Eleven moments of Azerbaijan GP chaos as F1 returns to Baku

The Baku City Circuit has only been on the calendar since 2016, but it has had plenty of action-packed races and moments in that time.

So many, in fact, we’ve gone back through the history books and collated some of the biggest moments of drama and now-iconic snippets among Formula 1’s social media following, as the circuit prepares to host the latest edition of the race.

Eleven moments of Azerbaijan Grand Prix chaos through history 1: “He brake-tested me!” – 2017

After Daniil Kvyat’s retirement in 2017, Lewis Hamilton led the field around as the Safety Car came out.

Turning left towards the downhill slope and Turn 16, Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari misjudged the closing speed behind and bumped into the back of Hamilton’s car.

He seemed to think the Mercedes driver had slammed on the brakes, exclaiming: “Mate, he brake-tested me! What the **** is going on?!” on team radio.

To show his displeasure, Vettel moved around and up to the side of Hamilton’s car, with a bump of wheels to let the Briton know his feelings.

Hamilton, though, was none the wiser as to why that would have happened, replying to race engineer Pete Bonnington: “Vettel literally just came alongside me and turned in and hit me.”

And if that wasn’t enough, just moments after the restart, there was a collision between Force India teammates as Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon.

As we’ll see, the 2017 edition of the race was quite an event.

2: Kimi Raikkonen’s hilarious radio outburst – 2017

On the other side of the Ferrari garage, Kimi Raikkonen was being pushed into the pit lane when he had forgotten two key components to go racing, which led to a piece of team radio which has now been immortalised.

Shouting for his race engineer while being helplessly wheeled down the pit lane, Raikkonen unleashed his now-famous: “Gloves, Mark, gloves!

“Gloves and steering wheel, yeah.

“Hey. HEY! Steering wheel, somebody tell him to give it to me.

“COME ON! MOVE!”

3: Daniel Ricciardo’s overtake of a lifetime – 2017

In the same race, Daniel Ricciardo was looking to make up ground from 10th on the grid, and pulled off arguably one of the best moves of his career into Turn 1.

Having been overtaken by Nico Hulkenberg on the pit straight, and with the Williams duo of Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll ahead, the then-Red Bull driver managed to out-brake the lot of them, placing his car on the apex at Turn 1 and going from sixth to third in one fell swoop.

With Lewis Hamilton having to stop and replace a loose headrest, and Vettel already penalised with a 10-second stop/go penalty for his hip and shoulder on the Mercedes beforehand, the door was thus open for Ricciardo to storm to an unlikely victory in Baku.

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4: Sparks fly at Red Bull – 2018

The following year, Max Verstappen was ahead of Ricciardo on the road as the two Red Bulls battled for position on track.

Jinking one way and then the other, Ricciardo sought to find the optimum line to pass his young teammate, but in doing so, locked up and piled into the back of the Dutch driver in the braking zone at Turn 1, ending both their races.

Opinion was split as to who was at fault, and each driver laid the blame at the other’s door for a key flashpoint in their partnership, for which the FIA reprimanded both drivers.

5: “I am stupid” – 2019

The Baku City Circuit combines wide, long straights with tight, technical corners – with the walls never far away on the city’s streets.

In his first year at Ferrari, Charles Leclerc came a cropper at the tightest section not just on the circuit, but the entire Formula 1 calendar, as he negotiated the left-hander of Turn 8.

Locking up and not taking the escape road, Leclerc piled into the barriers on the exit of the corner, for which his team radio response, repeating “I am stupid”, has become a meme for mishaps on track.

In the same session, Robert Kubica in his Williams had a near-identical crash at the same corner, but that moment has rather been lost to history because of Leclerc’s response.

In a virtual repeat of that moment in the following years, Leclerc was live-streaming himself playing the Formula 1 game and found himself crashing out at that same corner in the virtual world, to which he responded simply: “Bad memories.”

