The action starts in Azerbaijan and on the following Sunday, 19 May, the sport makes a welcome return to Canada, having last raced in Montreal in 2019.
As always, the Azerbaijan race takes place at the Baku City Circuit, running through the streets of the capital, including its historic centre and its infamous turn 8, only wide enough for one car to pass through at a time. Towards, the end of the lap is the very fast section where cars travel flat-out for 2.2 kilometres leading to the finish line.
The circuit is 6.003 kilometres in length, with 12 corners to the left and eight to the right and it is almost in its entirety, below sea level, as is indeed much of Baku itself, with the exception of turns 13 and 14.
- What type of track is the Baku City Circuit?
"Baku is a street circuit but unlike any other. It is definitely atypical because in addition to the expected 90 degree corners, it also has a very low speed section, as well as particularly long straights."
"In fact this track has one of the longest straights of the season. It is demanding for the drivers, but Carlos, and Charles in particular, both like racing here."
- Why is this track considered particularly demanding for the power unit?
"Because the nature of the circuit means the power unit has to be versatile. The driver wants it to be nicely driveable in the tight and slow sections without however wasting energy, as it’s essential to be able to deploy it down the long straights."
"Outright power is also essential, especially when it comes to acceleration out of the many low speed corners, when going for a quick lap in qualifying as well as during the race."
- The track is mainly below sea level and it is usually very windy. How do these two factors affect performance?
"The ambient conditions have a significant effect on optimising the car-power unit package. The changes in intensity and direction of the wind in particular can produce different operating conditions in terms of speed through the corners, which therefore impact torque and gear ratio settings and time spent on the straight."
"It’s clear that a tailwind or headwind down the last straight can have an effect of several tenths of a second."
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