The profile and speed of the pit entrance chicane has been a constant talking point since F1’s inaugural event in Baku in 2016, as cars have to brake rapidly from very high speeds.
Last year, however, the scrutiny intensified when former world champion Nico Rosberg labeled it one of the most dangerous places on the F1 calendar.
“Imagine something breaks in the car here,” he said in a video ahead of the event. “You’re going 350km/h. On the left, there’s only one wall, and it’s facing you. If something breaks and you’re on that wall, that’s the end, it’s over.”
“This is one of the scariest places I’ve ever driven an F1 car. Going through it feels ridiculously bad, but you have to try to get through it.”
Sebastian Vettel also acknowledged after last year’s GP, in which Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll suffered mechanical failures on the finish straight, that they had been lucky to end up spinning in places far from the entrance to the pitlane.
Although the FIA defended the design last year and saw no reason to make a change, it has emerged that adjustments are to be made.
Baku race promoter Arif Rahimov revealed on Monday that the entrance was being refurbished in a bid to improve safety at the circuit.
When asked by Motorsport.com about changes to the circuit for this year, he said: “We are slightly changing the pitlane entrance.
“There are no changes to the track itself, but the FIA has asked us to slightly modify the pitlane entrance to make it a bit safer,” he explained. “We’ll see how it works. Drivers don’t usually make a lot of mistakes going into the pit lane.”
Rahimov said there were no other specific changes to the circuit, although he said the kerb situation, which could be more problematic for the current generation of F1 cars, would be reviewed over the weekend.
“Sometimes drivers come in, do their practice session and say, ‘OK, at that point over there, the steel curb has to go or we have to add it,'” he said.
“For the curve next to the Old Town part, the narrow section, we’ve been playing with the curbs since day one. We’ve added and removed them, and then added them back, so you can’t really tell until that the cars reach the asphalt”.
Baku, a new stage for sprint races?
Baku’s current contract runs until the 2024 race and Rahimov said talks about a possible extension had not yet started.
However, one thing he would particularly like is for Baku to secure one of the six sprint races being planned for next year. He said it was something he wanted to discuss with F1 bosses at next month’s grand prix.
“That’s on my agenda for this year’s race,” he said. “As busy as F1 is right now, I think the best time to bring news to their attention is when they’re here for real racing.”
“I’m a big proponent of it [sprint racing]. I really like the idea. I think it’s good to mix things up a bit over the years.”
“This can get boring when people get too used to the same format, and then they lose interest. So when these kinds of changes come, I think it’s good for the sport,” the promoter concluded.
