The toughest challenge at the Baku City Circuit in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix has had some tweaks made to it – in the narrow castle section at Turn 8. While several drivers said recently that they no longer go on track walks during a race week, they will have missed a key adjustment made to the difficult left-hander.
The raised inside kerb has been removed from the inside of the corner, leaving a flatter entry and a re-profiling of the asphalt should make for a smoother surface beneath the drivers.
owever, a concrete wall remains in place to deter drivers from trying to take too much speed into one of the narrowest sections of any track on the Formula 1 calendar.
As a result, it was predicted by Sky Sports pundit Anthony Davidson that drivers will be able to add as much as 10mph more speed into corner entry, but the tight exit will still represent a significant challenge behind the wheel. Davidson described the changes on The F1 Show on Sky Sports:
“The old kerb has gone, it’s going to be flat all the way up to the [inside] barrier, which is solid concrete – you don’t want to be hitting this stuff. You can carry much more speed through here… so that means you have to get your braking point done and nailed even sharper than it was before. Things will now be faster all the way up that hill [after Turn 8].” – he explained.
Several have been caught out in that area of the track before, with Robert Kubica clipping the inside wall and ending up in the barrier, as well as Charles Leclerc cursing himself on team radio after locking up and crashing.
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