I think Baku is a much unappreciated circuit. The drivers bitch and moan about safety every year, but they have no credibility in that area considering how they chop, block swerve and shove each other off the track virtually every weekend. The circuit isn't the problem. They had to red flag the race last year because the drivers ran into each other so much, including deliberately under yellow flag, that they couldn't miss all the resulting debris. Yeah, let's listen to them.
The cars are actually too good for this to be a really daunting circuit. They are flat out on the sweepers on the back side of the circuit and also leading up to the front straight. I keep hoping we will get rain there and then those turns would be both daunting and challenging. The Castle adds a little bit of mystique and in general the surrounding buildings give the circuit a nice look. It's also nice to get a break from the miles of tarmac run off and multi colored gravel traps.
The complaint is the walls are close and hard and there is no run off, but you can bet no one will complain about that when they go to Monaco later this year. It's funny how they are so silent about that and bitch so much about Baku, which is a much better circuit. So what if the walls are close and hard? Indycar drivers deal with that for 500 miles at a time and they never complain about it. Baku is probably the most interesting circuit on the calendar and at least the first two years the drivers did nothing but forecast a human carnage of epic proportions. It still hasn't happened, except maybe when the drivers forget they have to share the track with each other.
There are other real reasons not to race at Baku, like say their human rights violations, but F1 can't concern themselves with that, not when their attendance and ratings are so important.
Overall, though, I have enjoyed both of the Grands Prix held there so far and hope we get a cracking race this weekend.
