Azerbaijan opens a new racing frontier

Q. Is everything going according to schedule for the race in June?

A. Yes, we are going according to schedule, and we have a master plan for every function of the organization of the race. We are tracking it on a weekly basis to make sure that everything is going right. On some points we are actually ahead of schedule. We are really active and fully mobilized and working full speed.

Q. Baku has hosted several different kinds of games and events — such as the Eurovision Song Contest and the European Games. What appealed to you about Formula One?

A. Obviously all of these big events have different markets and the market of F1 is very unique. You get very high-end spectators, very good crowds, on TV and at the races as tourists. Apart from that, I think the visibility that F1 gives you is incomparable to Eurovision and the Games. We have done a good job hosting the Games and we have done a good job developing the Games as a brand, and that is something that never existed before. Whereas Formula One, for example, is an existing brand. You don’t need to promote Formula One as a brand because it is already self-promoted. You just need to make sure that your country understands what it is.

Q. Does the country understand what it is? Are there racing fans in Azerbaijan?

A. There is a fan club in Azerbaijan. It is not huge. The sport is new in Azerbaijan. We don’t have any permanent tracks. So there is no huge interest in the sport at the moment, but we are really working to improve it. We are doing a lot of stuff in schools with the kids to try to promote the sport to them, to explain to them what Formula One is. We are doing a lot of work with all the different government structures, just trying to explain to them how much attention it brings to the country, how many good things it brings to the country, what the sport is. We are getting there.

Q. Which other Formula One races and tracks would Baku compare with?

A. As we are a street circuit, we are looking at other street circuits. There are only two that are very relevant: Singapore and Monaco.

It’s really a combination of the old and new parts of Baku. You get the brand-new skyscraper buildings, like the Flame Towers and all the glazed new-style buildings, as well as all of the older architecture, like the beginning-of-the-20th-century French architecture. And then you go around the old city walls, which are medieval, 16th-, 17th-century walls of the Unesco-protected old city. And this combination makes our circuit very unique. It makes it look very beautiful.

We have some very tight sections, barely eight meters across. That is also going uphill, and that is the corner on the side of the old city wall. It looks absolutely gorgeous. We have a very fast section along the main promenade, with a top speed of over 340 k.p.h. And the fact that we are a city circuit with an average speed of 210 k.p.h. makes it the fastest city circuit on the calendar.

Q. Why call it the European Grand Prix and not the Azerbaijan Grand Prix?

A. We are positioning ourselves as a European country. That can be seen from the European Games and Eurovision. That’s just continuing the legacy of what we do and continuity in what we do. This title was free at the time, after Valencia left the calendar, and we specifically asked for that title. If you talk to people, if you just feel the atmosphere in the city, it is a European mentality with all of its openness. Maybe geographically, Azerbaijan is half in Europe and half in Asia.

Q. Are other events planned around the race?

A. Definitely. We want to create a big event with a lot of entertainment, with a lot of surprises, star appearances, etc. It helps us a lot being in the city because everything happens there and so you don’t need to drive somewhere or take a cab to get there.

 

(NYT)