In the round-up: AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda said he was unaware how serious the damage to his front wing was after his first-lap contact with his team mate.
In brief
Tsunoda retired from the sprint race after suffering damage on the opening lap. He hit the wall hard at turn 13 but had already sustained damage to his front wing at turn three after a clash with Nyck de Vries, his team mate.
“De Vries hit me,” Tsunoda report on his radio after the contact. He told his team he needed to pit, then added, “what is he doing, honestly?” He then understeered into the wall.
“I just didn’t recognise fully that the front wing is really damaged and as soon as I entered, I just had no grip at all from the fronts,” Tsunoda said after the race. “I got forced to the wall from some driver and had contact with a driver and lost the front wing there.
Asked to identify who he believes was responsible for pushing him into the wall, Tsunoda replied: “I can’t say here.”
McLaren hopeful ill Piastri will recover
McLaren are hopeful Oscar Piastri will be in better shape for today’s race. The rookie driver is suffering with an illness this weekend.
“I think he’s going to be okay for tomorrow,” said team principal Andrea Stella after the sprint race. “But today, yesterday, the day before, it’s been a little bit of a struggle. So he’s actually doing very well, I would say.
“In terms of driving you wouldn’t be able to say from outside that the driver is actually not feeling very well. And also Oscar is impressive also in the way he deals with that, because he doesn’t want to show it even to us. He keeps his calm, keeps his bearing.
“We know that he’s struggling, so he’s doing well. But we are positive that for tomorrow he should be in a better situation.”
No need for late red flag after F2 crash – Bearman
Oliver Bearman believes the FIA were right to not show a red flag in the Formula 2 sprint race which finished under a Safety Car in Azerbaijan.
At the lap 18 Safety Car restart, six drivers retired from the race in collisions including race leaders Dennis Hauger and Victor Martins. The Safety Car was deployed in response and the race finished after 21 laps with the field still neutralised.
Bearman agreed with the decision not to red flag and restart the race, which F1 did following a late incident in the Australian Grand prix at the beginning of the month.
“Of course it was quite a big crash but I didn’t see the extent of it,” Bearman said in response to a question from RaceFans. “I was just trying to avoid it.
“When I looked on the replay screens it looked quite severe, but clearly the drivers got out just fine and there was no need for a red flag.”
Garcia takes two wins as F1 Academy begins
Marta Garcia won the first F1 Academy race and added another victory in race three to lead the championship after the first round at the Red Bull Ring. Garcia had inherited pole from Abbi Pulling, who was disqualified from qualifying with her Carlin team mates after a technical infringement, and lead from pole in the opening race to become the championship’s first race winner.
Amna Al Qubaisi started from reversed-grid pole for race two and converted that into victory. Garcia then held off Hamda Al Qubaisi in race three to secure her second win of the day and take an early 22-point lead in the championship.
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Jean-Michel Tibi, the cameraman that just collected Lewis Hamilton’s tearoff, knows EVERYBODY in F1. Literally friends with everyone, from Hamilton down to me. What a legend 🙂 #AzerbaijanGP
— Sean Kelly (@virtualstatman) April 29, 2023
I’ve had zero idea what’s going on with f1 this weekend. I like when series try new ways to make things interesting but this is confusing.
— Sage Karam (@SageKaram) April 29, 2023
Need those tire warmers back. This just isn’t safe with those cars. Never seen any race car look as diabolical as a Hypercar on cold tires. They’re moving chicanes for over a lap.
— DHH Racing (@dhhracing) April 29, 2023
Doriane Pin deserves every bit of the same publicity and plaudits that Jamie Chadwick gets as a leading young woman in racing. #6hSpa #WEC
— RJオコンネル (@rjoconnell) April 29, 2023
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Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Ccolanto, Mike Weilding, Oliver and Jake Kilshaw!
On this day in motorsport
- 40 years ago today Rene Arnoux put Ferrari on pole position at Imola. Team mate Patrick Tambay fell short of making it a one-two for the home team by just three-thousandths of a second, Nelson Piquet claiming second
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