Will Baku confirm Red Bull as the fourth-fastest team? The six talking points of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix · RaceFans

The first of a double-header of notorious street circuits, Formula 1 heads to Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Held later in the season than any race at Baku before, the race could be the most competitive and unpredictable ever held at the street circuit.

Will Ferrari be able to fight for victory for a second consecutive weekend? Will Red Bull perform any better than they did at Monza?

Here are the talking points for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Are Red Bull F1’s fourth-best team?

The two rounds after the summer break have made one thing abundantly clear: Red Bull are no longer the fastest team in Formula 1.

Although Max Verstappen managed to take a podium at his home grand prix around the high-downforce Zandvoort circuit, the following weekend at Monza set alarm bells ringing for the world champions. Verstappen and team mate Sergio Perez could only qualify seventh and eighth, respectively, while only early trouble for George Russell arguably prevented them from finishing in those same positions.

That means that Red Bull were beaten on performance by Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes – all three of their closest rivals. After the race, Verstappen warned that the team needed turn their form around quickly, otherwise the team were facing an uncomfortable end to the season where they faced the prospect of losing both world championships.

Although Baku has been a good circuit for Red Bull in recent years, the team having won the last three rounds in Azerbaijan, it is an unusually high-speed street circuit which requires lower downforce than teams would typically run to take advantage of the longest full throttle section on the calendar. That could present problems for Red Bull, who struggled with the balance of their car last weekend with low downforce.

Will they be back towards the front again this weekend, or will they end up behind their three rivals once again?

A Ferrari follow-up?

Although Charles Leclerc’s victory in Monza was ultimately achieved through Ferrari’s successful gamble on a one-stop strategy, the team were not far off from the McLarens on pure pace in Italy either.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Baku City Circuit, 2023 — Leclerc secured a double pole here last year

Leclerc and team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr were just a tenth each away from Lando Norris’s pole time on Saturday and Leclerc was never six seconds or more behind long time leader Oscar Piastri at any point in the race. If the pace of the Ferraris had not been so strong, then Piastri would have certainly caught and passed Leclerc before the chequered flag despite having made an extra stop.

While last year was not an especially strong one for Ferrari, Baku was one of their better weekends in 2023. Leclerc shocked many by taking pole for both sprint qualifying and grand prix qualifying itself. Although he could not keep up with the Red Bulls in the races, a double podium was a very strong performance from both Leclerc and his team. Naturally, Leclerc is feeling upbeat about his prospects for this weekend.

“I still think McLaren are the favourites, but we have done a step forward that’s for sure and Baku is a pretty nice track for me,” Leclerc said after Monza. “I quite like this track and I’ve been quite competitive in the past, so who knows maybe we can achieve something special again there.”

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Bearman’s back

While Ferrari’s current drivers look to build on their recent success, one of their potential future drivers will get to enjoy a second cameo appearance at a grand prix this season in Baku.

After stepping in for Sainz for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix back in Jeddah, finishing in an impressive seventh place on his grand prix debut in an unfamiliar car, Bearman has since been confirmed as a full-time Haas driver for 2025, joining the Ferrari-powered team alongside the incoming Esteban Ocon.

Bearman will race for Haas for the first time

But with Kevin Magnussen forced to sit out this weekend as he controversially becomes the first driver ever to be hit with a race ban for accumulating 12 penalty points on his superlicence over the first 16 rounds of the championship, Bearman gets an unexpected opportunity to make his debut for his future team in Azerbaijan.

Like Jeddah, Baku is a high speed street circuit. So, in many ways, this will be a similar kind of test to the one he experienced back in March, only in a car he is more familiar with having it several times in 2024 so far. And with three practice sessions to benefit from this weekend, Bearman has an opportunity to impress his new team long before he joins them next year.

“I’ve had four FP1 sessions with Haas in the VF-24 already this season, so undoubtedly that will also prove to be valuable in tackling the full race weekend in Baku,” Bearman said. “The team is in good form at the moment and I’ll do my best to be prepared with the time we have available. The aim is to get out there and have a solid weekend in Azerbaijan.”

But it might be difficult for Bearman. In the last three seasons, Haas have been unable to escape from Q1 once in six attempts and have not scored a single point either.

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King of Baku?

When Sergio Perez suffered a dismal weekend in Melbourne last year, his race engineer Hugh Bird tried to encourage his driver to look forward to the following round in Azerbaijan, reminding him that he was the “King of Baku”.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull, Baku City Circuit, 2023 — This was the scene of Perez’s last win

Perez certainly has a fair claim to such a lofty title. Across the seven races held in Baku, Perez is the only driver to have won more than once. His five podium finishes are also a record – more impressive given that two of those were achieved as a Force India driver.

Baku is also the scene of Perez’s latest grand prix victory. Ever since a fortunately-timed Safety Car allowed him to pit and emerge ahead of team mate Verstappen, who had been leading the race at the time, and win the race, Perez has gone 34 rounds without a victory – while Verstappen has won 24 grands prix in that same span.

Perez did not have a bad weekend in Monza last time out – Red Bull were just not fast in Italy. While winning on Sunday seems unlikely, this could be an opportunity for him to find some of that speed that he seems to have lost over the last year-and-a-half.

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Bored Maylander

In a rarity for modern Formula 1, the sport is currently on a seven-race streak without a single Safety Car deployment. Not since the Canadian Grand Prix has Safety Car driver Bernd Maylander been asked to intervene in a grand prix after the race has started.

While the races have been no less exciting for the lack of incidents and accidents, Baku is a circuit notorious for producing ‘crazy’ races – even if it has had multiple without any Safety Car interventions at all.

With such little run off and walls waiting to punish any mistake, will this be a tame race or a chaotic one?

DRS dilemma

The last weekend in Monza saw the FIA make an interesting decision to lengthen the DRS zone along the main straight by just over 100m. This was in contrast to a call made at Spa-Francorchamps, where the governing body moved the DRS activation point along the Kemmel Straight further from Raidillon, making it shorter.

The decision appeared to make overtaking easier, with 36 on-track overtakes recorded in the race compared to 24 the year prior.

What will the FIA choose to do for Baku, with it’s exceptionally long main straight? Will they make the DRS zone longer, shorter or leave it the same as last year?

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