It’s not uncommon for drivers to have “their” circuit. Monaco served as such for Graham Hill and Ayrton Senna; Michael Schumacher had the tricky Magny-Cours venue wrapped around his finger; and Lewis Hamilton enjoys demigod status at Silverstone. But Baku is Sergio Perez’s track, and it has been ever since it joined the Formula 1 calendar. For that first race in 2016, Perez qualified second, started seventh thanks to a penalty, and worked his way up to third in an unfancied Force India.
He’d won in Baku before, famously benefiting from Lewis Hamilton’s ‘brake magic’ finger trouble on the late-race standing restart in 2021 to chalk up his first victory at Red Bull. He was second in last year’s edition, albeit beaten by Max Verstappen after a slow pitstop allowed his team-mate the opportunity to undercut him. The Mexican’s key attribute here has been in finding confidence throughout the 90-degree corner entries around the unpredictable road surface, dialling in enough balance to ensure that the front end can turn in and the rear end can follow his lead.
But prior form was not necessarily on Perez’s side. Sure, he had a grand prix win this season, but he’d needed Verstappen to be bogged down with a grid penalty to make his passage to victory in Jeddah easier. A fifth in Melbourne was the fruit of a damage limitation exercise after a pitlane start, while Verstappen’s path to victory was largely untroubled – late restart notwithstanding. Now, with no penalties in the offing, Perez would have to beat Verstappen on merit to continue his outstanding record in the Azerbaijani capital.
Plus, there was the interesting statistic that nobody had ever won twice
