Great Expectations

Rosberg Pips the Field at Baku’s Inaugural European Grand Prix

Preview I

The revived European Grand Prix arrived at the newly created circuit of Baku, with great expectations. Here was a new venue promising prodigious straight-line speed and precise handling on the picturesque streets capital of Azerbaijan. As with all new circuits, there was a steep learning curve as team engineers attempted to find the “sweet spot” between crucial straight-line speed while getting the tyres into the right grip window.

From FP1, it seemed they had already been caught out by the pace. Before arriving in Baku, the teams expected laps ‘below 1:50.’ Lewis Hamilton’s early Friday benchmark destroyed that thought; he was down in the 1:44s. Top speed was projected to be 225; Williams’ cars were regularly topping 235mph on the long main straight, with maximum braking force above 4.3 Gs at the end of both long straights. Massive speeds, heavy braking, new slick tarmac; it would be Montreal’s Gilles Villeneuve Circuit on hyper-steroids, with all the risks and rewards of getting those opposite characteristics to balance for 51 laps.