Sergio Perez claimed victory in the Azerbaijan F1 Sprint at the Baku City Circuit as his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen clashed with Mercedes' George Russell.
Perez, a specialist on street circuits, started in second after Sprint Shootout qualifying behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who also claimed pole for Sunday's race in Friday's qualifying session.
But the Red Bull's superior race pace came to the fore and Perez made his move decisively, passing Leclerc into turn one on lap eight.
Leclerc did well to keep Verstappen at bay, although he was almost certainly aided by the damage the world champion suffered when Russell passed him on the opening lap of the 17-lap sprint.
Russell made contact with Verstappen's car, causing a hole in his left side pod. The drivers discussed the incident afterwards, with Verstappen clearly still angered by Russell's actions, while the British driver apologised for the contact and cited his wheels locking up.
The Mercedes driver finished fourth ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton in seventh. Ferrari's Carlos Sainz was fifth, with the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll sandwiching Hamilton to close out the points positions.
MORE: F1 qualifying results: Charles Leclerc on pole for Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Azerbaijan F1 Sprint results
| Position | Driver | Team | Points |
| 1 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 8 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 7 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 6 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | 5 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 4 |
| 6 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 3 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 2 |
| 8 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1 |
| 9 | Alex Albon | Williams | — |
| 10 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | — |
| 11 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | — |
| 12 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | — |
| 13 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | — |
| 14 | Nyck De Vries | AlphaTauri | — |
| 15 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | — |
| 16 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | — |
| 17 | Lando Norris | McLaren | — |
| 18 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | — |
| 19 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | DNF |
| 20 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | DNS |
Azerbaijan F1 Sprint live updates
Sergio Perez wins the Azerbaijan F1 Sprint!
An exemplary drive from Checo. Leclerc holds off Verstappen to take second. Russell, Sainz, Alonso, Hamilton and Stroll round out the points positions.
Lap 17: Verstappen could not get within DRS range of Leclerc down the home straight. If he's going to take second, he'll have to do it more or less on the line.
Lap 16: Into the penultimate lap. Perez is cruising to victory. He likes it round here, with four Baku podiums to his name. Can Verstappen make it a Red Bull one-two?
Lap 14: Despite there being no points or positions to play for, there's plenty of pleasing scrapping going on down the field. De Vries has just scooted past Bottas to take 15th. Perez's lead is above two seconds but Verstappen isn't making any dents on Leclerc.
Lap 13: Sergio Perez is 1.3 seconds ahead now. It's hard to see past him winning now.
Lap 12: Stroll ducks down past Albon into turn one to take his Aston Martin into the final points place. Albon has DRS and tries to get back but Strill shits the door. That's now both Aston Martins in the points.
Lap 10: Perez has stretched his advantage to almost a second. The top three look locked in, with Verstappen now a second-and-a-half down the road from Russell in fourth after their earlier joust.
Lap 9: Oscar Piastri is up to 10th having caught the slipstream of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris.
Lap 8: Perez makes a magnificent pass at turn one to take the lead! The street circuit specialist strikes again.
SPRINT LAP 8/17
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 29, 2023
SERGIO PEREZ TAKES THE LEAD!
He sends it down the inside of Leclerc at Turn 1 #AzerbaijanGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/V8j2EMHT46
Lap 7: Leclerc sets a fastest lap but he has Perez for close company. These 10 laps could be hard work for the Ferrari. Verstappen is over a second behind in third.
Lap 5: Tsunoda has now gone back into the pits and retired. AlphaTauri might be in trouble for that. We're racing again. Verstappen gets his place back over Russell, while Alonso passes Hamilton to take sixth.
Lap 3: Verstappen has nipped into the pits after his collision with Russell, he has some floor damage. "I don't understand how he can keep the position when he's damaging my car," he says, sounding fuming.
VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR: Yuki Tsunoda has lost a wheel and left a bit of debris around turn 15. So we're under a virtual safety car. Remarkably, Tsunoda has managed to coax his AlphaTauri back to the pits and he'll try to rejoin.
Lap 1: There was contact between Russell and Verstappen. Verstappen is not happy and that will be reported. It's Leclerc, Perez, Russell, Verstappen, Sainz, Hamilton, Alonson and Albon in the points positions at the moment.
LIGHTS OUT IN BAKU! Leclerc gets away nicely and is in the first corner first. It's all a bit tangled behind him, Sergio Perez is in second, ooohhhh and George Russell gets down the outside of Max Verstappen for a superb pass.
1 min to F1 Sprint: The cars are away on their formation lap in the picturesque evening sunshine.
