Azerbaijan and its Baku Street Circuit is the venue for the fourth Grand Prix of the 2019 Formula 1 World Championship season and, after a dull race last time out in China, fans hope the Baku streets provide the entertainment value of recent races in Azerbaijan.
One of the more recent additions to the calendar, Azerbaijan has arguably been the race of the season in each of the past two years in F1. In 2017, Sebastian Vettel lost his head and drove into the side of Lewis Hamilton behind the safety car and was penalized. That was before Hamilton’s headrest came loose and the Mercedes driver was forced to pit to replace the safety device.
Ironically, Hamilton and Vettel shared the same part of the track when he returned and the battle resumed. Daniel Ricciardo benefited to win, and Lance Stroll for Williams was narrowly beaten to second by Valtteri Bottas.
Last year’s edition offered similar drama, and the complicated layout is rapidly becoming a favorite of both fans and drivers.
Heading into the weekend, the situation remains similar to that of two weeks ago in China. Ferrari needs to raise its game or Mercedes will continue to ride off into the sunset with a sixth consecutive title. After three races, Mercedes already has a 57-point lead over second-place Ferrari in the constructors' championship.
Hamilton leads the driver standings by six points over teammate Valtteri Bottas and a healthy 29 points over third-place Max Verstappen of Red Bull.
In the opening stages of the season, Ferrari has shown that its key weakness is an inability to change. For years, Ferrari has operated with a strict No. 1 and No. 2 driver pecking order.
The chief beneficiary of this system back in the day was Michael Schumacher, who won five consecutive championships (2000-2004). Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Vettel have all had a turn at benefiting from the policy at different times since. Ferrari has anointed former champion Vettel as its No. 1 driver, stating this publicly on numerous occasions despite the fact that the newcomer to the team, Charles Leclerc, has been the faster driver more often than not so far this season.
Had the team not issued team orders for Leclerc to either hold steady behind Vettel or allow Vettel through, the gap to Mercedes likely would have been smaller at this point.
There will come a time very soon where Ferrari will have to acknowledge that Leclerc could be its best shot at a title and switch preference, even if this means Vettel walks away from the team at the end of the year. With no top drives thought to be available elsewhere for 2020 though, it’s a fairly safe bet that the German driver would have no option but to stay where he is regardless of his position within the team.
Key stats
Circuit name: Baku Street Circuit
Laps: 51
Circuit length: 3.73 miles
Race distance: 190.17 miles
Fastest race lap: 1:43.441 (Sebastian Vettel 2017)
2018 pole time: 1:41.498 (Sebastian Vettel)
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