Baku promoter hits back at Liberty Media comments

Azerbaijan Grand Prix promoters have reacted to the "ignorant" criticism sent their way by Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei.

In a conference with analysts earlier this month, Maffei reviewed F1's state of affairs, characterizing Baku's presence on the sport's calendar as a race which "does nothing to build the long term brand (of F1) and help the business".

Baku promoter Arif Rahimov lost no time reacting to the derogatory comments by F1's owners, admitting to be surprised by Maffei's remarks.

"It does upset us, obviously. Mr Maffei has been involved in F1 for less than half a year," Rahimov told Reuters.

"We've been working on this project for three years now so we have more experience with F1 than them. I think saying something like this is ignorant, but we'll see."

"We truly believe the race was a success. It was something that was commented on from all the various stakeholders across the board.

"The fans loved the racing action, they loved what they saw as entertainment.

"It was a success for the drivers because it was a challenging track which was very unforgiving and which was very interesting for the drivers as well. It was a great race, it was a great show.

"I find it hard to understand how someone who has not attended the race or the event can be commenting on our race in a bad manner," added Rahimov.

• Liberty Media's Maffei slams Baku for adding no value to F1

Rahimov also insisted that to date, there had been very little contact with Liberty Media since it took over F1.

He also said that Baku's ten-year contract which was binding by five was not currently in jeopardy.

"The only way by which this contract can be ended is upon mutual agreement. We contribute to a large chunk of F1 revenues and I believe it would be a loss for them if they were to make the decision to stop the race in Azerbaijan," he said.

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