In the round-up: Fernando Alonso believes he will be able to gain places on his sixth place grid position for today’s sprint race and Sunday’s grand prix.
In brief
Alonso confident of gaining places after DRS fault strikes Aston Martins
Alonso secured sixth on the grid for tomorrow’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix but believes he will be able to go better in today’s sprint sessions. The Aston Martin driver was just under a tenth of a second slower than Lewis Hamilton after both he and team mate Lance Stroll suffered DRS activation problems in Q3.
“We could have been a little bit better,” Alonso said. “We had some issues in FP1 and also in qualifying with the DRS, which cost us a few tenths.
“Being so tight, I think the standings will make a difference. But nevertheless, it’s only Friday. It’s a long weekend ahead of us – another qualifying tomorrow, another race, another race on Sunday – so plenty of opportunities. Hhopefully we can recover a few places.”
Bearman on pole after reprimand
Oliver Bearman took pole position for the Formula 2 feature race despite bending the steering on his car and being investigated for an incident involving Jehan Daruvala and Richard Verschoor. The stewards ruled the Prema driver had “driven in an erratic manner that could have been potentially dangerous” but only handed him a penalty.
He will share the front row of the feature race grid with Enzo Fittipaldi. Richard Verschoor has pole position on the partially-reversed grid for today’s sprint race, ahead of Zane Maloney.
Points leader Ayumu Iwasa qualified a lowly 17th for both races. Theo Pourchaire, second in the standings, qualified third for the feature race. He was given a three-place penalty for impeding Kush Maini, which will apply to the sprint race, which he will therefore start 11th.
Porsche unveil Le Mans hypercar livery
Porsche’s trio of 963 Hypercars will sport this special livery at the Le Mans 24 Hours. It has been designed to mark both the 100th anniversary of the race and 75 years of Porsche sports cars.
Garcia gains F1 Academy poles after Carlins excluded
Marta Garcia will start on pole position for the first ever F1 Academy round at the Red Bull Ring after original pole-winner Abbi Pulling was disqualified, along with her two Carlin team mates, due to a technical infringement.
Pulling had secured pole for the first and final of today’s three races until a post-session inspection found that all three Carlin cars – belonging to…
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