10-12th June - Race Report by Aramco

Azerbaijan GPAzerbaijan GP

2022 season

Sebastian finished in sixth position in Azerbaijan, scoring eight points for the team in his best finish of 2022 so far. The tight city circuit proved difficult for both drivers, but it was a mechanical issue that saw Lance retire from the race at the end of lap 47.

2022 season

Azerbaijan Grand Prix circuit figures

Number of pitstops

Longest stint (laps)

257

Total laps in Azerbaijan

1542

Total km in Azerbaijan

Fastest lapM:S.MS

1.48.206

Sebastian

1.48.038

Lance

Max speedKM/H

338.4

Sebastian

337.8

Lance

We have been pushing the limits of this car and it is starting to pay off
Sebastian Vettel

Azerbaijan GP

Sebastian Vettel

"Sixth position is really great – I think we can all be pleased with that result. We have been pushing the limits of this car, and it is starting to pay off for us now. Today, we were faster than Alfa Romeo and matched Alpine and Alpha Tauri, and that changes the game for us a little bit. The team did an amazing pit-stop, which enabled me to jump Lewis [Hamilton].

"After that, I was sure I had got past Esteban [Ocon], but I thought he would battle more for the position, so I took to the escape road and lost some time. Without that incident, I think I could have battled for fifth position. Nevertheless, this is a great result."

Sebastian proved our car has the pace, so hopefully we can come back stronger for my home race
Lance Stroll

Azerbaijan GP

Lance Stroll

"It is a shame that we had to retire the car. The engineers could see the car was suffering from a vibration issue, so they asked me to retire the car. We are still not quite sure what the problem was, so we will have to do some work over the next week to investigate it and fix things.

"Sebastian proved our car has the pace, so hopefully we can come back stronger for my home race in Canada next week, which I am really looking forward to."

We had mixed fortunes this weekend, but our car showed encouraging pace
Mike Krack - Team Principal

Team Principal

Mike Krack

"Sebastian capped a solid weekend with a good drive to sixth place in Baku today, thereby scoring eight valuable points in the constructors' world championship.

"Lance was disadvantaged by a power unit issue in qualifying yesterday and a vibration problem today, which finally caused us to have to retire him a few laps before the end of the race. So we had mixed fortunes this weekend, but our car showed encouraging pace throughout.

"Next up is Canada in just a few days' time – one of our home Grands Prix – where we will work hard to put up a competitive and trouble-free performance for both drivers on the streets of Montreal."

Your guide to Azerbaijan

With Cognizant

Insight and Speed

Overtaking

Despite being a street circuit, Baku offers plenty of overtaking opportunities, with an average of 40 overtakes per race, not including the opening lap. Around 66% of those make use of DRS. It's clearly not all about qualifying in Azerbaijan.

Strategy

Nevertheless, strategy is key in Baku, partly because the track has a lower-than-average pit-loss time of just 21 seconds. Despite higher speeds and hard braking at various points on the track, Pirelli brings its softest C3, C4 and C5 compounds.

Safety Car

Four of the five races so far at Baku have involved either a Safety Car or a Virtual Safety Car; most have seen multiple disruptions. In both 2017 and 2021, the race was halted by a red flag, creating strategic variance. There has been an average of five DNFs each year.

With SentinelOne

Unlocking the Lap

The Baku City Circuit is one of the longest tracks of the season, with some of the most technical corners in Formula One. Both high-speed straights and tight, low-speed corners create a balancing act for car set-up.

Despite being another street circuit, Baku couldn't be more different to Monaco. There are plenty of opportunities to overtake, with Turn One and Turn Three being the most popular spots to gain advantage.

The opening straight from pole to Turn One is just 170m – the second shortest of the year after Monaco, meaning plenty of skill is needed to prevent getting caught out at the start.

From Turn 16 onwards, the next 2.2km is a fast, flat-out section, effectively becoming the longest straight of the calendar. It's here that the claimed fastest speed in F1 history was recorded, at 378km/h (234.9mph).