The 2023 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand ended with Sergio Perez winning ahead of his teammate Max Verstappen and Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc. In this article, we focus on analyzing the top speeds recorded by the Formula 1 cars on the long straight of the Baku City circuit. We used the finish line as a reference point to collect the speed data.
Looking at the graph provided by f1ingenerale.com, it is clear that the two Ferrari cars are the slowest in terms of top speed among all the F1 cars at Baku. However, it should be noted that Carlos Sainz never had the chance to use DRS during the race because he was never within one second of the car ahead. This does not apply to Charles Leclerc, who was able to use it in the early stages of the race to defend against Sergio Perez.
This allowed him to be 7 km/h faster than his teammate, but still slower than everyone else. Probably the fact that he had a full tank of fuel at that point slowed down the SF-23, which was definitely faster in qualifying.
However, the Ferrari engine still performs strongly, as demonstrated by Kevin Magnussen’s incredible speed of 355 km/h, the highest in the race. Certainly, the Dane also took advantage of a slipstream and DRS, but the speed he achieved is truly remarkable. Behind him, all the drivers are very close, but it is not surprising to see the two Red Bulls so high up, given the powerful DRS effect they have at their disposal. Both drivers of the Austrian team recorded a top speed of 347 km/h, as did Hulkenberg, who confirmed the Haas’ speed on the straight, possibly due to a setup based on less downforce.
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The Williams cars powered by Mercedes are also very fast, with Albon and Sargeant recording speeds of 348 km/h and 346 km/h respectively. The same engine is also used by Aston Martin, but it seems to generate a bit more drag than the other cars, as both AMR23s “stopped” at 341 km/h. It is also very interesting to evaluate the speed difference between the AlphaTauri cars of De Vries and Tsunoda to understand how important the fuel effect is. The former retired in the early stages of the race and his top speed is 9 km/h lower than that of his teammate. There is no difference, however, within the Mercedes and Alfa Romeo teams, where there is only a 1 km/h difference between the teammates.
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