Construction Work For Baku's Temporary F1 Street Circuit Set To Kick Off This Week

Construction work for next year’s F1 grand prix on the streets of Baku is set to kick off this week. Track designer Hermann Tilke, who drew up the 6km circuit in Azerbaijan’s capital, told SBD Global that construction on the project will start immediately after the European Games. “We have finished all the design, but we couldn’t start construction because of the European Games. Of course they didn’t want to have a big construction site in the city during the Games.” The inaugural European Games, a multi-sports event modeled after the Olympics, concluded on Sunday and gave way to preparations for the country’s most prolific sporting event to date, next year’s European F1 Grand Prix. Tilke said construction will include resurfacing streets and adjusting pedestrian roads. “Lots of small things have to be done, but at the end lots of small things become a big thing.” Baku’s F1 debut is currently earmarked for July 17, 2016, according to a leaked provisional F1 calendar.

ONE OF A KIND: Tilke declined to provide details on construction costs for the 20-turn street course on which F1 cars are expected to reach top speeds of 340kph. However, he said building an F1 racetrack from scratch has a minimum price tag of €100M ($112M). In a recent interview with the AP, Azerbaijan’s Sports Minister Azad Rahimov said that costs for the first race would amount to between 70M-90M manats ($66M-$86M). The unusually long circuit -- the second longest among current F1 tracks behind Spa-Francorchamps (7km) -- will be one of a kind and does not have to fear comparisons to Monaco or Singapore, according to Tilke. “We are doing some unusual things there. We are going around the old city with the track. It will be fantastic.” Baku signed a four-year contract with F1, including an option for an additional five years. Financial terms of the deal remain confidential.