Formula 1 now in the live ticker: Red Bull seems unbeatable – is Perez already sure of victory?

Formula 1 starts on Sunday (April 30) in Baku.

Charles Leclerc was able to secure pole position, but has world champion Max Verstappen breathing down his neck.

The race here in the live ticker.

• Formula 1: grid positions at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

• Bitter for Verstappen: safety car after pit stop

• Hülkenberg has to start from the pits after the new setup

• This live ticker for the race (Sunday, from 1 p.m.) is continuously updated

Lap 51/51:

Now the battle for the fastest race lap begins!

Russell was in the pits again and drove out again with fresh soft tyres.

Alonso currently has the fastest race lap, but for how much longer?

It's the last round here in Azerbaijan and it's almost amazing how little commotion there was this time!

PEREZ WINS THE AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIZE!

FIRST THE SPRINT ON SATURDAY, THEN THE RACE ON SUNDAY - WHAT A WEEKEND FOR THE MEXICAN!

VERSTAPPEN COMES SECOND AND LECLERC THIRD.

And the fastest race lap?

Russell grabs them with the soft tires!

Formula 1: Grid positions at the Azerbaijan GP

Round 48/51:

Hulkenberg seems to have some problems!

The German is now only 12th and Piastri is also very close in the McLaren.

If Hülkenberg has a lot of bad luck, he will be pushed back in the last few laps!

Round 44/51:

Leclerc is driving the fastest lap of the race!

Probably no one would have expected that the Ferrari could turn up the heat again with such old tires.

Hamilton hasn't given up the fight for P5 against Sainz either.

The Briton is still in the DRS window and Norris is also keen to get a point for P10!

He's started the hunt for Hulkenberg and he's pretty close!

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Lando Norris is chasing Nico Hulkenberg.

© IMAGO/Andy Hone

Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Will Verstappen settle for second place?

Round 41/51:

There are only ten laps to go!

So far, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix has been surprisingly smooth: there have been no major accidents and the safety car only had to be deployed briefly once.

Will it stay that way?

It is also questionable whether Verstappen will be satisfied with second place behind his teammate Perez - so far the Mexican is much faster on P1!

Round 37/51:

Hamilton is now getting closer to Sainz in the Ferrari, the two don't separate for a second and Sainz is already pretty much slipping with his tires!

Too bad for Alfa Romeo: Zhou has to retire, there seems to be a problem with his car and the Chinese pits.

Round 33/51:

Verstappen's tires seem to be pretty much at the limit!

The Dutchman slides around quite a bit in the corners of the track and really has to be careful not to slam into it!

After 34 laps, the lap times of Ocon and Hülkenberg get worse - this is of course important information for the other teams!

Round 29/51:

Meanwhile, many drivers are already fighting very hard with their tires!

Hülkenberg has already completed 29 laps with his hard tires and so far doesn't seem to be complaining - but Sainz is!

Perez pulls Verstappen well away, but both drivers will probably have to pit again!

Formula 1 in Baku: Exciting duel between Ocon and Hulkenberg

Round 24/51:

Hulkenberg hunts Ocon in his Haas and is in the DRS window.

Russell is also battling Stroll for seventh place but can't get past the Canadian yet.

Verstappen is now an unbelievable eleven seconds ahead of Leclerc - the Red Bulls are simply in a completely separate league, nobody can match it!

Lap 20/51:

Verstappen drives one fastest race lap after the other, while Stroll briefly loses his rear end in the curve and slips a bit - good for Hamilton!

The Brit not only comes dangerously close to the Canadian, but also drives past him on the straight.

Team colleague George Russell is also getting closer and closer to Stroll in the Aston Martin and definitely wants P7.

Lap 17/51:

The Red Bulls drive ahead of the other cars, Leclerc is now four seconds behind Verstappen.

But will Verstappen be satisfied with second place?

Hülkenberg lost a position at the restart and is now in P10, which would still be a point - but the German still has to pit!

Round 13/51:

That went great for Leclerc!

The Monegasse was able to pit through the safety car and came out of the pits ahead of Max Verstappen!

The situation was also great for Hülkenberg, who came out of the pits with hard tires - he's already in P9!

THE SAFETY-CAR COMES IN AND VERSTAPPEN IS SUPER CLOSE TO LECLERC AND IN THE CHAOS ALONSO HAS PUSHED AHEAD TO P4 PAST SAINZ!

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Unfortunately, Nyck de Vries was not able to finish his race.

© IMAGO/Mark Sutton

Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Yellow flag and safety car after Nyck de Vries crash

Round 10/51:

Is there an internal duel at Red Bull?

