F1 is back to school in Baku

After a lengthy, unplanned spring break lasting four weeks, Formula One is back in action at the Baku City Circuit in Azerbaijan. During the regular season, F1 takes a month off in August, but teams must stop all work for 14 consecutive days. Due to the cancellation of the Chinese Grand Prix on April 16th however, the teams have now had nearly a month to take what they’ve learned from the first three races and apply it towards the development of their cars without the mandatory time off. For Red Bull, who have been the fastest by a wide margin (58 points ahead of 2nd place) so far, this was probably not a welcome respite, unless they found a way to shave off even more lap time. Is that even possible? For the rest it has been a chance to catch up in the development war.

This weekend introduces the new sprint race format. As a street circuit with cement walls replacing more user-friendly runoff areas, Baku is not a great place to be holding the first of six sprint races. The new format only allows for one practice session before two qualifying sessions, a sprint race, and the Grand Prix. The track will be dirty and there will be wind. Also, the race is being held earlier in the season than usual, so track temperatures will be cooler. With barely any time for teams to acclimate to track conditions we may see quite a few safety cars and red flags. It will be a lot of fun for fans, but hopefully not a repeat of the carnage we saw in Australia. Otmar Szafnauer at Alpine says the team has used some of the extra time off to build up spare parts, which makes a lot of sense after his two drivers collided in the closing laps of the Australian GP. Christian Horner of Red Bull is betting Baku it will be an expensive weekend…

” I think from a spectacle point of view, from a fan point of view, it is probably going to be one of the most exciting sprint races of the year. From a cost-cap perspective, all you can do is trash your car and it costs a lot of money around there. So one race is enough in Baku. The fact that we’ve got two… yeah, there could well be some action there.”

See: F1’s New Sprint-Race Weekend Format Explained

On the development front, Mercedes has been on the back foot since the rule changes in the 2022 when the team got the formula wrong with their zero sidepod concept, but they have been making up significant ground since then, most recently in Australia where Lewis Hamilton was able to bring his car home in 2nd place. Currently, Mercedes sits in 3rd, just 9 points behind 2nd place Aston Martin. No doubt Aston has been working hard over the past four weeks, and will be bringing their first upgrade of the season to Baku in the form of a new rear wing. Mercedes has had time to plan a succession of upgrades that will focus on finding more downforce and improving drivability and balance with new suspension components.

Further down the grid, Ferrari has not had good luck in Baku in the past, but they are bringing a new downforce package that is specific to Baku’s long straights and tight corners. Hopefully Charles Leclerc has made peace with the infamous turn 8 that leads into the castle section of the track. He has landed pole position twice in Baku, but never won. After a disappointing race in Australia, Ferrari will be looking to bounce back and score some much needed points if they are to retain 4th in the championship ahead of McLaren, who saw their fortunes turn in Australia with a double points haul. For the Baku GP, McLaren will be bringing the first of three major upgrades planned for the season.

Meanwhile, Guenther Steiner at Haas is banking on his two veteran drivers to bring home some points for the team. There will be five races in the next six weeks so he also told his team to rest up over the break. Hopefully that will pay off down the stretch.

At the Williams team, rookie Logan Sargeant, who claimed a second-place finish on the streets of Baku in last year’s F2 Feature Race, shared that he’s excited to be getting back in the car this weekend in Baku after so much time off. Currently he’s the only driver on the grid to not have made it past Q1 during qualifying. He’ll be looking to change that, as well as score his first F1 points. Sargeant, and rookie Nyck deVries of Alpha Tauri, have yet to score points this season as their respective teams are battling for last place in the Constructors Championship.

You can check out all the action on ESPN this weekend starting Friday with a 60-minute practice session, followed by qualifying for the main event. Hope you enjoy it!