Baku, June 22nd 2017.- Carlos Sainz has arrived at the Baku City Circuit to compete in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the eighth round of the calendar and the second time that the country welcomes Formula 1 after its debut in 2016, by then as the European Grand Prix. Carlos arrives knowing he has a three-place penalty for Sunday’s Starting Grid, but he keeps his confident intact in his ability to recover from this situation before the chequered flag.

The Baku City Circuit, which at 6.003 meters long is the second longest in the calendar, is known for its 90-degree turns, its elevation changes in the city-centre area and the monumental length of its straights. With 2.200 meters, the main straight is the biggest in the whole Championship and allows Top Speeds over 360 kilometres/hour, values never seen before for an urban track.

In 2016, Carlos retired in Lap 31 after suspension-issues with his Toro Rosso. Previously, he had qualified thirteenth but started from eighteenth due to a gearbox change. Now, his goal is to achieve a positive result despite knowing that this circuit will be a real challenge for his STR12. "We’ll see how our car goes on the circuit that is probably the toughest one of the whole season. I don’t know where will we be. We would do great in the corners if we could use the Monaco wing, but here we can’t use it because of the never-ending straights. We have to take-off some wing and find a compromise. This could be frustrating during the race, because it’s when you have to overtake and when you are overtaken. I will enjoy the weekend until then. I like the circuit and last year I was doing a good race up until my retirement".

Carlos has a three-place penalty following the incident with Romain Grosjean during the opening lap of the Canadian Grand Prix. The Spaniard moves on and feels confident ahead of this event. "I apologized, I kept my head high and I’ve been eager to come here. I’ve been thinking about Baku since that Sunday. My engineers caught me watching on-board replays of Baku after the accident! When I think of races that started uphill for his, I think of Russia. The track didn’t suit us a lot, we had a three-place grid penalty, but we still managed to score a point. I come here willing to do the same as always: to get the most out of the car and give my very best".

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix will begin tomorrow Friday with the first two Free Practice sessions. FP1 and FP2 will be held at 13:00 and 17:00 local time (11:00 and 15:00 Spanish time). As always, we will keep an eye on Carlos’ progresses via his official website www.carlosainz.es and our Twitter account @carlosainzinfo.