Seven memorable highlights from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, including incredible Daniel Ricciardo triple overtake

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Formula 1 is heading to Baku for this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and F1 Oversteer has taken a look at some of the most memorable moments from the races at the Baku City Circuit.

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix is notorious for unpredictable races, with high speeds and narrow corners creating a host of dramatic action.

The tightest section of the track is just 7.6m wide, leaving little room for error, although the flat-out 2.2km strip between Turn 16 and Turn 1 creates plenty of opportunity for amazing overtakes.

Nico Rosberg was the first driver to win a race on the Baku City Circuit when he took victory at the 2016 European Grand Prix, before the race became the Azerbaijan Grand Prix the following year.

Sergio Perez is the only driver to have taken multiple wins in Azerbaijan, including his first victory for Red Bull Racing in 2021, and a further win in 2023.

Charles Leclerc is the qualifying expert around the streets of Baku, having claimed pole position consecutively for the last four years. Despite taking the front spot for the previous four races, the Ferrari driver has not actually taken a victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Here are seven action-packed moments from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix you can’t miss.

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

Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen’s explosive 2018 Baku crash

Tensions were rising at Red Bull during the 2018 season, as Max Verstappen began establishing himself as the team’s number one driver, much to the frustration of the more experienced Daniel Ricciardo. The Aussie had been with Red Bull since 2014 and had already seen victory at the Chinese Grand Prix, before heading to Baku for the fourth race of the year.

Ricciardo had performed better than Verstappen in the early part of the season and qualified ahead of the Dutchman for the race around the Baku City Circuit. But the pair squabbled dramatically for fourth place during the race after Verstappen got ahead, with the Red Bull cars touching wheels on several occasions.

It seemed almost inevitable that a crash would happen, and on Lap 41 Ricciardo went into the back of Verstappen’s car heading up the first straight between Turns 2 and 3, wiping both drivers out of the race. The FIA reprimanded the Red Bull drivers, with the governing body ruling that Verstappen’s two moves in defence were only “relatively minor”, but Ricciardo had made his “move to the left too late”.

Following the race, team principal Christian Horner told Sky Sports: “We allow them to race, we allow them to go wheel to wheel. We discussed in the pre-race meetings about giving each other space and this was the culmination of two guys taking things into their own hands which shouldn’t have happened,” said Horner.

“They are both in the doghouse, you can see that in their body language and they will be in the factory to apologise to all the staff prior to the Barcelona race.”

Lewis Hamilton’s Braking ‘Magic’ in 2021

Max Verstappen suffered a disastrous tyre failure heading up the main straight during the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, forcing the race to be red-flagged. Following the pause, the race was resumed from a standing start, with Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez lining up on the front row for the restart.

Hamilton knew he would need to pass Perez for the lead to put him in the lead for the championship, and with two laps of the race remaining, all eyes were on the Mercedes. However, as the cars were waiting on the grid, a huge amount of smoke began seeping from Hamilton’s car.

When the lights went out, the seven-time world champion had an impressive start and looked to take the lead heading into Turn 1. But disaster struck when Hamilton had mistakenly selected the ‘magic’ brake mode during the restart, forcing him straight onto the escape road at a high speed.

The incident left Hamilton in last place and kept him four points behind Verstappen in the championship standings.

Sergio Perez takes maiden Red Bull win in 2021

Sergio Perez took the lead of the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, when Verstappen suffered a catastrophic tyre failure on the main straight and crashed into the barriers. The Mexican driver took pole position at the safety car restart ahead of the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton suffered a braking issue heading into the first corner, allowing Perez to retain the lead of the race, despite also struggling with grip on his Red Bull. Two laps later Perez crossed the line to claim his first of five victories for Red Bull.

Perez had only joined the team five races before and said: “We love Baku! It feels amazing to get my first win with Red Bull. The Team did a tremendous job and I want to thank Mr Mateschitz for this great opportunity and giving me the seat. I feel very sorry for Max because he deserved the win and a 1-2 for the Team would’ve been very enjoyable.”

Daniel Ricciardo’s triple pass voted best overtake of 2017

Daniel Ricciardo pulled off an impressive triple overtake at the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which was voted by fans as the best of the season. The Red Bull driver started in 10th place after a crash in qualifying and then perfected a safety car restart to take three positions heading up the main straight.

Ricciardo was able to pass both Williams of Lance Stroll and Felipe Massa, as well as Nico Hulkenberg’s Renault in one impressive move heading into turn one.

The move saw the Australian take third place behind Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. The pair had previously crashed, with Vettel being forced to serve a penalty and Hamilton pitting with damage, handing Ricciardo the victory – his only one of 2017.

Sebastian Vettel crashes into Lewis Hamilton during 2017 safety car restart

Tension between Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton was rising at the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with the Ferrari driver leading the championship heading into the weekend. With the Mercedes appearing to be the faster car, Vettel was desperate to hold onto his championship lead, despite Hamilton leading him in the race.

On lap 19 of the race, as a safety car period was ending, the pair saw a dramatic collision. Hamilton took control of the pace for the grid ahead of the restart, with Vettel slow to react, seeing him drive into the back of the Mercedes.

The German initially accused Hamilton of brake testing him, but was handed a 10-second stop-go penalty for weaving down the inside of the Mercedes.

Following the incident, Vettel shared a statement on his website, which said: “During the re-start lap, I got surprised by Lewis and ran into the back of his car. With hindsight, I don’t believe he had any bad intentions.

“In the heat of the action I then overreacted, and therefore I want to apologise to Lewis directly, as well as to all the people who were watching the race. I realize that I was not setting a good example. I had no intention at anytime to put Lewis in danger, but I understand that I caused a dangerous situation.”

Lance Stroll takes maiden podium after 2017 chaos

The crash between Hamilton and Vettel meant that the podium saw a surprise driver take his maiden third-place finish. Lance Stroll had joined Williams at the start of 2017 after Valtteri Bottas had moved to Mercedes, and with three retirements in the first three races, followed by three non-point scoring finishes, the Canadian was under intense pressure.

Stroll had finally taken his first points at the previous race in Canada before displaying his talent in Baku the following week. The youngster had out-qualified his teammate Felipe Massa for the first time and capitalised on the incidents and subsequent penalties to keep himself in podium contention.

A tight photo-finish across the line with Bottas saw Stroll claim his maiden Formula 1 podium, making him the second-youngest podium finisher at 18 years and 239 days old, behind Verstappen, who holds the record at 18 years and 228 days old.

‘I am stupid’ – Charles Leclerc suffers disastrous 2019 qualifying

One of Charles Leclerc’s most meme’d moments happened during qualifying for the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying session. With just under eight minutes remaining in Q2, the Monegasque driver appeared to make a mistake in the ultra-tight Turn 8, sending his Ferrari straight into the barrier.

Leclerc was in fifth place and seemingly through to the next session before his crash, but still managed to start the race from P9 after several other drivers received penalties.

Leclerc was straight onto his team radio to tell Ferrari: “I am stupid, I am stupid”, before later saying post-qualifying session: “I deserved what happened today. Very sad for what happened, but I deserve it. I’ve been stupid as I said on the radio. I’ve calmed down but I still think I’ve been stupid – this doesn’t change. I will push to learn from this and come back stronger and hopefully have a very good race tomorrow.

“Again, I don’t want it to be misunderstood, there was no problem with the tyres, it was just myself. So I’m very disappointed.”