Potentially dangerous situation highlighted ahead of Baku: 'It can be a mess'

Ahead of the F1 weekend at the Baku street circuit, the Audi driver was asked how important it could be to secure good track position in qualifying. The Brazilian said he expects there could be dangerous situations in the final sector.

He began: "To get caught up? Yeah, I think it's going to be a bit of a mess, especially, you know, we are leaving last corner in a push lap so quickly, and then people who are opening the laps are going to be so slow."

Bortoleto continued by further explaining his concerns. "So, hopefully, that's not going to be dangerous. Hopefully, there is going to be something that we can do in that T18 and T19 corner because, I guess, it can be dangerous if, you know, you are coming at, I don't know, 300 and something and another car is at 250 because there is no MGU-K being deployed. So, yeah, let's see what could happen. But definitely," he explained.

Asked whether it would be discussed during the drivers' briefing, Bortoleto added: "Yeah, but what are they going to do about it?"

In the past, the Azerbaijan circuit has hosted a Sprint weekend, but that will not be the case during the 2027 season. Another street circuit, Monaco, will be among the 10 Sprint venues, which also caused the drivers' group chat to blow up.

When asked about the news, former Monaco Grand Prix winner Perez shared what happened.

He said: "I found out through our group, actually. There were some comments there. It was a bit busy, the group. More than that, I didn’t pay much attention other than what happened on the group."

However, the Mexican did not share any further details: "It stays on the group. You can imagine."