Azerbaijan Race Week Preview

Sprint Race Weekend Format changes

This weekend’s race in Baku may look a little different thanks to F1 and the FIA finally green lighting the changes for sprint weekends with immediate effect. So, what does this mean for the race weekend?

Well, for starters, there will only be one free practice session which will be held on Friday, as per usual. The second session on Friday evening will still be qualifying, but for the Grand Prix on Sunday and NOT to set the grid for Saturday’s sprint race, like we’re used to.

Saturday, thanks to these changes, is sprint day, equipped with both qualifying (to be known as the sprint shoot out) and the race in the same day. All of this on a street circuit known for tight corners and multiple crashes. What could possibly go wrong?

To cap it all off, the sprint shoot out will not be like the qualifying session we are used to, hosting an array of changes that are allegedly designed to add more jeopardy. *I can hear Max complaining now…* The session will go for 30 minutes and be made up of 12-, 10- and 8-minute sessions, with each session having a specific tyre allocation. Teams will be required to use new Mediums in Q1 and Q2, with new softs to be reserved for Q3 only.

While this shake up will benefit us fans and provide greater entertainment and enjoyment, I don’t know how the teams would be feeling. So why would the FIA and F1 make changes three days out from the sprint race weekend, given sprints are already a controversial topic?

Well, that, I’ve already touched on. For entertainment.

Previously, FP2 sessions on sprint weekends have been monotonous, and somewhat tiresome, given the cars were under parc ferme conditions from Friday’s qualifying. This meant teams and drivers treated the session as a tyre evaluation and took very little risk on track, ensuring no damage to the car prior to the sprint or main race on Sunday.

So, I guess, we get to see first-hand in a matter of days whether the hypothesis put forward by F1 and the FIA that since the sprint has no bearing on the grand prix, drivers will be more ambitious and there will be more action on track. Personally, while I think the entertainment will be there simply because it’s an additional race, top teams will echo the sentiments previously made by Verstappen, and just try to survive. Afterall, they still need the car intact for Sunday and going all out for an extra few points isn’t really going to be a priority for the likes of Redbull. Ferrari will just be aiming to finish the race with the engine intact. Mercedes and Aston might have some fun with it but preserving the car will be of the utmost priority. The mid-field, however, may be a different story.

A mid-season change to Power Unit allocations?

The Formula One commission have approved an increase in the number of components allowed for certain elements of the power unit ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and the changes to the sprint format.

Approval has been given to increase the number of Internal combustion engines, turbo chargers, MGU-H and MGU-K elements from 3 to 4 per driver across the season. This comes as a relief to many drivers, including de Vries, Bottas, Guanyu, K-Mag and Hulkenberg who are all already on their second internal combustion engine heading into the fourth race of the season. It is also expected that George Russell will take a new one of everything prior to Baku, given his engine came away a little charred in Australia.

At this stage, there are no changes to the allocation of control electronics and energy stores, which will remain at 2 per driver, which caught out Ferrari in Saudi Arabia earlier this year.

Leclerc to Mercedes?

Could we see Ferrari’s golden boy walk away from the Maranello based team?

It’s no secret that Ferrari have had their fair share of issues in relation to reliability and strategy for the last couple of seasons, which arguably contributed to Leclerc losing out on the WDC in 2022 to Verstappen despite leading for a significant amount of the season.

So has Charles finally had enough…?

With the Monégasque’s contract up at the end of the 2024 season, there has been growing speculation as to whether he will re-sign with the team he dreamt of driving for as a child or look elsewhere in a hope of winning that coveted WDC.

Now, while there is an argument that Ferrari are going to go through some changes this season and into the future, thanks to the appointment of a new team principal, what they ultimately need is time. These changes aren’t going to be instantaneous and will take as long as six months before they start being effective. Placing Charles in a competitive position to challenge the likes of Redbull, Aston and Mercedes in, roughly, October. When it is likely the WDC will already be wrapped up by Verstappen for the third consecutive year.

Despite Leclerc being contracted to the Scuderia until the end of 2024, could there be a get out of jail free clause? Helmut Marko believes there could be. Yes, that, Helmut Marko.

Now Leclerc is unlikely to find himself at Redbull in the near future, lets clear that up now. But Marko has provided some insight into the workings of a Formula One driver’s contract and the performance clauses they harbour.

