The Azerbaijan Grand Prix is one of the newer additions to Formula 1, with the Baku City Circuit making its debut on the calendar as the European Grand Prix in 2016 before the race was officially renamed to its current iteration in 2017. But despite its short F1 history, Baku has already been home to some historic—and meme-worthy—racing moments. From Lance Stroll’s record breaking maiden podium and a clash among two of the sport’s greatest, to the birth of one of Charles Leclerc’s most famous soundbites, here are three stories from the short but sweet archives of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Stroll’s record-breaking rookie podium
Lance Stroll may be most closely associated with Aston Martin, the team that his father, Lawrence Stroll, is part-owner and executive chairman of, but the Canadian driver got his start in F1 with a completely different team back in 2017: Williams. And it was with this team that he earned his maiden podium at the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, setting a record that still stands today.
Starting in P8, Stroll held his own in a race littered with safety cars, red flags and rival clashes (more on this later), to have a firm hold on P4 by about half-way through the Grand Prix. After some inadvertent pit stops by two of the frontrunners, Stroll found himself in P2 with a solid 12-second gap between himself and Valtteri Bottas running in third. Unfortunately for Stroll, Bottas was among the fastest men on the track that day, and he caught up to Stroll and pipped him on the start-finish straight at the end of the final lap of the race. The two ended up just 0.105 seconds apart, one of the closest finishes in modern F1 history.
But despite losing out on P2 in the final meters of the race, Stroll still made history that day. At just 18 years, seven months and 27 days old, he became the youngest rookie to ever land on the podium, a record that he still holds today (Kimi Antonelli was nearly two months older when he got his maiden podium during the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix).
"I can't quite realize what just happened," said Stroll to the press after the race. "I'm sort of lost for words. I couldn’t believe coming into the weekend that I would be standing on the podium!”
Vettel revenge-crashes into Hamilton
Beyond just Stroll’s record-breaking podium, the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was far more eventful, with one of the most notable incidents occurring between title rivals Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. The two were locked in a tight battle for the Championship from early on, and by the eighth round of the season, the tension had already become so high that the two came to blows—or at least the on-track equivalent.
Hamilton and Vettel were leading the race in P1 and P2, respectively, when a safety car was triggered by excessive debris on the track. During the safety car, Vettel hit the back of Hamilton’s Mercedes. Frustrated and thinking that he had just been brake-checked, Vettel drove up alongside Hamilton and side-swiped him in a retaliatory move.
The stewards immediately put the incident under investigation, and several laps later Vettel was handed one of the harshest penalties a driver could get shy of disqualification: a 10-second stop-go penalty.
Hamilton made his thoughts on the situation clear after the race, saying, “I think he disgraced himself today. If he wants to prove that he is a man we should do it out of the car, face-to-face. It is a misjudgment from him and some people don't like to own up to their own mistakes.”
While Vettel stood by his actions immediately after the race, telemetry data showed that Hamilton had not pressed on the brake during the initial collision. Vettel eventually apologized, and promised to dedicate a portion of his free time to the education of junior formula drivers.
"I had no intention at anytime to put Lewis in danger,” he wrote on his website, “but I understand that I caused a dangerous situation. Therefore, I would like to apologize to the FIA. I accept and respect [...] the penalty imposed by the Stewards in Baku. I love this sport and I am determined to represent it in a way that can be an example for future generations."
The origin of Leclerc’s iconic “I am stupid” meme
Perhaps one of the most-loved and well-known memes in F1 hails from Azerbaijan, when the 2019 iteration of the race gave us Charles Leclerc’s famed “I am stupid” moment.
Leclerc was flying throughout the entire weekend of the Grand Prix, finishing at the top of the timing tower in all three practice sessions. His speed and consistent form made him a favorite for pole on Saturday’s Qualifying session, and he made it through Q1 without any issues.
But Q2 is where it all fell apart for Leclerc. Despite already setting a solid time at the beginning of the session, Leclerc went out for a second lap. As he was winding through the tight direction changes of Turn 8, he clipped the wall and went nose-first into the barriers.
With the shot at pole gone and a good result for the weekend in jeopardy, Leclerc could only say one thing: “I am stupid. I am stupid.”
In the moment, the despair was justifiable. This was, after all, Leclerc’s first season and fourth ever race in Ferrari, and he was undoubtedly feeling the pressure of the Scuderia already. Add to that the excellent form he showed in sessions prior, and, as he himself said after Qualifying, “Looking at FP1, FP2, FP3 and Quali 1, pole was possible today and I threw all the potential in the bin.”
Fortunately for Leclerc, the weekend wasn’t a complete wash. He started ninth overall and recovered to fifth during the race itself, and he provided us with one of the most memorable quotes in F1, a classic that has been constantly referenced by fans since.
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