Azerbaijan is back for the first time since 2019
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After a year away from Baku, Formula 1 returns to Azerbaijan for a race that could be as controversial as it is chaotic.
Following Red Bull and Max Verstappen’s victory in Monaco, Mercedes is under pressure to fight back and win while the debate around flexi-wings looks set to be a contentious point for the entirety of the weekend. Will Red Bull run an alternative rear wing? Will Mercedes face a potential protest over its front wings?
Here are all the details you need to know ahead of the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix to keep up to date from Friday to Sunday.
The 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix will take place over 51 laps on Sunday, June 6 around the Baku City Circuit, one of the fastest street circuits on the F1 calendar.
The entire weekend will be available to watch on Sky Sports F1 with each live session shown on the dedicated Formula 1 channel. Highlights of qualifying and the race will be shown on Channel 4 a few hours after each session on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
Sky Sports Main Event will be showing FP1, FP3, qualifying and the race as well as being available on Sky Sports F1 as usual.
Sky Sports: Coverage of FP1 starts at 9am on Friday with FP2 following at 12:45pm.
Sky Sports: FP3 begins at 9:30am
Sky Sports: Coverage of qualifying starts an hour before the event at 12pm
Channel 4: Qualifying highlights start at 5.30pm.
Sky Sports: Sunday’s race build-up begins at 11:30am on Sunday, with lights out following at 1pm.
Channel 4: As with qualifying, the race highlights package starts at 5.30pm.
NowTV is the easiest method to stream each of the Azerbaijan GP sessions from Friday through to Sunday. A weekend pass can be bought as a one-off purchase to catch all of the live coverage including pre and post-race broadcasts.
Red Bull says Mercedes is the fastest around the normal tracks, the world champions say they are up against it versus the Bulls, so who is telling the truth?
In all likelihood, the two teams are going to be seperated by the finest of margins. Lewis Hamilton lost the title lead with a seventh place finish in Monaco but Max Verstappen continued his run of consistency and has yet to finish outside of the top two positions all season.
Formula 1 heads back to Baku for the first time since 2019. Will we see another thriller on the streets amidst a titanic title battle between Mercedes and Red Bull?
The longer straights could play into Mercedes’ hands in the race with the Brixworth power unit seeming to have a performance advantage over the Honda unit Red Bull uses in race trim.
Bahrain and Portugal showed that in a straight line on a Sunday at least, the Merc engine is the powerhouse but over a single lap, the Honda might deliver the power more effectively.
Pole position might not be race-defining though. Over the last four visits to the Azerbaijani capital, pole has been converted just 50% of the time. Daniel Ricciardo’s 2017 win from 10th and Lewis Hamilton’s fortuitous victory in 2018 are the two from behind the top grid position.
Baku hasn’t been one of Hamilton’s happiest hunting grounds either. In 2016, he crashed out of qualifying as he clipped the inside wall at the top of the castle section. A loose headrest in 2017 deprived him of a win too while the 2019 visit was dominated by team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who’d been unfortunate to not claim victory ahead of Hamilton the year prior, suffering a puncture just a handful of laps from home.
In the Red Bull camp, Verstappen hasn’t once finished on the podium in Baku so far in his F1 career, but the same was true of Monaco a fortnight ago…
Free Practice 1: 09:30 – 10:30
Free Practice 2: 13:00 – 14:00
Free Practice 3: 10:00 – 11:00
Qualifying: 13:00 – 14:00
Race: 13:00 – 15:00
