Why Leclerc could be only three laps short of a Baku F1 upset

Circuits with high top speeds have generally been Red Bull's speciality so far this season but in the opening pair of practice sessions, Ferrari closed out Friday's running on top with a good straightline speed advantage. But with Red Bull rival Max Verstappen out of sync in his practice runs, Ferrari and Charles Leclerc may not have seen his best

Matt Kew Jun 11, 2022, 7:47 AM

Upd: Jun 11, 2022, 8:15 AM

A street circuit defined by its high speeds and a huge flat-out sprint that comes to dominate the second half of the lap. That’s surely Red Bull territory in 2022, based on the Formula 1 race-winning form the team displayed in Jeddah and then Miami.

Thanks to the might of the rebadged Honda power unit during the first third of the season, Red Bull has had the measure of chief championship rival Ferrari in the top speed stakes. No surprise then the RB18 was unloaded in Baku as the favourite for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

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Author Matt Kew

Matt Kew is Autosport’s F1 Editor, a role he has held since March 2022 following stints covering Formula E, Extreme E and the British Touring Car Championship.

Matt joined Autosport in 2018 to work predominantly on the magazine, but his relentless quoting of Alan Partridge meant office colleagues soon thought he would be better-suited to increased field work.

Needless to say, Matt had the last laugh when he won the Motorsport UK Young Journalist of the Year Award in 2019.

His interest in motorsport was sparked by regular trips to watch ASCAR crash around Rockingham’s banked oval.

Matt read politics and philosophy at the University of Sheffield - receiving first-class honours for his dissertation assessing the lack of female participation in top-tier motor racing.

He covered a wide variety of national race and rally meetings for Autosport as a freelancer before joining full-time. His best efforts to argue the merits of historic racing are undone by a questionable taste in music and James Bond actors.