All info you need to see before the 2024 Azerbaijan GP starts
The 2024 Formula 1 World Championship season continues with the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the 17th round of the current calendar.
Red Bull Seeks Urgent Comeback After Six Races Without Victory
The race in the Baku City Circuit has often been interesting, with many changes due to race neutralization and the street circuit's nature. Red Bull has been the most successful team in Azerbaijan since 2016 with four wins. If there's been a time when Red Bull has been desperate while arriving at Azerbaijan, it's right now.
The Austrian team desperately needs to end the current skid (six-race winless streak) and halt McLaren's momentum in both the World Constructors' and Drivers' Championships.
McLaren has been gaining on Red Bull quickly in the WCC, as the team only trails Red Bull by eight points. However, Lando Norris (two) and Oscar Piastri, have only three wins this season, and the gains haven't been as consistent in the Drivers' standings.
Max Verstappen and Lando Norris
Therefore, it is paramount for McLaren to have Norris performing consistently. The British driver is second in the WDC, 62 points behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen, and must limit the errors we've seen.
Red Bull has won the last three races in Azerbaijan, with Sergio Pérez winning in 2021 and 2023, and Verstappen triumphing in the 2022 edition.
Ferrari should be quick in Azerbaijan as well. Charles Leclerc is coming off a memorable win at Monza and was the pole-sitter at Baku last year in both the Shootout and the Qualifying sessions. Mercedes remains doubtful to compete for wins again this year, with the team struggling to find rhythm in the last two races.
2024 Azerbaijan GP Facts & Figures
The 2024 edition will be the seventh Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Formula 1 history, as the race entered the World Championship in 2017. The first two Azerbaijan GPs were packed with emotions and several crashes, while the 2019 race was straightforward, though the weekend had some drama with Charles Leclerc crashing his Ferrari in Q2 while looking like the favorite for Pole and win.
The 2021 event saw the two title contenders, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, ending the weekend without points, as a tyre failure took a win away from Verstappen, and a mistake after a red-flag restart saw the seven-time champion go off the track and finish the race in 15th place.
Along with the 2016 European Grand Prix, the first race celebrated at Baku, there have been six different winners at the world’s fastest street circuit. Nico Rosberg won in 2016 for Mercedes, while Daniel Ricciardo gave Red Bull its first success at Baku the following year.
Lewis Hamilton grabbed a lucky win for Mercedes in 2018 before Valtteri Bottas won from Pole Position in 2019. Sergio Pérez took the first win of his Red Bull career at Baku in 2021, and his teammate Max Verstappen won the 2022 event from third on the grid. The 2022 race also included a few team orders from Red Bull to Pérez to avoid fighting with Verstappen on track.
Pérez won in 2023 in a Red Bull 1-2, right before Verstappen went on his record-breaking 10-race winning streak and won 17 of the last 18 races of the season.
Red Bull has the most wins in Azerbaijan with four wins for three drivers.
Baku City Circuit Track Info
The Baku City Circuit (6.003 kilometers) is the fourth-longest track in the calendar after Spa-Francorchamps, Jeddah Corniche Circuit, and the Las Vegas Strip Circuit.
The layout provides a big challenge for teams and drivers in terms of setup, as it has 20 corners that include low turns, but also has the longest acceleration zone of the entire calendar, with the final sector and the start of the first generating a 2.2 km ‘straight’.
The start-finish straight provides a huge overtaking opportunity, even without DRS.
In 2017, we saw a stunning fight to the line between Bottas’ Mercedes and Lance Stroll’s Williams. The Finn driver finally overtook the Canadian right at the line to take P2 in the race. We could see some situations like that if we have a close race in the final stages.
There have been six different winners at Baku (Rosberg, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Bottas, Pérez, and Verstappen), and five different pole sitters: Rosberg, Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Bottas, and Leclerc in the last three editions.
The track will host its eighth Formula 1 race, and the seventh Azerbaijan Grand Prix (the 2016 race was the European GP).
