#Formula1 #AzerbaijanGP 2021 Preview. #F1
Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2019 Race Start, Baku Street Circuit, Baku, Azerbaijan. 2021 Azerbaijan GP Preview.
The 2021 Azerbaijan GP Preview is here! After Max Verstappen stormed to victory on the streets of Monte Carlo and claimed the World Driver’s Championship lead, round six of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the streets of Baku in Azerbaijan this weekend for the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2021 after a year absence from the calendar due to the coronavirus pandemic. The inaugural Formula 1 race at the circuit was named the European Grand Prix. This will be the fourth event under the Azerbaijan Grand Prix banner.
2021 Azerbaijan GP Preview – 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 6.003km (3.730 miles) in length with 20 corners.
The race distance is 306.306km (190.332 miles) in length with 51 laps in total.
Charles Leclerc holds the fastest lap record from the 2019 event with a 1:43.009 set in his Scuderia Ferrari SF90.
Valtteri Bottas (2019), Lewis Hamilton (2018), Daniel Ricciardo (2017) and Nico Rosberg (2016 – European GP) are the previous winners of the Baku Grand Prix.
Mercedes are the most successful constructor at the Baku Grand Prix with three victories (2019, 2018 and 2016 [European Grand Prix] to Red Bull Racing’s one (2017).
2021 Azerbaijan GP Preview – Onboard Lap of the Baku Street Circuit
Here is the onboard pole position lap of the Baku Street Circuit from the 2019 event, set by Valtteri Bottas in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport F1 W10. The Finn posted a blistering 1:40.495. You can watch the footage right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik5i5Y8Wqgw
2021 Azerbaijan GP Preview – Tyres
Pirelli will be bringing with them to Baku, the white-branded C3 white side-walled Hard rubber, the yellow-marked C4 Medium tyres and the red side-walled C5 Soft compounds along with the green-branded Intermediates and blue-marked Full Wets in case of rain.
Drivers will have eight sets of the softs, three sets of the mediums and two sets of the hards for the entire 2021 campaign.
2021 Azerbaijan GP Preview – 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.
2021 Azerbaijan GP Preview – Pitlane Speed Limits
Pitlane speeds will be 60km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.
ICYMI: Verstappen storms to Monaco GP victory, claims championship lead
Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen has taken a dominant victory at the Monaco GP, ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz who was second and McLaren’s Lando Norris completing the podium after pole-sitter Charles Leclerc failed to make the grid and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas retired.
Following his late stage Q3 crash, Leclerc reported a gearbox issue on his pre-race tour to the grid – although Ferrari later announced a damaged driveshaft meant the Monegasque-youngster could not take part in his home Grand Prix.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton came home seventh, as the reigning World Champion was frustrated with the team’s strategy after losing two spots during the sole pit-stop sequence.
When the 78 lap Monaco GP began, Verstappen got a great run and immediately covered off Bottas’s run to the inside line for St. Devote from his P2 grid slot, keeping the Mercedes behind, which made a touch better launch off the line in third.
Verstappen’s aggressive defending easily kept him in-front, with Bottas briefly locking his front-left as the pack of 19 cars headed towards turn one.
The two leaders pulled clear from Sainz in third, the Ferrari at first was unable to match their pace in the high 1:16’s/low 1:17 bracket.
The opening stage of the 78 lap Grand Prix saw the leading drivers managing their pace as they pushed to make a pit-stop gap to the runners behind who were on the more durable medium and harder compounds.
Verstappen controlled the race from out-front – the Dutchman’s lap-times were getting quicker – with Bottas running narrowly out of DRS range in second place, as Sainz closed in again on the two frontrunners until his gap to Bottas nearly reached the two second margin, where it remained.
The leader’s gap increased to almost three seconds by the first quarter distance, after Mercedes asked Bottas to show his quick pace, as the Finn dropped further back towards Sainz.
The Finn could not match Verstappen’s pace in the low 1:16’s range and the gap between the pairing grew to nearly five seconds once they had completed 25 tours of the Circuit De Monaco.
After Hamilton had begun the sole pit-stop sequence by stopping for C3 white side-walled harder tyres at the end of the 29th lap, in a rash attempt to undercut Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly’s fifth place, Bottas pitted a lap later.
But a catastrophic pit-stop came for the Mercedes driver when the front-right soft tyre remained stuck on Bottas’s F1 W12 racer because the wheel nut shaped onto the axle and could not be taken off, which meant the Finn was forced to retire.
