Baku City Circuit joined the Formula 1 calendar in 2016 and is notorious for producing action-packed races. Here are all the facts and statistics you need to know about the Baku City Circuit ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix!
Track length: 6.003km
Race length: 306.049km
Laps: 51
Turns: 20
Circuit opened: 2016
F1 first visited: 2016
Races held: 7
Track Record: 1:40.495, Valtteri Bottas, 2019
Lap Record: 1:43.009, Charles Leclerc, 2019
RACE WINNERS
Since its inaugural race in 2016, there have been seven Formula 1 races held at Baku City Circuit. The track has hosted the Azerbaijan Grand Prix six times. On the track’s first appearance in 2016, the race was given the title of the European Grand Prix.
Sergio Perez is the only repeat Azerbaijan Grand Prix winner
From the first six races held at Baku City Circuit, there were no repeat winners. Nico Rosberg won the first event here, Daniel Ricciardo took an unexpected victory in 2017, Lewis Hamilton won in 2018, Valtteri Bottas was victorious in 2019, Sergio Perez won took the win in 2021 and Max Verstappen won in 2022.
Perez finally became the track’s first double winner when he took victory in the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
In terms of nations Mexico has the most wins in Azerbaijan. Germany, Australia, Britain, Finland and the Netherlands each have a solitary victory at Baku City Circuit.
Nico Rosberg (the first winner at the track) are the only former winners of a race at Baku City Circuit not presently on the Formula 1 grid.
Nico Rosberg is the only driver to record a Grand Slam in Azerbaijan, having done so at the 2016 European Grand Prix.
Red Bull have the most wins at the track
Red Bull became the team with the most wins in Azerbaijan in 2023, with Sergio Perez taking their fourth victory. The team was previously tied with Mercedes, whov have three wins and are the only other team to have taken victory at Baku City Circuit.
Mercedes engines have powered the most wins, with three victories for the German brand. Each of Red Bull’s wins here have come with a differently-badged engine: Tag Heuer in 2017, Honda in 2021, Red Bull Powertrains in 2022 and Honda RBPT in 2023.
Three 1-2 finishes have been recorded at Baku City Circuit
Mercedes became the first team to record a 1-2 finish at the Baku City Circuit in the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – a year in which they also became the first team to record victories at the circuit in successive years. Red Bull became the second team to record a 1-2 finish at the venue in 2022, also winning for a second consecutive year.
Red Bull became the first team to record multiple 1-2 results in Azerbaijan in 2023.
Max Verstappen holds the largest win margin in Baku
Max Verstappen set a new record for the largest win margin at Baku City Circuit in 2022, finishing 20.823 seconds ahead of his team-mate.
The smallest Azerbaijan Grand Prix victory margin was in the 2021 event, which Sergio Perez won by just 1.385 seconds.
Five of the seven Grands Prix at Baku City Circuit have been won by less than five seconds.
From the seven races here, the average win margin is 6.990 seconds.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX
ON THE PODIUM
12 different drivers have finished on the podium at the Baku City Circuit. All but three of the previous podium finishers are on the 2024 grid – Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen are the exceptions.
Sergio Perez has recorded the most Azerbaijan Grand Prix podiums
Sergio Perez set a new record for most podiums at Baku City Circuit in 2022, recording his fourth top three finish. He went on to record a fifth in 2023.
Sebastian Vettel is second on the list, with three podiums, while Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen are the other drivers with multiple podiums at the circuit.
Nico Rosberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen, Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly, George Russell and Charles Leclerc are the other drivers to have finished on the podium at the track.
Mexico holds the record as the nation with the most podium finishes at Baku City Circuit, with five – one ahead of Germany.
Mercedes and Red Bull have recorded the most podiums in Baku
Mercedes and Red Bull are tied as the teams with the most podium finishes at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with six apiece. In 2019, Mercedes became the first team to finish a race at the track with both of their cars in podium positions. Red Bull followed suit in both 2022 and 2023.
The polesitter has recorded only three podium finishes
The polesitter has only gone on to finish on the podium here only three times (Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, who each won in 2016 and 2019 respectively and Charles Leclerc who finished third in 2023).
The lowest starting podium finisher here is Sebastian Vettel – who finished second having started 11th on the grid in 2021.
The 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was the first in which all three podium finishers came from the top three grid slots. It was also the first time the top three have finished in the order in which they started at the Baku City Circuit. All three of the top three starters finished on the podium again in 2023, but in the reverse of order of how they started.
The 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was the first – and so far only – race at the circuit in which none of the top three starters finished on the podium.
POLESITTERS
There have been five different polesitters at the Baku City Circuit – but only one driver has taken multiple poles at the circuit.
Leclerc became the first repeat polesitter at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in 2022
Charles Leclerc has taken pole position at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in each of the last three seasons. He is the only driver to take multiple poles at the event.
