Baku City Circuit: The Ultimate Track Guide

Baku City Circuit hosted the first F1 Sprint weekend of the season. Leclerc took pole position for both races, but it was Perez who emerged victorious for Red Bull in the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

After just one hour of Free Practice at Baku City Circuit, it was time for qualifying at the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. There was drama early on in the qualifying hour, with two red flags caused by Nyck de Vries and Pierre Gasly scraping the walls. While George Russell was the big name to miss out on Q3, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen set identical provisional pole times in the early stages of the final session before Leclerc lowered the benchmark to secure the first non-Red Bull pole of the year.

For the first time, Saturday was a standalone Sprint day, with the drivers partaking in a 45 minute Sprint Shootout to decide the grid for the afternoon’s race. Logan Sargeant crashed out in SQ1 – leaving him unable to partake in the Sprint – but it was Leclerc who secured the fastest lap time in SQ3 to take the front spot on the grid for the Sprint despite hitting the barriers in the closing moments.

Leclerc held on to the lead at the start of the Sprint, while contact between Russell and Verstappen at Turn 3 nearly eliminated the Red Bull driver from the race. The duo continued their wheel-to-wheel scrap around the opening lap, with Russell eventually getting ahead. A scrape of the walls for Yuki Tsunoda saw the AlphaTauri driver lose a wheel, bringing out the Safety Car.

Leclerc maintained the lead at the restart, while Verstappen took his third place back from Russell at Turn 1. Perez overtook the race leader at the start of Lap 8, where he would remain for the last 10 laps of the Sprint.

It was a similar story on Sunday, where Leclerc was able to maintain his lead after his Friday pole for the opening stages of the race before being passed by a Red Bull – this time Verstappen – as Lap 4 began. Two laps later, Leclerc was demoted again when Perez made his way into second place.

Another collision with the wall for De Vries brought out the yellow flags, which prompted a pit stop for Verstappen before the Safety Car was called. Perez and Leclerc pitted under Safety Car conditions, giving them the on-track advantage over Verstappen.

A clean restart saw Perez keep hold of the lead, while Verstappen re-passed Leclerc for second place. Fernando Alonso made an eye-catching move on Carlos Sainz for fourth place while a mistake for the other Aston Martin of Lance Stroll allowed Lewis Hamilton to make an overtake.

Both Red Bull drivers clipped the barriers at Turn 15 as the race neared its conclusion but it didn’t stop them from dominating proceedings, securing their second consecutive 1-2 finish at Baku City Circuit. Perez’s victory made him the first repeat Grand Prix winner in Azerbaijan, while polesitter Leclerc completed the podium line-up.

A double retirement for Ferrari eased Red Bull’s route to victory at the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as Max Verstappen became Baku City Circuit’s sixth different winner. 

Drivers encountered the usual scrapes and bumps through Free Practice in Azerbaijan, while some teams suffered with excessive porpoising on Baku City Circuit’s long main straight. Lance Stroll was first to find the barriers in qualifying, but was able to escape with only front wing damage. However, two minutes later, another scrape of the walls for Stroll brought out the red flags. Amid the expected chaos in qualifying at Baku, Charles Leclerc became the first driver to take multiple poles at the track. 

Sergio Perez started alongside Leclerc on the front row on Sunday and it was the Mexican who led after Turn 1. Nine laps into the race, Carlos Sainz came to a halt at Turn 4. With one Ferrari out of the race, the other Ferrari pitted under Virtual Safety Car conditions. 

Sebastian Vettel was the man on the move in the early stages, getting by Lewis Hamilton in the pit-lane as a result of the Mercedes driver being stuck behind his team-mate as it was time for him to pit. Vettel then made a move on Esteban Ocon but out-braked himself, losing two positions in the process. Vettel made a move on Ocon stick later on in the race. 

Perez continued to lead until his team-mate passed him at Turn 1 on Lap 15. When the Red Bulls pitted, Leclerc’s earlier stop meant that the Ferrari acquired the lead of the race. However, Leclerc’s lead was short lived. On Lap 20, an engine failure saw the Ferrari driver come to a stop on the main straight with smoke pouring from its rear. Ferrari recorded their first double retirement in almost two years. 

Yuki Tsunoda encountered DRS issues, which the AlphaTauri team attempted to fix using gaffer tape. Meanwhile, his team-mate Pierre Gasly came under pressure for fourth place from Lewis Hamilton. 

The order remained unchanged at the front, with Verstappen leading home a Red Bull 1-2, Verstappen and becoming the sixth different winner in six races at Baku City Circuit. George Russell joined the Red Bull duo on the podium.

