Sebastian Vettel says retaining some form of danger is crucial to the appeal of F1 and felt the Baku City Circuit was the perfect balance of risk and reward.
The new track received criticism from some drivers for not having big enough run-off areas and for having a dangerous pit entry towards the end of a 2.1km flat out stretch. However, Vettel - speaking about the appeal of F1 at the FIA Sport Conference in Turin - says danger is one of the attractions of the sport and believes Baku was a positive addition as a challenging street circuit.
"It’s my opinion, but what fascinated me as a child was the speed,” Vettel said. “I think racing should keep its core pillars. Speed is one essential one. I think the passion for speed, you have it or you don’t. The shame really is to sit here and try to explain here how it feels to drive one of those cars. I think the sensation of the speed, the cornering speeds that we can do is incredible. It has remained one of the main pillars throughout, speaking to drivers such as Stirling Moss. At the time a Formula 1 car was the best car you could drive and the most exciting one.
“I think to some extent the ingredient danger as well, that makes it exciting. Just coming from Baku last week, the circuit got a lot of criticism for being too dangerous. I disagree. I think the FIA and the people in Baku, the organisers had done a hell of a job fitting that race track in in a place where arguably is not made for racing, but it’s fantastic, there’s vey little room for error and I think that’s why racing is so exciting and what made it exciting in the past.
“As I mentioned as well, the fact the cars have become a lot safer, it’s nice for us. Many years ago obviously drivers weren't as lucky, the cars weren't as safe as they are now. I think you need to find the right compromise. The ingredients for passion, for speed, for danger, for noise is very important. Equally we want to make the sport safer. We can’t shut our eyes if bad things happen. I think we need to react. I think we have in the past years in the past years and we still do now.”
And Vettel believes the 2017 regulations provides a positive step towards faster cars which will increase the appeal for both drivers and fans.
“It is [a difficult balance to find], but ultimately it might sound wrong initially, but the sport in some way has to remain dangerous so to say, because that’s what’s appealing to people. If you lose that ingredient, people don’t sense anymore that it’s something out of their reach and out of their world and becomes less exciting.
“It has to be done the right way, which they’re trying very hard to do. Next year’s regulations should be a step up for at least us, the drivers, for us it’s always great, the faster we go. We’re not stepping back in any regard. It’s a step forward."
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