F1 sprint result: Perez wins as Verstappen seethes at Russell and calls him a 'd***head'
F1 SPRINT LIVE: Express Sport provide live updates from the first sprint race of the 2023 season at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
F1 preview: A lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
F1's first sprint race of 2023 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix did not disappoint. Sergio Perez came out with the maximum of eight points with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc - who started on pole - ending up in P2. Max Verstappen could not catch the Ferrari after suffering damage following a collision with George Russell who started behind him.
Following the first ever sprint shootout, in which Leclerc secured top spot before crashing, it was Perez who clinched his first ever triumph in the sport's seventh ever 64-mile (100km) dash. But the main drama came between Russell and Verstappen.
The duo tangled in turns one, two and three on the first lap with Russell getting past the Dutchman before later losing the place. But the Red Bull was left with a huge hole in his sidepod which ultimately stopped him finishing higher up than P3.
Verstappen was left furious with the Mercedes driver and he repeatedly complained about the incident on the Red Bull team radio throughout the 17 laps. Afterwards, the pair had words with one another in a tense exchange, with Verstappen appearing to call Russell a "d***head" as the Briton walked away.
Lewis Hamilton could only finish P7, meanwhile, picking up just two points.
Recap Express Sport's live coverage of all the drama in Baku below...
KEY EVENTS
Thanks for joining us!
Aside from the Russell and Verstappen drama, the stewards are investigating AlphaTauri.
That's all for us on this live blog though. Keep your eyes peeled on Express Sport's F1 page for all the continued fallout.
Thanks and enjoy the rest of your Saturday!
Huge Red Bull damage
You can see the hole created in Verstappen's car after tangling here with Russell for yourself...
The damage on Max's car is huge \ud83d\ude2e
\u2014 Formula 1 (@F1) April 29, 2023
Remarkable he was able to finish in P3 \ud83d\udc4f#AzerbaijanGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/bwL3oEwZXh
Feisty Verstappen and Russell feud
Oof Max Verstappen is still fuming with George Russell.
The pair have words after leaving their cars, with Verstappen telling his rival: "Mate we all have no grip. You need to leave a bit of space."
Despite Sky Sports claiming Russell apologised, the Dutchman appeared to call him a "d***head".
Asked if the issue is clarified, the Red Bull driver says: "No it's not clarified. I don't understand why you have to take so much risk, he understeered into my car and created a hole in my sidepod. It doesn't look great."
Max and George exchange a few words at the end of the Sprint \ud83d\udc40 pic.twitter.com/Sx8Od7Gceq
\u2014 Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) April 29, 2023
Perez 13 points behind
"Well done Max with an injured car. That was very good," says Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.
Race winner Perez says: "I will get them tomorrow again." Fighting talk from the Mexican, who is now only 13 points behind Verstappen in the Drivers' Championship.
Perez wins the sprint!
And there we go, Perez reaches the chequered flag in first for this 17-lap sprint.
Leclerc ends P2 with Verstappen, despite being within a second of the Ferrari on that last lap, crossing the line in P3.
Here's the top eight in full with a reminder of the points...
P1 - Perez (eight points)
P2 - Leclerc (seven points)
P3 - Verstappen (six points)
P4 - Russell (five points)
P5 - Sainz (four points)
P6 - Alonso (three points)
P7 - Hamilton (two points)
P8 - Stroll (one point)
Perez to eat into Verstappen lead
I take it back, Perez is now two seconds clear and has put in a new fastest lap. He's got this sprint race won barring any late mistakes.
Verstappen looks set to settle for P3 which means Perez will cut two points out of the Dutchman's championship advantage if it stays this way.
More overtakes
A nice move from Nyck de Vries who moves into P15 ahead of Bottas, who has just complained about the condition of his tyres.
De Vries is now right behind Nico Hulkenberg.
Slightly further up the field, Pierre Gasly is right on the tail of Zhou Guanyu.
Ocon pits
Fair play to Leclerc, who has actually got himself back into DRS range of Perez.
The Monegasque is refusing to give up the fight. He'll have plenty more fighting to do tomorrow too with the Ferrari driver on pole and Verstappen and Perez behind him in P2 and P3.
Meanwhile, Ocon comes in to pit and rejoins in P18, bumping Norris back to P17. There won't be many drivers starting on softs tomorrow...
Perez comfortably clear
Norris returns at the back of the pack in P18. A slow pit stop as well so that's his afternoon over.
Elsewhere, Perez is comfortably clear of Leclerc - 1.3s - and Verstappen is closing in on the Ferrari slowly but surely.
But can he bridge the gap in time? He's hovering at around 1s behind, right on the cusp of DRS.
Further behind, Stroll moves up into P8 by overtaking Albon for the final points position. The Williams isn't giving up though.
Norris pits
Lando Norris started P10 but has dropped to P13 and is falling further and further behind, with Valtteri Bottas now right on his tail.
McLaren tell Norris to box to change his soft tyres.
Red Bull take Russell jab
There was another dig at Mercedes from Red Bull as Verstappen got back past Russell there.
The team's pit wall said: "Lovely job Max, nicely done, without contact as well."
To which Verstappen responded: "Yeah, I know how to do that s***."
Perez LEADS
A great move from Perez into turn one as the Red Bull man takes the race lead from Leclerc.
Can the Ferrari get back past the Mexican before Verstappen can catch him? It's looking good for the Bulls...
Checo takes the lead of the Sprint! \ud83d\udca5 pic.twitter.com/KDHT6xUEe6
\u2014 Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) April 29, 2023
Verstappen gets revenge
Verstappen is BACK into P3 after overtaking Russell into turn one at the restart.
