Formula 1 drivers are preparing for the possibility of the first ever rain-affected race at Baku this weekend.<\/p>\n
The street circuit in the Azerbaijani capital is holding its ninth round of the world championship this weekend. Every previous edition has taken place in dry conditions but some forecasts indicate a chance of rain on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso<\/a> is one of those who were alert to the possibility of wet conditions before practice began at the track. \u201cThere is even a little bit of a risk of rain, so that could be a very interesting Baku,\u201d he told the official Formula 1 channel.<\/p>\n Some weather models put the risk of light rain throughout Sunday as high as 40%. Others indicate the weekend will remain dry.<\/p>\n Baku could prove an especially challenging circuit in wet conditions. The street track is already quite low in grip. It has several high-speed sections where cars exceed 300kph but in places the run-off areas are very small.<\/p>\n The most challenging aspect of the weather in Baku for drivers is usually the stiff gusts which blow across the circuit. \u201cBaku has some challenges in terms of being a street circuit and quite windy sometimes,\u201d Alonso noted. \u201cThe track keeps evolving the whole weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n Even if it doesn\u2019t rain, this year\u2019s race is likely to take place in considerably cooler conditions than the drivers saw 12 months ago. The air temperature reached 28C as Oscar Piastri<\/a> won last year, but it may struggle to get as high as 20C on Sunday.<\/p>\n The race moved between calendar slots in June and April when it was first added to the calendar in 2016, originally under the one-off \u2018European Grand Prix\u2019 title. Last year the race moved to its current slot in September, which is the region\u2019s second-driest month in terms of average rainfall.<\/p>\n