We're back in Baku!
The sixth round of this year's calendar lands us in Baku. 2021 is only the fifth year that Azerbaijan has hosted a Grand Prix, and the forth that it will be known as the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with the first race in 2016 held as the European Grand Prix. Despite its short life so far, the Baku City Circuit has already established itself as one of the more exciting tracks of the current Formula 1 Calendar. Baku is distinctive for its 2.22km straight, which has given opportunity to some advantageous slipstreams into turn 1, as well as the tight twists around the old town and castle, where a mistake could land you in the wall - just ask Charles Leclerc! A costly mistake through the narrowest part of the track saw his Ferrari planting firmly into the barrier, leading to an unfortunate and premature end to qualifying in 2019.
Heading into the weekend, Max Verstappen leads seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, in the driver championship by just 4 points. Red Bull have the edge over Mercedes in the constructors, too, however the margins are much smaller at just a single point. The talk so far seemingly has Red Bull as the dominant team this weekend. What can Mercedes do to challenge them? Will this be yet another crazy Baku race? Who will come out on top?
This year, Formula 1 is once again supported by the Formula 2 series for its third round. Although it won't be covered in detail, you can find details of when to watch it below. I won't be missing it; I love the drama.
The finer details...
As previously mentioned, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is a street circuit around the country's capital, Baku, and was designed by Hermann Tilke. It is 6.003km in length (the third longest on the 2021 calendar behind Spa-Francorchamps and Jeddah Street Circuit), anti-clockwise in direction, and consists of twelve turns to the left and eight to the right. 7.6 metres is the narrowest part of the track and can be found in the castle section of corners between turns 8 and 11 - definitely single-file through there. I'm sure the drivers will be relieved to hear that the inner kerb at this tight castle section has been removed so we are unlikely to see cars getting it wrong and ending up int the wall.
The total race distance is 306.049km over 51 laps and is self-titled as the latest street circuit in the world. According to RaceFans.net, the cars are at full throttle for three quarters of a lap around the city streets of Baku and change gear, on average, 78 times. A trip into the pits isn't as costly as some other circuits, however those in the lead will be looking to build a gap of at least 22 seconds to stay ahead. This year, the drivers will have the softest range of Pirelli tyres to hand (C3, hards; C4, mediums; C5, softs) to give them more grip. I'm sure we'll be seeing some blisteringly quick lap times; we always do!
There are two DRS straights, one between turns 2 and 3, and the other along the start-finish straight. The second DRS zone can lead to some pretty spectacular overtakes into turn 1 - you definitely want to keep your eyes on which rear wings pop open. Charles Leclerc currently holds the lap record around these city streets, with a lap time of 1:43.009, which was recorded on lap 50 in 2019. Will we be seeing a new record this weekend?
Notable moments from previous races...
Baku City Circuit is the only circuit so far not to have any repeat winners, which should be taken with a grain of salt because this is only the fifth year. The previous winners are all notable names in the sport: Nico Rosberg (2016), Daniel Ricciardo (2017), Lewis Hamilton (2018), and Valtteri Bottas (2019). Current championship leader, Max Verstappen, hasn't even finished on the podium in Baku before, and I'm sure he'll be hoping to land himself on the top spot to maintain his lead over Lewis Hamilton in the driver's championship.
The 2016 European Grand Prix didn't feature anywhere near the level of drama that was expected after a hectic GP2 race. The third qualifying session saw Lewis Hamilton crash out and start the Grand Prix in tenth - something that could really mix things up should the same thing happen this weekend. Nico Rosberg, the race winner, took his second ever Grand Chelem - where the driver qualifies on pole, leads every single lap afterwards, wins, and also scores the fastest lap. Sebastian Vettel and Sergio Pérez joined Nico Rosberg on the podium.
2017 was a chaotic year for the craziest of reasons. Daniel Ricciardo, who was down to 17th on the 6th lap because of debris, ended up winning the race with his late-braking moves and the help of safety cars. These safety car periods also aided Valtteri Bottas to second place after falling to plum last and a lap down because of contact on the first lap with Kimi Räikkönen. It was at this Grand Prix that we witnessed the second youngest podium finisher in Lance Stroll, which also still happens to be Williams' last podium. He was beaten to the checkered flag by Valtteri by just 0.105 seconds, who had been chasing the Canadian down in previous laps. Nico Hulkenberg managed to break his suspension after clipping one of the inside walls in sector 2, a silly mistake, in my opinion, one that he will make again (spoiler for 2018).
Remember road-rage Seb? Well, this was the race where the German swerved into the side of Lewis Hamilton under safety car purposefully after the Brit apparently brake-tested him - he didn't, and so the German earned himself a 10 second stop-go penalty. We also yet another collision between the Force India pairing of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez upon the restart, being caught out by the restricted space around the city streets. From this, a red flag was called but the drama didn't stop there. Once the race was resumed, it became clear that Hamilton's headrest was loose and so he needed to pit, throwing away his chances of a podium. You couldn't write this race better if you tried. Well done, Baku.
