Written by Marcus Woodhouse
Summer has flown by, but Formula 1 action is coming thick and fast now to see us through the year. The traditional European leg has drawn to a close, and the paddock now finds itself at the iconic Baku City Circuit for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Who will become the king of the castle and who will walk away defeated?
Last Race Recap
Last time out in Monza, the Tifosi were lining the streets and the atmosphere was electric as the drivers made their way out on track for qualifying. Franco Colapinto, the young Argentine, made his Formula 1 bow but was unable to progress past Q1.
No real shocks ensued as the now established top eight cars all safely progressed ahead of Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg for Williams and Haas respectively. Max Verstappen managed to barely pip his teammate Sergio Perez in Q3 but the two Red Bulls had to settle for the fourth row of the grid.
The challengers came and laid down their gauntlets but none could topple Lando Norris’ lap: a 1:19.327 to take pole ahead of his McLaren counterpart Oscar Piastri. George Russell got himself up to third but Lewis Hamilton couldn’t repeat the trick and was left behind both Ferraris in P6, with Charles Leclerc marginally ahead of his own teammate Carlos Sainz.
The grid was all set then for Sunday’s race and what a start we had. Norris finally got a good getaway off the line and led Piastri after the first corner, while Russell was forced into evasive action down the escape road, pushing him down eventually to P7 with suspected front wing damage.
But yet again, Norris couldn’t hold his race lead in the first lap as Piastri seized his moment and swept past him at the second chicane. The pain wasn’t over for the pole sitter either as Leclerc took full advantage of his misfortune and blasted past just seconds later.
A three-way collision further back saw Daniel Ricciardo given a five second time penalty for hitting Nico Hulkenberg, who in turn was slapped with ten seconds for then going into Yuki Tsunoda, who had to retire from the race. It went from bad to worse for RB later on as well when Ricciardo failed to serve his penalty correctly and accrued ten more seconds.
Perez soon dropped Russell down to eighth and the Mercedes man came in for a front wing change, emerging all the way down in sixteenth. By Lap 14, Piastri had created a gap of around three seconds to his rivals behind and Norris took the opportunity to undercut Leclerc and fit the hard tyres.
Leclerc followed him in straight after but the damage was done and he found himself looking at the gearbox of the McLaren. Piastri pitted three laps after his teammate and remained ahead of him and Leclerc, but the gap had come down significantly. Sainz, Verstappen, and Perez all came in a few laps later and the lead was back with Piastri.
Meanwhile, Norris’ race engineer was on the radio about ‘papaya rules’, clarifying soon after that Norris was allowed to race his teammate but only under these ‘papaya rules’. Kevin Magnussen was the latest to be hit by a ten second penalty for colliding with Pierre Gasly, which would end up earning him two penalty points and a race ban in Baku for accumulating twelve in total.
By the halfway stage, Piastri led from Norris, the two Ferraris, Hamilton, then the two Red Bulls ahead of Russell, while Colapinto was making moves and getting himself up to P15 ahead of Gasly. Norris was trying to hunt down Piastri but ended up locking up and ruining his gap behind to Leclerc, so he pitted on Lap 33 for fresh hard tyres and emerged in sixth after a slow stop.
Russell had similar issues and came out in P12 after his stop, while Piastri considered a one-stop but decided against it and pitted on Lap 39 just ahead of Verstappen and crucially Norris who had closed up to his title rival. Both Ferraris stayed out and considered their options as Russell overtook Perez for eighth and Norris was relieved to breeze past Verstappen for P5 on Lap 41.
The Dutchman’s job of slowing Norris down was complete and he dived into the pits for the medium tyres, but it seemed as if Ferrari were trying a one-stop strategy with both cars. 10 laps remained and Leclerc led his teammate by 11 seconds, who was being swiftly caught by Piastri, while Verstappen on fresh rubber was closing up to Hamilton in fifth at a rate of knots.
Sainz did his best to defend but couldn’t hold off either McLaren as he slipped off the podium on struggling tyres. Piastri was outpacing Leclerc but ultimately not quickly enough and the Monegasque driver was able to hold on for a famous victory for Ferrari in front of the deafening sea of red.
Norris set the fastest lap on his final tour of the circuit, but still failed to take full advantage of Verstappen’s P6 to take a sizeable chunk out of his championship lead. Sainz finished fourth ahead of Hamilton in fifth, while Russell got the better of Perez to recover to P7. Albon converted a strong qualifying to two points, while Magnussen secured Haas a point before his three week rest.
Fernando Alonso was agonisingly close to the top ten but just missed out, ahead of the high-flying Colapinto in twelfth making waves on his F1 debut. Tsunoda was the only retiree of the grand prix, while Alpine, Kick Sauber, and RB all left Monza empty-handed.
Circuit Guide
The Baku City Circuit is famed for both its tricky, technical sections and its long, roaring straights, so the drivers should be prepared for everything in their build-up to this weekend. Crashes are by no means a rarity here and constant concentration is necessitated by the incredibly high speeds confined by narrow walls.
