2021 Azerbaijan GP was arguably one of the best races of the season. It was filled with drama and tension in the final laps because of the late tire blowouts for Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll. There were lots of questions from F1 teams and fans alike for the tire manufacturer of F1, Pirelli.

But it looks like that Pirelli has brought the same compound of tires as last year to Baku. The Italian manufacturer has announced that they will bring the softer tire range to the streets of Baku for the 2022 season. Pirelli’s boss for Formula 1, Mario Isola, also revealed the reason behind the tire blowouts in Baku last season.

Pirelli explained the real reason behind the blowouts in Azerbaijan GP in 2021

The street circuit in Baku is not the most straightforward on the F1 calendar. It is high speed with 90-degree corners and a long start-finish straight. So there are a lot of unique elements on the track which might put different pressures on the tires that might lead to blowouts.

“The main thing is traction, and finding the right balance between the front and rear axles is the key challenge for all the teams: you have to have enough temperature in the front tires to generate grip, despite the long straights that cool them down, but not too much on the rears, otherwise it’s easy to overheat them in the traction zones,” said Isola.

“The track temperature is also inconsistent in Baku, so overall it’s a pretty specific track and with some different technical challenges, which however are the same for everyone,” said the Italian.

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By having the same compound of tires as last season, Pirelli might see the same kind of tire blowouts as well. But it would be interesting to see if bigger 18-ich tires make any difference this season.

Can Mercedes challenge the front runners in Baku?

Mercedes are currently sitting in P3 and are looking to challenge the front runners Red Bull and Ferrari. However, heading into Baku, Mercedes driver George Russell does not believe that they can close the gap this weekend.

“At the moment, around Monaco, we were six-tenths behind, and into Baku, we will probably be three-tenths behind the front runners we hope, for the best case,” said Russell.

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If we have another crazy tire-related drama filler race in Baku this weekend, Russell and Mercedes can very well take the opportunity to close the gap. But let’s see which team uses the best strategy and makes the most of the available tire compounds.