Baku City Circuit

Baku City Circuit combines two things no other venue does: one of the longest full-throttle runs in Formula 1 and one of its narrowest sections. The result is a lap of extremes and a race that almost never runs to plan.

The start-finish straight measures over 2.2 km, and cars reach the highest top speeds of the season on it — regularly above 350 km/h with DRS. That makes the run to turn one the best overtaking opportunity on the calendar and creates enormous slipstream effects that keep the field bunched. Teams have to choose between the downforce that helps them through the twisting middle sector and the low drag that protects them on the straight, and there is no comfortable compromise.

The middle sector runs through the old city, past the UNESCO-listed walls of the Icherisheher. At turn eight the circuit narrows to around 7.6 metres — the tightest point in Formula 1, where the walls leave barely enough room for a single car to correct a mistake.