Formula One is back, remember what it is?
It’s been three long weeks without the so-called ‘pinnacle of motorsport’ was last on our TV screens and the period in between was filled with rumours that Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso was dating music sensation Taylor Swift, but as we know all too well, F1 driver’s love story is a little delicate and Alonso didn’t confirm nor deny the rumours on the Thursday media day.
But back to the racing, Max Verstappen holds a strong lead at the top of the driver’s standings, with the Dutch driver 15 points clear of his team-mate Sergio Perez. This also means that Red Bull has a clear margin at the top of the Constructors’ Championship.
The Baku City Circuit is the venue for this weekend’s Grand Prix and the circuit has often provided some of the best racing all-season, along with some iconic moments. It’s been on the circuit as the Azerbijan Grand Prix since 2017, but the season prior it was known was the European Grand Prix
While Alonso was the one linked to music royalty, Charles Leclerc broke into the charts recently with his own piano music climbing to the top six of the iTunes charts and still rising.
This weekend will also see the debut of a new Sprint weekend format with Saturday becoming independent to the Grand Prix itself.
Friday will see Free Practice One and Qualifying take place, with this session setting the grid for Sundays Grand Prix, a change from previous Spint sessions.
Saturday will see Free Practice Two being replace by the new Sprint Shootout, bascially the same format as Qualifying, only slightly shorter. A Sprint race will follow later in the day.
Then on Sunday we see the traditional Grand Prix, with the full accompaniment of points available for the drivers.
You can follow the action here on The Apex Motorsport but if you’d like to watch it live, Sky Sports F1 is the place to be.