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Baku decision to be made by June for 2021 and beyond

12:41, 29 Apr 2018

byJake Williams-Smith

The promotors of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix will have until June to decide if they wish to renew their contract for the grand prix to remain on the calendar of Formula One. The circuit's executive director Arif Rahimov said he hopes to see a new deal in place soon.

The circuit has provided one dull race and one supremely entertaining race since being on the calendar. The race organisers however are confident a new deal can be reached to extend the circuits stay part of the Formula One circus.

“Money is obviously one of anything we talk about when there is a contract in place,” said Rahimov.

“There’s more than one side on the negotiation. From our side we want the race to stay, from the other side obviously we realise that we’re paying more than we possibly should. So we’re trying to get to the middle.

“I think in general Formula One has done a lot for us. I think it was a great project for us, it was a great project for Formula One based on the feedback that I get. People like the race, they like watching it on TV, they like watching it live.

"Every year we have more international spectators coming to the race, that says something about it. People are generally happy about Baku being in the Formula One calendar and we’re happy we’ve done it.

“However one of the key points is that to any promoter the first three years of the race, especially for promoters who want to develop the destination from a tourist perspective, the first two, three, four years of the project work more than the rest.”