F1 | GP AZERBAIJAN, THE POINT B Y GIAN CARLO MINARDI “NOT AN EXCITING FORMAT. FERARRI IS GROWING”

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Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP) Ferrari SF-23.
30.04.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 4, Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Baku Street Circuit, Azerbaijan, Race Day.
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Formula 1 has switched on the engines one more after a break of almost a month with a new format for the weekend made up of two qualifying sessions and just as many races.

I honestly find it hard to understand this format. After only an hour of free practice the cars ended up in the parc fermé without the possibility of making changes, except with a penalty. It is a very demanding format, especially when run on a street circuit such as Baku where it takes little to compromise the whole weekend or to force the team to make a superhuman effort. With this setting this format did not excite me and it must certainly be revised.

On the grand prix front, it was an exciting race, especially the final laps with Perez, Verstappen, Leclerc and Alonso giving life to a succession of fast laps. In the end George Russell took it out with the help of a final pitstop and the red tyres.

Beyond this, we saw a crazy Red Bull. Both Perez and Verstappen were incredible with a series of fast laps. In the end the Mexican got the upper hand, confirming his excellent feeling with the city tracks.

However, the month-long break was good for Ferrari. Without having made major changes- visually speaking- it has grown, above all in the management of the tyres, as we saw at the end with a low fuel load and with hard compounds, the great weak spot. Leclerc managed to keep pace with Red Bull, while staying in the tussle for the extra point for the fastest lap. This is certainly a positive aspect. We are still talking of three tenths of a second per lap in favour of Red Bull but it is a good step forward compared to the recent rounds. Fernando Alonso showed he is the same fighter, even if for the first time since the start of the season he failed to make the podium.

With the first European race in Imola (May 19-21), I expect even smaller gaps and, Ferrari and Aston Martin, could begin to interfere with Red Bull’s schedule. Amongst other things, it will be the stage of another change of regulations seeing that in qualifying the drivers will face Q1 with the hard compounds, Q2 with the mediums and Q3 with the softs. We hope that this experiment will entertain us. I am sure that we will follow the first European grand prix with a lot of motivation and I look forward to seeing many of you at the Imola Circuit.

Gian Carlo Minardi

F1 | GP AUSTRALIA, THE POINT BY GIAN CARLO MINARDI “I AM DISGUSTED”

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They want to make Formula 1 a show but in Melbourne they really hit rock bottom. From the yellow flag we went from the first (of three) read flag following Albon’s accident passing quickly through the virtual safety car and safety car. The peak was reached two laps from the end after Magnussen’s Hass went off the track when the race director Wittich had the red flag waved again choosing for a new restart from which came the third red flag for the collision between the two Alpines which eliminated each other.

In the lead Carlos Sainz caused Fernando Alonso’s spin taking third place. For this move the Spaniard will be penalized 5” despite the direction opting to start the race again, cancelling the previous restart. Alonso returned to the grid taking his position (third place with Sainz fourth) as did the others, except for Gasly and Ocon. The race restarted at the end of the two hours of the race with the last lap under the safety car.

It was really too much. There continue to be rules that are not clear and completely different interpretations from grand prix to grand prix. It is time to say enough and impose clarity. The race director was not free of mistakes, in my opinion distorting the order of arrival of the grand prix that has significance on world championship. The most damaged in this situation are certainly the two Alpine drivers who could appeal.
Ferrari could also appeal Sainz’s penalty., instead I saw Vasseur resigned. The Spaniard made a mistake in the in the collision with Alonso but the penalty was senseless because the subsequent restart did not take into account the new order.

Every decision is justified under the word “safety” but today, with these decisions, the drivers were once again put in even more danger. They could have easily used the SC and the VSC as always, without making all these pantomimes. The same experts have groped around in the dark giving personal interpretations.

The race direction was the real protagonist of this grand prix, stealing the stage from the drivers. Clear decisions with non-subjective decisions are needed.

Coming to the race, we witnessed good overtaking. Verstappen and Red Bull’s supremacy is impressive, even of we did not discover this today.

A step forward by Mercedes, even if the problem on Russell’s car is certainly an alarm bell on reliability, also because they are substituting a lot of components on the client cars. They are bringing forward intense work to go to Baku and Imola with many new developments. They have certainly not given up.

There were small step forwards by Ferrari. It was a good race by Carlos Sainz, even if lap times were distant, not only from red Bull but also Aston Martin paying a gap of 3 tenths of a second between the fastest lap and Fernando Alonso’s time. This weekend there were also mistakes in qualifying and starting in certain positions on this type of track is extremely risky as Leclerc’s retirement showed.

The third consecutive podium for Fernando Alonso which consolidates his third place on the ladder but above all for Aston Martin as the second force behind Red Bull.

Gian Carlo Minardi