The Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2023 was the 4th round of the 2023 F1 season, and took place at the Baku City Circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan, during the weekend of the 28th to the 30th of April.
Sergio Pérez won the race after starting in the 3rd position, followed by Max Verstappen, and Charles Leclerc, who originally had the pole position, completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 23 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 5-12: 18 stops
The fastest pit stop was Pierre Gasly's, stopping the clock at 20.235 seconds during his pit stop on lap 5, while the slowest one was was Kevin Magnussen's, who stopped the clock at 30.951 seconds, 10.716 seconds slower than Gasly, during his pit stop on lap 10.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 1 stop. Only 2 drivers tried a 2 stops, and 1 driver tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Sergio Pérez, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
-
-Alexander Albon
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2Yuki Tsunoda
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1Oscar Piastri
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2Logan Sargeant
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1Lewis Hamilton
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2Lando Norris
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3Kevin Magnussen
-
-Max Verstappen
-
2Fernando Alonso
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2Sergio Pérez
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1Carlos Sainz
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2Lance Stroll
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2Charles Leclerc
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4Guanyu Zhou
-
17Nico Hülkenberg
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15Esteban Ocon
2 stops
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3Pierre Gasly
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3George Russell
3 stops
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5Valtteri Bottas
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy lost an average of 2.27 positions, the ones on a 2 stops strategy gained 3 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 5 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 2 stops strategy was the best option, even if Sergio Pérez managed to win the race making 1 stop.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Baku City Circuit, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 2 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Guanyu Zhou, who suffered from an overall car overhating on lap 36, and Nyck de Vries, who had to retire due to an accident on lap 9.
Overheating
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Guanyu ZhouLap 36
Accident
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Nyck de VriesLap 9
Qualifying
Charles Leclerc managed to get the pole position by 0.188 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:40.203. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Max Verstappen.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 14 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 8 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.