Baku, February 4, AZERTAC

Baku City Circuit (BCC) has welcomed the Sky Sports F1 team to Baku last weekend.

Representing the Sky F1 team in Baku was one of the F1 Paddock’s most popular presenters, Ted Kravitz, known in particular for his ‘Ted’s Notebook’ segment, who travelled with his film crew to Azerbaijan’s capital city to see for himself what awaits F1 fans this summer at the 2016 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe.

Arriving on Friday morning, the team didn’t waste any time getting to work as they took in their first impressions of F1’s newest host city, capturing everything from the airport upon arrival to the city’s iconic Flame Towers, Azerbaijani flag, shopping district and the Baku Crystal Hall - home of the 2012 Eurovision song contest!

The next day saw Ted Kravitz take his first tour of the Baku City Circuit, guided by BCC’s Head of Venue Delivery, Tom Butcher. The tour of what is estimated to become the fastest street circuit in F1 covered all the highlights of this exceptional new addition to the F1 calendar, including: The main straight alongside Baku’s seaside promenade where driver speeds are expected to reach up to 340 km/h; The breath-taking Government Building that will overlook the Paddock and Pitlane; The astonishing and soon the be iconic sequence of narrow turns from T7-11 alongside the old city walls; The exciting downhill stretch of the circuit by T16 that leads on to the home straight; The beautiful backdrop of T18, which passes one of the city’s oldest and most revered structures, the Maiden Tower, leading into the circuit’s exciting ‘dual-carriageway’ section.

Needless to say, Ted and his team were highly impressed by the circuit and excited to see it all come to fruition in June:

The Sky Sports F1 team also took time out of their busy weekend schedule to sit down with BCC Executive Director, Arif Rahimov, for a one-on-one interview discussing the on-going preparations for the 2016 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe.

To add a touch of local flavour and humour to their coverage of Baku and the Baku City Circuit, Sky decided to take their own tour of the city on Sunday in a classic white Lada, the likes of which pocket the streets of Baku and add to the city’s unique charm. This allowed them to complete their own personal tour of the city where they once again took in the main highlights of the circuit and also found time to visit an oil pump on the outskirts of the city!