PRIXVIEW – Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Round seventeen starts the Asian street circuit flyways in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku. Since joining the calendar a decade ago, the 3.730-mile high speed streets have provided plenty of drama, controversy and unpredictability as drivers seek to push things to the limit without finding the barriers as they seek to balance the speed and not crashing.

Baku was the first of a new generation of street circuits, then the fastest on the calendar, thanks to its long straights and the flat-out blast between Turn Nineteen and One along Neftchilar Avenue. The within of much of the circuit is about the same as permeant circuits, which increases the opportunities to overtake.

Drivers enjoy the challenge offered by its mixture of long straights, slow technical sections and no margin for error due to the proximity of the walls. It’s a race where drivers are likely to need to keep their eyes peeled so as not to make mistakes, though there are more opportunities to overtake than in Monaco.

But as ever that comes with the risk of crashing into the barriers, the nature of the circuit punishes cars and lockups are common, forcing drivers to use escape roads where possible to avoid crashing out of qualifying. Baku requires high speed and downforce, but there is a high chance of safety cars and accidents with drama throughout the last eight races. This means that the risk of safety cars, yellow flags and red flags are not far away.

Baku also features the narrowest sections of circuit of the entire season; drivers need to thread their way past the old city walls, a 7.6-metre section of track which requires drivers to keep focus. This creates a complex picture for the race as overtaking is risky, lock-ups are common and this can lead to overtaking, but also crashes, thus safety cars, yellow flags and red flags.

Baku requires high speed and downforce, but there is a high chance of safety cars and accidents with drama throughout the last eight races. Teams need to work out a balance between high speed and downforce, which makes the circuit one of the fastest street circuits and the third fastest after Jeddah and Monza. The final sector runs along the coastline making it a challenge to choose between drag and straight-line speed.

2017 was when Baku started to earn its reputation for drama and unpredictability, as the race was defined by crashes. Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel at the first restart, Vettel ran into the back of the Mercedes, Vettel accusing Hamilton of ‘brake testing’ him. The stewards didn’t agree, handing him a ten-second penalty, which ultimately allowed Daniel Ricciardo into the lead, and he went on to win. The second incident saw a collision between the Force India’s of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, bringing out the red flag.

The following year, a late puncher on the restart following a collision between Ricciardo and Max Verstappen as they fought for the lead with ten laps to go resulted in them both retiring and Valtteri Bottas making his pit stop, allowing him to rejoin in the lead. However, with three laps to go, Bottas locked up dropping to second before retaking the lead for a lap and a half, before a puncture and retiring.

Following a year’s hiatus in 2021, Leclerc took back-to-back poles in Baku, despite struggling in practice. Mercedes turned it around after setting up changes in practice for Hamilton to take pole. While Verstappen went off into the wall in the closing stages, bringing out the red flag with five laps remaining, on the restart, there was dramas for Hamilton.

Starting from pole for the restart with three laps to Perez took the lead from Hamilton, who had selected the wrong setting on his wheel. This resulted in another surprise result as Vettel took the podium for Aston Martin. Last year’s race saw Verstappen take victory ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez after Leclerc retired early on with a power unit issue.

2023 saw Leclerc take pole for the grand prix, his third in a row in Baku after going two-tenths faster than Verstappen, he was fastest in all three sectors on his final run in Q3. Perez was third in the chaotic session, which saw several red flags, but a mixed Friday evening for Mercedes with Hamilton best of the rest in fifth but George Russell missing out on Q3 by four thousandths.

Perez won the sprint race after overtaking Leclerc midway through the race. The Mexican looked the favourite from the start and broke the DRS range around the halfway stage and built his lead after getting past Leclerc when he dived down the inside at Turn One after getting a tow and DRS to pass the Ferrari.

Perez would go onto to win the grand prix, beating Verstappen by two seconds to become the first repeat winner in Baku. The Mexican Perez controlled the race from the start, despite Verstappen looking better off the line but throughout the early phase of the race looked pretty much evenly matched. However, Verstappen lost out to Perez under the safety car when he dropped behind when the Mexican managed to jump his teammate, having just stopped before the safety car.

As he predicted, Leclerc was a sitting duck and was passed by both Red Bull’s early on but had a thrilling battle with Fernando Alonso; however, it appeared to stabilise by the middle part of the race despite the Aston Martin driver’s best effort to close the gap and pass the Ferrari. The gap eventually became eight-tenths, meaning Alonso missed out on a fourth consecutive podium.

Race & Circuit Guide

Fast facts

• In 2023, Sergio Perez became the first repeat winner at the Baku City Circuit on Formula 1’s seventh visit to Azerbaijan. Charles Leclerc became the circuit’s first repeat polesitter in 2022.
• During qualifying for the 2016 race, Valtteri Bottas of Williams set an unofficial record for the highest ever speed recorded in an F1 car at 378 km/h.
• Sergio Perez holds the record for most podium finishes at this track. He has finished on the podium here five times.
• Lance Stroll was the second youngest driver ever to score a podium when he finished third in the 2017 race. Aged 18 years 239 days, he was only 11 days older than Max Verstappen was when he won the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix
• From the eight races held so far at the Baku City Circuit, Nico Rosberg in 2016 and Valtteri Bottas in 2019 are the only polesitters who have gone on to win the Grand Prix.

