Why Baku Excites Me More Than Any Other F1 Track and Who Might Win the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Some Formula 1 tracks are beautiful. Some are fast. Some are dangerous. Baku looked at all three and said: “Fine. Let us put them together and add walls.” That is exactly why the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is my favourite race on the calendar. It looks stunning, produces ridiculous speeds and gives drivers absolutely no safe space when something goes wrong.

At most circuits, one small mistake costs a driver a few tenths. In Baku, it can cost a front wing, a wheel and the rest of the weekend. The Baku City Circuit is 6.003 kilometres long, has 20 corners and somehow combines one of the narrowest sections in Formula 1 with a 2.2-kilometre flat-out run along the seafront.

Basically, it cannot decide whether it wants to be Monaco or Monza. So it becomes both.

Turn 8 through the famous Castle section is only 7.6 metres wide, making it the narrowest corner on the current calendar. The cars squeeze between the medieval walls with almost no room to breathe. I remember Charles Leclerc discovered that rather painfully in 2019 when he crashed there during qualifying and immediately blamed himself over the radio. Ouch it was painful to watch. 

For me, the Castle section is the most intimidating part of the circuit, but the fast sequence towards Turn 15 is equally uncomfortable. The drivers arrive at enormous speed, the track begins dropping downhill and the barriers remain exactly where you do not want them. Yes, I repeat you do not want them 😀 😀 

After that section, Cars can reach around 350 kilometres per hour before braking for Turn 1, where slipstreaming allows two or even three drivers to arrive together. That’s when i am mostly jumping up with excitement. 

Now let us talk about the drivers, because this weekend could become very interesting. Charles Leclerc probably has the strongest qualifying record here. That part has been fact-checked, and it is impressive. He took four consecutive Azerbaijan pole positions between 2021 and 2024, while no other driver has achieved more than one. However, he failed to convert any of them into victory. 

Four poles. Zero Baku wins. The circuit clearly loves Charles on Saturday and then develops trust issues on race day and break up… ahem ahem sounds personal to me. 

If anybody ruins Max Verstappen pole prediction, I think it will be Leclerc. He understands street circuits, has the confidence required to attack the walls and still holds Baku’s official race lap record from 2019.

But I am choosing Max, yes, yes favouritism. Red Bull finally appears to be finding its way back. Max recovered brilliantly to finish second in Madrid, and we should not forget what happened here last season. He started from pole, led every lap, set the fastest lap and won the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix by more than 14 seconds.

That was not simply a win. That was Max taking complete ownership of Baku.

The car is beginning to look more competitive again and hopefully stays that way and sir Max appears hungry and this is exactly the kind of circuit where confidence matters. so please Redbull, give him a car that behaves under braking and he will place it close enough to the wall to make me along with rest of us stop breathing.

Kimi Antonelli, meanwhile, is not merely in form. He is on fire.  Eight victories, an 81-point championship lead and another trophy collected in Madrid. Nothing appears to disturb him at the moment, not pressure, strategy chaos or the fact that everyone is waiting for the young driver to finally make a major mistake. Baku may test that confidence more than any other track, Kimi and i wish you the best. 

Kimi has previously reached the podium here in Formula 2, so the circuit is not completely unfamiliar. But driving these 2026 F1 cars through the Castle section will be a very different conversation.

Then we have my second most beloved driver on the track George Russell. 

George already has plenty of Baku experience, including multiple podiums and second place here last year. Therefore, experience cannot become the excuse. He needs to use it, raise his game and start putting pressure back on Kimi.

I can feel his pain & luck… happens to me in the office all the time. Come on, you beautiful man. It’s time to shine. 

I also hope luck finally remembers where Lando Norris lives. Not only Kimi but all the F1 fans felt bad for him in Madrid. Lando & McLaren has the speed to fight at the front. He now needs one weekend where strategy, pit stops and Formula 1’s various racing Gods stop treating him like a personal entertainment project.

My prediction?

Max takes pole and, if Red Bull keeps everything under control, wins the race.
Kimi finishes second.
For third, I am choosing Leclerc but Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are close enough to make me regret writing that sentence.

Baku does not always produce chaos from the opening lap. Sometimes it waits quietly, allows everyone to become comfortable and then destroys the entire race with one lock-up, one mistimed Safety Car or one driver becoming slightly too confident beside a wall.

That unpredictability is why I love it.

It has 350-kilometre-per-hour slipstreams, medieval walls and Formula 1 cars trying to fit through a space that looks designed for two bicycles.

And one final reminder: the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix takes place on Saturday, 26 September, not Sunday. A slightly unusual day for a completely unpredictable race.

Baku, I am ready. Although I may watch Turn 8 through my fingers.

Waiting for a Max masterclass and Russell shining
aKi Malik