Circuit info
Baku City Circuit
Interesting facts
At one point, Turn 8, the Baku City Circuit narrows to just 7.6 metres between the medieval walls of the UNESCO-listed Old City (İçərişəhər), the tightest squeeze on the Formula 1 calendar; by contrast, cars top 350 km/h down the long seafront straight. Designed by Hermann Tilke, the circuit opened in 2016 with the explicit goal of being the fastest street circuit in the world. At its 2016 debut, bolts securing the kerbs cut roughly 90% of the rear tyres used in practice, and Valtteri Bottas missed FP3 after a loose drain cover damaged his car; a similar drain-cover incident hit George Russell in 2019. Bottas's unofficial 378 km/h top speed in 2016 qualifying broke Juan Pablo Montoya's 2005 record of 372 km/h, and still stands as the fastest speed ever recorded in Formula 1. In 2021, while leading on lap 46, Max Verstappen suffered a left-rear tyre failure on the main straight and crashed into the barriers barely 50 metres from the finish line; Lance Stroll had suffered an almost identical failure on lap 30 earlier in the same race, prompting a Pirelli investigation. The race debuted in 2016 as the European Grand Prix before becoming the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from 2017 onward. You'll find it in Baku, Azerbaijan. On the calendar since 2016, this circuit has hosted 9 races, the latest in 2025. Nico Rosberg took the inaugural win here in 2016. Max Verstappen won here most recently, in 2025. The most successful driver at this circuit is Sergio Pérez, with 2 wins. Red Bull is the dominant constructor at this circuit, with 5 wins. Charles Leclerc set the fastest lap here, 1:43.009 (Ferrari, 2019).