Honda wary of getting balance right for track of two extremes

Honda are wary of being able to find the sweet spot of setup for this weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, due to the circuit having wildly differing characteristics over the course of a lap. While the castle section is very slow and fiddly, the rest of the circuit is made up of 90 degree corners and high speed blasts, including a flat out third sector through sweeps leading onto the main straight. "Although the venue in Baku is a street circuit like Monaco where we won a fortnight ago with Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing, it has very different characteristics," said Toyoharu Tanabe from Honda. "At a little over six kilometres, it is one of the longest circuits on the calendar and while the first and second sectors are typical of many street tracks, with several similar 90 degree corners, in the final sector the cars spend a long time at full acceleration. It is therefore important to find the right balance in terms of car set-up for the low speed corners and the long straight." Tanabe explained that the main headache is finding a balance that allows the drivers to apply the power smoothly to ensure maximising top speed down Baku's many straights. "With the PU, having good driveability is important for the low speed corners, while energy management is a factor for the long acceleration down the straight," he said. "As usual, we will base our settings on the data we have acquired so far this season, as well as from the 2019 edition of this race."