2024 F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix preview: Europe’s ultimate spherical

• Spherical 17 of the 2024 Components 1 season will get underway this weekend in Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea
  
• The race is held on the three.7-mile Baku Metropolis Circuit
• Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Williams’ Franco Colapinto each crashed throughout apply

Spherical 17 of the 2024 Components 1 World Championship takes place this weekend in Baku, residence of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The race is the ultimate European spherical on the calendar, and its distinctive location, the Baku Metropolis Circuit, makes it one of the crucial standard with followers.

The Hermann Tilke-designed road circuit stretches 3.7 miles and options the important thing traits of a 1.3-mile straight and a protracted pit lining the sting of the Caspian Sea, coupled with some tight corners in Baku’s historic metropolis middle. Drivers change gears 64 instances, or greater than at another circuit on the calendar.

The Baku Metropolis Circuit may be described as a mixture of Monaco and Monza, as a result of the part of monitor within the outdated city’s slender maze of streets is much like that of the principality, whereas the lengthy straights and heavy braking zones are usually not not like what’s discovered on the Temple of Pace in Monza’s Royal Park. No monitor on the calendar has extra braking zones of over two g.

Baku Metropolis Circuit, residence of the Components 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Downforce ranges are among the many lowest of the season, however Baku has no high-speed corners to place power via the tires. The problem for groups is to shave off as a lot downforce as attainable, whereas guaranteeing the tires are labored arduous sufficient to stay at optimum temperatures. Pirelli has nominated its three softest compounds, the C3, C4, and C5.

The climate forecast requires wonderful situations for each Saturday’s qualifying session and Sunday’s race. The height temperature will hover round 80 levels F.

A Friday apply session noticed some drama with each Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Williams rookie Franco Colapinto crashing.

Going into the weekend, Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen leads the 2024 Drivers’ Championship with 303 factors. McLaren’s Lando Norris is second with 241 factors and Leclerc is third with 217 factors. Within the Constructors’ Championship, Pink Bull leads with 446 factors. McLaren is second with 438 factors and Ferrari is third with 407 factors. Final 12 months’s winner of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was Sergio Perez, driving for Pink Bull.