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Ricciardo warns of Baku challenge

18:04, 22 Apr 2018

byJake Williams-Smith

He might have already won in Azerbaijan but Daniel Ricciardo isn't taking the streets of Baku lightly fresh off of his win in China. The Australian warned that the circuit presents many different challenges to the drivers.

“Baku is different to other street circuits – because there are places where you can pass. Actually, lots of places where you can pass. As opposed to Monaco and Singapore where there’s not many places to overtake really.

“The trickiest thing in Baku is braking. There’s so many braking points where you have to commit and you have to brake as late as you can – but there’s no room for error.

“Once you’ve committed to that braking point, if you’ve locked a wheel, you’re in the wall. I’d say the hardest part about Baku is finding the limit with braking, and just having that confidence.

“You have Turn One, Turn Two and then the DRS straight. We’re honking down there, and then you see the wall coming, coming, coming and your instinct is to brake, brake, brake, brake."

The Red Bull man added that although labelled as a street circuit, the high-speed nature of Baku ups the difficulty factor in different ways.

“You need a lot of confidence to leave it late. That’s the biggest challenge with Baku, being able to really attack the braking, it’s such a high-speed circuit.

“Monaco is not that high-speed, it’s more about cornering, and Baku is more braking.

“With a street circuit you have to love it – but you also have to respect it and understand it. I understand that, to be fast, you have to be on the limit – but put yourself there and it can bite you.”