Formula 1 has landed in Baku, Azerbaijan this weekend (June 11-12) for what has become a wild stop on the calendar. Making its debut in 2017, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix elicited tempered expectations with pundits and fans thinking the track would not be able to allow for enough overtaking, that its DRS zones were too long and narrow, and that tight corners would not encourage enough close racing.
It turned out everyone was wrong. From the very first race, the track has provided both wonderful and bizarre theater for all sorts of strange occurrences.
In 2017, Sebastian Vettel, first in the standings and second in the race, popped Lewis Hamilton while under the safety car.
Baku, 2017. Vettel x Hamilton: Um dos momentos de MAIOR LOUCURA DA F1 NOS ÚLTIMOS ANOS. pic.twitter.com/vku7hykUkm
— Blog Fórmula 1 🏁 (@blog_formula1) June 6, 2022
Vettel earned a 10-second stop-and-go penalty that undid his race while Hamilton’s headrest came undone. He was forced to pit by the FIA, leaving both of them out of the running for the win (Daniel Ricciardo capitalized and took the checkers). Behind him, Lance Stroll somehow pulled a podium finish out of his tailpipe in a lovely result for Williams.
In 2018, teammates Max Verstappen and Ricciardo played bumper cars down the main straight.
Daniel Ricciardo 🇦🇺 e Max Verstappen 🇳🇱
Baku 🇦🇿 2018 pic.twitter.com/7BUyRkuZSs
— O Paparazzi da Formula 1 📸 (@PaparazziF1) June 7, 2022
Verstappen, in fourth, with Ricciardo trailing drove their own race that seemed to be one completely separate from the rest of the field and the ensuing calamity surely contributed to Ricciardo’s decision to leave Red Bull at the end of the year. Of course, his record-breaking eight DNFs for the season did not help, either…
In 2019, the GP nearly held to typical F1 form, with pole sitter Valtteri Bottas earning the race win. Of course, the event still brought a bit of humor when Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat…
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