Baku: F1 certifying/Le Mans start clash no issue

The lateron than requirement schedule for the Baku weekend implies that the 6pm slot for Saturday’s F1 certifying session corresponds with the 4pm French start time for the Le Mans 24 Hours race.

But although that implies motorsport fans will have a option to make inbetween seeing F1 or the start of sportscars’ most popular race, Arif Rahimov, the executive director of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, believes that the timing is absolutelynothing to be concerned about.

Asked by Motorsport.com about the clash, Rahimov stated: “The most crucial part of Le Mans is the start of the race. But then the most crucial part of the certifying is the end of the certifying.

“So I believe with that, we can have the TELEVISION audience watch both: the start of Le Mans and the end of the certifying.”

Rahimov stated that there had not been much conversation with F1 and the FIA over the direct clash, as the Baku schedule was determined by a various variety of affects

“The schedule is created based on a lot of aspects,” he stated. “There are our internal aspects here and all the other bits and pieces that we have to do on Saturday, like the F2 race.

“So there is not typically as much option with how to relocation things around time sensible. But like I discussed, I’d be dissatisfied if the start of Le Mans was clashing with the end of the certifying. Since it’s clashing with the begin, I believe that will still bring all the viewers in.”

Keeping June date

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF21, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B, and the rest of the field at the begin

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Baku is on course for a sell-out this weekend after opening up to viewers onceagain, with a bigger number of global visitors purchasing tickets than priorto the pandemic.

Baku’s location on the F1 calendar is guaranteed upuntil at least 2024, with a agreement havingactually been extended back in 2021.

However, what might modification in the future is its race date with F1 looking to group races geographically together to assistance enhance takeatrip logistics and sustainability.

That indicates a repeat of the Baku/Canada double-header that is taking location this year is notlikely to be duplicated.

Rahimov stated, nevertheless, that Baku was identified to keep its race in June as moving it any earlier in the year would cause issues duetothefactthat of the weathercondition.

“We truly hadahardtime in the past when we had the race in April,” he stated. “We have to start structure quite much 3 months priorto the start of the race so, if we’re in April, then that brings us back all the method to winterseason. It’s incredibly hard to do the set-up.

“Also, for example this year, April here was rather bad in terms of the weathercondition, it was windy, it was cold and rainy. And I wear’t think we can threat having anything like that throughout the race since you desire to have complete grandstands.

“You desire to have viewers, that’s part of the general image. So we’re extremely delighted with the date in June and I actually desire to stay with that.”