I won’t bore you with the legalities and inner workings of a contract and termination clauses, but long story short, Helmut believes there is likely a clause within the five-year deal that would allow either party to terminate the relationship if certain criteria are not met regarding performance. This is usually regarding the number of points a driver is meant to achieve by a certain point in the season, usually around summer break.

If this target is not met, then both parties have the option to terminate, but if it is, there is the possibility his contract may be automatically renewed, depending on the wording of the contract.

Now why are we listening to the head of driver development at Redbull regarding a Ferrari contract? Well for starters, most sports have a standardised contract issued by their regulating body, in this case F1 and the FIA, regarding the contents of a contract, with the only things really differing is the team, driver and remuneration, including any third-party deals and benefits they may receive. Meaning this get out of jail free clause would be standard across all 10 teams for all 20 drivers.

It was this clause that allowed Sebastian Vettel to defect from Redbull to Ferrari back in 2015 and for McLaren to terminate Daniel Ricciardo’s contract at the end of 2022 despite him being contracted for another season.

If not Ferrari, then who?

Mercedes. With a seat possibly up for grabs at the end of the season, pending the retirement of Lewis Hamilton. Apparently talks between the Monegasque and the silver arrows is an open secret that everyone from the garage in Maranello to the Paddock at the track is aware of.

Mercedes Restructure

If you may recall, earlier this month Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff shut down speculation that James Allison would be returning to a more active role within the team. Well Toto lied.

James Allison is officially returning to his role as chief technical director at Mercedes, less than two years out of the job, with his successor, Mike Elliot set to take over his role as Chief Technical Officer in a job switch, ultimately driven by lacklustre performance.

Elliot took on the role of Technical Director prior to 2022 season when Allison took a step back to reduce his commitments, and well we know how that’s gone.

The slim sidepod design of the W13 and W14 has been prone to porpoising and any changes to remedy this having unwanted side effects and slowing the car down.

According to Toto, Elliot was aware that the team was not going in the right direction with him at the helm, and that the team would be better off in the long run with Allison leading the pack as the team “will go through fire for him and with him”.

Ultimately, Elliot recognised that this was not a sustainable path for anyone on the team and that the main force behind the team’s demise was him, which is actually quite admirable.

Here’s to hoping that with the changes implemented, things will start to improve for Mercedes.

Massa to challenge 2008 WDC

15 years may have passed since Lewis Hamilton claimed his first WDC, and Felipe Massa is still just as salty.

The Brazilian is alleged to have hired a team of lawyers to assess legal pathways for him to challenge the result of the championship for that year.

Where has this even come from you ask? Well, F1 Boss, Bernie Eccleston has recently admitted that during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Nelson Piquet Jr, purposefully crashed and he did nothing about it. Piquet Jr’s crash resulted in a safety car period, in which Massa and Ferrari elected for an unscheduled pitstop which was ultimately botched, and Massa ended up finishing outside of the points.

Hamilton finished third in the race and obtained 6 points that turned out to be crucial in the fight for the WDC, which was clinched by Hamilton in the final few corners of the Brazilian Grand Prix when he passed Timo Glock.

Now even though Eccleston did nothing regarding the intentional crash by Piquet Jr, a safety car would likely have still been needed and Massa and Ferrari still made the decision in Singapore to box at that time. Eccleston didn’t force them to. He could have held position and continued with his original race plan. The sanctioning of Piquet Jr has nothing to do with it. It was a decision made by him and his team and he need to come to terms with that.

Mazepin to return to F1?

Could we see the return of a former driver, many labelled as a joke? If Nikita Mazepin gets his way, he will certainly try for a return to the grid.

Mazepin is allegedly taking the Canadian Government to court over the sanctions imposed on him in 2022 for being a Russian Athlete, following the invasion of Ukraine. The aim of this case which screams I have too much money, is to have himself and his father, as well as other Russian multi-millionaires, removed from the Canadian sanctions list as people considered oligarchs or close associates of the Russian Regime. Additionally, he is seeking an interim order allowing him to race in Canada, which he is currently unable to do.

His application to the Canadian Federal Court states that the sanctions imposed on him are “catastrophically” impacting on his ability to return to the formula one grid next year and reiterates that he is just a professional driver and is in no way involved in the aggression towards Ukraine.

But if you ask me, his inability and lack of talent is more likely to be a hinderance to his return to the Grid, even if these sanctions are overturned.