In Numbers: 10 Baku Statistics

The Baku City Circuit might be one of the more modern additions to the Formula 1 calendar, but that hasn’t stopped it from claiming some impressive statistics.

With the fourth-longest circuit length of the season and some of the highest top speeds we’ll see all year, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is one not to be missed.

Here are 10 statistics worth knowing ahead of this weekend’s race.

The 20 corners that make up the Baku City Circuit vary in character. The first sector is dominated by 90-degree lefts and rights before the middle sector features tight curves around the Old City walls.

Sector three is all about power, with most corners here only consisting of high-speed curves to bring the drivers back towards the start-finish line.

Baku boasts one of the most instantly recognisable sections of tarmac anywhere on the Formula 1 calendar.

The run from T8 to T12 takes drivers inches from the 12th-century UNESCO-protected Old City walls through a section measuring 7.6 metres across at its narrowest point.

Lance Stroll became the second youngest driver ever to secure a podium finish when he crossed the line third in 2017 with Williams.

Aged 18 years 239 days, he was only 11 days older than Max Verstappen was when he won the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix. However, Lance did become the youngest rookie to finish on the podium.

On that afternoon in 2017, Lance had been running in P2 for the majority of the closing stages, however, Valtteri Bottas in his Mercedes was reeling him in.

The Finnish racer pipped the young Canadian on the line by just 0.105s. But any disappointment was soon forgotten as the reality of a podium finish sunk in.

Baku is situated below sea level, with large parts of the city sitting at -28 metres, making it the capital city with the lowest altitude on the planet.

By comparison, the capital city at the highest altitude is La Paz, Bolivia, found at 3,650m above sea level.

The long main straight on the Baku circuit allows for incredibly high speeds. Our first trip to Azerbaijan in 2016 had Valtteri Bottas record the highest top speed in a race weekend during Qualifying, reaching 378 km/h (234.9mph) down the main straight in the FW38.

When Azerbaijan joined the calendar in 2016, it became the 32nd different nation to have hosted a Formula 1 Grand Prix.

The total number of nations that have hosted F1 World Championship races now stands at 34, with Saudi Arabia and Qatar the two new nations.

The Baku City Circuit has held World Championship races under two different titles. Since 2017 it has been known as the Azerbaijan GP, but racing in Baku launched with a different title.

It arrived on the scene as the European Grand Prix, the sixth different venue to use the moniker in a standalone event. Brands Hatch, Nurburgring, Donington Park, Jerez and Valencia are the other five locations to have hosted a European GP.

Across the seven races in Baku so far, there have been eight full Safety Car deployments, plus a further three Virtual Safety Car deployments.

There has only been one race in Baku that hasn’t seen intervention from either the SC or VSC and remarkably that was the first outing in 2016. How will that bit of information shape your Pit Wall Predictions? Click here to play.

Williams Racing have recorded four points finishes so far at the Baku City Circuit, a tally we’ll aim to bolster this weekend.

Our first two came in 2016 with Valtteri Bottas (P6) and Felipe Massa (P10). Lance Stroll’s 2017 podium followed, and he backed that up with a P8 in 2018.

We weren’t too far away from a return to the Baku top 10 last year, with Alex within five seconds at the chequered flag. What’s in store this weekend? You’ll have to join our live coverage across the weekend to find out…