Baku City Circuit hosts the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which is taking place this weekend on the 24-26th September. Here is everything to know about the circuit.
Baku features the narrowest point on the F1 calendar at the tight uphill section of turns 8 and 9.
The streets of Baku hosted its first Grand Prix back in 2016, known then as the European Grand Prix. It has held a round in the championship every year since barring 2020 when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A lap of Baku is 3.732 miles long meaning there will be 51 laps for viewers to enjoy.
A lap of Baku has a real combination of challenges for the drivers to take on. There are wide areas that allow for overtaking but other sections of the track can be very narrow and twisty. The lap starts on the incredibly long main straight along the Baku shoreline, meaning following drivers can pick up a pretty nice slipstream. Turn 1 is usually a good overtaking zone, sometimes seeing cars go three wide. Out of turn 1, the track then loops around the old town of Icheri Sheher and passes through the medieval walls. This means mistakes are heavily punished in the middle of the lap, especially in turns 8 through to 12. From turn 16 back to the start/finish line, the track is completely flat out for over 2 kilometres.
Some memorable moments the track has given us include:
2016 – Inaugural race around the streets of Baku, won by Nico Rosberg.
2017 – Hamilton got himself into trouble with Sebastian Vettel after a safety car period. Vettel hit the back of Hamilton’s Mercedes when Lewis was slowing down for the restart. Vettel was furious and claimed he was brake tested and then pulled up alongside him and made intentional contact with him. Vettel was issued a stop-and-go penalty.
2018 – Then Red Bull pair Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo had their very famous collision which eliminated them both from the race after Ricciardo rear ended Verstappen’s car going into turn 1.
2019 – Qualifying 2 saw Charles Leclerc throw his Ferrari into the wall at the tricky left-hander of turn 8 which prompted him to deliver the famous radio message among F1 fans “I am stupid… I am stupid.” He has since had four pole position in Azerbaijan but has never gone on to win the Grand Prix.
2021 – Verstappen’s tire failed at high speed while he was leading the race on lap 46 of 51 leading to a massive impact on the main straight. This should have been a gift to then title rival Lewis Hamilton, but he failed to capitalise on it. Verstappen’s collision caused a red flag and on the restart Hamilton was lined up in second. He got off the line well but had a massive lock up into turn 1, having to rejoin at the back of the pack with only two laps to go. It turns out he had mis-clicked the brake bias setting, which caused his brakes to not work.
2024 – Perez and Sainz collided rather bizarrely out of turn 2, leaving both of them in the wall and out of the race on the penultimate lap.
2025 – Last year saw six red flags in qualifying, showing how small the margin for error is. Alex Albon, Nico Hulkenberg and Franco Colapinto brought out red flags in Q1, Oliver Bearman caused on in Q2 and Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri brought out more in Q3. Piastri, who was then leading the championship, went on to stall the start of the race and crash out after just 6 corners.
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