On the shores of the Caspian Sea lies Baku, the City of Winds, the capital of Azerbaijan, where 22 Formula One cars ripped through the streets in a gripping start to the flyaway season.
However, unlike the last race in the Spanish capital, most of the star athletes and celebrities skipped this leg of the F1 calendar.
Flavio Briatore – Alpine Team Principal
Flavio Briatore has a controversial history in F1 and currently heads the Alpine Formula One Team. Although not officially recognised as Team Principal, his word is final and staying on his good side would be wise, as Franco Colapinto found out after his Turn 1 crash that wiped out Alpine’s chances of points in Baku.
Ilan Gomez – Junior Karter
Ilan Gomez is a six-year-old who dreams of racing in F1. The Azerbaijan GP was his first race, and his father, Francisco, promised the youngster that he’d take him to a race if his Instagram post received 10,000 likes and a comment from an F1 driver. Well, he smashed that goal, receiving over 17 million likes and a comment from not one, but three current drivers. He was a guest of the Baku City Circuit in the paddock on Friday, with the circuit also covering the family’s accommodation and grandstand seating for the event.
Pierre Hamelin – Race Engineer, Arvid Lindblad
Pierre Hamelin is the man in the ear of Arvid Lindblad around the track, guiding his driver through the various intricacies of operating an F1 car. He has been with the Racing Bulls team since 2014, joining when the team was known as Toro Rosso as a Performance Engineer, before being promoted to Race Engineer in 2016.
Dino Beganovic – F2 Driver, Ferrari Academy Driver
Dino Beganovic is a Swedish Formula 2 driver for DAMS Lucas Oil and is also part of the Ferrari Driver Academy. It was a good weekend for Dino, winning the Sprint and coming third in the feature race.
Naomi Campbell – Supermodel
Naomi Campbell is a frequent guest in the F1 paddock, and the British model was spotted in the Baku paddock for the Azerbaijan GP.
