OMNISPORT

Sebastian Vettel will need no extra motivation to bounce back from the disappointment of finishing eighth after being shunted by Max Verstappen in China last time out.

But a significant milestone awaits the German in Azerbaijan if he can return to winning ways around the streets of Baku. This race has developed a reputation for being unpredictable in its two years on the calendar, with Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll among those to grace the podium.

Mercedes, meanwhile, are desperately seeking their first win of the season and the Silver Arrows have a good record in qualifying for this race.

Here we look at some of the best Opta facts ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

3 - This will be the third F1 race in Baku but only the second as the Azerbaijan Grand Prix (2016 was the European GP), the youngest race on the current F1 calendar.

2 - Mercedes have had a driver on pole in the last two races in Baku: Nico Rosberg in 2016 and Lewis Hamilton in 2017.

1 - No driver has been on the podium twice across the last two races in Baku: Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel, Sergio Pérez, Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll all managing it once.

2 - Baku is one of two F1 tracks, alongside New Delhi, where Lewis Hamilton has never reached the podium in his career.

18 - Both Mercedes drivers have finished their last 18 races in a row, the best current streak without a retirement for any F1 team.

28 - Lewis Hamilton is the first driver in F1 history to collect points in 28 races in a row.

50 - If Vettel wins this race he would become the fourth driver to win 50 F1 races after Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Alain Prost.

17 - No F1 driver progressed more positions on aggregate from the starting grid in the three opening 2018 F1 races than Fernando Alonso (17): Australia (5), Bahrain (6) and China (6).