As the lights go out it’s a relatively short blast down to the wide Turn 1, before another 90o corner leads into the first DRS (Drag Reduction System) straight of the lap. Two left-right sequences follow in quick succession where only the bravest drivers dare to send their car down the inside for an overtake.
A short straight and a tight right-hander flow into the extremely tricky castle section, in which the drivers have to squeeze uphill around three jinks in the wall and still attempt to carry a decent speed. One brief right-left later and we’re onto the long, winding run to Turn 15, where the drivers have to be careful not to outbrake themselves and career into the wall on the exit.
The last 90o corner of Turn 16 leads into an immense run down to the start-finish line and beyond, with a helping of DRS when the track becomes straight enough. Slipstreaming can be extremely powerful in this section, and this is where defence is impossible and overtaking rules.
Major Talking Points
How will McLaren rule on team orders debate? - Many a question has been asked in recent weeks of whether McLaren should be implementing team orders to assist Norris in his pursuit of the Drivers Championship, so what will they decide to do this weekend?
Can Red Bull escape the spiral? - After another stellar start to a season their championship leads looked likely unassailable, but McLaren now seem favourites for the Constructors and Verstappen is losing ground in the Drivers, so is there any way for the Austrian team to fix their problems and rescue their season from disaster?
How will Bearman fare in Haas debut? - We’ve already seen an impressive showing from Ollie Bearman in his Formula 1 debut for Ferrari this season, but with the announcement of his upcoming move to Haas next year, how will he do on his early chance to show the team his capabilities following Magnussen’s race ban?
Can Colapinto build on an exciting first race? - Gaining six places and finishing just two positions outside the points on your F1 debut is no mean feat, and the Argentinian social media sensation is looking for more in Baku, so can he prove himself?
Will Ferrari continue to impress in Baku? - A thrilling victory for Leclerc and a solid showing for Sainz in Monza should only give the Prancing Horse some much-needed momentum to take a strong result in Azerbaijan as well, another traditionally strong track for them, so will they put an end to their inconsistency?
Weather Forecast
Summer may be over but the Baku skies are looking sweltering this weekend. Temperatures are forecast to range between 27-29oC (81-84oF) and there’s no real threat of rain disrupting the action.
Weekend Schedule (in BST)
Practice 1 - Friday, 10:30
Practice 2 - Friday, 14:00
Practice 3 - Saturday, 09:30
Qualifying - Saturday, 13:00
Race - Sunday, 12:00
Broadcast Information
Region | Channel |
Africa | SuperSport |
Albania | Euronews Albania |
Armenia | FastSports |
Australia | Fox SportsFoxtelKayo |
Austria | Servus TVORF |
Azerbaijan | AzTVIdman Azerbaijan |
Belgium | RTBF Play Sports |
Bosnia | Sport Klub |
Brazil | TV BandeirantesBandsports |
Bulgaria | Nova Diema Sport |
Cambodia | beIN SPORTS |
Canada | RDS RDS 2 TSN Noovo |
Caribbean | Rush Sports |
China | CCTV Shanghai TV Guangdong Television Channel Tencent |
Chinese Taipei | Videoland ELTA |
Croatia | Sport Klub |
Cyprus | Cytavision |
Czech Republic & Slovakia | Nova |
Denmark | TV3 Viaplay |
Estonia | Viaplay Go3 Estonia |
Eurasia | Setanta Sports |
Finland | Viaplay V Sport 1 |
France | Canal+ |
Germany | Sky Deutschland |
Greece | ANT1 ANT1+ |
Hong Kong | beIN SPORTS Now Sports 1 & 2 |
Hungary | M4 (MTVA Sports Channel) |
Iceland | Viaplay |
India | FanCode/F1 TV |
Indonesia | beIN SPORTS |
In-ship & In-flight | Sport 24 Sport 24 Extra |
Israel | Sport 5 |
Italy | Sky Italia |
Japan | Fuji TV DAZN |
Kosovo | Sport Klub Artmotion Kosovo |
Laos | beIN SPORTS |
Latin America | ESPN |
Latvia | Viaplay GO3 Latvia |
Lithuania | Viaplay GO3 Lithuania |
Luxembourg | RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg |
Macedonia | Sport Klub |
Malaysia & Brunei | beIN SPORTS |
Malta | Go Sports |
Mexico | Fox Sports Mexico |
Montenegro | SportKlub |
Myanmar | Canal+ Sports Canal+ ACTION |
Netherlands | Viaplay |
New Zealand | Sky NZ |
Norway | V sport 1 Viaplay |
Papua New Guinea & Pacific Islands | TVWAN Sports |
Philippines | beIN SPORTS |
Poland | Viaplay |
Portugal | Sport TV |
Romania | Antena |
Serbia | SportKlub |
Singapore | beIN SPORTS |
Slovenia | SportKlub |
South Korea | Coupang Play |
Spain & Andorra | DAZN |
Sweden | Viaplay V sport motor TV10 |
Switzerland | SRF RSI RTS |
Thailand | beIN Sports |
Turkey | beIN Sports |
Ukraine | Setanta Ukraine |
United Kingdom | Sky Sports Channel 4 |
USA | ESPN ESPN Deportes |
Vietnam | K+ |
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