FIA scrambles for overnight Baku repairs after track surface breaks apart at Turn 7

The problem emerged shortly after the conclusion of F1's first practice session on Thursday, with around six FIA officials spotted at Turn 7 and marshals sweeping debris from the surface as officials held frantic phone calls. Arvid Lindblad had briefly become stuck in the Turn 7 run-off area near the end of FP1, needing to reverse before returning to the circuit. The start of the F2 qualifying session was then delayed by 15 minutes while the situation was assessed, and drivers raised the matter again during their post-FP2 briefing, prompting circuit authorities to commit to overnight repairs.

Turn 7 is a tight left-hander that precedes the narrow climb towards Baku's castle section. The approach to the corner was resurfaced ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and that patch proved to be the source of the breakdown.

Pre-event race director's notes also listed resurfacing at Turns 2, 3 and 4, as well as another patch at Turn 19, but only the Turn 7 section deteriorated during Thursday's sessions.

Track temperatures approached 50°C during the opening day causing the upper layer of asphalt to deteriorate and making the emergency intervention unavoidable.

The Turn 7 intervention was not part of the resurfacing work announced before the weekend, making it a reactive measure rather than a planned one.

Friday's F2 Sprint Race passed without problems at Turn 7, though with lower temperatures during the morning session the true test of the repairs remained ahead. George Russell went on to claim pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix by eight tenths of a second in qualifying later on Friday.

Saturday's 51-lap Grand Prix starts at 3:00 p.m. local time, when track temperatures are expected to climb significantly higher, putting the overnight work under far greater stress.

The track surface is not the only safety concern to have surfaced during the Baku weekend. As GPblog reported earlier this week, Gabriel Bortoleto flagged potentially dangerous situations in the final sector related to speed differentials under the current energy rules.

Lewis Hamilton called for tweaks to those rules after a near-miss with Liam Lawson during Thursday's practice, where Lawson had to take avoiding action at 300km/h through the Turn 18 and 19 sweeps.