Baku City Circuit, the fastest city circuit with tight turns and challenging slopes, will host a new race experience on April 27-29. Arif Rahimov, Executive Director of BCC, shared his experiences with us, and told about their objectives.
Azerbaijan is hosting the Formula 1 for the third time this year. What have you experienced in the organization of the event for the last two years? What can we expect from the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix which will take place on 27-29 April?
The last few years have been an extraordinary experience, not only for myself, but for everyone involved in helping to bring Formula 1 to Azerbaijan. We knew as soon as we finalized the agreement to host a race weekend here in Baku that there would be a tremendous amount to be learned by the entire team to ensure we could deliver a world class racing spectacle. The first year obviously offered up the most challenges as we had to assemble a completely new team in a very short space of time and hit the ground running to make sure we could transform the streets of Baku into a functioning Formula 1 circuit in a mere matter of months. To say that there was a lot of learning on the job would be an understatement!
However, one thing I am most proud of is the quality of personnel we brought on board to form the core BCC team. Some of our team had worked in F1 before but for most, this was completely unchartered territory. It is a testament to their skill, knowledge, passion and dedication how quickly everyone came to together as one and adapted to the massive task at hand. With some help from the sport’s governing bodies and our specialist suppliers we succeeded in bringing Formula 1 to Azerbaijan. While the first race was not the most exciting – this unfortunately is one area that we could not control! – the feedback from teams, drivers, stakeholders and visiting fans alike was overwhelmingly positive.
For the second year, we took everything we had learned in 2016 on board, strengthened the areas we already excelled in, improved on the weaker areas and added even more quality to our ranks resulting in a far bigger and better race than before. The entire process for this second race weekend was much smoother as this time around we knew what to expect and what pitfalls to avoid and look out for. In addition, the racing gods were on our side as the 2017 GP turned out not only to be the best race of the year but easily one of the most dramatic, explosive and unexpected races in F1’s recent history. The circuit finally fulfilled its potential, we saw a 30 percent increase in ticket sales, more fans – both domestic and international – attended, global viewing figures increased, we dominated social media and presented our most high profile post-race entertainment line-up to date. It really was a special weekend for me and my team and one of the proudest moments of my life.
For 2018, the goal is clear: bigger, better, bolder. With the new April date, a new element will be added to the weekend as the unpredictable weather conditions will likely play an important part in the outcome of the race. Furthermore, we will be hosting our major live music concerts in Baku’s famous Crystal Hall this year for the first time with Jamiroquai, Christina Aguilera and Dua Lipa headlining Friday through Sunday respectively. We are primed and ready to up our game once again and continue to position Baku as the home of the best GP on the calendar.
Have Azerbaijani people gained more awareness about Formula 1 and motor sports? Could you make an assessment by comparing today’s level of interest with 2016?
Azerbaijan is still a relatively new market for F1 and we knew that one of the main challenges we faced was to create a sense of ownership and heritage amongst the domestic fanbase. As such we have developed a series of domestic workshops and educational activations to generate further enthusiasm, awareness and knowledge of F1 and motorsport in general amongst the Azerbaijani population – in particular the youth who are the future of the sport’s success in this country.
Indeed, we have just completed the first-ever national F1 Simulator Championship where over 1,200 high-school students participated by racing on a virtual Baku City Circuit. Under the motto “Your Speed Formula” we carried out a ‘Formula 1 Month’ awareness campaign where our branded trailer with seven simulators inside travelled to six different regions across the country. The winner from each region was then invited to Baku for the Grand Final where they could see the actual track in person and also received a ticket to the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The project was aimed to increase national awareness of F1 and motorsport, as well as to educate the younger generation on road safety via a series of seminars presented by the Azerbaijan Automobile Federation. The project had very positive outcome with thousands of direct and indirect participants.
We feel very confident that the Azerbaijani population is beginning to really embrace F1, with all the signs of tickets sales and television viewing figures since the first race pointing to a growing interest in witnessing this incredible spectacle live and in person as well as from home.
In addition to our awareness programs throughout the year, the combination of seeing the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso on track during the day and then attending a Christina Aguilera or Dua Lipa concert at night for the price of one ticket is increasingly proving highly attractive to our home audience.
There is a great sense of pride that Baku is staging this major sporting event and we definitely sense a growing affection and sense of ownership by the domestic audience towards this race weekend.
What are the contributions of Baku City Circuit for the Azerbaijani economy?
The impact of the F1 race weekend on the Azerbaijani economy has been overwhelmingly favorable. Indeed, we recently tasked PwC with conducting an Economic Impact Study on our behalf which found that the impact felt by Baku from hosting an F1 race since 2016 comes to 277.3 million USD. This impressive figure is a combination of the direct and indirect results of operational spending linked to the arrival of F1 in Baku, taking into account the spend across various sectors including the professional services, hotels and general accommodation, catering, transport, social and cultural services, agriculture, post & telecommunications, wholesale trade and electricity, gas and water amongst others.
We are incredibly encouraged and satisfied by the positive results from this study. Ever since we brought this major sporting event to our capital city, we have been keen to stress that this wonderful spectacle is more than just a showpiece event but instead a catalyst for economic, social and cultural change that will continue to drive this city – and indeed this country – forward and provide increased opportunities and benefits for everyone living and working here. Long may it continue!
What are the special features of this track for racers and spectators? What are the characteristics of the Azerbaijani Grand Prix different from other races?
We are so proud of our street circuit, it really is completely unique and unlike any other on the F1 calendar. We felt from the very beginning that hosting a street race was the best option for Baku. In doing so, we are not only able to deliver an exciting and exceptional race but also are able to show the world our beautiful city at the same time. For us this is a much more appealing prospect than constructing a circuit on the outskirts of the city that would fail to show off the wonders of our great city.
Attending spectators and viewers at home are able to witness an incredible event taking place against one of the most stunning backdrops in F1 as the drivers race around the picturesque streets of downtown Baku, incorporating the city’s UNESCO-protected old town – Icheri Sheher – as well as its modern skyline and beautiful Caspian Sea vista.
The track itself is full of surprises and dramatic changes to challenge even the best drivers on the planet. The street pattern has obviously determined the nature of the track quite a bit, ensuring that the drivers face a number of singular challenges, including the tight 90-degrees turns and of course the famously narrow, winding uphill sequence of turns along the old town walls that always test their skills to the very limit – just ask Lewis Hamilton! In addition, the circuit became the fastest of any current street circuit in F1 with Valtteri Bottas (then in a Williams seat) reaching speeds of 366 km/h on the main 2.2 km straight along our beautiful seaside promenade during the first race weekend.
What is your target for the number of foreign and domestic spectators this year?
As mentioned, our target for this year – not just in terms of attendance figures but in all aspects – is to be bigger and better than before. We are expecting 70/30 split in terms of attending local and international spectators. Last year saw a substantial increase in attendance figures, both from domestic and international fans and we want to continue to build on that this year.
Indeed, the 2017 race saw over 70,000 fans visit the circuit across the weekend, which represented a 30 percent increase on our first year. Significantly, our international visitor numbers doubled in Year 2, up 100 percent from 2016 with guests arriving from over 65 different countries to witness the most dramatic race in recent memory. International fans actually accounted for a third of all overall ticket sales!
Do you have a name sponsorship deal on your agenda? Do you have such a plan for the future?
Like any race promoter, we are of course open to such a partnership. However, for any title sponsorship agreement to occur we need to make sure that the conditions are mutually beneficial to all parties and that it serves to further enhance and develop the BCC brand and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix’s wider goals going forward. Of course, once we have news on this, we will let everyone know!
