For the past two years the Azerbaijan Grand Prix has succeded in everyway to keep us, the viewer, glued to our seats from the moments the lights go out to the moment the chequered flag falls. But with a number of accidents slowly giving this track a reputation, I ask, is this track a classic or a danger?
The Baku City Circuit which is home to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, first came to the calendar in 2016 as the European Grand Prix. It is a 6km temporary street circuit located in the midst of Azerbaijan's capital city; Baku. The first race held at this circuit in 2016 was relatively quiet leading fans to label it as "boring." Little did we know what was to come.
For the following 2017 season the European Grand Prix was renamed and thus the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was born. The 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was one we would all remember. Lewis Hamilton started on pole with Daniel Ricciardo being the eventual winner. This race was the start of something classical. Accidents throughout the race caused the field to be completely mixed up but most noticeably, it was Sebastian Vettel's anger towards Hamilton in which we would all remember.
Going into the 2018 race, the hype was high. Sunday was forcasted to have upto 80kph wind gusts and with the craziness involved with last season's race, hopes were high for a cracker and boy, that is what we got. Vettel led the cars off the line and within a couple of corners came our first accident involving Esteban Ocon and Kimi Raikkonen with resulted in a retirement for the young Frenchman Ocon. As the race went on more retirments came including a big accident caused by Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo. Verstappen is known for his aggressive moves (and I will write a post about this) which of course would start a debate. Who's fault was it? Verstappen or Ricciardo? It's unfair to pinpoint the blame on one driver. It was racing incident. But thanks to this, things kicked off big time including a crash for Romain Grosjean under the safety care and a cruel retirement for Valterri Bottas while leading only a few laps from the end. Lewis Hamilton was the winner with Kimi Raikkonen and Sergio Perez taking up the final two podium places.
So, if this track is giving us some races to remember, why am I asking if it's a danger. Personally, I've never seen it as a danger. The long straights and tight corners makes for some good racing. The unusual amount of safety cars and accidents has led many people on my twitter feed to say they think this race should be taken off the calendar. But I do not agree with this. Every track is dangerous, this is a dangerous sport. As mentioned before, this track is tight and twisty at times, the corners come up to you from nowhere. It's a challenge. (Trust me, I can't complete this one for the life of me on the game.) These are the best drivers in the world and no matter what circuit you go to, accidents happen. I do not think this track is a danger. Its proven to be anything but a bore and frankly I'm already looking forward for next years round.
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