Constructors’ championship

• There is a maximum of 432 points left up for grabs for a team across the final nine grand prix weekends – including the three sprints.
• To become champions again in Baku, McLaren would have to be 346 points ahead of the second-placed team, so 22 more than now, by the end of that grand prix weekend. In effect either Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri winning the race, and Ferrari does not outscore them.
• Such a lead is certainly conceivable given that formidable McLaren increased their constructors’ lead by an average of 29 points over the last three non-sprint weekends.
• McLaren only need 150 points from the remaining nine weekends to beat Red Bulls 2023 winning margin.

Event timetable

What happened in 2024?

FP1 saw Max Verstappen top the times with a 45.546 on his final attempt, which put him just over three-tenths faster than Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes driver managed to split the two Red Bull’s after going six hundredths faster than Sergio Perez. Lando Norris was fourth, nearly half a second off the pace and a tenth behind Perez.

FP2 was topped by Charles Leclerc with a 43.484 on the soft tyre, which put him six-thousandths of a second ahead of Sergio Perez. However, it was not an easy session for the Monacan as he struggled with a steering issue early on. Hamilton was third six hundredths behind Perez as he put himself four-tenths ahead of Carlos Sainz.

FP3 saw a hugely competitive session with George Russell fastest with a 42.515, putting himself a hundredth faster than Leclerc. Norris put his McLaren third as he went a hundredth faster than teammate Piastri. It was a much stronger session for the team who looked to struggle to find the pace on Friday. But McLaren looked a lot faster than the Red Bull of Max Verstappen who was a tenth behind Oscar Piastri.

Qualifying saw Leclerc take a fourth Baku pole in a row with a 41.365, which put him just over three-tenths ahead of Piastri, who split the Ferraris after going a tenth faster than Sainz. But the shock was Norris, who was knocked out in Q1 after he was forced to back off because of a yellow flag.

Piastri put in a dominant performance to win the race by ten seconds ahead of Leclerc. The McLaren lunging his way past the Ferrari at the pit stop phase, from then on he looked to have a slight edge over the Ferrari. It was the most eventful race of the year in terms of battling as Piastri and Leclerc went wheel to wheel several times, then Verstappen and Norris also got close at different points in the race. George Russell finished third, twenty seconds behind Leclerc and ahead of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen on another key day in the fight for this championship.

Championship Standings

What to watch for?

This weekend, McLaren can win the constructors’ championship with six rounds to go, they will, I think, need to be careful as this circuit requires the same traits as Monza, where Max Verstappen won. But my gut feeling and recent trends suggest Monza has been an outlier in terms of results in who wins. They were quick, but Red Bull were able to respond at a high speed and downforce circuit, as McLaren did, as suggested letting Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris more freedom in the ‘Papya Rules’.

McLaren are in a really good position, though Verstappen, I think, when he has the car has to be taken into account; his win in Monza might give Red Bull confidence going to Baku. Baku is a high-speed and downforce circuit which is up with Monza, Jeddah and Las Vegas in terms of the type of speed and performances. But this is a street circuit, with the usual caveats involved.

Baku is a modern circuit, and we have been coming here for a decade I think it was a watershed moment in terms of street circuits. While the barriers aren’t far away, which can lead to accidents, safety cars and red flags in qualifying, you can overtake, and mistakes are punished as well. Monza suggested McLaren can’t rest on their laurels, but following previous defeats this season they have come back stronger.

Though overtaking is possible, strategy and timing can be crucial as we have seen races won and lost by timing of safety cars here. It has a reparation for crazy races and restarts resulting in further incidents, or we can get races which can be uneventful with no major accidents. The majority though, have been exciting to watch.

Red Bull was a surprise as I didn’t think Max Verstappen going into Monza would be in the mix, but he took pole and the win. It may give them confidence that they can potentially gain a huge haul of points in the battle for second in the constructors, which could be tight between them, Mercedes and Ferrari.

I feel in the second half of this season, Ferrari has been on the up, they were fighting for pole and wins in the last two races, though Lewis Hamilton was perhaps hampered by the penalty in Monza. Ferrari may have a win to come if things go their way and it feels that a Grand Prix win for Lewis Hamilton or Charles Leclerc could be coming for either of them.

As we always say there is a very tight battle between the rest of the field, and there could be opportunities for big points this weekend. These points matter for these teams because of the money it brings to them, Williams have been there at times where they have punched above their weight.

2023 vs 2024 Race Data

2024 Lap time comparison

Tyres