#F1 2018 #AzerbaijanGP Preview @F1 @BakuCityCircuit

After Daniel Ricciardo charged to a sensational victory in Shanghai, round four of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the streets of Baku in Azerbaijan this weekend for the Formula 1 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The inaugural Formula 1 race at the circuit was named the European Grand Prix.

 

 

A look at the Baku City Circuit

 

 

The Baku City Circuit is a street circuit constructed near the Baku Boulevard in the capital city of Baku in Azerbaijan. The layout of the circuit was designed by German architect Hermann Tilke and the circuit itself is claimed to be the fastest street circuit on the Formula 1 calendar and the second longest after the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. The circuit will start adjacent to Adazliq Square, then will do a loop around Government House before heading west to the Maiden Tower. Then the track will have a narrow uphill traversal and then circle the Old City before opening onto a 2.2 km (1.4 mi) straight along Neftchilar Avenue back to the start/finish line.

 

“Our brief to Tilke Engineering was simple – create a circuit that is unique, one that will help the Grand Prix in Baku quickly establish itself as one of the most exciting, thrilling venues on the F1 calendar, and one that the fans and teams alike are excited about,” explained Azad Rahimov, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Youth and Sport. “Most importantly, we wanted a track that would showcase the best of Baku, our capital city, and I am delighted that the circuit has achieved exactly that aim.”

 

The Baku City Circuit runs in an anti-clockwise direction and is 6.006km (3.732 miles) in length with 20 corners.

 

The race distance is 306.306km (190.332 miles) in length with 51 laps in total.

 

Sebastian Vettel holds the fastest lap record from last year’s event with a 1:43.441 set in his Scuderia Ferrari SF70H.

 

Daniel Ricciardo (2017) and Nico Rosberg (2016) are the previous winners of the Baku Grand Prix.

 

Tyres

 

Pirelli will be bringing with them to Baku, the purple-branded Ultra-Softs, the red-marked Super-Softs and the yellow-branded Soft compounds along with the green-branded Intermediates and blue-marked Full Wets in case of rain.

 

Ferrari has gone the most aggressive with the softest rubber available for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the purple-marked ultrasofts, along with the Sauber’s and McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne.

 

Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen will both have ten sets of the ultras, while Mercedes, Force India, Haas and the other McLaren of Fernando Alonso have opted for nine sets of the fastest tyre on offer.

 

Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Williams have all chosen eight while Renault have selected seven of the ultras.

 

The selections for Baku features an unusual variety that is also indicated in the amount of sets of supersofts, the middle of the three tyres available for the weekend.

 

Raikkonen only has one set of supers for the weekend, while Vettel and Lewis Hamilton have two and Valtteri Bottas and the Red Bull drivers all have three.

 

The Renault drivers all have four sets of the supersofts along with Williams Martini Racing’s Lance Stroll.

 

DRS Zones

 

There will be two DRS zones on the streets of Baku with the first DRS zone 730 metres on the approach to turn one with the second DRS zone 630 metres on the approach of turn three.

 

Pitlane Speed Limits

 

Pitlane speeds will be 60km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.

 

ICYMI: Chinese Grand Prix Flashback

 

 

Pole sitter Vettel took a comfortable getaway off the line and covered Ferrari team-mate Raikkonen to lead from the get-go in the first stint and built a lead of over three seconds over Bottas.

 

Red Bull were the first of the front runners to spark a chain reaction of pit stops, pitting and double stacking their drivers Verstappen and Ricciardo before Mercedes reacted and pitted Bottas on lap 19.

 

Ferrari followed suit on lap 20 pitting Vettel from the lead, but a solid middle sector from Bottas helped the Finn sweep past the German into the first corner as Vettel exited pit lane.

 

Bottas stabilised that gap over the next 12 laps until Vettel had a small chance to attack when they caught Raikkonen, who remained out on track longer.

 

Raikkonen held fellow Finnish compatriot Bottas behind into the turn 14 hairpin at the end of the lap but could not stop Bottas’ aggressive charge around the outside of the first corner immediately afterwards.

 

Vettel followed suit and put Bottas under intense pressure into turn six but was brushed off as Bottas moved out of DRS range when the Toro Rosso duo collided at the hairpin.

 

Pierre Gasly misjudged his move on team-mate Brendon Hartley with both colliding and spinning both round, sending debris over the track, which required the deployment of the safety car to clear it away.

