F1 this weekend

yellowperil · 01:20 PM

Anyone have the lowdown on this weeks Azerbaijan/Baku street circuit?

I didn't realize we were going to a new track this year. Could be good or maybe not.
I know it's on the western side of the Caspian and east of Turkey, but that's all I know. It's in and among a lot of trouble spots (I think).

I guess we'll find out this weekend. GMT+4, so should be an early morning race for eastern seaboard right??

yellowperil · 06-14-2016, 04:14 AM

Well I guess I should have done a bit of research first, it's easy to find Baku F1 circuit
info and a virtual flying lap online and it looks interesting, very tight and quite long. Almost as long as Spa. Should be good.

Craig T · 06-14-2016, 07:08 AM

9 hour time zone change between races. That's gotta be tough on the teams.

sand_man · 07:23 AM

I heard the talking heads mention at the end of the Montreal race (post race show), that many drivers have spent some time with the Baku circuit via their simulators and they seem to like it. We'll see what reality brings...

yellowperil · 10:48 AM

Turn one=lower right 90 corner CCW

strupgolf · 06-14-2016, 10:22 AM

I predict an upset not in the making. Mercedes, 1 and 2.

yellowperil · 06-14-2016, 10:52 AM

Circuits with square corners never look proper to me. The old Detroit or Dallas
tracks had sq corners, I think, and were not much to look at. And the races therein
were sh**y.. IMO

javadog · 06-14-2016, 03:53 PM

Another finger up the nose of the traditional F1 fan, from Bernie the *******.

A country nobody could find on a map without help.
No motorsports tradition, just a lot of oil money to throw around.

An uninteresting circuit design, with a section so narrow I think it may be really dangerous. I hope nobody gets hurt.

JR

WPOZZZ · 06-14-2016, 08:52 PM

Why call it The GP of Europe? It is in the asscrack of Europe and Asia. Just call it what it is, The Mo' Money for Bernie GP.

David · David's Garage

One nice thing about street courses is how close you can get to the cars at full speed. Also nice watching in the turns where you're close enough to see their eyes looking at the apex and then looking down track as they accelerate out of the turn, assuming there's a driver still using a clear shield

dan79brooklyn · 06-15-2016, 12:54 AM

I'm always excited to see a new race in a different part of the world. Looking forward to it. This season has been pretty exciting. I hope Ricciardo can get a win soon. Or maybe Vettel.

DaveE · 06-15-2016, 01:31 AM

This was thrown together rather quickly to keep drivers from competing at LeMans in my opinion.

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tevake · 06-15-2016, 02:41 AM

Now that makes some sense DaveE, this race had poped up suddenly and in nowhere.
Tho it may turn out to be an interesting place.

Strange track layout, especially the side by side section.

As a F 1 fan for a while now the decision making process does baffle at times like this.
The plan to create a schedule conflict with Le Mans so as to keep F 1 drivers away,
Does seem like something that Bernie would think up. Petty, selfish, shortsighted.

I thought the cross over of F 1 drivers to the endurance sports car world was good for both. Seemed like the drivers liked it too.

Cheers Richard

javadog · 06-15-2016, 05:23 AM

This race has nothing to do with Le Mans. Bernie could have scheduled another race on the calendar this weekend. He has plenty to pick from.

This is all about a country that has $40 million to put in Bernie's little brown sack every year. That's a little more than the going rate, so how could he resist? He has no integrity.

An F1 race in a country that probably didn't have cars 20 years ago...

JR

Deschodt · 06-15-2016, 10:19 AM

I'll give it a chance, it's a very different layout, for sure... The super long straight should lead to very low downforce setups, so no wings combined with close walls/barriers and no runoff... It *could* be interesting... Assuming they have cranes in baku !

I'd love a rematch of ROS/HAM at the first corner ;-) (followed by a win from someone else)

all while I have the ipad Fox sports Go playing Le mans 24h on my lap.

javadog · 06-15-2016, 10:25 AM

Thank God we get Le Mans. My favorite weekend of the year, by far.

Here's why I am concerned about Baku. In the interest of running part of the track through the old downtown, it will pass through the section in the photo below. It's ridiculous.

javadog · 06-15-2016, 10:30 AM

A more recent view, during an inspection of the work done to the "circuit."

Apart from this being a place where the mother of all wrecks could occur, don't be surprised if there are problems with the new asphalt that was laid over the cobblestones. Temporay street circuits have often had such problems in the past.

Neilk · 10:34 AM

Looks narrow. I foresee some bad accidents on that long narrow front straight.

Castle is at 1:45.

javadog · 06-15-2016, 10:39 AM

Man, that looks bad. I hope the drivers boycott the race. It's as bad as racing in Macau.

JR

javadog · 06-15-2016, 10:43 AM

But wait, there's more...

Because crooked Bernie always tries to arrange the race time so that it can be viewed live by his favorite part of the F1 audience in whatever time he feels it's most convenient for them, I offer this little addendum:

The start time has moved forward to 18:00 local, 13:00 GMT, believed to be to prevent a finish in full darkness.

If I were a driver, I'd be pissed that it's anywhere near that time of day, versus something like high noon.

JR