2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prixview

F1 returns to one of its trickiest circuits with a crowded leaderboard.

The 6km Baku City Circuit is a tricky street circuit that winds through the capital of Azerbaijan. Despite only hosting six GPs, Baku has quickly developed a reputation for difficulty and dramatic incidents. 

• Just to name a few…

  • Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel got chippy during a safety car restart in 2017.

  • Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo dueled back and forth in 2018 before crashing into each other.

  • Max led most of the 2021 race before crashing out by himself. Gifted a chance at the win, Lewis committed a freak error during a restart and ended up in the runoff area.

The Track

• Sector 1 is a highly rectangular series of short straights and 90-degree corners. The turns are slow enough to allow for challenges, so expect a lot of action through the opening section of Lap 1 (and any potential safety car restarts).

• The middle sector slows drivers down through tighter, more technical corners, culminating in the famous “castle section”. This section is where most individual mistakes will happen and is considered one of the more dangerous stretches in F1.

• The lap ends in a very long straight with a DRS zone that sees drivers exceed 205 mph. The end of the main straight into Turn 1 is the most common spot for overtakes.

Top of Mind

• With the top three drivers in the standings all close in points, there is still potential for some surprise shuffling, especially at a mistake-magnet track like Baku.

• Straight-heavy tracks would seem to favor all of Mercedes’ strengths, so this will be a great opportunity to see how far they’ve come with upgrades.

• The chatter continues around potential veteran driver exits. Daniel Ricciardo seems to have a lot of options that are more lucrative and fun than losing to Lance Stroll, and Aston Martin is apparently in search of a teammate that can make Stroll look better.

Odds

• Max is favored at +110 with Leclerc following at +175.

• The projected second row is clustered closer to the top than in previous weeks with Checo +550 and Sainz +900. 

• The tight odds at the top most likely reflect the probability of an incident during the race.