Sainz stopped two tours later, comfortably in second place, whilst Red Bull waited until lap 34 to bring Verstappen in, who came out with a 6.5 second advantage over the Spaniard once all the stops had been done.
In the proceedings after the pit-stops, Sainz managed to eat into Verstappen’s lead as the Ferrari driver lapped into the low 1:15’s, before the Dutchman lifted his pace and the gap between the duo neutralised.
They regularly ran in the mid 1:14’s bracket during the middle stage of the Grand Prix, trading quicker efforts over several laps, but the difference between the two remained stable.
Closing into the final 15 tours, Verstappen was able to move away slightly as the Dutchman maintained control over the gap to second placed Sainz again, eventually coming home to take the Monaco GP victory by 8.968 seconds as Sainz dropped away as the laps went on.
This win gives Verstappen the World Driver’s Championship lead for the first time in his career.
Bottas’s retirement meant Norris moved up into third place as McLaren managed the pit-stop phase well, with the Briton having somewhat a lonely race for most of the race to settle for the final podium place behind the dominant frontrunners.
Norris struggled with tyre life as the Grand Prix drew towards the end, with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez closing in fast, but the Mexican was unable to find a way by the McLaren ahead of the finish.
Perez who started in eighth with Leclerc absent, was the big winner during the pit-stop phase, where Hamilton ended up furious at the Mercedes strategy.
Being the first driver to pit did not come to fruition for the Briton, as Gasly was able to remain in-front when he stopped a lap later than Hamilton, who then lost a position to Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel as well when the four-time World Champion jumped up two places by staying out longer and overcut the AlphaTauri and the Mercedes.
But Red Bull opted to leave Perez out longer, as the Mexican eventually came in on the 35th tour having ran in the mid 1:14’s as he enjoyed solid pace in clearer air.
Perez found his way running in P1 temporarily just before stopping and gave his team-mate back the first place slot Verstappen would not relinquish again, as Perez emerged well clear from the trio of Vettel, Gasly and Hamilton.
After at first not able to reel in on Norris’s gap in third, he rapidly ate into the gap approaching the final 15 tours, but his hunt ended up stalled to Norris as the gap remained at just over a second, with the margin at the end of the Grand Prix at one second.
Vettel finished a solid fifth place, with Hamilton behind Gasly by 14.3 seconds at the finish after stopping for a set of softs to mount a bid for the fastest lap bonus point.
The reigning World Champion managed to do so, posting the fastest lap record of a 1:12.909.
The second-Aston Martin of Lance Stroll gained from starting in 12th place by running the harder rubber from the beginning and then staying out until lap 58, where the Canadian maintained eighth place that he reached after swapping to the softs.
Stroll was investigated by the stewards for potentially crossing the pit-lane exit line as he emerged after his stop, but no action was taken and came home in eighth.
Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon withstood late pressure from Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi, as the duo completed the top ten – the former was struggling with tyre life after being given the yellow-marked C4 mediums at his stop compared to the hards on his rival’s A521 racer.
The other Alfa and McLaren of Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo were not too far behind at the flag – the latter wound up a lap down on his McLaren team-mate – with the second Alpine of Fernando Alonso 13th and further back.
With Bottas the only casualty and Leclerc not starting the Grand Prix, the rest of the finishing drivers were Williams Racing pairing George Russell and Nicholas Latifi, Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda – who was the last to pit on the 65th tour and ended up with the second quickest time of the race and 1.128 seconds adrift of Hamilton’s best effort – and the Haas F1 Team duo Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher brought up the rear.
The Situation
Max Verstappen heads to Azerbaijan sitting on top of the World Driver’s Championship Standings with 105 points and a four-point-advantage over Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton who Is second on 101 points while Lando Norris is third and a further 49 points behind the Dutchman and on 56 points.
Red Bull Racing comes to Baku sitting on top of the Constructors Championship with 149 points and a one point-lead over nearest rivals Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team who are second on 148 points while McLaren Racing are a further 69-points behind the Milton Keynes-based outfit in third on 80 points.
Click here for the World Driver’s (Top Ten) and World Constructor’s Championship Standings
The Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2021 weekend begins Friday June 4 with Free Practice One and Two, followed by Free Practice Three and Qualifying Saturday June along with the 51 lap Race Sunday June 6.
1 thought on “#Formula1 #AzerbaijanGP 2021 Preview. #F1”
Comments are closed.