The 6.006km track is a street circuit which winds through the old town in Baku but also features a number of straights including a long flat-out section from Turn 16 all the way to the first corner. Sebastian Vettel’s race engineer Riccardo Adami says the preparation work done so far highlights how challenging it will be for teams to set-up their cars for the new track.
“So far we have seen this track only on the simulator,” Adami said. “We did a specific session to understand the characteristics of this track. It is a challenge because it features a very difficult sequence of corners and one long straight and then you go through the old town with the famous Turn 8, we will see how it will be.
“It’s a peculiar turn of this track, where all of a sudden the course becomes very narrow. So for the drivers it will be a challenge to find the right line to position the car and also it will be entertaining for overtaking, for sure.”
And Adami says the set-up for the Baku City Circuit will require a compromise due to the need for both low and high speed performance.
“Weather-wise it will be very different from Canada, we’re expecting warmer weather and even hot conditions. Normally, in this place, it should also be quite windy. So, it will be a challenge for us to tackle properly the set up to find the right balance between the long straight, the slow speed corners and the braking. So together with the warm weather this will be a challenge for us.
“On paper we have a low-drag circuit because of the long straight. So to have the optimal lap time you should go down with the level of downforce to optimise the top speed which will be very high on this track. But as I said it will be a compromise with the low speed corners that we’re facing in the old town, so it will be very interesting and I hope entertaining.”