Elsewhere, there's misery for Hamilton who is overtaken at the same corner by both Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso. He's down to P7.
Max, Carlos and Fernando were ON IT for that restart \ud83d\udc4a pic.twitter.com/j8XoYqJ6L0
\u2014 Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) April 29, 2023
We're going racing again
The safety car is in, but Leclerc raises concerns about "a cut" on the Ferrari team radio. An engine cut? A tyre cut? We'll find out.
He seemed to get away just fine on the race restart there...
Tsunoda OUT
Tsunoda pulls back into the pitlane and that's the end of his race.
AlphaTauri could be hit with fines and penalties for tomorrow's Grand Prix due to sending him back out despite the car being unsafe.
Verstappen complaints continue
Told he has damage on his floor, Verstappen asks: "How?" And the Red Bull pit wall reply: "How do you think?"
That prompts more frustration from Max, who says of Russell: "Did he really drive into the side?
"I don't understand how he can keep the position and he is damaging my car. I just find it ridiculous." The Dutchman is not at all happy.
Safety car is out
Tsunoda heads into the pits and has a new nose fitted. He returns to the track despite damage but his car doesn't look great - he may have to stop here...
We're now getting a full safety car to get that debris off the track.
Verstappen fumes about Russell
"He tagged me, that's how he got the position. F***ing report it," moans Verstappen about Russell on Red Bull's radio.
Meanwhile, the yellow flags are out as Yuki Tsunoda loses a tyre. We've got a virtual safety car with the tyre having come to a standstill on track and some debris to clear up.
LIGHTS OUT!
And we're off in Baku.
Leclerc gets away nicely as Russell battles Verstappen, the pair tagging with the Mercedes almost sending his Red Bull rival into a spin.
At turn three, the Briton gets past Verstappen and moves up into P4. Great move.
Sprint changes
A quick reminder before we get underway, in case you didn't know...
The result of this sprint race does NOT determine the starting order for tomorrow's Grand Prix as it did previously.
The grid for Sunday's race is already set and you can see it in full right here.
The sprint will instead solely pay out points for the top eight finishers.
Hamilton still waiting on sprint win
Lewis Hamilton is still yet to win an F1 sprint race - with Max Verstappen (three), Valtteri Bottas (two) and George Russell the only 64-mile (100km) dash victors so far.
Today's pole-sitter Charles Leclerc was second in the sprints at Imola and Austin last year. Hamilton's best was a P3 in Brazil.
Speaking ahead of this race, the Briton - who starts in sixth - said: "It's only 17 laps, so not a massive amount you can do, I would assume, in the time, but I hope we get some sort of race."
Sprint scoring system
Forgot how many points the drivers are competing for? There's 36 up for grabs in total, split across the top eight positions. Here's a breakdown...
P1 - eight points
P2 - seven points
P3 - six points
P4 - five points
P5 - four points
P6 - three points
P7 - two points
P8 - one point
Esteban Ocon starts in pit lane
Alpine's Esteban Ocon will start the sprint race in the pit lane and will do the same for tomorrow's Grand Prix.
Changes were made to Ocon's suspension while teams were still in parc ferme.
Ocon, who qualified 13th, starts in the pit lane with team-mate Pierre Gasly 17th.
The team has taken Car #31 out of parc ferme conditions, meaning Esteban will start today\u2019s Sprint Race and tomorrow's #AzerbaijanGP from the Pit Lane.#Alpine pic.twitter.com/R5ypR88w1Y
\u2014 BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) April 29, 2023
No Logan Sargeant
There will be no Logan Sargeant after Williams withdrew their American driver from the sprint.
Sargeant crashed out of the sprint shootout when he collided with the barriers at turn 15. And an FIA statement read: "The Stewards have received a request from Williams Racing to withdraw Car 2 from the Sprint following the Sprint Shootout incident."
He had been due to start 15th but the damage caused by the crash is too severe to fix in time.
Sargeant said: "I'm sorry to the team for that and the damage that I caused but I feel like the people in front of me could have helped me out a little bit.
"It was pretty heavy. A lot of work for the boys, so again I feel bad about that."
Logan\u2019s car will not run in the #F1Sprint this afternoon despite the best efforts of the team. \ud83d\ude14
\u2014 Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) April 29, 2023
After receiving the FW45 back following the shootout, we worked flat-out on the car but there is not enough time to complete the repair. Subsequently we have withdrawn Logan from\u2026 pic.twitter.com/cy8Q1nerww
Sprint starting grid
1) Leclerc, Ferrari
2) Perez, Red Bull
3) Verstappen, Red Bull
4) Russell, Mercedes
5) Sainz, Ferrari
6) Hamilton, Mercedes
7) Albon, Williams
8) Alonso, Aston Martin
9) Stroll, Aston Martin
10) Norris, McLaren
11) Piastri, McLaren
12) Hulkenberg, Haas
13) Magnussen, Haas
14) Zhou, Alfa Romeo
15) Bottas, Alfa Romeo
16) Tsunoda, AlphaTauri
17) Gasly, Alpine
18) De Vries, AlphaTauri
PIT LANE: Ocon, Alpine
WITHDRAWN: Sargeant, Williams
Good afternoon!
Good afternoon and welcome to Express Sport's live coverage of today's Azerbaijan Grand Prix sprint race.
This is the first of six sprint races this season with others to come in Austria (July 1), Belgium (July 29), Qatar (October 7), the United States (October 21) and Brazil (November 4).
It's a 17-lap dash to the finish - so who will come out on top? Let's take a look at the starting grid...