6: Danny Ric’s reverse parking trouble – 2019

Ricciardo, now at Renault, looked to make a move on his former Red Bull teammate, Kvyat, on the inside at Turn 3 during the 2019 edition of the race.

As he went long, however, both the Australian and Kvyat were forced to abort the corner, with Ricciardo left down the run-off area at the heavy braking zone.

Scrambling to get back on track, the Honey Badger put his car into reverse and, not seeing the Toro Rosso behind him, crashed into him.

Both cars had to retire following the incident, for which Ricciardo was handed a three-place grid penalty for the following round in Spain.

7: Lance Stroll’s tyre blowout – 2021

In another chaotic Azerbaijan Grand Prix in 2021, Lance Stroll was among the last drivers to pit as he extended his hard-tyre stint as far as he could.

Evidently, however, this went too far as he suffered a tyre blowout on the pit straight while approaching 200mph, piling into the wall.

Stroll, clearly shaken up and sitting broadside to the track, quickly took to the radio to call for a red flag to allow him to get out of his car safely, but that would not be the only tyre blowout on the day.

Following on from that theme…

8: Max Verstappen’s tyre kick – 2021

Having taken the lead following a slow pit stop for Hamilton, Verstappen appeared in prime position to take victory in what was becoming a simmering title fight with the Mercedes driver.

Five laps from the end, however, Verstappen’s left-rear tyre failed, sending him careering into the wall and out of the race.

He was able to walk away from a big hit, but not without giving the troublesome tyre a big kick for its trouble.

Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley was swiftly in contact with the FIA and, given the safety implications as Red Bull had “no warning” of a tyre failure, and recommended a red flag – which took place ahead of the penultimate lap.

And as the race restarted…

9: Lewis Hamilton’s lock-up (and Mark Webber’s scream) – 2021

Hamilton managed to get the jump on Perez and looked to be leading into Turn 1, but with already-smoking brakes on the grid, what proved to be an accidental flick of the ‘brake magic’ switch saw the seven-time World Champion lock up and go straight on at the first corner.

The unexpected fuax pas saw former Red Bull driver Mark Webber, who was on co-commentary duty for British TV, let out an almighty shriek as the Mercedes driver went skidding on – a moment which in itself gets brought up before each Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Perez went on to win a frantic race from Vettel, then at midfield-running Aston Martin, and Pierre Gasly taking a podium for AlphaTauri in third.

10: Sainz and Perez collide – 2024

Perez, the only repeat winner in Baku as of 2025 due to his triumphs in both 2021 and ’23, was in search of another podium around Azerbaijan’s capital, joining Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc in battling for a hard-fought victory in 2024.

Carlos Sainz, at one stage more than eight seconds behind the lead battle, reeled in the front three with only a couple of laps to go.

Heading into the penultimate lap, Perez looked to be aggressive in passing Leclerc for second place into Turn 1, but with both cars out of position after the apex, Sainz was able to join them and looked to capitalise heading into Turn 2.

The Spaniard ducked by Perez before the apex of Turn 2, but with the Red Bull driver able to get a portion of his car back alongside the Ferrari on the straight down to Turn 3, Sainz moved to defend and, in doing so, collided with the Mexican and piled both drivers into the wall.

It was a dramatic end to an entertaining race, and among plenty of swearing, Perez questioned on team radio: “Is he an idiot or what?!”

11: “I think Ericsson hit us” – 2018

It’s one of the most meme-worthy incidents in Formula 1 history; Romain Grosjean crashed out while under Safety Car incident.

But it wasn’t the Frenchman sliding into the wall mid-race that was especially noteworthy, it was the radio exchange that followed.

“What happened?” Grosjean enquired as he slewed right while trying to maintain temperature in his brakes and tyres.

The response from his race engineer, however, elevated an unusual but otherwise banal incident into one of the most infamous in F1 history.

“I think Ericsson hit us,” came the response from engineer, Gary Gannon.

In fairness, the incident took place on the other side of the circuit and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson was the car immediately behind the Haas.

In reality, there was no contact and the moment has become part of the fabric of F1 folklore.

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