Hamilton added: “There’s one very tight spot on it”. “The extremely long straight will not benefit us”, he says. The bit I don’t like is a few corners. I don’t know what I can say…
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“It’s quite Monaco-esque in terms of braking and how close the barriers are – but you’re arriving at much higher speeds”.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how they’ve transformed the area to accommodate a grand prix race”. I’m surprised. I was expecting a Safety Car at any moment and I was overtaking some back markers and they were all over the place, locking tyres and everything. Hopefully they [the FIA] have done their tests, but Monaco has got a lot of run-off.
After an eventful Canadian Grand Prix, the Formula One circus heads to Baku for the European Grand Prix.
But, as his team chief Toto Wolff has warned, Mercedes no longer can rely on outright performance superiority and recognized that Ferrari may, in some conditions, have the power to out-pace them. “So, I think it should be exciting”, the German said. We have to wait till we get there.
“It’s not going so well lately but that doesn’t change my optimism, my motivation or my feeling of coming here and being excited knowing there will be the opportunity to win, just as there has been on all the previous weekends, so it doesn’t change that much. We just have to hope it doesn’t happen”.
“It is happening right now”.
More “traditional” race venues that have also returned to the calendar in recent years after absences are the US, Mexico and Austria. That’s not been a blow to me because I haven’t been thinking that way.
Another interesting fact is that the cars will race in an anti-clockwise direction.
While Ferrari is expected to take the challenge to Mercedes again in Baku, Red Bull’s chances look diminished. “It’s a brand new track so we don’t have it on the simulator”, Palmer explained.
Like most drivers, of course, Wolff will concentrate on his team’s track performance and results while, doubtless, remaining happy to avoid the rising volume of those who have been drawing attention to Azerbaijan’s poor record on human rights.
Human rights organizations have long expressed concern about restrictions on political opposition, and corruption, under the government of Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his father in 2003.
This was raised by the “Sport for Rights” campaign group in London this month when they discussed the issue with one of F1 commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone’s leading advisers and lawyers, Sacha Woodward-Hill, at a meeting in London.
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Ecclestone was fielding questions after Amnesty International released a statement on Wednesday night saying: “Formula One should use its influence and publicly call on the Azerbaijan authorities to end their crackdown on human rights”.
