I had a long idea to visit the country of lights. Enthusiastic reviews and excellent photos of Baku are beckoning, but there was not enough serious reason to travel. And then he appeared-the Grand Prix of Formula 1 in Baku, where city streets were used as a track! Having decided to combine the pleasant with useful, I took tickets: immediately on F1 and on the plane…
I flew to Baku three days before the race, leaving myself time to study the city. And in the first walk, I found that they still finish the F1 track, and you can safely take a walk, look at the turns, departure zones and other details … I seem to be lucky, usually you just won’t get on the formula track. The next day, all points of entering it were already either closed or guarded by police. It turns out that in my lifetime I managed to walk along the city routes in Monaco (just along the streets :)) and along the highway in Baku. Well, ride an autodrome on Sochi.
The track in Baku was laid in parallel to the embankment along the Neftyanikov Avenue around the Old City, the Government House and other wide avenues. It turned out a lot of high -speed sections that ended with twists of 90 degrees, there was also a slow section of the Old City. The main features of the route: it is the fastest of the city, it has a series of very narrow turns (7, 6 meters — the width of the streets in the Old City), the longest “straight” segment in the season is 2200 meters, and two oncoming sections of the highway are divided only by the chipper.
The routine was designed by the ubiquitous German Tilke. It turned out to be the fastest among the city just due to many direct sections. Somewhere they even laid temporary asphalt on the paving stones. And so they will do before each race. The network wrote that the budget of the first Grand Prix in Baku amounted to about $ 60 million. This is enough about the money, we write about the impressions!
When I decided to go, there were almost no free hotels at the Bucking, I had to take it; Nevertheless, a good option was found — the Hotel «Horizon». Almost in the center of the old city, and most importantly — inside the track. All the main attractions of Baku are in walking distance: to the rostrum is a stone’s throw, you can wake up with the first sounds of motors. When I already booked the hotel, I realized that I was hurrying. The best option to choose a hotel and buy tickets is the official website of the race
If we talk about tickets for F1, then always before that I bought them on Formula1. COM, the most official and reliable source source. But this time, going to the site, I found that all the tickets were sold out according to them, and only the most expensive ones remained for $ 600, just then I found the race site on which all types of tickets were available, with the exception of the inputs without places, and even cheaper by almost 20%.
The process of buying a ticket is quite simple: you choose the rostrum and the number of places, you pay. A voucher comes to the mail, which needs to be printed and come to the point of delivery of tickets with it. This time it was a shopping center Boulevard on the embankment.
Formula 1 rarely goes alone, usually Porsche Cup or GP2, or both, go to the load. This time there were only GP2 races. On TV they are rarely shown, but watching is very interesting. The pilots have fewer responsibility, temperament is not yet knocked out by team tactics, so the races are bright, emotional and with a bunch of accidents. Only starts from under the safety machine are worth. It seems that they only removed the wreckage from the past accident, the restart — and immediately new. GP2 also has a Russian team — Russian Time.
Let’s move on to observation of F1. The first free workouts were rather timid, the pilots got used to the new highway, although rather not to the highway, but to turns. Many 90-degree and other slow turns after long direct were the main test for pilots in this Grand Prix. The main problem was created to the left after the longest starting straight line, there the pilots regularly missed due to the overwhelming. This was especially active in the heat of the struggle.
The winner of the Grand Prix of Europe has traditionally been a Mercedes team for this year — a miracle did not happen. This time it was Niko Rosberg. The second place was taken by Vettel, and the third Sergio Perez, who in the last circles overtook the district of Kimi Raikkonen. The second pilot Mercedes Luis Hamilton fought with technical problems and eventually arrived only 10 place. There is no point in writing detailed results of the race, for this it is better to go to the F1News website. ru or see the race in the record.
I want to tell about the infrastructure of the Grand Prix from the point of view of the viewer. I visited a dozen different tracks, so there is something to compare with.
You can not watch training from different stands; If you have a ticket for a specific tribune, then they will only be launched on it and will be held precisely to the place that is indicated on the ticket, even if it is empty; On many GP on Friday and Saturday, before qualification, they allow you to watch training from different stands if you have a tribune ticket;
Those who have “standing” tickets can only stand on specially designated catwalks near the main straight line or next to the podiums; It is visible there little, even cars are almost not visible due to concrete fences, and it is forbidden to approach the track closer;
From most of the stands, the review is closed with trees, which are around quite a lot;
In the early days, inspection at the entrance to the highway is very active, all the boxes and cases in bags are shaken, then it decreases into the flesh to the free passage during the race itself; The most loyal security by Absheron Mariott!
There is nothing special to do on the territory of F1 Village, except to walk along the embankment, eat and drink beer. There are some entertainment events such as gymnasts who jump on trampolines, motorcyclists in the field and the national ensemble, they can be looked at them once, nothing more;
The food is very good-they frure barbecue and cubab, make pizza; sell food through vouchers, first you buy a ticket, for a certain type of food or drink, and then you go with it and get that you chose.
There is always beer on F1, here it was also a simple bright: tubular, Baltic cooler and some local. The most delicious is the tube.
You can go and go to any checkpoint, it’s convenient if you have nothing more to do and you want to wander around the city and see the sights, they are all at hand.
After each racing day, a world -class star was held on the territory of F1 Village. In Baku, these were Chris Brown, Inrika Iglesias and Farrell Williams. In my memory, such concerts took place after racing in Singapore and the UAE.
If you summarize: the Grand Prix of Baku, alas, did not head the top of the big circus races I visited. The race itself was quite boring, little intrigue and little overtaking. But as an occasion to visit Baku — just right! It was the city itself that impressed me most of all. Very interesting, which successfully combines the historical part and Azerbaijani national motives with modern architecture and technologies. This is what I have identified from his sights for myself:
Icheri Sheher is an old city, you can walk and watch all two days in it; I visited the Shirvanshakhov Palace, a girl’s tower (by the way, it is clearly visible from the F1 highway, if they don’t drive it out, you can watch :)), a miniature book, a place where the plot was shot from “Damn Brushes!»In the» Diamond Hand «, and several national cafes;
The cultural center of Heydar Aliyev — the exterior of the building causes more emotions than the internal situation. From some angles, the building resembles a F1 car;
Flam towers. Against their background it is best to be photographed, but there is nothing particularly interesting inside. I found a spa zone with pools between flames and a more or less suitable cinema.
The fountain near the Philharmonic named after Muslim Magomayev resembles a famous arch in Gagrakh.
Square of the State Flag: a huge space, you can walk, but you can ride on great.
Embankment called the boulevard. It has a mini-Venice and a Ferris wheel.
Carpet Museum, building built in the form of a huge rolled carpet. But I didn’t go there — not a fan of carpet attractions ..
The contract for holding F1 races between Baku and FOG is signed for 5 years. So you have 4 more years for the opportunity to combine pleasant with useful.