Starting Grid 2019 Azerbaijan F1 GP
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Event: Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Track: Baku street circuit
Start time: 16:10 (local) | 13:10 GMT | 05:10 PT
Although Ferrari was over a second faster in FP3, they didn't score pole position for tomorrow's race. After the exciting and very long qualifying session and penalties the start grid is ready. The start grid for the 2019 Azerbaijan F1 GP in Baku will be:
Start Grid 2019 Azerbaijan F1 GP
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Lap Time |
| 1 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:40.495 |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:40.554 |
| 3 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:40.797 |
| 4 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:41.069 |
| 5 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Racing Point | 1:41.593 |
| 6 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1:41.681 |
| 7 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:41.886 |
| 9 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | no time |
| 10 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | McLaren | 1:42.398 |
| 11 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | 1:42.477 |
| 12 | 23 | Alex Albon | Toro Rosso | 1:42.494 |
| 13 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1:42.699 |
| 14 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Racing Point | 1:42.630 |
| 15 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1:43.407 |
| 16 | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | Renault | 1:43.427 |
| 17 | 63 | George Russell | Williams | 1:45.062 |
| 18 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi* | Alfa Romeo | 1:42.424 |
| 19 | 88 | Robert Kubica* | Williams | 1:45.455 |
| 20 | 10 | Pierre Gasly* | Red Bull | 1:41.335 |
| 8 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen* | Alfa Romeo | 1:43.068 |
Penalties:
- Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) 10 places grid penalty for use of additional power unit element.
- Pierre Gasly (Red Bull) 5 places grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change and has to start race from pit lane for ignoring weighbridge call during FP2.
- Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) has to start from the pit lane due to car modification in Parc Fermë.
- Robert Kubica (Williams) has to start from the pit lane due to car modification in Parc Fermë.
- Pierre Gasly (Red Bull) has to start from the pit lane due to car modification in Parc Fermë.
Quickest tyre strategy 2019 Azerbaijan GP
A one-stop strategy is the clear choice for this 51-lap race: either going from soft to medium or medium to soft (which makes little difference). If starting on the soft, the best option is to stop on lap 25; if starting on the medium it’s best to stop on lap 26. Nonetheless, there’s a very wide pit stop window here: effectively from lap 15 onwards, so those numbers can be considered only as a guide. As we’ve already seen this weekend and from the past, the strategy can be heavily influenced by safety cars, but on paper a two-stopper is slower.
Important Race Notes
- The weather. Qualifying took place in a relatively chilly 15 degrees ambient and 26 degrees of track temperature by the end of the session. It may well be quite similar tomorrow, with the race starting just after 4pm.
- Safety cars. The Formula 2 race today was dominated by safety cars, and the safety car has been a regular feature of the Baku race in Formula 1 as well. Today was a timely reminder of everything that can happen on a street circuit.
- Flexible strategies. Although almost all in the top 10 will start on the soft tyres, strategies will vary considerably depending on potential safety cars and interruptions (in combination with a wide pit stop window). It’s a hard one to call.
- Rapid speeds. Top speeds of more than 345 km/h were recorded on the start-finish straight, while the pole time was a second faster than last year.
- Charles Leclerc. If he starts from 10th on the grid as he was classified, he will be the only one in the top 10 to begin the race on the medium compound.
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This is the best example of everything that is wrong in today's Formula 1 which will end up killing it. Formula 1 is not about racing anymore and not about having the best car and driver, it's about pulling off tricks that have nothing to do with racing, like the Mercedes fake start in qualifying followed by a tow between the two cars. These 'so called' clever tricks have nothing to do with racing and all to do with deceit and subterfuge. The sooner FIA deals with this problem the better for the sake of the sport.
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