Swedish driver Dino Beganovic, of the DAMS Lucas Oil team, spoke to the press about his impressions of the Baku City Circuit, host of Round 12 of the FIA Formula 2 Championship, taking place from 24 to 26 September in Azerbaijan. As the street circuit has never been used by the category before, the driver noted that the layout puts all competitors on relatively equal footing.
“It’s a very cool track because it’s a street track. You don’t get to come here before F2, so it’s a new track for the rookies and very different,” said Beganovic.
The Swede also discussed the technical characteristics of the layout, which measures 6.003 km. According to him, the low-downforce setup required by the circuit makes driving particularly tricky in certain sections, but is offset by strong overtaking opportunities on the longer straights — characteristics that help explain why the venue has already recorded speeds of up to 335 km/h, a mark set by Jüri Vips in 2022.
“You run with low downforce, which makes things very tricky in certain sections, but the very long straights bring a lot of opportunities to overtake,” he explained.
Asked about the circuit’s key strategic points, the DAMS Lucas Oil driver pointed to Turn 1 as the best spot to attempt an overtake, aided by DRS and notably hard braking.
“Turn 1 is probably the best place to overtake, with DRS and very hard braking into Turn 1,” he said.
Beganovic also flagged the most demanding part of the track: the so-called “castle section.” According to the driver, this is where competitors face the greatest challenge of the entire season.
“The hardest part of the track is the castle section, its’ the tightest of the year and brings a lot of challenge,” he concluded.
Beganovic’s comments carry extra weight ahead of an unusual weekend for the category: alongside Free Practice and two Qualifying sessions on Thursday, Round 12 will also feature a Sprint Race on Friday morning and two Feature Races — one Friday afternoon and one Saturday. With so much track time on the schedule, quickly adapting to the layout is likely to prove decisive for the weekend’s results.
Photo by James Sutton – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