 

Verstappen and Ricciardo, who were running third and fifth respectively with Hamilton sandwiched in-between after a strong opening run on the ultra-softs with its rivals on softs, took advantage of the safety car and dived straight into the pits to swap mediums for a fresh set of softs.

 

Ricciardo breezed past Raikkonen, who only put on mediums before the safety car and stayed on track, before catching the battling Hamilton and Verstappen.

 

Ricciardo overtook team-mate Verstappen when the Dutchman ran off track trying to pass Hamilton on the outside of sweeping turn seven, then made a sublime divebomb on the Briton into the hairpin.

 

Ricciardo was then only 2.8 seconds off the lead, be he rapidly got within DRS range and flew passed Vettel for second on the back straight.

 

Bottas locked up immediately into the hairpin shortly after Ricciardo moved into second place, and with 12 laps to go they were locked at heads into a battle for the lead.

 

Ricciardo acted quickly into turn four, getting on the inside of Bottas even though the Finn defended hard, and forced a sensational overtake into turn six taking the lead with 10 laps remaining.

 

The Australian held on from there take his sixth career victory and 8.894 seconds clear of Bottas who settled for second place as the Finn just held off Raikkonen who was given a free ride into third after Verstappen collided with Vettel.

 

Verstappen caught Vettel on lap 43 and pulled off a risky lunge into the turn 14 hairpin as Vettel ran deep.

 

But both collided when Vettel turned in and both synchronisingly spinning and delaying Hamilton.

 

They continued, but Verstappen was hit with a 10 second time penalty, and even though the Dutchman recovered on track to finish fourth he was relegated to fifth behind Hamilton in the results classification.

There was no sympathy for Vettel who fell to eighth at the finish line after struggling from his collision with Verstappen and was passed by both Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso.

 

Behind Vettel who was annoyed after Alonso’s aggressive move into turns one and two, the other Renault of Carlos Sainz and Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen completed the top ten and the final two points places respectively.

 

The Force India pairing of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez came home in 11^th and 12^th respectively and ahead of the other Renault-powered McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne who was 13^th.

 

The two Williams of Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin followed in 14^th and 15^th respectively and in-front of Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson who took 16^th and the other Haas of Romain Grosjean who finished 17^th.

 

It was a difficult day for both Honda-powered Toro Rosso’s following their tangle at the turn 14 hairpin with the aforementioned Gasly who was the hero in Bahrain finishing a lowly 18^th and team-mate Brendon Hartley being the only retirement of the race after their collision.

 

The other Sauber of Charles Leclerc finished in 19^th.

 

The Situation

 

 

Sebastian Vettel returns to Azerbaijan sitting on top of the Driver’s Championship with 54 points and has a nine-point advantage over reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton who is second on 45 points and Valtteri Bottas is a further 14 points behind Vettel in third on 40 points.

 

Reigning Champions Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport returns to the streets on Baku on top of the Constructors Championship with 85 points and a one-point lead over nearest rivals Ferrari with Red Bull Racing a further 30 points behind the Silver Arrows in third on 55 points.

 

2018 Formula 1 World Drivers Championship Standings

1. Sebastian Vettel – 54 Points.
2. Lewis Hamilton – 45 Points.
3. Valtteri Bottas – 40 Points.
4. Daniel Ricciardo – 37 Points.
5. Kimi Raikkonen – 30 Points.
6. Fernando Alonso – 22 Points.
7. Nico Hulkenberg – 22 Points.
8. Max Verstappen – 18 Points.
9. Pierre Gasly – 12 Points.
10. Kevin Magnussen – 11 Points.

 

2018 World Constructors Championship Standings

1. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – 85 Points.
2. Scuderia Ferrari – 84 Points.
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing – 55 Points.
4. McLaren-Renault F1 Team – 28 Points.
5. Renault Sport F1 Team – 25 Points.
6. Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda – 12 Points.
7. Haas F1 Team – 11 Points.
8. Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team – 2 Points.
9. Force India F1 Team – 1 Point.
10. Williams Martini Racing – 0 Points.

 

The Formula 1 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend kicks off Friday April 27 with Free Practice 1 and 2, Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday April 28 and the 51 lap Baku Grand Prix concluding the weekend Sunday April 29.