10 mins to F1 Sprint: Right then, to summarise, we'll be running 17 laps of the Baku street circuit. There are world championship points on offer to the top eight finishers, with the winner claiming eight, second place taking seven and so on down to a solitary point for eighth place.
El Padre hits the grid(ddy) for #F1Sprint#AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/cmrh3h2dNW
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 29, 2023
30 mins to F1 Sprint: The cars are out on the track warming up. There will be 18 on the grid, with Ocon starting from the pit lane and Sargeant unable to take part.
1 hour to F1 Sprint: Logan Sargeant will not be on the grid for the F1 Sprint. He went into the wall during SQ1 and suffered significant damage to the right rear wheel and rear wing. Williams have not been able to get his car ready in time, one of the risk inherent to this condensed format.
Logan’s car will not run in the #F1Sprint this afternoon despite the best efforts of the team. 😔
— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) April 29, 2023
After receiving the FW45 back following the shootout, we worked flat-out on the car but there is not enough time to complete the repair. Subsequently we have withdrawn Logan from… pic.twitter.com/cy8Q1nerww
1 hr 30 mins to F1 Sprint: Max Verstappen came in third in SQ3 behind Charles Leclerc and his teammate Sergio Perez. The world champion was not happy with his efforts.
“I think everything was going quite well, I think the pace was good. But in Q3 in the first run on the soft, I had a big moment in [turn] 5, 6 and because of that the tyres were really hot, and then I also had a moment in 7.
“On the peak lap, with the most grip, we had a terrible sector two, so that was not fantastic. We managed to do another lap, which not many other people seemed to be able to pull out. I think the pace is good, it’s just a bit unfortunate to be P3.”
2 hrs to F1 Sprint: Esteban Ocon qualified 13th for the F1 Sprint but will start that race and Sunday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix from the pit lane after Alpine made changes to his car with parc ferme conditions active. It is the second time this weekend that reliability conditions have hit the team after Pierre Gasly required a new power unit on Friday and took a new gearbox on Saturday.
The team has taken Car #31 out of parc ferme conditions, meaning Esteban will start today’s Sprint Race and tomorrow's #AzerbaijanGP from the Pit Lane.#Alpine pic.twitter.com/R5ypR88w1Y — BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) April 29, 2023
2 hr 30 mins to F1 Sprint: Saturday has been better so far for George Russell, who missed out on Q3 on Friday. He will start the sprint fourth on the grid. His Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton is two places further back. "I just struggled with the rear end on the last lap and didn't get a tow - the Red Bulls pulled too far ahead," Hamilton said.
Debriefing the first ever Sprint Shootout with GR. 🎯💙 pic.twitter.com/2a05nv8HpJ — Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) April 29, 2023
2 hr 50 mins to F1 Sprint: When the action resumes, it will be a 17-lap race to the line. As qualifying and the Sprint Shootout showed, those trackside walls can be pretty unforgiving of any errors, so there could be drama.
Charles Leclerc takes pole for the #F1Sprint in the most dramatic of circumstances! 😅
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 29, 2023
The @ScuderiaFerrari driver put an incredible lap in prior to meeting the barriers on his final run 🙈#AzerbaijanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/XlqIK2ud4f
3 hr 10 mins to F1 Sprint: There's been a lot of talk about the stipulation that drivers must use soft tyres in SQ3. Leclerc has given his breakdown, having both gone fastest and lost control of his car.
“I mean, with the soft [tyres] it was a little bit tricky, because you get into Q3, and we haven’t driven on this tyre since yesterday. It’s not a long time ago, but the conditions are very different, so it was behaving much differently.
“The rear overheated on the second lap, I tried to push a bit more to gain some lap time as I was behind my first best lap time and I lost it in Turn 5. At the end it doesn’t have any consequence on [my] qualifying.
“I don’t know about [team mate] Carlos [Sainz] behind me, it’s a shame if he was improving. But [I was] happy with the first lap, very happy with the first lap, and now we have to confirm that in the race.”
3 hr 40 mins to F1 Sprint: The Azerbaijan Grand Prix F1 Sprint will take place at 5:30 p.m. local time. That's 2:30 p.m. BST and 9:30 a.m ET.
