Red Bull chief Christian Horner slams F1’s ‘ludicrous’ decision over fears teams will ‘trash’ their cars
CHRISTIAN HORNER has slammed F1’s decision to hold a sprint race at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as “ludicrous”.
The street track has been selected as one of F1’s six short races on a Saturday, which are used to determine the grid.
However, the fast nature of the track and close walls with little run off area, leads Horner to fear that teams will “trash” their cars.
Red Bull were penalised for breaking the cost cap last year and big damage in Baku could cause another headache.
He said: “It’s absolutely ludicrous to be doing the first sprint race of the year in a street race like Azerbaijan.
“From a spectacle point of view – a fan point of view – it’s probably going to be one of the most exciting sprint races of the year.
“But from a cost cap perspective, all you can do is trash your car. And it costs a lot of money [in repairs if you crash] around there.
“One race is enough in Baku.”
McLaren boss Zak Brown agreed with Horner’s concerns as the parts bill comes out of the team’s budget, which is capped at £110million this season.
He added: “Anytime we go to a street circuit – Baku creates pretty exciting races – some pretty big crash damage bills.
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“It’ll be very exciting for the fans and hopefully, all the cars will come back the way they started.”
The Azerbaijan GP is set to take place at the end of April.