Azerbaijan's Baku Street Circuit has been a surprisingly good addition to the F1 22 calendar since joining in 2016. Getting the correct setup though, especially in the wet, is extremely difficult.
Long straights are coupled with slow, ninety-degree bends and a tricky castle section which is the tightest in the sport. Never fear though, we've got the setup you need for when it rains right here!
F1 22 Azerbaijan Setup
Overtaking around Baku isn't easy, but to give you the best chance, you need to have relatively low wing angles. This will hurt you in the corners, but you'll be rapid down the back and pit straights.
The dry setup we have in the video above gives you the best possible chance to be quick in Azerbaijan.
Aerodynamics
You need low wings in Baku, but you also need relatively high wings to be quick through the corners. The final high-speed chicane is extremely tricky in the wet, so we've raised these aero values compared to the dry.
We've opted for 20-25 wings in Azerbaijan. This will make you quick down the straights while also getting good rear stability and a pointy front end.
Transmission
The transmission sets your differential settings for both on and off throttle. This dictates how much stability and overall mechanical grip the car has.
We've gone with 98% on-throttle differential. This keeps the rear stable on corner exit and provides a lot of traction. The 56% off-throttle differential helps with rotation on the brakes, which will really come in handy for those 90-degree corners in the early part of the lap.
Suspension geometry
The suspension geometry dictates how large the contact patch is from the tyres. The lower the angles, the bigger the contact patch. This increases grip, but also tyre wear.
However, tyre wear isn't an issue here, a one-stop in the wet is easily achievable. This means we've gone for -2.50 on the front camber and -1.00 rear camber. Similarly, 0.05 front toe and 0.20 rear toe for those values.
Suspension
The suspension needs to be on the soft side to be quick and consistent around Baku. The kerbs aren't too harsh here, but they are tricky to go over when at high-speed. So, we've gone for the softest springs of 1-1.
3-6 for the anti-roll bar keeps a good compromise between responsiveness and stbility. This makes the car predictable, while also being very pointy through the corners.
5-5 ride height makes the car more stable without costing much drag down the straights. It'll also help stability through the castle section.
Brakes
The stops into Turns 1 and 3 mean that you need very good brakes around here.
So, we've gone with 95% brake pressure, the max you can get away with without regularly locking up. 54% brake bias gives good balanace between the front and rear axles.
Tyres
The tyres may be bigger this year, but they're very durable. This is particularly the case for the wets, which make doing a one-stop no challenge at all.
23.5 psi on the front tyres and 22.7 psi on the rears mean that overheating isn't an issue and you get great grip from them too. You'll also not suffer from cold tyres going down the straights.
We are constantly testing and updating our setups, so bookmark this page and check back regularly!