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Ferrari explains set-up challenge in Baku

The Grand Prix of Europe will provide teams with a set-up challenge due to the characteristics of the Baku City Circuit.

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.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.