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Baku City Circuit History, Stats and Facts

There have been five Grands Prix held at the Baku City Circuit since it first appeared on the Formula 1 calendar in 2016. Here we take a look at the Baku City Circuit history, stats and facts.

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Last updated: 05.06.2022
Baku City Circuit History Stats and Facts

 Track length: 6.003km

Race length: 306.049km

Laps: 51

Turns: 20

Circuit opened: 2016

F1 first visited: 2016

Races held: 5

Track Record: 1:40.495, Valtteri Bottas, 2019

Lap Record: 1:43.009, Charles Leclerc, 2019


RACE WINNERS

There have been five Grands Prix held at the Baku City Circuit since it first appeared on the Formula 1 calendar in 2016. From those five races, there have been five different race 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 and Sergio Perez won the most recent race here in 2021.

While no driver has had more than one win, Mercedes are the team with the most wins, having taken three victories. Red Bull are the only other team to have won here, with two victories. Mercedes engines have also powered the most wins, with Red Bull’s triumphs with Renault power (in 2017) and Honda power (in 2021) being the only non-Mercedes win. In terms of nations, Germany, Australia, Britain, Finland and Mexico each have a solitary victory in Azerbaijan.

Mercedes became the first team to record a 1-2 finish at the Baku City Circuit in the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. They also became the first team to record victories at the circuit in successive years.

Nico Rosberg is the only former winner of a race at Baku City Circuit not presently on the Formula 1 grid.

The largest win margin at this track came in its inaugural race, when Nico Rosberg won by 16.696 seconds. Meanwhile, the smallest victory margin was in the 2021 event, which Sergio Perez won by just 1.385 seconds.

Four of the five Grands Prix at this track have been won by less than five seconds.

From the three races here, the average win margin is 5.194 seconds.

ON THE PODIUM

Nine different drivers have finished on the podium at the Baku City Circuit. Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Rosberg are the only previous podium finishers at the circuit who are not present on the 2022 grid.

Sergio Perez and Sebastian Vettel share the record for most podiums at Baku City Circuit, each with three top three finishes. Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas each have two podium finishes to their name here. Nico Rosberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen, Lance Stroll and Pierre Gasly are the other drivers to have finished on the podium at the track. 

Mercedes drivers have had the most podium finishes here, with five. In 2019, Mercedes became the first team to finish a race at the track with both of their cars in podium positions.

German drivers have the record for the nation with the most podium finishes at the Baku City Circuit, with four.

The polesitter has only gone on to finish on the podium here twice (Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, who each won in 2016 and 2019 respectively), while the lowest starting podium finisher here is Sebastian Vettel – who finished second having started eleventh 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. Meanwhile, the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was the first 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. 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.

Mercedes and Ferrari are the only teams to have taken pole position in Azerbaijan. Mercedes lead the way for most poles, with three.

German drivers lead the way for the most poles here, with two.

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.

The smallest gap the grid was separated by here is 3.874 seconds in 2016, while the largest is 15.856 seconds in 2019. That number is so large because Brendon Hartley didn’t set a competitive time.

The largest pole margin at this track is 0.757 seconds, when Nico Rosberg dominated the qualifying session in 2016. Meanwhile, 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 five races here, the average pole margin at the Baku City Circuit is 0.387 seconds.

SATURDAY TO SUNDAY

The Grand Prix here has only been won from pole twice, in its inaugural year in 2016 and in 2019. It has been won from the front row of the grid three times. Two wins have been recorded away from the front row of the grid: by Daniel Ricciardo, from 10th in 2017, and by Sergio Perez, from 6th in 2021.

SUNDAY STATS

There have been 255 racing laps held so far at the Baku City Circuit.

Until 2019, every race here had seen more than ten drivers finish on the lead lap. The least number of competitors to finish on the same lap as the winner is nine, from 2019, while the most is sixteen, which happened in 2021.

The Safety Car has appeared in three of the five races at this track. The most 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, while the 2019 race saw a single Virtual Safety Car stint.

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 event, 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.

Five different drivers have taken the fastest lap of the race here – Nico Rosberg in 2016, Sebastian Vettel in 2017, Valtteri Bottas in 2018, Charles Leclerc in 2019 and Max Verstappen in 2021.

The highest number of drivers to reach the end of a race here is eighteen, which happened in 2016, while the least is thirteen, which happened in both 2017 and 2018.

Of the 102 cars which have started a race here, 76 have seen the chequered flag. That gives an overall finish rate of 74.5%.

On average, fifteen drivers reach the chequered flag at this track.

There have been two red-flagged races at Baku City Circuit. 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 twice in the five races held so far at the circuit.

2016 and 2017 are the only seasons where the pole sitter at this track has gone on to claim the title in the same year.

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