Lewis Hamilton is set to start the 2024 Azerbaijan GP from the pit lane following an engine change. Esteban Ocon will join him in the pits after a troubled start to the weekend for Alpine.
The seven-time World Champion qualified in P7 yesterday afternoon, but Mercedes have opted to take a new power unit on the car at the Baku City Circuit.
Many expected Mercedes would have to bring in another engine for the 39-year-old after a failure in Melbourne earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Frenchman Ocon has suffered a lot this weekend with reliability issues after he stopped on track in FP3 on Saturday morning, before tapping the wall in Q1 as he qualified in 19th place.
Both drivers have made changes to their power units outside of Parc Ferme regulations, with a new internal combustion engine, MGU-H, MGU-K and turbocharger.
It caps a pretty dismal weekend for Alpine, with Ocon’s woes followed by teammate Pierre Gasly’s disqualification from Qualifying after his car exceeded the permitted fuel flow rate.
Mclaren’s Lando Norris will benefit from Gasly’s DQ as he moves up a place after his Q1 elimination.
Fernando Alonso will move up to seventh place with Argentine Franco Colapinto starting on the fourth row of the grid after an impressive qualifying.
Alex Albon and Ollie Bearman will wrap up the top 10 for the starting grid for the Grand Prix.
Featured Image photo: Mercedes AMG F1 Team
[adrotate banner=”10″]
Get 10% off all official F1 Merch at TheRaceWorks.com using code ‘EF1‘ at checkout.