The circuit
The Azerbaijan GP first appeared as the European Grand Prix in 2016. There have only been three races there since its debut, but every race as been as eventful, with a 50% chance of a safety car appearance due to the tricky street circuit layout. The Baku City Circuit combines the tight narrow areas of the old walled castle district and the newer Caspian seaside promenade.
One of three street circuits
The Azerbaijan race is held on one of three street circuits of the year, followed by Monaco in May and Singapore in autumn. Atypical of any street circuit, it is a 6 km-long, fast flowing circuit with a straight over 2 km long and corners taken completely flat out. Baku city hails the drivers during the Grand Prix weekend as the “Street Fighters”, a fitting name as they must battle each other while at the same time avoiding the fearsome walls that surround them.
Kimi Raikkonen:
“I generally don’t like to make predictions especially in Baku as anything can happen there. In principal our performance is strong the car is fast, but we constantly need to improve in order to establish ourselves as best of the rest and score as many points as possible.”
Frédéric Vasseur:
“I normally don’t spend much time in overanalyzing previous races – I look forward and work hard on how we can come back even stronger – but after three races it makes sense to reflect on our performance so far.”
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