Azerbaijan Grand Prix: track and statistics

Negotiations with FOM about the race in the capital of Azerbaijan started in 2013 and a preliminary contract was signed in March 2014. The organization of the Grand Prix in Azerbaijan took place at the state level, highlighting the status of the project and its importance for the country.

Initially, the stage was called the Grand Prix of Europe. In 2012, Baku hosted the Eurovision Song Contest, in 2015 the European Games – in the same year they wanted to hold the Grand Prix of the same name, but postponed – the debut stage took place in 2016.

After the first stage, the organizers changed the name, the race was titled Grand Prix of Azerbaijan and was postponed first to April, then to June, and now it will be held again in April.

Follow features

The street route designed by the Herman Tilke architectural firm has been laid out in the historic centre, along the boulevard and the Governor’s House and partly in the old town centre.

The track in Baku is the fastest of the urban circuits, second only to Spa and Jeddah in terms of the length of the circle on this year’s calendar, and in terms of the number of corners – to Singapore and Abu Dhabi – and also turns counter clockwise. The maximum speed at the end of the straight is approximately 370 km/h.

The configuration includes twenty turns – 12 left and eight right, eight of which are 90 degrees. The width of the track is from 13 in a wide stretch to 7.6 meters in the area of ​​the seventh and eighth turns in the old city.

The track is almost completely below sea level, like most of the city of Baku – only turns 13 and 14 are slightly above sea level.

The cars are set up for low downforce – less so only in Monza, but in Baku there are no high-speed corners where you can warm up the rubber, so it’s important to keep the tires working efficiently to grip the hot tarmac. The track is only used for racing once a year, on weekends the track is covered with a layer of used rubber and the grip improves.

The circle starts on Neftchilar Avenue, the first sector passes through fashionable areas, after the seventh turn the track heads towards the old town, where the track is narrow and slow, and in the third sector the segment of 16 to 20 turns and the next straight line is passed with the accelerator pedal fully depressed.

Baku managed to break the usual stereotype of Formula 1 city rounds of recent years by including the longest straight of the calendar (2.1 km) in the configuration, adding the opportunity to fight for position alongside the traditional difficulties of street racing. On the long straight, the brakes have time to cool, followed by heavy braking, with riders often locking the rubber and flying into the safety zone.

One of the interesting features is that on Neftchilar Avenue, cars drive in opposite directions: from Exit 6 to Exit 7 in one direction and from Exit 19 to Exit 20 in the opposite direction, separated by a special fence.

Herman Tilkearchitect: “This is the fastest of the city courses, it is built in the historic center with a unique atmosphere that fans will feel in the stands and at the TV screens.

The culture and history of Baku has become an important part of this project, while developing the configuration we tried to demonstrate the beauty of the historical sites of this city and its modernity.

The most difficult task was the development of the configuration – with urban routes it is always difficult, because they use the existing architecture. There were problems, but together with the organizers we solved them successfully.”

Sebastian Vettel: “On this six kilometer circuit there is a 2.2km straight, the longest on the calendar, where we accelerate to 360km/h, followed by heavy braking before a slow 1st left turn.

The width of the track in the area of ​​​​the steep slope that runs along the walls of the old city is only seven meters, and the Formula 1 cars are very narrow there – as if you had to thread through the eye of a needle. Two cars don’t fit there, so somehow you have to agree who will pass first!

In Baku it is quite difficult to determine the angle of attack of the wings so that the car holds the track well in slow corners, but at the same time is fast enough on the straights, where we drive at full throttle for a long time. Finding the right compromise is not easy.”

Weekend schedule

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix will be the first stage of this season with a sprint on Saturday and will be run according to a new format. You can follow the progress of all Formula 1 sessions on our live streaming page.

Bands given to teams for the weekend

For the first time in the season, Pirelli will bring the softest compounds on the podium: C3, C4 and C5 with the designations Hard, Medium and Soft.

Performance of current riders in Baku

Fernando Alonso: “Now there are a lot of urban circuits in Formula 1, and I like them because they leave no room for error. There is an interesting configuration in Baku, you can overtake here – I’ve gained a lot of positions on this circuit, so in this respect the stage is very different from Monaco.

Baku has a mix of fast sections, slow corners and a very long straight – these factors should be taken into account when choosing your settings. As usual, qualifying does not decide the outcome of the race in Baku – the safety car could seriously change the forces. I think we’re in for a fun race and an interesting challenge!”