Everything to know about the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, including Baku track stats and previous winners

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The Azerbaijan Grand Prix has been on the Formula 1 calendar since the 2017 season. But a round in Baku also made F1’s schedule for 2016 when the race used the European GP name.

Formula 1 resurrected the European GP name for Azerbaijan’s debut race having not used it since Valencia’s farewell in 2012. But Baku City Circuit chiefs felt 2017 marked the right time to use the nation’s name after wanting to highlight Azerbaijan’s European mentality in 2016.

The Baku City Circuit is one of a growing number of street tracks on the Formula 1 schedule, as well. It is located in the centre of Baku beside the Caspian Sea, with Formula 1 cars flying past Government House and into the Old City. The track is also amongst F1’s longest circuits.

Read More: The best Azerbaijan Grand Prix stats you should know as McLaren target impressive championship record

History of the F1 Azerbaijan GP

Bernie Ecclestone revealed in May 2014 that the Azerbaijan GP would make its debut on the Formula 1 calendar the following year. The race was due to take up the spot on the calendar the Korean GP owned. But the oil-rich country had to delay its debut appearance until 2016.

Azerbaijan saw hosting a Formula 1 race as the ideal way to promote the country’s image to Europe. Baku City Circuit executive director, Arif Rahimov, later explained in 2016 that it felt Azerbaijan has a society closely linked to its European friends despite it mostly being in Asia.

“We have shown that we are a city with a European mentality to the world,” Rahimov noted of the name change, as quoted by Gulf News. “We have hosted a lot of sporting activity with the name European Games. Now everyone knows that so we want to showcase Azerbaijan.”

The 2016 European GP, at first, was not a favourite amongst the Formula 1 drivers, however. Azerbaijan hosting a street race meant the F1 teams could not gather data ahead of the race to feed into their simulators perfectly. So, the drivers took the debut race with great caution.

But with a race weekend’s worth of data at their disposal, Formula 1’s return to Baku for the 2017 Azerbaijan GP proved a chaotic hit. The Baku City Circuit has continued to deliver often chaotic races, too. It is a tricky track with the walls inches from the racing line in some parts.

Baku’s second appearance on the Formula 1 calendar for the maiden Azerbaijan GP showed how chaotic the race can be. The 2016 European GP was a processional affair as the teams and drivers played the race gingerly. Yet the same would not be said as F1 returned in 2017.

Baku delivered a chaotic maiden Azerbaijan GP in 2017

Straight from the off, drivers span, with Valtteri Bottas left with a puncture after colliding with Kimi Raikkonen. Daniel Ricciardo also made a pit stop at the end of Lap 6 after debris got lodged in his Red Bull’s brake duct. The stop dropped the Australian down to P17.

Yet Bottas soon unlapped himself following the Finn’s early stop under a safety car. A second safety car period even followed quickly, during which Sebastian Vettel intentionally drove his Ferrari into the side of Lewis Hamilton after sensing the Mercedes driver brake-checked him.

TV footage and Mercedes’ data showed that Hamilton did not touch the brakes at the point Vettel initially rear-ended the Briton. The stewards also later issued Vettel a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for causing a collision that removed the German from the battle for the win.

Hamilton’s hopes of winning the 2017 Azerbaijan GP also unravelled following a red flag for debris created by Force India teammates Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon colliding and from Raikkonen’s Ferrari, which sustained a puncture, with the track littered with bits of the cars.

The red flag period lasted for around 20 minutes, so many drivers used the stoppage to get out of their cars. But Mercedes failed to correctly re-insert Hamilton’s headrest and it soon became loose upon the restart. He would have to stop for the team to re-insert it correctly.

Hamilton and Vettel’s trips through the pit lane promoted Ricciardo into the lead of the race thanks to the stoppages. The Australian would ultimately hold on to the win, as well. Yet the fight for second went down to the finish line as Bottas continued to recover with great pace.

Bottas cut through the field following the restart to close on Lance Stroll of Williams for P2. He would pass the Canadian mere metres before the chequered flag with just one-tenth of a second separating them. Stroll still became the second-youngest podium finisher at only 18.

What is the Baku City Circuit like?

The layout of the Baku City Circuit ensures battles like Bottas and Stroll’s over P2 at the 2017 Azerbaijan GP are possible in Formula 1. The first and final sectors of the circuit comprise of long straights to aid overtaking. While the middle of the lap is a tricky route in the Old City.

Overtakes are near-on impossible, beyond the exceptional, through the middle sector of the Baku City Circuit. Formula 1 cars generally run in single-file through the Old City as the track runs past the Maiden Tower. The 12th-century monument is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The track narrows to just 7.6m (25ft) wide as it shoots uphill past the Maiden Tower and the Palace of the Shirvanshahs. It was at this point of the Baku City Circuit where Charles Leclerc crashed his Ferrari during qualifying in 2017 and vented, ‘I am stupid’, over the team’s radio.

Winners of the F1 Azerbaijan GP