After an eventful race in Australia and a three-week break, Formula 1 is heading to Azerbaijan with a new qualifying format. That is the schedule and the new structure of the race weekend.

All times for practice, qualifying and race in Azerbaijan

The overwhelming dominance of the Red Bulls is not abating even after the third race of the season. Perhaps the adjusted qualifying format will provide a surprise or two on the podium. Those are them Times for the race weekend at the Baku City Circuit:

  • Free practice on Friday April 28: 11:30 am
  • qualifying for the race on Friday, April 28: 3:00 p.m
  • qualifying (also “Sprint Shootout” named) for the sprint race on Saturday, April 29: 11:30 am
  • sprint race on saturday, April 29: 3:30 p.m
  • race on sunday, April 30: 1:00 p.m

This is how the new qualifying format works

To sum it up succinctly: Lately there is also a Qualifying for the sprint race and the The usual qualifying for the race now takes place on Friday. The sprint becomes a standalone event that takes place on Saturday. The point distribution for the first eight drivers remains the same, but that has The result of the sprint race no longer influences the starting grid of the race on Sunday. The so-called “Sprint Shootout” not only replaces the unnecessary 2nd free practice session on Saturday, but also introduces a slightly modified type of qualifying.

While Q1 is twelve minutes long, the time for Q2 is reduced to ten minutes – the field of drivers also shrinks by five cars. In both sessions, the Cars with medium tires (yellow) drive on the track. In Q3, in which only ten drivers compete for the front positions, the time is limited to eight minutes and the type of tires to soft (red).

The race takes place for us in Germany at a usual time. If you want to tune in to the F1 race on April 30, 2023 at 1:00 p.m., all you need is a “Formula 1” subscription to Wow (formerly Sky Ticket). The first 12 months currently only cost you 24.99 euros.