WATCH: “External combustion engine” Pierre Gasly’s car catches fire as total chaos reigns in Baku
Pierre Gasly's car caught fire, Yuki Tsunoda punctured his tire AND more - It all went down in the only practice session of the 2023 F1 Azerbaijan GP.
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Pierre Gasly's Alpine A523 caught fire in Baku
Chaos was expected in Baku, and it’s come to the fore. At the start of the only practice session this weekend, almost all drivers went out on track. Soon, Carlos Sainz was involved in the first notable incident, as clipped the wall with his left-front tire. There were drivers going off the track and numerous yellow flags. Soon, Yuki Tsunoda also ‘joined in’ on the action. And then his former teammate, Pierre Gasly as well.
The Japanese driver hit the wall with his right-rear tire, resulting in a puncture. He stopped on the side of the track of the moment, before continuing on a slow path into the pits. But things started unraveling on the track for others as well. Around 15 minutes into the session, Gasly went a bit off-track into turn 1, and then when he emerged, smoke was seen from the back of his car. Soon, a fire was also visible. When he stopped, a lot of smoke came out of the top outlet of his car.
At the same time, Kevin Magnussen also stopped in the run-off area after turn 1. He turn into the corner, but the car seemed to go into neutral with a mechanical issue. He was able to save it and parked it on the run-off. This brought out a red flag, which stayed for around 12 minutes of the session. This is certainly not a good sign for the weekend – as this is the only practice session, and drivers have lost valuable running.
Pierre Gasly and Alpine are now on the backfoot in Baku
It was particularly bad for the Alpine duo. Pierre Gasly, of course, couldn’t participate in the rest of the session. But Esteban Ocon also lost time, as his team were investigating the potential hydraulic issue that affected his teammate. It quickly became clear that Ocon wouldn’t go out on track again. This has put the team on the back foot, especially considering they hope to compete with Mercedes in 2023. Fans recognized this.
But it’s affected all drivers to some extent. As mentioned before, there is only one practice session in Baku this time around, due to the sprint weekend format changes. This was the teams’ only chance to collect valuable data, especially for those who brought upgrades. This will give an interesting complexion to the rest of the weekend, especially going into today’s qualifying for the Grand Prix on Sunday.
Alpine, in particular, will have a big task at their hand to fix Gasly’s issue and prevent it from happening again. It’ll be interesting to see how the French team respond, and then perform for the rest of the weekend. AlphaTauri too, due to Yuki Tsunoda’s problem, have been put on the back foot. It is the same for Haas.
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