F1 Sprint Shootout results Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2023
Okay, here's how they will be starting for the F1 Sprint later today. Leclerc will do so with a new nose on his Ferrari!
| Position | Driver |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc |
| 2 | Sergio Perez |
| 3 | Max Verstappen |
| 4 | George Russell |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton |
| 7 | Alex Albon |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso |
| 9 | Lance Stroll |
| 10 | Lando Norris |
| 11 | Oscar Piastri |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon |
| 14 | Kevin Magnussen |
| 15 | Logan Sargeant |
| 16 | Zhou Guanyu |
| 17 | Valtteri Bottas |
| 18 | Yuki Tsunoda |
| 19 | Pierre Gasly |
| 20 | Nyck De Vries |
END OF SQ3: Leclerc into the barrier! He won't be going any faster. Can anyone take poll off him? Perez, Russell, Hamilton and Sainz can't, here's Verstappen... no! He's third behind Perez. Leclerc got caught up in his teammate's yellow flags there and is fifth behind Russell. Hamilton, Albon, Alonso, Stroll and Norris close out the top 10. We'll have the full grid listing up for you in a minute.
2 mins remaining in SQ3: This is some spectacle, with the cars now crawling up to turn 15 to maintain the types before a final hot lap. The cars have now bunched up, it looks like something out of the Tour de France. Off they go!
3 mins remaining in SQ3: Leclerc onto provisional pole, of course he is! Teammate Sainz only fourth at the moment as the drivers scramble to hit one more hot lap.
4 mins remaining in SQ3: Perez does captialise and goes faster than his teammate. Hamilton is faster than Russell in the Mercedes again. Albon ahead of the Stroll and Alonso in the Aston Martins.
5 mins remaining in SQ3: Verstappen up in the first sector but just lost the back of his car a little bit. Can anyone else capitalise?
8 mins remaining in SQ3: Right, no time to take a beat. We're off again.
END OF SQ1: Lance Stroll leaps up into seventh to push McLaren's Oscar Piastri by three-hundredths of a second. It's a bitter pill for McLaren because Lando Norris takes 10th but he has no soft tyres available to compete in SQ3. Piastri Hulkenberg, Ocon, Magnussen and Sargeant are out.
Interestingly, Max Verstappen was quickest there, edging the dominant Charles Leclerc into second.
1 min remaining: Carlos Sainz is stationary down at turn 15. After his involvement in Sargeant's crash earlier he's proving to be a total chaos agent this Saturday in Baku. Sargeant is, of course, out, as is Esteban Ocon. Three more drivers to be cut.
2 mins remaining: A lot of cars out of sequence on the track and it's an absolute scramble for the top 10. George Russell gets himself up to seventh. Alex Albon 10th at the moment.
3 mins remaining: Alonso up into third, so something's working for him!
4 mins remaining: We mentioned Aston Martin's DRS problems earlier. Alonso and Stroll are dicily sitting ninth and 10th just above the cut-off line. Tense times in that garage.
6 mins remaining: The Red Bulls of Verstappen and Perez go one-two ahead of the Mercedes of Hamilton and Russell. It's surely only a matter of time before Leclerc puts himself back at the top of the board?
10 mins remaining in SQ2: Off we go. The marshalls have worked rapidly to clear up Sargeant's debris. A rapid-fire race day at a street circuit encased by walls. What could possibly go wrong, eh?
2 mins until SQ2: Fernando Alonso has a problem with his DRS working intermittently. His Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll has his working just fine. The former world champion must be delighted.
RED FLAG, END OF SQ1: Logan Sargeant was pushing in the final minute and has clattered into the wall. His rear right wheel and rear wing are an absolute mess. He's through to SQ2 but will not be taking part with his Williams in that condition. It means Zhou, Bottas, Tsunoda, Gasly and De Vries are the men to miss the cut.
🚩 RED FLAG 🚩
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 29, 2023
It's a big hit for Logan Sargeant! 😩
Sargeant is OK, but it's a devastating end to what was looking like a promising Sprint Shootout for the rookie!
SQ1 will not be resumed#AzerbaijanGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/F0QLifhNWv
On his team radio, Sargeant was not happy with the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, which he felt forced him wide into the wall. It's doubtful the race stewards will get involved though. Talking of annoyed drivers, Yuki Tsunoda was on course to get into the top 15 before the red flags came. "You're f****** kidding me!" he yelled when told the bad news by the AlphaTauri garage.
2 mins remaining in SQ1: Williams duo Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant up in fifth and sixth and Lewis Hamilton has just gone into second behind Leclerc, only for Verstappen to respond.
4 mins remaining in SQ1: We've Aston Martins in P3 and P4 at th moment, with Lance Stroll ahead of his teammate Fernando Alonso.
6 mins remaining in SQ1: Leclerc puts a marker down, going quickest by almost a second ahead of Sergio Perez, whose teammate Verstappen then tucks in behind the pole-sitter.
