Video of the Day: A sim of the Baku F1 Street Circuit

[Jordan Adcock]

Watch a simulated lap of what will be Azerbaijan’s new F1 track from 2016 in today’s video.

Officials from the Hockenheimring have stated it is too late for them to host the German Grand Prix after the financially-stricken Nurburgring pulled out of their turn to run the race this year, meaning F1 is almost certain to miss out Germany for the first time since 1955. It's a good thing that as another European host fades the rather tenuously named Baku European Grand Prix will soon take its place, right?

Having announced the deal with F1 last July, Azerbaijan’s capital Baku later revealed that the 3.75 mile street track would combine both the old and new city before finishing with a very long stretch on highways next to the Caspian Sea, providing what would be F1’s longest straight by a full kilometre.

What do you think of the Baku circuit? Should F1 be leaving more historic hosts like Germany for new destinations like this? Comment below!

 

[SnappyDEe]

Meh

 

[Torcano]

Meh indeed... the dejected groaning noises that I'm making right now could easily be mistaken for blue whale mating songs. What an immensely boring and layout.

 

[SnappyDEe]

I long for some change in F1. I still record and watch the races but TBH, F1 has a lot of issues that need fixing. 1st - get rid of Bernie.

 

[Nelson Ullinskey]

I actually kind of like the circuit itself. The tight twisty section is very Monaco-esque, and has some really fast sweeper turns with walls right by them allowing no room for error. That quick set of esses before the final straight looks fun!

What I absolutely hate is the context in which this track was introduced. Please, for the love of F1s history, secure a race in Germany (heck have a street race in Berlin or something if Hockenheim or Nurburgring don't want the event), bring back France and maybe even something in Sweden.

 

[SnappyDEe]

Yeah, that looks like a great circuit for lots of overtaking. NOT!

Monaco is Historic, I get it and I love it but this thing is just boring. But, the money is probably there. Let's go!

 

[James Cook]

The German GP should have protected status. No way should this have been allowed to happen.

 

[Torcano]

The layout, specifically the turns are just screaming bargain Singapore GP to me, and the Singapore GP I do like but this one is just so damn boring just because of the way the corners are ordered in the magnitude of least boring to borderline coma inducing... we start off with a bunch of 90 degree turns stringed along, leading next into the chicanes that are not chicanes which you just drive straight through which don't facilitate overtaking or anything spectacular and then into sweeping left handers in the final sector which are just so dull wherein the drivers will most probably just follow each other as that entire section is just a massive lead up to the uselessly long straight... I mean which imbecilic driver would want to be the leading car at the start of such a long straight unless you like helping people with your slipstream, so if you are behind someone in S3, instead of trying to overtake on those sweepers you could rather stay behind the car and don't bother overtaking anyone and just tailgate them so that you reach the start of the straight right behind them in the slipstream and you can happily blow past on the straight while flipping the bird and that is the only place on the entire track where most overtakes are going to happen... I guarantee you.

This is not a shining example of clever track design. Yeahhhhh...No, thank you.

 

[Nox]

Another boring street circuit at the expense of a purpose built racing circuit. Back in October, Tilke said, "there will be an extremely narrow uphill section at the old town wall that will reward pinpoint accuracy and courage, and we have an acceleration section of almost 2.2 kilometres along the promenade"

What he means is there is a long boring straight even longer than Shanghai, and narrow bits with no overtaking opportunities. And the Monaco comparisons... sorry, I get the historic nostalgia around Monaco, but the racing there is hardly ever more than a procession.

That said, I have to be open minded and at least give it a shot, I may be pleasantly surprised (but I doubt it, after having watched the Blancpain GTs in Baku)

 

[F_B]

The German GP should have protected status. No way should this have been allowed to happen.

To be honest I think the current Hockenheim is not that good.
Sachsenring should get a chance to host a F1 race, it’s a nice track.

 

[Joel]

Much rather prefer the German GP

 

[SnappyDEe]

The only problem I have with the current Hockenheim is that it can't hold a candle to the Old Hockenheim. I loved watching the cars blast off into the forrest then emerge into Sach's Kurve and the stadium section. They could be heard well before they even appeared. Gave one a real sense of the power, speed and danger. F1 awesomeness!

The tracks today are too short as well. Imagine 7 or 8 mile circuits with lots of high speed sweepers. Tilke's tracks are awful. It's all stop and go with chicanes in the worst places. They suck. Thank goodness for Spa. One of the few shining lights left.

 

[James Cook]

To be honest I think the current Hockenheim is not that good.
Sachsenring should get a chance to host a F1 race, it’s a nice track.

I'm not too bothered where the grand prix is held. What does bother me is the creeping feeling that some of F1's great nations may face the prospect of losing a yearly race, or worse, losing their place on the calendar altogether. F1 is obsessed with exploring new markets while seemingly forgetting those countries that made F1 what it is.

 

[SnappyDEe]

I do like one track designed by Tilke: the Sepang International Circuit. Good track. Lot's of high speed sweepers with a bit of elevation change here and there. Good track.

 

[Nox]

Istanbul is probably his best track. Aragon isn't half bad (am I remembering right that he designed that?), and I know not everyone likes COTA but I quite like it for sports car racing.

 

[Pär Öqvist]

Nurburgring GP should be demolished and they should make a new better track on it if F1 is to drive there. I won´t miss that grand prix at all though it´s not as bad to look at as it´s to drive.

This actually looked really good. A street circuit where you can actually overtake is a totally new idea