Updated:
Apr 30, 2023 2:37 pm
What a lame race! Despite the new format being brought in to create excitement and more entertainment throughout the race week, it seems to have done the opposite considering what we saw on Saturday and Sunday, it happened to be that the most entertaining part of the week was Friday qualifying.
Sergio Perez beat Max Verstappen to the finish line to claim P1 which could be crucial come the end of the season, it is very unknown what the title fight will be and who it will be between but it is slowly becoming apparent that it is a lone Red Bull fight, unless Mercedes can bring in some major upgrades in Imola with their new car concept, it will be a two man fight until the end.
Nyck De Vries created the only bit of entertainment throughout the race as he pulled over to the side with a damaged suspension bringing out the Safety Car. Max Verstappen had an unfortunate pit timing with pitting 1 lap before it was brought out, as he was leading the race, after the remainder of the pit-stops under the Safety Car he found himself in P3, he would eventually finish P2 after overtaking Leclerc on the restart.
Sergio Perez simply didn’t lose his concentration as he managed to control the lead after the restart all the way to the flag and claimed his second victory at Baku, breaking the Baku curse of no driver has ever won here more then once.
De Vries brining out the safety car, despite being so early, was the only one of the race, the rest just being fairly boring and lame with the commentators almost falling asleep! Lando Norris made a late move on Nico Hulkenburg which was a simple switchback taking advantage of Nico going in too deep, finally overtaking him Crofty exclaimed how it must be the overtake of the race as we practically had none!
Ocon Causes Carnage On Final Lap
Despite the race being so utterly boring, Ocon towards the end, made fans and the commentators fairly frightened.
On the last lap of the race Esteban Ocon hadn’t pit yet as he and Alpine had gone with a rather unusual strategy, this was that they hadn’t pit and were attempting to hold out for a safety car, however, that didn’t come and he had to pit on the final lap otherwise he would’ve been disqualified as you have to use two different tyre compounds throughout the race.
As this is rather unusual, the media team and the stewards were already scattered around the pit-lane getting ready for the post race, but as Ocon had to pit, they all had to quickly get out the way and let him through.
Perhaps a lapse of concentration from Ocon and it could’ve resulted in a casualty or someone being severely injured, fortunately no one was hurt, but the FIA CANNOT allow that to ever happen again, better communication is needed with the stewards to prevent it from happening again. They constantly go on about safety and are always trying to improve it so we will see what measures they decide to take.
Overall, a fairly dismal week with a disappointing sprint race and an underwhelming race. During the week F1 announced Baku will be on the track calendar until 2026 so hopefully for the coming years we are treated with better, more entertaining races.
