Dutchs Max Verstappen (Red Bull), championship leader and Mexican teammate Sergio Perez The new winner in Monaco and the winner in Baku a year ago – will try to transfer the field of their team, which dominates both classifications, to Azerbaijan: the venue of the eighth Grand Prix of the Formula 1 World Championship. This weekend of the week in the urban circuit of that country’s capital.

‘Checo’ took its third victory in F1 – first of the year – two Sundays ago on the streets of Monaco, shortly before Red Bull announced its contract extension until 2024. The Mexican won in front of the Spaniards. carlos sainz (Ferrari) Verstappen, a race marked by rain (delaying the start and forcing the course to be cut), in which Monegasque Charles Leclerc competes – repeating the second place in the Principality of the Côte d’Azur a year earlier. started from ‘pole’, finished fourth due to a strategy error by ‘Scuderia’; and fellow Spaniard, double Asturian world champion Fernando Alonso (Alp), finished seventh.

VerstappenThe reigning world champion and four-time winner this season, Leclerc continues to lead the World Cup with 125 points. He lost points again in Monte Carlo: he had started at the top of the grid in two races. ‘Checo’ is third, just fifteen points behind his teammate; and Sainz is fifth with 83 vehicles. only one missing from englishGeorge Russelll (Mercedes) and a seven-time world champion with 33 advantages over his previous teammate and compatriot Lewis Hamilton -‘Mad Max’ dethroned last year- placed sixth in the competition.

The 6,003 meter long Baku street circuit has twenty curves, -12 on the left and eight on the right.-, two DRS zones and the longest straight of the entire championship, 2.2 kilometers. Therefore, after just one weekend, as in Montreal (Canada), which will host the next Grand Prix, it prefers single-seats with higher speeds; Red Bulls on paper; They were far superior to the Ferraris in this regard, on the track that most closely resembles Azerbaijan, Jeddah (Saudi Arabia).

On the third longest track of the World Championship after Spa (Belgium) and Jeddah, teams will need to find the configuration that allows the cars to go fast over the long main straight while maintaining sufficient downforce. to slower curves in the first two of its three sectors.

In Monaco, the third-starter ‘Checo’ was ruined and lost his last try in the third quarter. sainz -second on the grid- and ‘Mad Max’ -third-, Leclerc started from pole position ahead of them. But a strategic mistake—at one of the stops— ferrari It caused the Monegasque driver to lose three places, advancing the others by one; thus prevented by team orders from winning in Spain, the brave rider from Guadalajara signs his third win in first class; Sainz, tenth podium; Y Verstappen He added three points to his advantage over Leclerc before the most iconic race of the season.

Alonso, who had previously shined in qualifying without crashing on the third and final lap, started seventh and finished there, so now he’s trying to forget the misadventures that followed in the first races of the season. Thirteenth place in the World Cup with ten points: one less from Australia Daniel Ricciardo (M.cLaren) -winner in Baku five years ago- and the Japanese yuki tsunoda (Alpha Tauri); Danish is already five Kevin Magnussen (Haas), tenth overall.

At the Producers World Cup, Alp He is in fifth place, well off the 235 points led by Red Bull; He leads Ferrari by 36 and Mercedes by 101: the winner of the same championship in the past eight years, when he celebrated all seven driver titles.

CALENDAR F1 GP AZERBAIJAN 2022

Friday, June 10

  • Free practice 1: 13:00 – 14:00 (CET)

  • Free practice 2: 16:00 – 17:00 (CET)

Saturday, June 11

  • Free practice 3: 13:00 – 14:00 (CET)

  • Classification: 16:00 – 17:00 (CET)

Sunday, June 12

  • Race: 13:00 (CET) (51 laps)

WHERE TO WATCH AZERBAIJAN FORMULA 1 GP

The race can be watched live on DAZN and SPORT. If you have Movistar+, you can also watch Formula 1 on DAZN F1 channel (Translate 58).