What to expect in Baku?

Baku will host the first of the six sprint races this season and is expected to bring the first set of upgrades for many teams across the grid.

As the championship stands Verstappen holds the lead in the championship, being 15 points clear of his teammate Perez in second. Red Bull have dominated the season so far, leading the constructor championship with nearly double the points of Aston Martin in second.

With a few of the top teams bringing the first of their upgrades to Baku, could we see Red Bulls dominance fade?

No upgrades for Ferrari in Baku

Ferrari will not be bringing any upgrades to Baku, with Team Principal Fred Vasseur confirming upgrades will not come in Baku, but reassured fans that “a flow of updates” will come soon.

“I think that we will have a flow of updates that some will come… Not at Baku, because Baku we have the aero package for the level of downforce, [and] with the Sprint race it’s not the easiest one. But from Miami, Imola, not Monaco, but Barcelona – each race will have an update on the car.”

“We are sticking to the plan, but we’ve made some adjustments, I think, in terms of balance and behaviour. It was much better in Melbourne, and we’ll continue in this direction.”

Ferrari are currently 97 points behind Red Bull and 30 points behind the Mercedes, who currently sit in third. Ferrari currently hold 26 points, with Championship runner Charles Leclerc only securing 6 points after running out of the points for two races this season with. A DNF.

Alpine look to fight with Mercedes

Chief Technical officer, Pat Fry, commented on Alpine’s upgrades for Baku saying, “We should have a reasonable step for Baku and then more coming through, so at race four and race six [Imola] there should be some reasonable steps coming.”

Alpine have been the quickest in the midfield but have struggled to convert that pace into results. After what was looking to be the first double points for the team this season in Melbourne, both drivers crashed out during the final restart of the race, unable to complete the race.

However, Team Principle Otmar Szafnauer is confident that they can fight the Mercedes in third.

Stella confident in a seamless upgrade in Baku

Australia brought McLaren back into the championship fight, both drivers being able to score points for the first time this season. The Woking team discovered a new development path late into the development of the MCL60, choosing to lower expectations for the first three races while they develop new floor parts in time for Baku, in an unusual car launch.

Andreas Stella is confident that the upgrades will be applied seamlessly, dismissing any concerns surrounding the upgrades.

Mercedes hope to achieve a “more drivable” W14

Mercedes’ Chief Technical Officer James Allison revealed in Melbourne that they are working on making the car “more drivable”.

The team had struggled last season out in Azerbaijan with the porpoising of the car, which left Lewis Hamilton unable to get out the car and the team wondering whether the Brit would be fit to drive in Montreal in the coming weeks.

In an interview in Melbourne, Allison shared the teams’ plans leading up to Melbourne. “We will be doing the normal things,” he said. “We will be working in the drawing office also to bring some mechanical parts to the car, some different suspension components that we think will help the underlying balance of the car, and make it a more drivable thing, making it something that the drivers have more confidence to push right to the limit.”

He added: “We will be working on the normal sort of simulation loop and routines that allow us to prepare for the race weekends that are coming up, making sure that we land the car in the right place when we get to the race.”

Aston Martin take advantage of extra wind tunnel time.

Aston Martin have been the talk of the season so far, with their impressive consistent points and podium finish for the first 3 races of the season.

The Silverstone based team will being new rear wing, as they look to use the wind tunnel time advantage to reel in aerodynamic efficient Red Bull RB19. The team making the most of the lower finish last season, resulting in more wind tunnel time over the big three challengers.

F1 introduce a new sprint format

Baku will be the first of this seasons sprint weekends to host the new format. The new format will hold two qualifying sessions, the first session will take place on Friday and will determine the grid for Sundays race. A second qualifying session will take place on Saturday, this sprint shootout which will set the grid for the sprint.

The new sprint shootout will have shorter qualifying sessions. Q1 will be 12 minutes, Q2 10 minutes and Q3 8 minutes. With its own Qualifying session, Saturday's sprint race is now its own event, meaning less stress for drivers and the teams, as results won't affect grid position for Sundays race.