The lap record at Baku is held by Charles Leclerc, with a 1:43.009 min in the 2019 race. The outright Fastest Lap was Leclerc’s pole lap from 2023, a 1:40.2 min effort on the Ferrari SF23.
2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Tyres
The dry tyres for the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix will be the C3 as P Zero White hard, C4 as P Zero Yellow Medium, and C5 as P Zero Red soft.
Pirelli explained its choice with a press release: "As usual for a street circuit Pirelli has chosen the three softest dry compounds in the range, namely the C3 as Hard, the C4 as Medium and the C5 as Soft. The track is 6.003 kilometres in length and has remained pretty much unchanged since 2016, featuring 20 corners.
Some of these, such as the first seven, are practically right angle turns, while others through the old part of the city are very slow and some are flat out, as they are part of a section of track that is treated as a two kilometre straight leading across the start-finish line. The track varies a lot in width, going from only seven metres at turn 8 to being wide enough to accommodate three cars abreast down the main straight.
As the circuit is normally open to city traffic, track evolution will be an important factor to consider when evaluating performance, while the weather can also play its part. Usually, it is quite hot in September, with temperatures definitely higher than those experienced when the race was held in April.
Furthermore, track temperature can vary significantly depending on which parts are in sunlight or in the shade from the surrounding buildings, especially in the section that runs through the old city. Last but not least, the wind can upset the car’s handling and, coming from different directions, can catch the drivers unawares, as it is channelled by the surrounding buildings of the town.
The fastest ever top speed by a Formula 1 car in an official event was set in Baku, when Valtteri Bottas was clocked at 378 km/h in his Williams-Mercedes during qualifying for the inaugural event in 2016. The high speeds reached on the main straight will put the tyres to the test, especially with the downforce generated by the current cars.
With another section of track requiring the opposite aero set-up, the teams cannot opt to run too low a downforce level as they would then suffer in the slowest part of the track, where they will rely on tyre-generated grip to get the most out of the car. Fortunately, the current Pirelli range has proved to be up to the task of dealing with these extremes of use.
When it comes to strategy, Baku is a typical one-stop race with the hardest tyre doing most of the work. Although a glance at the circuit layout might lead one to believe that overtaking is relatively straightforward, that is not at all the case.
Given the hierarchy of the teams this year, with the performance differences within the two main groups being minimal, the effectiveness of DRS could play an important role, as will a team’s ability to react to the unexpected on a track where the chances of the race being neutralised are very high. In 2023, almost all drivers started the race on the Medium before switching to the Hard when the Safety Car came out on lap 11."
2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Weather Forecast
This is the first race in Azerbaijan that is placed in the second half of the F1 calendar.
Friday, Sep 13th
Conditions: Sunny and breezy
Max. temperature: 30°C
Chance of rain: 1%
Saturday, Sep 14th
Conditions: Partly sunny and pleasant
Max. temperature: 28°C
Chance of rain: 2%
Sunday, Sep 15th - Race
Conditions: Sunny and pleasant
Max. temperature: 27°C
Chance of rain: 0%
Who will be on the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Podium?
2023 Azerbaijan GP podium: (middle) race winner Sergio Perez (Red Bull), (right) second placed Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and (left) third placed Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
This race could bring some interesting twists due to the nature of the circuit and how it will make drivers pay for any mistake throughout the Formula 1 weekend.
The events in Azerbaijan have often given us surprising results and races with tricky situations, although not from a strategic standpoint. McLaren has proven that its current machine can work in different circuits, while Ferrari proved in Monza that it can fight against anyone under the right circumstances.
Red Bull needs to win.
Not only do Red Bull and Max Verstappen need to win, they must at least stop this negative trend where McLaren is within striking distance in the World Constructors' Championship. Is it likely that Red Bull will regain its form and fight for wins? It is not likely.
However, Baku could bring surprises, and that's when championship-contending teams with experience must take advantage.
The podium prediction for the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix is 1. Lando Norris, 2. Oscar Piastri, 3. Max Verstappen.
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I also predict victory for Lando (unless he again messes up on the opening lap, especially if he starts on pole position), followed by Charles & George.
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