The last time a race was held in Baku it was called the European Grand Prix but the name has been changed to Azerbaijan Grand Prix for this season. This is only the second time Formula One drivers will be competing in the Baku City Circuit and we will also see a first time winner as the now retired Nico Rosberg won the first race held here last year.
This is set to be the eighth race of the 2017 Formula One season, and the intense battle for the drivers' and Constructors championship between the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers is set to continue this weekend.
Also read: Blue flag rule changed ahead of Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2017
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix is technically a street circuit. It is regarded as the fastest ever street circuit that Formula One drivers have raced on, and with this set to be only the second race, drivers will have their usual three practice sessions to get used to the track.
The momentum has been swinging in the favour of both Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel so far, and it will be interesting to see which driver comes out on top on a track no one is really used to. If everything goes according to plan we will see a Hamilton-Vettel battle. But a point to note is that the Brit did not have the best of times here last year.
The three-time world champion crashed during qualifying and then trailed in fifth after engine settings issues in the race. But he is expecting no such problems this weekend.
"I wanted to come back and give my engineers as much feedback as I could. The car runs in different states during a race, so I put in the various modes to go as fast as the car allowed so that I could give them a lot of information from that maxed lap to help them set the car up for the next race," Formula One's official website quoted Hamilton as saying.
With drivers not having a lot of experience on this track, Red Bull could use this to their advantage and hopefully get another podium finish. Daniel Ricciardo has finished on the podium in each of the last three Grand Prix and he will hope to add another this weekend.
The blue flag rule has also been changed for this race after drivers kept on complaining that lapping traffic this year is harder than in the past — largely because of the 2017 aerodynamic regulations. Faster drivers will have to be 1.2s behind a backmarker before blue flags are automatically triggered.
Another key area the teams and drivers will hope to get used to is the tires. Since this is only the second time a race is being held here teams have very little information about what tire is best suited for this anti-clockwise track and they will have to make the most of the practice sessions.
Where to watch
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2017 practice session is set to start at 1:00pm local time, 2:30pm IST and 5:00am EST.
Practice session 2 – 5:00pm local time, 6:30pm IST and 9:00am EST
Practice session 3 (Saturday) – 2:00pm local time, 3:30pm IST and 6:00am EST.
TV and live streaming information
Australia: TV: Ten HD. Live Streaming: Ten Play.
India: TV: Star Sports SelectHD2. Live Streaming: Hotstar.
UK: TV: Sky Sports F1. Live Streaming: Watch Sky Sports.
USA: TV: NBCSN. Live Streaming: NBC Sports Live.
Asia: TV: Fox Sports. Live Streaming: Fox Sports Play.
Canada: TV: TSN, TSN 2, RDS
