- F1 drivers will hit some of their fastest speeds of the year at this week's race in Baku.
Nico Rosberg warns that if a car broke at the wrong time near pit lane, "there is no more you."
There is always some risk when driving a race car more than 200 mph, but one feature on
In a video titled, "How to master the Baku track," 2016 F1 champion Nico Rosberg explains why the long straight at the end of the lap is the most dangerous in the sport, and if a car wrecked at the wrong time, the driver would die.
The long straight on the Baku street circuit is among the fastest sections all season, with drivers expected to reach 207 mph (333 kph). While the speeds alone are dangerous, what makes this section worse is that it also has the entrance to the pit lane.
"[It is] one of the most dangerous of the whole year, and it was quite scary," Rosberg said before the 2021 race. "Imagine something breaks on the car here. You're at 350 kph. On the left — just four meters to the left — there's just a wall, and it's facing you. If something breaks, and you're in that wall, it's the end; there's no more you.
"This is one of the most scary places I've ever driven an F1 car in. To go by there just feels ridiculously wrong. But you have to try and blend it out."
According to Baku race promoter Arif Rahimov, the pit lane entrance is being "slightly" changed for the 2022 race.
"There are no changes to the track itself, but we've been requested by the FIA to slightly modify the pit lane entrance, so it's a little bit safer," Rahimov told Jonathan Noble of Motorsport.
It is unclear what those changes are. However, this move comes after Rosberg's warning nearly proved prescient at the end of the 2021 Baku race.
Considering where he was on the track, if it had been the right rear tire, there is a good chance Verstappen would have driven straight into the wall marking the entrance to pit lane and things could have ended much worse.