YouTube: Baku City Circuit – Onboard with Gulhuseyn Abdullayev
Baku F1 officials have released the first onboard lap of the new city circuit ahead of the inaugural race there on June 19.
The track will take in the old and the new sights of Azerbaijan’s capital and will see the cars wind through one of the narrowest sections seen on the calendar climbing past Sabayil Castle.
Twitter: I hope the cars won’t crash our castle #F1 #baku #aztqi
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The man behind the wheel for the onboard lap, Gulhuseyn Abdullayev, believes it will provide the drivers with quite a challenge come the race weekend.
“Turns eight to ten around Qosha Qala gates were particularly very interesting,” he was quoted by F1 Fanatic. “I believe we will witness breathtaking moments during the race.”
“Driving through those turns is not easy at all.
“The track was free for now, and did not require much effort from me, but during the race when there will be racing cars and slow moving pilots around or any incidents it will present a serious driving challenge for pilots.”
Away from the trip into the Eurasian city’s history, the rest of the circuit is fast, wide and will certainly offer a unique challenge.
While the official layout indicates 20 turns, the second half of the lap will be spent mostly on full throttle with a high-speed dash from turn’s 12-15 and another flat-out run from turn 16 all the way to turn one in theory making the main straight over two kilometres long.
Lap times in the 1m 42sec region are expected making for an average speed of over 131mph.
The build-up to the race on social media has been mixed and certainly a clash with the famous Le Mans 24 Hours race has given race fans quite the dilemma.
But with a circuit that looks like a mix of Sochi and Canada, with a little Monaco thrown in the middle, and the city of Baku offering a spectacular backdrop, it could well massively surpass what are pretty low expectations from F1 fans everywhere.
