2023 Azerbaijan GP Qualifying Update – JP
2023 Azerbaijan GP Qualifying Update
Now, it is time for James Punt’s 2023 Azerbaijan GP qualifying update. Check it out below. His outright, team by team, betting preview can be viewed here.
2023 Azerbaijan GP Qualifying
The one hour practice session has been run and the teams have had a couple of hours to crunch the data and have to commit to a setup for the rest of the weekend. Some teams will have more data to crunch than others. Having a problem in FP1 is likely to hurt, and there were problems.
The drivers largely kept the cars out of the walls, but Yuki Tsunoda badly damaged his car after hitting a wall and puncturing the tyre. That was not a disaster but driving it back to the pits at far too high a speed did cause plenty of damage and that was the end of his session.
Alpine, and we have backed Gasly for top 6, look to have cooked their goose. Gasly had to stop as his car was on fire and it took the marshals some time to put it out. Ocon was withdrawn as a precaution, but not many laps for Alpine and they seem to have a serious reliability problem.
Brake Problems For Mercs
The two Mercedes complained of brake problems and spent too much time in the garage. Their times were not great either, ending the session 11th for Hamilton and Russell 17th. Alonso had a problem with his DRS not opening and at Haas, Magnussen had to stop with a fuel system problem.
Teams that had good sessions were Red Bull with Verstappen 1st, Perez 3rd. Ferrari had Leclerc in 2nd and just 0.037 behind Verstappen. Carlos Sainz was 4th and these four were well detached from the rest of the field, led by Norris in his upgraded McLaren in 5th, 0.81 seconds off Verstappen’s pace.
Nick DeVries was a surprise 6th for Alpha Tauri, followed by the two Aston Martins, Albon in the slippery Williams was 9th and Zhou rounded out the top ten and was once again ahead of teammate Bottas.
Red Bull v Ferrari
The early indicators are that this will be a Red Bull vs. Ferrari session. The race is more likely to be a Red Bull session.
Red Bull have been in pole position for the first three races, two for Verstappen and one for Perez. Leclerc pushed Perez close in Jeddah but Verstappen was out with a problem so would he have got pole otherwise? The two Mercedes and Alonso have all found themselves on the second row at least once, but they do not look like troubling Red Bull or Ferrari today.
Max Fav For Pole
Max Verstappen is the 1.61 favourite for pole position, Perez 5.00, Leclerc 5.50 and Sainz 26.00. Alonso was 1.25 off the pace this morning and not all of that is down to his DRS problem, but he is a 17.00 shot if you fancy him to sprout wings.
Leclerc was the fastest qualifier here last year, with Perez second and Verstappen third. A repeat of that in any order looks likely today. Ferrari are definitely more competitive over a flying lap, whereas Red Bull are stronger over a race distance, but obviously still the quickest car in qualifying.
Leclerc was again on pole here in 2021 with Hamilton 2nd and Verstappen again 3rd. The Monegasque driver’s greatest strength is the flying lap. He can wring the neck of the car and get more out of it than seems possible. Sometimes he ends up in the wall of course, but he is the value bet here.
2023 Azerbaijan GP qualifying tip: 1 point Charles Leclerc to be fastest qualifier @ 5.50 generally available
Bottas has been busy growing a tache and making gin and while he has, his teammate has been getting quicker. Zhou is 2-1 in qualifying and the races. The Chinese driver was a couple of tenths up again in FP1 and he looks worth a punt to out qualify Bottas once again.
2023 Azerbaijan GP qualifying tip: 1 point Guanyu Zhou to beat Bottas @ 1.67 with Ladbrokes
The Alpha Tauri of De Vries in 6th place was a shock. The car has been desperately slow on the straights and looked totally unsuited to this track, but they have banged on a low drag rear wing and suddenly it was flying down that long straight. De Vries was hooked up but Tsunoda was in the wall and didn’t get much running under his belt. An opportunity for De Vries to out qualify his teammate for the first time? Yes.
