AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX - RACING BELOW SEA LEVEL

After Monaco, the Formula 1 World Championship heads for Baku, making it two street circuits in a row, although the two tracks don’t have much in common.

Monaco is slow and twisty, to the extent that overtaking is almost impossible, whereas the stage for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix features the longest straight on the calendar, at 2.2 kilometres in length and all the races held here have seen around 40 overtaking moves.

The Baku circuit is 6.003 kilometres long, with 12 left hand corners and eight to the right. One unusual fact about the venue is that almost all of it is below sea level, as indeed is much of the city of Baku, with only turns 13 and 14 slightly higher.

The most startling point on the track is the sharp left between the old city buildings at turn 8, where the track is so narrow that only one car at a time can get through.

As regards the aerodynamics on the car, the engineers have to find a configuration that is quick down the main straight while giving drivers enough downforce for the twisty parts in the first two sectors.

Aerodynamic efficiency is therefore particularly important. The track surface also presents a challenge, being low grip and graining is a factor that has affected car performance in all the Grands Prix held here.

There are two DRS zones, one between turns 2 and 3, the other on the start-finish straight.

Carlos Sainz Jr., 55: "The podium finish in Monaco was important, because it was a sort of reward for all the work we have done so far this season. I was pleased to see that we were competitive in Monte Carlo, but here in Baku, I expect the hierarchy will go back to the one we have seen in the other races this year, with very small gaps between the cars in the group right behind the two teams at the front. As for the track, it is quite special and I think all the drivers like it."

Charles Leclerc, 16: "Apart from Monaco, Baku is my favourite street circuit and in fact one of my outright favourites. I love driving between the walls and I have great memories as it was here that I scored my first Formula 1 points and I was very quick too in 2019."

"I feel that the Monaco weekend was a one-off and that here we will return to fighting down to the nearest thousandth to be ahead of our rivals in the mid-field. We need to do a good job, because just the slightest little thing can make the difference."