Perez is super close to Verstappen and is putting a lot of pressure on him from behind - but the Dutchman is already coming into the box for new tires: he has just announced that he is slipping a lot.

Nyck de Vries is out of the race!

But he can't get his car away: the safety car has to come out and that's bitter for Max Verstappen, who has just come to the pit stop!

Round 9/51:

The first drivers are already at the pit stop and switch to the hard tires.

It is questionable whether only one stop is expected after 51 laps.

Verstappen and Perez in their Red Bulls continue to pull away from the rest of the field - the fastest race lap also goes to the Dutchman again:

Round 4/51:

Verstappen is super close to Leclerc's heels!

The Dutchman has been in the DRS window for a few laps and Verstappen passes him in a relaxed manner at the start and finish.

But Leclerc simply doesn't stand a chance against the Red Bull and he can see that again straight away in the rear-view mirror, because Perez is getting closer and closer!

Hülkenberg is on P20 after starting out of the pits.

Round 1/51:

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The start of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

© IMAGO/Andrew Ferraro

Formula 1 in Baku: Ocon and Hulkenberg start from the pit lane

Update from April 30, 2023, 12:58 p.m.:

Well, the last few minutes have begun!

The drivers are already in the car waiting for the formation lap.

The tire choice?

Probably medium and hard - but we'll see.

Update from April 30, 2023, 12:49 p.m.:

It’s about to start: The national anthem is playing, 11 minutes until the start of the race!

In the previous interview, Verstappen spoke briefly about his strategy for Sunday's race, he knows that his car is fast and that he could easily get past Leclerc - but something can always happen on the track in Baku!

Update from April 30, 2023, 12:30 p.m.:

Baku – Only 30 minutes left, then the Azerbaijan Grand Prix will start.

Esteban Ocon also starts the GP from the pit lane, but ahead of Hülkenberg.

Meanwhile, Christian Horner talks about Red Bull's strategy in the race - their advantage: more soft tires than Ferrari.

He also sees the Reds as his main competition today.

First report from April 30, 2023, 12:01 p.m

.: Bad news for the fans of Haas and Nico Hülkenberg!

After a bad sprint race, Hulkenberg complained to the team, whereupon "necessary changes to the setup" were made.

So the German starts the race out of the pits.

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Nico Hulkenberg after the sprint in Baku.

© IMAGO/Andy Hone

Between Russell and Verstappen it banged in the sprint race - in two ways

For Max Verstappen, the start in the Formula 1 sprint race in Baku was not exactly easy - George Russell came dangerously close to him.

So close that the two touched directly shortly after the start, in turn three, and the Dutchman was pushed lightly against the rails by the Briton.

This even created a hole in the Red Bull's side.

Verstappen was able to finish the race, but he was still angry.

Already during the race he made a few rants over the radio.

"How can it be that he damages my car and isn't penalized?!" So there was a lot of excitement even before the main race on Sunday!

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George Russell and Max Verstappen after the sprint in Baku.

© IMAGO/Simon Galloway

Verstappen calls Russell a 'moron'

But even after the race, Verstappen didn't seem to be over it, he wanted to talk to Russell, but that doesn't seem to have worked really well - when Russell rushed past him, Verstappen called a "moron" after him.

During the interview, he also made it clear that he found Russell's risk in the sprint race too high: "I just don't understand why you have to take so much risk.

[...] We all have cold tires.

It's easy to get on the brakes there.” However, Sunday is more important, and Verstappen knows that too - after all, he only has one car in front of him and the Red Bulls are still stronger than Ferrari in the race.

New sprint format used for the first time in Baku

In Baku, the new sprint format took place for the first time on Saturday (April 29).

Qualifying for the race on Sunday therefore started on Friday, directly after a single free practice session.

Charles Leclerc was able to take pole there - even if it didn't necessarily look like it at the beginning.

One problem, however, was that the drivers didn't have much time to adjust themselves and the car to the race track with just one free practice session - Ralf Schumacher tells Sky that

could be an obstacle, especially for the somewhat inexperienced rookies.

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Max Verstappen in Baku at the 2023 Grand Prix.

© IMAGO/nordphoto GmbH / Bratic

Max Verstappen: "The new format is terrible!"

So far, fans on social media have not been particularly enthusiastic about the new format.

“In short, Saturday is just a show.

It's sad what is happening to our beloved sport," writes a fan on Instagram.

But Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen also summed up after the sprint qualifying: “It actually went quite well, I lost the rear a bit in the middle sector.

Otherwise the car was quite good.

But the new format is terrible!” Clear words from the Dutchman, enthusiasm definitely looks different - it remains to be seen whether the FIA ​​​​will revise the format again.

Rubric list image: © IMAGO/Andrew Ferraro