Azerbaijan 2018 was also filled to the brim with drama and excitement. This was the last race in Baku where a Mercedes wasn't leading the driver's championship, however Lewis ended up taking the lead away from Sebastian Vettel with an exceptional win. This stat will surely make Lewis feel a little better as he hopes to do the same and take the championship lead from Max Verstappen.
Once again, the start was pure chaos - contact everywhere you looked. Fernando Alonso had a double-puncture (both right tyres) and miraculously managed to make it back to the pit, Sergio Pérez was handed penalties for his contact with Kimi Räikkönen, with the Finn also being bumped by Checo's teammate. All of this drama and the cars hadn't even reached the end of the first sector - you do not want to miss the start of an Azerbaijan Grand Prix. This year saw Nico Hulkenberg hit the wall yet again in an uncharacteristic silly mistake, one in which he can't make again because he no longer has a seat (trust me, I'm still sad about this). Tyre strategy was also key during this race, but became almost nullified for some when the Red Bulls thought it would be a great idea to just ram into each other at the end of the start-finish straight. it just goes to show the power of slipstream, and Daniel Ricciardo's very late braking. As a Red Bull fan, I don't think I've felt as much anger during a Formula 1 race since this moment. The race ended up settling for the most part, however we got a taste of Valtteri's bad luck to come when he was forced into retirement from first with a puncture from a small piece of debris. This handed Sergio Pérez his second podium in Baku, and he managed it from eighth on the grid. A fun little statistic - pole position and eighth on the grid have the same number of podiums, so don't discount a driver if they're not starting at the front. And how can I talk about Baku 2018 without the classic line from Romain Grosjean's engineer when the Frenchman crashed into the wall under safety car - 'I think Ericsson hit us'. Gives me shivers - just exquisite.
Okay, so 2019 wasn't the most thrilling of races, however it wasn't without incident. Here, we all came to the conclusion that Formula 1 cars needed reversing sensors. If they did, Daniel Ricciardo might've avoided Daniil Kvyat during his attempt to reverse back onto the circuit after a trip down the escape road for the both of them. Even I could've reversed better than him, and that's saying something. Okay, I think I've bullied Daniel enough. I promise I'm a fan of his really - if I don't laugh, I'll cry. Unlike the Monaco street circuit, drivers can actually overtake and Charles Leclerc was able to claw something back after his qualifying crash. Valtteri was the second driver on this circuit to convert pole to win, a redemption from the previous year's misfortune.
Going on points scored in the previous Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton is the most successful driver around the streets of Baku, with an average of 15.75 points per race (63 in total). Sebastian Vettel isn't far behind him, averaging at 0.75 points less per race, a total of 60 so far, however it is probably a safe bet that Sebastian won't be as competitive this year as he was in Monaco against the Brit. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a crazy Baku race.
When to watch
Formula 1:
(FRIDAY) The first practice session commences at 12:30 local time (09:30BST, 04:30EST) and finishes an hour later.
(FRIDAY) The second practice session starts at 16:00 local time (13:00BST, 08:00EST) and ends an hour later.
(SATURDAY) The final practice session begins at 13:00 local time (10:00BST, 05:00EST) and finishes after an hour.
(SATURDAY) Qualifying starts at 16:00 local time (13:00BST, 08:00EST). The length of qualifying varies depending on the events of the session, such as crashes that need require barrier repair, but is due to finish an hour after starting. This determines the order for the race start.
(SUNDAY) The Azerbaijan Formula 1 Grand Prix starts at 16:00 local time (13:00BST, 08:00EST) and lasts for 51 laps or 120 minutes, whichever comes first.
Formula 2:
(FRIDAY) The one and only practice session for F2 commences at 10:25 local time (07:25BST, 02:25EST) and lasts for 45 minutes.
(FRIDAY) Qualifying starts at 14:30 local time (11:30BST, 9:30BST) and lasts for half an hour. This determines the order of start for the feature race, and reverse grid top-ten for the first sprint.
(SATURDAY) The first sprint race commences at 11:25 local time (08:25BST, 03:25EST) and lasts for 21 laps or 45 minutes, whichever happens first. The top ten is reversed for the grid of the second sprint race.
(SATURDAY) The second sprint race begins at 17:40 local time (14:40BST, 12:40EST) and lasts for 21 laps or 45 minutes, whichever comes first.
(SUNDAY) The Feature race starts at 12:45 local time (09:45BST, 04:45EST) and lasts for 29 laps or 60 minutes, whichever comes first.
(All times collected and calculated from the official Formula 1 website)
(Information for this post uses previous race data collected from the internet and official sources. No copyright intended)
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