I spent the whole day messing with this Baku circuit map thing. It’s a street circuit, so it’s not like your usual racetrack, it’s literally on the roads of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Pretty cool, right?
First, I had to figure out where to even start. I mean, a map of a whole city? That’s a lot. Turns out, this track is famous for being super narrow in parts, especially around turns 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12. They call it the “castle section” ’cause it’s near some old castle, I guess. So, that’s where I focused my efforts.
I pulled up some online maps and started tracing the route. It’s a bit tricky because the roads aren’t designed for racing, so there are all these weird angles and tight corners.
- Turn 8 – This one’s a doozy. It’s like a sharp left, almost a hairpin, right at the start of the narrow section.
- Turn 9 and 10 – These are quick right-left that you gotta navigate through the narrow bit. No room for error here, that’s for sure!
- Turn 11 and 12 – These are slight curves that takes you out of the castle section and back onto a wider road.
I spent hours zooming in, zooming out, trying to get the lines just right. It’s not perfect, but I think I got a pretty good representation of those turns.
It is said that the whole track is about 6 kilometers long, but this castle section is where all the action is. They say it’s only about 7.6 meters wide there, which is crazy narrow for a race track! That’s like, barely wider than a regular two-lane road. Can’t imagine trying to overtake another car there.
Anyway, it was a fun little project. It’s not every day you get to map out a Formula 1 track, even if it’s just for fun. I learned a lot about Baku and its street circuit. They first held a race there in 2016, so it’s relatively new on the F1 calendar. Maybe I’ll get to visit one day and see it in person!
It was tough, but I finally managed to put together a decent map of the Baku circuit, focusing on that tricky castle section. I even marked out the turns, so anyone can see how wild that part of the track is. This whole thing makes me appreciate the skill of those F1 drivers even more.
