How slashing observe to a single hour in Baku tripped up F1 groups


F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali made headlines earlier within the 12 months claiming it might be “flawed” not to consider making adjustments to the F1 race weekend format as audiences proceed to rise.

Domenicali shook up the format by including three dash races to the calendar in 2021. Three extra have been added forward of 2023, however the F1 fee took the matter one step additional. Now the dash occasions would lose not solely the second observe session on Friday, however remaining observe on Saturday too. The addition of one other aggressive session now left only a single hour of observe in Baku.

At abnormal race weekends drivers proceed to have three, one-hour observe periods. The one hour accessible at dash occasions is a big discount, and much more in comparison with 2020, when the primary two periods have been 90 minutes lengthy, permitting a complete of 4 hours observe time per occasion.

Observe periods will not be thrilling however they’re key for groups. The drivers use the periods to get a really feel for the monitor and have a brief window to work on their race and qualifying simulations, while the groups can take a look at new elements and set-up adjustments forward of the all-important qualifying session which often takes place on a Saturday afternoon.

Sainz by no means bought snug in his Ferrari in BakuWith only one hour of operating earlier than qualifying in Azerbaijan, many groups have been caught out by the restricted operating. From Ferrari to Haas, many groups struggled to get all the data they wanted from the single-hour session, and went into the weekend with compromised set-ups.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jnr, who certified fourth for Sunday’s race, eighth-tenths of a second behind his pole-winner staff mate, felt the “hectic” session and lack of monitor time left them on the again foot as he was unable to make many adjustments to his automotive.

“It put me underneath stress clearly for Q1 which put me underneath stress for Q2 with much less tyres for Q3,“ defined Sainz on Friday after qualifying. “It was a busy day for me, all the time trailing, all the time one step behind. But it surely’s my fault and in the long run, we’ll take a look at what we may’ve achieved higher. I didn’t take pleasure in at this time and hopefully the parc ferme rule doesn’t affect me an excessive amount of.”

Sainz’s weekend by no means recovered from that time onwards as he laboured to achieve confidence in his SF-23. Ferrari staff principal Frederic Vasseur stated Sainz’s begin to the weekend left him chasing his tail all weekend.

Esteban Ocon, Alpine, Baku City Circuit, 2023Esteban Ocon, Alpine, Baku City Circuit, 2023Ocon began each races from the pits resulting from set-up adjustments“The insecurity got here from the start, with this format, it’s fairly troublesome to get better. When you’ve FP1, FP2, FP3 some drivers are capable of construct up the tempo over the weekend. This weekend, for those who don’t begin with the best tempo, you’re a bit misplaced.”

Different groups have been caught out by the challenges introduced by fewer observe periods. Nico Hulkenberg skilled extreme graining in the course of the dash race. Haas determined a suspension set-up change was wanted, that means his automotive needed to be taken out of parc ferme and begin the grand prix from the pit lane.

He joined Esteban Ocon, who had a torrid weekend after his Alpine staff admitted issues “snowballed uncontrolled.” Sporting director Alan Permane described their difficulties making an attempt to refine Ocon’s set-up on a weekend the place they launched a serious improve to the automotive.

“We truthfully didn’t do a ok job. We had a hose fail on one automotive, and gave us an enormous hearth,” he started. “We had an issue with the construct of the gearbox on the opposite automotive. So I feel Pierre did one or two timed laps in FP1, and Esteban did two, or perhaps three.

“From there, you go into qualifying. [Gasly] had an accident, which is unlucky, however I feel [Ocon] did a extremely unimaginable job in qualifying to qualify twelfth with the automotive he had.

“We don’t guess issues, we’re making use of science and deltas from this monitor to different tracks and from this automotive to final 12 months’s automotive, stuff like that.”

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Baku City Circuit, 2023Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Baku City Circuit, 2023Mercedes stated their W14’s set-up wasn’t optimalThe staff doesn’t “guess” at set-ups, he stated. “You solely have an hour, you might want to maximise your time. You may’t simply do two laps and anticipate to then have a very good automotive for those who like.”

Mercedes additionally felt they ended the week with their W14s a way from an excellent set-up. Chief technical officer Mike Elliott stated they have been left perplexed after the weekend, and questioned if the shortened observe periods was the best step for Formulation 1.

“We turned up having a set-up we have been going to attempt with Lewis [Hamilton] and a set-up we have been going to attempt with George [Russell]. And actually what occurred to us was we had a problem with Lewis’ automotive getting out of the storage on time due to a parameter within the automotive.

“As a consequence that made it very troublesome to match these two set-ups. I feel in hindsight we’re nonetheless not satisfied of whether or not we made the best selection or didn’t make the best selection.

“By way of format general, I suppose the reply to that query is: is it thrilling? Is that one thing folks need to see?”

Below F1’s parc ferme restrictions, groups can solely alter the entrance wing flap and use the instruments like differential settings and brake shapes to change the efficiency of their automobiles. The most important set-up adjustments carry pit-lane begin penalties, as within the circumstances of Hulkenberg and Ocon. Groups can change elements if they’ll present to the FIA they’re broken and have the identical specification.

Sochi Autodrom, 2021Sochi Autodrom, 2021Rain may trigger big disruption at considered one of F1’s dash eventsHowever the groups’ first expertise of a single scheduled hour of observe in a weekend has left many groups questioning the brand new dash race format and the right way to get probably the most out of a race weekend.

Final week’s observe was disrupted by a single crimson flag brought on by Gasly. However what would occur if the disruption was extra extreme?

Latest occasions have proven that is removed from an unlikely state of affairs. The ultimate observe session for the Russian Grand Prix was cancelled resulting from heavy rain at Sochi in 2021. The identical occurred within the Styrian Grand Prix on the Pink Bull Ring the 12 months earlier than. Heavy rain resulting from hurricane Patricia brought about vital disruption on the Circuit of Americas in 2015, stopping a Friday observe session from going forward.

Dropping one observe session is much less of an issue when there’s a couple of in a weekend. However underneath the brand new dash format a moist begin to Friday may go away groups heading into qualifying for the grand prix with no knowledge.

There are nonetheless many kinks to be smoothed out relating to the most recent dash race rules. But with whole audiences throughout the three-day weekend in Baku up seven per cent from final season’s race, issues look prone to stay with F1 inevitably persevering with to push in its present route.

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