11/09/2024
NEWS STORY
Daniel Ricciardo: "I'm looking forward to Baku, it's a proper track and like any street circuit, you need to find the limits quickly.
"I know the team in Faenza have been pushing hard and I'm eager to try the new floor this weekend. It'll be a good challenge but I'm confident we can come away with some points. Well done Baku."
Yuki Tsunoda: "I like the Baku street track and its unusual mix of a very long high speed section all the way from the final right hander down to Turn 1 and the really tight part through the old city. In the past, it has suited our car and I've finished in the points twice. The walls are close so you have to be very precise, although they have moved some of them back for this year and added openings to remove cars that stop on track, so maybe that reduces the chances of a Safety Car, which is usually quite common here. It's a track that keeps you busy, with a very high number of gear changes, just like Singapore which is coming up next."
Jody Egginton (Technical Director): "The Azerbaijan GP takes place on a street circuit in the capital city of Baku. On the F1 calendar since 2016 it usually delivers exciting racing. The six-kilometre-long circuit provides a good mix of challenges for the engineers and drivers with a long straight requiring good aerodynamic efficiency, as cars can exceed 345 km/h, while the 20 corners, which are predominantly slower speed, make strong demands on braking and traction performance.
"The circuit passes through the downtown streets including a section in the Old Quarter of the town and in this narrow section of track the proximity of the medieval walls adds a further risk factor for the drivers. This feature together with the more normal barrier-lined sections of the circuit combine to make Baku one of the most technically demanding on the F1 calendar and it can also provide a bit more unpredictability! Our test programme for this race will be very busy because, in addition to the normal set up and tyre work which we conduct at every event, we also have a number of important tests planned to learn more and optimise the cars around the new floor package which we first evaluated in Monza.
"In terms of the battle in the midfield, it remains very tight and we are staying focused on maximising what we can extract from our cars with the goal of fighting for points with both our drivers."