Nico Rosberg took pole in 2016, Lewis Hamilton in 2017, Sebastian Vettel was Saturday’s fastest driver in 2018, Valtteri Bottas was on pole in 2019 and Charles Leclerc became the fifth different polesitter in as many races at the venue in 2021.
Monegasque drivers lead the way for the most poles here, with three – one ahead of Germany.
Ferrari have the most poles in Baku
Ferrari took their fourth pole position at Baku City Circuit in 2023, moving ahead of Mercedes in the list of most pole positions at the track.
There have been only two occasions on which a team has locked-out the front row at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Mercedes did so in 2017 and 2019.
The difference between the fastest pole lap and the slowest pole lap at this track is 2.263 seconds. The slowest pole lap at the track was in 2016, the fastest being in 2019.
Nico Rosberg holds the largest pole margin at Baku City Circuit
The largest pole margin at this track is 0.757 seconds, when Nico Rosberg dominated the qualifying session in 2016.
The smallest pole margin in Baku is 0.179 seconds, which is the gap that Sebastian Vettel took pole by in 2018.
Pole position has never been decided by less than a tenth of a second at this track.
From the seven races here, the average pole margin at the Baku City Circuit is 0.343 seconds.
SATURDAY TO SUNDAY
The Grand Prix here has only been won from pole twice, in its inaugural year in 2016 and in 2019.
The 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was the first race at Baku City Circuit in which the polesitter did not lead at the end of the first lap.
Races at Baku City Circuit have been won from the front row of the grid three times.
Four wins have been taken by drivers starting away from the front row of the grid: by Daniel Ricciardo from 10th in 2017, by Sergio Perez from 6th in 2021 & from 3rd in 2023, and by Max Verstappen from 3rd in 2022.
SUNDAY STATISTICS
There have been 357 racing laps held so far at the Baku City Circuit.
Every Azerbaijan Grand Prix except one has seen at least ten drivers finish on the lead lap. The exception is 2019, when only nine drivers finished on the lead lap.
There has never been a rain-affected race in Azerbaijan.
The longest and shortest races here are separated by a difference of just over 42 minutes. The shortest race was the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which Lewis Hamilton won in a time of 1:31:52.942, while the longest race was the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which Sergio Perez won after 2:13:36.410 of racing.
Max Verstappen has led the most laps at Baku City Circuit
Max Verstappen has led the most laps in Azerbaijan, having spent 72 laps in the lead at Baku City Circuit. He overtook Nico Rosberg’s record at the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – a record which Rosberg held for six years, despite racing here only once.
Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc are the only drivers to have led laps at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix without ever winning the event. Vettel led 37 laps here without winning, while Leclerc has led 23 laps so far.
Of the seven races held here so far, there have been four in which the winner was the driver who led the most laps of the race.
The fewest number of laps led en route to victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is three, which is how many laps Lewis Hamilton led in 2018.
The 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix is the race at the circuit which has featured the highest number of drivers leading at least one lap. That year, five different drivers led a lap of the race.
Safety Car outings are common at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
The Safety Car has appeared in four of the seven races at this track. The highest number of Safety Car periods in a single race here is four, which happened in 2017. The 2018 and 2021 races each had two Safety Car periods.
The 2016, 2019 and 2022 races are the only ones to not feature full Safety Car periods – but the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix featured a Virtual Safety Car period and there were two VSC periods in the 2022 race.
No driver has taken more than one fastest lap at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix
Seven different drivers have taken the fastest lap of the race in the seven races at Baku City Circuit: Nico Rosberg in 2016, Sebastian Vettel in 2017, Valtteri Bottas in 2018, Charles Leclerc in 2019, Max Verstappen in 2021, Sergio Perez in 2022 and George Russell in 2023.
The overall finish rate at Baku City Circuit is just under 75%
The highest number of drivers to reach the end of a race here is 18, which happened in 2016, while the least is 13, which happened in 2017, 2018 and 2023.
Of the 142 cars which have started a race here, 109 have seen the chequered flag. That gives an overall finish rate of 77%.
On average, 15 drivers reach the chequered flag at this track.
Two Baku races have been red-flagged
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix has been red-flagged twice. The 2017 event was halted due to debris on the track, while a crash for Max Verstappen brought out the red flags in 2021.
CHAMPIONSHIP GLORY
There has never been a champion crowned at this track. The winner of this race has gone on to win the title in the same season three times in the seven races held so far at the circuit.
2016 and 2017 are the only seasons where the polesitter at Baku City Circuit has gone on to claim the title in the same year.
Ferrari and Red Bull are the only teams who’ve failed to win the title having led the Constructors’ Championship after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Ferrari held a four point lead over Mercedes after the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, while Red Bull held a 29 point lead over Mercedes after the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
