Selected F1 team bosses are mindful of the sprint race on a track like Baku in the coming weekend with the Azerbaijan GP.
The Azerbaijan GP next weekend is going to have its first sprint race of the F1 2023 season. It is a fast and flowing circuit and being a street race, it certainly provides some good action which could pose a challenge especially with the sprint race.
While the new format of two qualifying is not yet 100% confirmed for Baku, going by the old format of sprint race results determining the grid for the main event, it will be interesting to see what sort of race will take place and how cautious F1 drivers are.
Considering the history of the circuit, the concerns of the field regarding damage to cars is aplenty as they are wary of crashes which in cost cap era could be detrimental. And with the grand prix being a back-to-back one with Miami, the teams will be on their toes.
Here’s what the F1 team bosses had to say –
Otmar Szafnauer: “It does seem that Baku always produces interesting racing and yes, there is more jeopardy because it’s a street race and some of the walls are pretty close. The nice thing is we’ve had this three-week break to make some spares in order to be prepared for both the Sprint race and the race in Baku. Hopefully it’ll all be OK and we won’t suffer in Miami.”
Guenther Steiner: “I’m with Otmar. We now know enough about Sprint events, that we know how to get prepared, and those are in the cost-cap budget. I think everybody has got a little bit of margin there, knowing that some of these races could be tough for the budget, so I think everybody is prepared and, as Otmar said, Baku always creates something unexpected, so hopefully we are not involved in the unexpected, and come back safe, without damage and with points.”
Christian Horner: “The reality is it’s absolutely ludicrous to be doing the first sprint race of the year in a street race like Azerbaijan but I think from a spectacle point of view, from a fan point of view, is probably going to be one of the most exciting sprint races of the year. From a cost gap 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. But that’s part of the challenge and it’s part of the task that we’ve got. Hopefully we can tidy up the format for the sprint races coming up, they are a bit more dynamic. I know that the sporting director has been working hard on that and hopefully we can get that finalised so yeah, a sprint race in Azerbaijan is something to be certainly wary of.”
Zak Brown: “Yeah, as Christian said anytime we go to a street circuit, Baku creates some pretty exciting races and some big crash damage bills, same for everyone and it kind of is what it is. It’ll be very exciting for the fans and hopefully all the cars will come back the way they started.”
Mike Krack: “Yes, the same. There is certainly some nervousness about it but it’s the same for everybody. So we try to keep the cars in one piece as long as we can.”
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