The F1x

• The Out Lap

  • All about Baku

• News From the Week

  • Ollie Bearman in at Haas for suspended KMag

  • Adrian Newey to Aston Martin confirmed

    • Fernando gives part of salary to Newey

    • Max to Aston in the future?

  • FIA confirm no teams breached 2023 cost cap, but not engine manufacturers

  • McLaren team orders incoming

  • The first driver to reach out to Colapinto after his promotion

The Out Lap

All about the Baku City Circuit

51 laps / 6.003km / fastest lap 1:43.009 (Leclerc 2019)

Baku is the capital city of Azerbaijan and is the largest city on the Caspian Sea.

The newest street circuit on the calendar, with the first Grand Prix held in 2017. The top 3 might surprise you: Daniel Ricciardo claimed P1, Valtteri Bottas took P2 after overtaking Lance Stroll, who finished P3 in an almost photo finish.

Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel came together under the safety car. Lewis may have brake-checked after complaining that the safety car was going too slowly, and then Vettel came alongside him to give him a wheel bump.

The castle section (turns 8-9) is the narrowest section of any track on the calendar at 7.6 meters wide. Did you know the walls of Baku's old city are part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site?

Baku also features the longest straight of the year, with a 2.2 km finishing straight and speeds reaching over 370 km/h.

Baku is the second longest lap on the calendar this year (behind Spa).

The 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was the first race to introduce the sprint shootout qualifying session.

Sergio Perez is the only driver to have won at Baku more than once; he first won in 2021 and then won both the sprint and the race in 2023.

News From the Week

Ollie Bearman is in at Haas this week to replace the suspended Kevin Magnussen. This will be a great opportunity for Ollie to get used to working with the team, as he is set to drive for Haas next year.

The last time we saw Bearman on track was as a substitute for Carlos Sainz following his appendicitis at the 2024 Saudi Arabian GP.

This was the obvious choice for Haas to replace Kevin Magnussen, who is serving a one-race ban. However, the team had to get approval from Ferrari, as Bearman is currently the team's reserve driver.

Adrian Newey and Aston Martin confirmed on Tuesday that they have come to an agreement. His actual start date is March 1, 2025 so we won’t see much of his impact until the new regulations in 2026.

Coming into a new regulation change is precisely when you want someone like Adrian Newey working for you and not against you.

This will undoubtedly keep Fernando Alonso motivated to continue racing for a few more years as well, he even said in his press conference he will be racing in 2026 and beyond.

It was even reported that Fernando was open to giving away a percentage of his salary to Newey to help Aston Martin secure his services.

This came from Mike Krack (Aston Martin team principle) on reports that he was willing to give up 10-20%. And also spoke on how Aston is no longer considered an underdog with Newey on the team.

When asked about the move Verstappen was complimentary of Newey and Lawrence Stroll, and left the door open for speculation on a potential move to Aston in the future to join Newey. MIke Krack also let it be known having a driver like Max on their team is more of a possibility when they have talent like Newey on their side.

In the past Newey has said he would love to be able to work with either Lewis Hamilton or Alonso before calling it quits and he now gets his chance.

His official title is a Managing Technical Partner, also becoming a shareholder in the team. As such he is going to be financially compensated quite well for what Aston hope he can bring to the team.

The FIA announced on Wednesday that no teams were found to have breached the cost cap in 2023, but both Honda and Alpine as engine manufacturers did have a “procedural breach”.

These types of breaches only result in financial penalties and will not be impacting any of the teams that are supplied engines from Honda or Alpine, unless there is more found or the level of the breach was severe enough where a sporting penalty could be applied.

McLaren look ready now more than ever to start using team orders to help aid Lando in his push to catch Verstappen in the drivers championship… Too late?

Franco Colapinto is getting set for his second F1 race after a solid performance in Monza last time out. When asked in an Azerbaijan GP press conference he let us know it was Lando who first reached out to him when he was announced at Williams!