint Quali & Race
Saturday's action from the fourth round of the 2023 Formula 1 season
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F1 is in Baku for round four, with Charles Leclerc beating the Red Bulls to pole for Sunday's race yesterday afternoon.
Today will follow a different format, with a shorter sprint qualifying 'shootout' for this afternoon's sprint race.
It means drivers will get thrown right into competitive action this morning without a practice session to warm up.
Lando Norris and Yuki Tsunoda won’t be able to participate in the third part of sprint qualifying after taking a tyre gamble in qualifying.
The sprint shootout starts at 9.30am BST, with the sprint race getting underway at 2.30pm BST.
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Others on danger of joining him are the two Alfas and AlphaTauris, while Hulkenberg is on the bubble in 15th with two minutes to go.
More misery for Gasly as he's only 19th and is in the pits, so he will be eliminated here.
Stopwatch
And Leclerc improves again to go nearly half a second quicker than Verstappen!
Hamilton now shoots up to second to go two tenths slower than Leclerc and fractionally quicker than Verstappen - for now.
Williams is showing some impressive pace and Albon and Sargeant are now up to third and fourth.
Yellow flag
De Vries is the latest driver to be caught out at Turn 3 as he goes straight on. Unlike yesterday, when he clouted the barriers, he is able to continue this time.
Stroll and Alonso are now up to third and fourth but are almost a second off the leading pace.
For those wondering about the yellow flag earlier, it was Piastri who went straight on at Turn 3 into the runoff and kept it out of the barriers.
Stopwatch
And now tomorrow's polesitter Leclerc shoots to the top with a 1m43.372s to go two tenths quicker.
Stopwatch
But that effort on the medium tyres is quickly shaded by Perez, who goes slightly quicker, before Verstappen pulverises the time with a 1m43.563s.
Stopwatch
Hamilton now climbs to the top of the times with a 1m44.739s.
That has quickly cleared now and the Williams drivers are the first to post a time.
Yellow flag
And we have a yellow flag at Turn 3 already!
And that remaining quintet now venture out - so we've got a full track with just over 10 minutes to go.
So, we've quickly got a flood of cars heading out. Everyone bar the two Red Bulls, Ferraris and Gasly so far.
Green flag
And we're off! The inaugural sprint qualifying session begins!
And it's chaotic in the pitlane as a huge queue of cars has already lined up!
As a reminder, this first part of qualifying is due to last a slightly shorter 12 minutes. So, expect a chaotic session!
So, three minutes until the session is due to begin - what surprises have we got in store in this one? Time to find out.
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Here's the obligatory weather update for you, and there's not much to say! Risk of rain in this session is 0% and air temp is currently 24 degrees Celsius.
Given the likelihood of a red flag in Baku, it's no wonder new proposals are being rushed through...
Breaking news
The new format for this sprint event was only agreed days ago, but there are potentially more changes afoot as it's emerged F1 restart rules could be tweaked from today. Here's the latest on this developing story: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/fia-set-to-modify-red-flag-restart-procedure-for-baku-f1-sprint/10462245/
Breaking news
But Aston's strife was nothing compared to Alpine, which had to contend with a hydraulics leak and fire with Gasly, investigating a potential problem for Ocon and then Gasly crashed out in qualifying. You know you're in trouble when team boss Otmar Szafnauer admits the squad has been making changes to its upgraded car "on the fly": https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/alpine-f1-team-making-changes-on-the-fly-amid-nightmare-baku-friday/10462187/
Breaking news
One team hoping things will be different is Aston Martin. Alonso was 'only' sixth yesterday as both he and Stroll (in ninth) struggled without DRS. He'll be hoping they've shaken off those woes for today: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/alonso-rues-aston-martin-drs-issue-in-baku-f1-qualifying/10461951/
Breaking news
Yesterday's main qualifying was a thriller, with Leclerc and Verstappen heading into the final runs tied on identical times before the Ferrari man nudged ahead at the end. But today is a new day and things could be different this time around. Here's a recap of yesterday's session, in case you missed it: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-azerbaijan-gp-leclerc-beats-red-bulls-for-grand-prix-pole/10461826/
That's the theory, anyway, but given we're at the notoriously tricky Baku circuit - and it took 45 minutes to complete Q1 alone yesterday with two red flags - who knows what could happen!
This session is due to last around 45 minutes, and will adopt the regular Q1, Q2 and Q3 knockout format - except each segment will be shorter than in a usual qualifying hour.
Now, for those of you getting a sense of deja vu, yes we have already had qualifying in Baku! But this latest session is setting the grid for this afternoon's sprint race and has no impact on tomorrow's grand prix.
Hello and welcome to our coverage of Sprint Saturday of the Azerbaijan GP event! Qualifying is due to begin in just under 20 minutes.
By: Autosport Staff
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