Baku Launches Formula 1 - What Is Price of Issue?

Today Baku started racing Grand Prix of Europe, Formula 1. The competitions are held on the track in the center of Baku. On the first day training runs take place, and the pilots learn the new route for them. On June 18 the race will be held with the participation of 11 qualified teams of 2 pilots. Ten of the best pilots will compete for Grand Prix on June 19.

During the qualification and the final 51 drivers will make a circle with 20 bends of varying complexity on a 6 km ring route, developing a maximum speed of 340 kilometers per hour.

The start will be given in Azadlig Square, from where the riders will proceed along the streets Pushkin, Khagani, Avenue Bulbul, Zarifa Aliyeva Street, Oilmen Avenue, and Aziz Aliyev Street. By a narrow alley along the walls of Icheri Sheher the race vehicles will rise to ​​Youth Square, and from there – by an arch-like path to Istiglaliyyet Street and down Niyazi Street to Oilers Avenue and along the seaside boulevard in a straight line about 2 kilometers to the place, where they started.

The competitions have created great inconvenience for citizens. So, on June 14-20 the traffic along the race routes and on the adjacent streets is discontinued.

Residents of homes in the inside area are unable to use their personal transport. To leave the place they have to walk in circles through several blocks.

For the whole week Baku is deprived of the opportunity to visit the seaside boulevard, which is available only to holders of tickets for the race. And they are mostly wealthy people, as ticket prices range from 90 to 590 dollars.

On June 12, the Minister of Youth and Sport Azad Rahimov said the sale generated 2 million AZN (1.32 million USD). At the same time, 70% of the tickets were purchased by citizens of Azerbaijan, others – by foreigners. According to the minister, not all tickets were sold.

Earlier in March, the minister said the supposed gain from the sale of tickets would be 3-4 million AZN (1.8-2.5 million USD).

As for the expenditure, it would not exceed 100 million manats (66 million USD), the minister assured. According to him, the cost will not pay off in the first year, but the economic benefit will be provided "in the future by attracting tourists."

Independent experts have questioned the cost-effectiveness of undertaking Formula 1 in Baku. To attract tourists, it is not enough to carry out large-scale sports and cultural events, and it is necessary to cancel visas, as the neighboring Georgia did, and to create an infrastructure of economy hotels, not glamorous luxury ones. In addition, it is necessary to correct the image of the country abroad, which in recent years has been frequently mentioned in the foreign media in the context of human rights violations. But apparently, Azad Rahimov has different priorities and a different logic. -06D--