Whiting happy with Baku progress
ByAutoSport
Published 01/09/2015 at 14:12 GMT+1
FIA technical director Charlie Whiting has been left impressed by the seriousness of the developers of the Baku street circuit ahead of the city's Formula 1 debut next year.
Eurosport
Image credit: TNT Sports
The Azerbaijan capital will host the European Grand Prix on July 17 2016, becoming F1's third pure street venue alongside Singapore and Monaco.
Provisional 2016 F1 calendar announced
There remain numerous logistical hurdles to overcome and for Whiting to oversee before he can give it the green light, but he is happy with progress so far.
"I had a meeting with Hermann Tilke [circuit designer] in Belgium and apparently it's all good," Whiting told AUTOSPORT.
"It's not like a normal track being constructed, of course, because it is a proper, pure street circuit.
"There are a few worrying points they are doing their best to overcome, but it's going pretty much as planned I would say.
"Next month they will be starting on the resurfacing that is necessary, and stuff like that.
"They are taking it all very seriously."
Whiting is planning on his next visit being in early January when he will be able to assess the progress being made, in particular with regard to a few key hurdles.
"There have been lots of little bits and pieces which require civil works before they start building the track itself," added Whiting.
"They've had to change a lot of pavements, walls, and stuff like that, as they've had to move them out of the way to get a better trajectory into a corner and for the run-off areas.
"But from what I can gather they're doing a good job."
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