Another eventful affair in Baku saw Max Verstappen crash out of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with a tyre failure, handing the win to team-mate Sergio Perez.

Following a number of near misses throughout the practice sessions – and a session-stopping collision for Max Verstappen in Free Practice 3 – the red flags were out in force during qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with multiple drivers finding their way into the barriers. Lance Stroll was first to crash in Q1, before another red flag-inducing crash from Antonio Giovinazzi. In Q2, Daniel Ricciardo crashed into the wall, while in Q3 the drivers’ final efforts were prematurely ended as Yuki Tsunoda made contact with the barriers and Carlos Sainz subsequently ran into the run-off area.

The Q3 melee resulted in Charles Leclerc recording a second successive pole position. The Ferrari driver led the opening two laps before being overtaken by championship protagonists Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. As one Ferrari dropped down the order, the other was slowed with Sainz taking another visit to the run-off area.

Verstappen jumped Hamilton following a slow stop for the Mercedes driver. On Lap 31, Lance Stroll suffered a tyre issue which saw him clatter the barrier at high speed. The race resumed four laps later, with Sebastian Vettel taking fourth place from former team-mate Leclerc at Turn 1. Vettel was on the move again a few laps later, passing Pierre Gasly for fourth.

Five laps from the end, another tyre failure for Verstappen saw him crash out from the lead. A red flag period followed, leading to a five-lap shootout at Baku City Circuit between the remaining drivers. Perez started from pole. Hamilton, alongside the Red Bull on the front row, locked up at Turn 1 and went deep into the run off area. The Mercedes driver finished outside of the points as a result. That left Vettel and Gasly in a fruitless pursuit of Perez. Perez claimed his first victory for Red Bull, while Vettel recorded Aston Martin’s first podium finish in Formula 1.

Valtteri Bottas retook the championship lead with a win at the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The weekend was filled with bizarre incidents.

There was drama right from the start of the Baku weekend as the First Practice session had to be cancelled following a series of unfortunate incidents. Firstly, George Russell ran over a loose drain cover which destroyed the floor of his car. Then, the recovery vehicle which was transporting his stricken car was too big to fit under a bridge and the two objects made contact. The drain covers were welded and the recovery trucks put away, but Saturday’s qualifying was just as dramatic.

Robert Kubica brought out the red flags in Q1 with a crash at the tight Turn 8, and Charles Leclerc did the same thing in Q2. After a lengthy delay, it was Valtteri Bottas who eventually took pole position.

The Mercedes drivers went side by side into the opening turns, but Bottas maintained his advantage. The opening laps passed without much incident, Former team-mates Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat found themselves out-braking each other, and Ricciardo made things worse by forgetting to check his mirrors before reversing right into the Toro Rosso.

Romain Grosjean and Pierre Gasly became the third and fourth retirements of the afternoon, each pulling aside with mechanical problems. Hamilton closed in on the back of his leading team-mate, but Bottas held on to take his second win of the season. The Finn reclaimed the championship lead with his victory. Sebastian Vettel finished third, while Charles Leclerc was awarded Driver of the Day.

Just as in 2017, Azerbaijan served up a chaotic Sunday afternoon as Lewis Hamilton took an unexpected victory as his team-mate lost the lead in the final laps.

There was a close call in Qualifying at Baku City Circuit as Pierre Gasly caught Brendon Hartley unsighted and narrowly avoided a huge crash between the pair. Kimi Raikkonen almost took pole but made a mistake in the final sector, leaving Sebastian Vettel to take a third consecutive pole.

The Finnish driver’s weekend went from bad to worse as he collided with Esteban Ocon on the first lap, ending the Frenchman’s race. Fernando Alonso was also caught up in first lap dramas and miraculously made it back to the pits with two punctures.

The Red Bull drivers battled each other throughout the Grand Prix, ultimately ending in a collision on the main straight. The collision brought out a Safety Car for the second time in the race, closing up the pack with Valtteri Bottas leading from Vettel and Hamilton after an extra round of pit stops. Under the Safety Car, Romain Grosjean crashed into the wall.

The Safety Car re-entered the pits with four laps remaining. Vettel attempted an overtake on the Finn into Turn 1 but locked up, losing two positions. The next time around, Bottas ran over debris, ensuring Hamilton would take the lead and win the race. Sergio Perez finished in third, taking a second podium at the Baku track, while Charles Leclerc scored his first points in Formula 1 with a sixth place finish.