12 mins remaining in SQ1: And we're off! hold on to your hats! There's a novelty here that the first lap every drive does counts. No warm ups, have to get right on with it. The first two sessions must be run on medium tyres, with soft tyres mandated for SQ3. But who's going to get there?
10 mins to Sprint Shootout: Right, so the Sprint Shootout will retain the Q1, Q2 and Q3 structure from full qualifying but with shorter sessions. SQ1 will be 12 minutes, down from 18; SQ2 is 10 minutes, down from 15, with SQ3 eight minutes as opposed to 12.
20 mins to Sprint Shootout: Leclerc loves it around this street circuit and Friday's hot lap gave him his third consecutive pole here. He will share the front row with world champion Max Verstappen, with Ferrari firing back at Red Bull after a disappointing start to the season. There was definitely a chaotic edge to yesterday's session so the truncated Sprint Shootout qualifying sessions definitely carry some capacity for mayhem.
A 19th pole in red 🔴 pic.twitter.com/8BHyv4uf9a
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 28, 2023
40 mins to Sprint Shootout: Right, so F1's new fast, furious, light-on-its-feet addition has been expanded for 2023. This race in Baku is the first of six F1 Sprints this season, up from three in the previous two years. However, the sprint no longer decides the grid for the main race. That was sorted out yesterday, with Charles Leclerc taking P1. On Saturdays from now on, F1 Sprint is off on its own trip, with the all-new F1 Sprint Shootout acting as a quickfire qualifying session to decide the starting grid for the sprint later in the day.
1 hour to Sprint Shootout: Welcome to The Sporting News' live coverage of the inaugural F1 Sprint Shootout. This session will determine the starting grid for the sprint itself, taking place in three and a half hours' time, with that shortened race being worth points in the drivers' standings.
MORE: What is F1 Sprint? Schedule, Shootout changes, points system and how format works in 2023
What time does the Azerbaijan F1 Grand Prix start?
- Date: Sunday, April 30
- Start time: 3:00 p.m (Local) | 12:00 p.m (BST) | 7:00 a.m (ET) | 0:00 p.m (AEST)
Sunday's 2023 Azerbaijan is scheduled to start at 3:00 p.m. local time. Lights out will take place just after 7:00 a.m. ET and 12:00 p.m BST.
Below is the complete schedule for the weekend's F1 events in Baku.
| Date | Event | Time (BST) | Time (ET) | Time (AEDT) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday, Apr 28 | Practice 1 | 10:30 a.m. | 5:30 a.m | 7:30 p.m |
| Friday, Apr 28 | Qualifying | 2 p.m. | 9:00 a.m | 11 p.m |
| Saturday, Apr 29 | Practice 2 | 10:30 a.m. | 5:30 a.m | 7:30 p.m |
| Saturday, Apr 29 | Sprint | 2:30 p.m. | 9:30 a.m | 11:30 p.m |
| Sunday, Apr 30 | Race | 12 p.m. | 7 a.m | 9 p.m |
What TV channel is the F1 on?
| UK | USA | Canada | Australia | |
| TV Channel | Sky Sports F1 | ESPN/ABC | TSN (English); RDS (French) | Fox Sports |
Where can I live stream F1?
| UK | USA | Canada | Australia | |
| Live Stream | NOW TV / Sky Go app | ESPN+ | fuboTV, TSN Direct | Kayo |
F1 season schedule 2023
In 2023, the Formula One Calendar will be made up on 23 races across four different continents.
The action began with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 5 and will end on November 26 in Abu Dhabi.
Here's the latest schedule (subject to change):
| Date | Race |
| March 5 | Bahrain Grand Prix |
| March 19 | Saudi Arabia Grand Prix |
| April 2 | Australian Grand Prix |
| April 30 | Azerbaijan Grand Prix |
| May 7 | Miami Grand Prix |
| May 21 | Emilia Romagna Grand Prix |
| May 28 | Monaco Grand Prix |
| June 4 | Spanish Grand Prix |
| June 18 | Canadian Grand Prix |
| July 2 | Austrian Grand Prix |
| July 9 | British Grand Prix |
| July 23 | Hungarian Grand Prix |
| July 30 | Belgian Grand Prix |
| August 27 | Dutch Grand Prix |
| September 3 | Italian Grand Prix |
| September 17 | Singapore Grand Prix |
| September 24 | Japanese Grand Prix |
| October 8 | Qatari Grand Prix |
| October 22 | United States Grand Prix |
| October 29 | Mexican Grand Prix |
| November 5 | Brazilian Grand Prix |
| November 19 | Las Vegas Grand Prix |
| November 26 | Abu Dhabi Grand Prix |