Bülbül means nightingale in Azeri and while it is rather charming to name streets after chirpy little avians, Bülbül Avenue has got nothing to do with birds. In Formula 1 terms, it is the short nameless straight which runs between Turns 3 and 4 on the Baku City Circuit. It is actually named after a famous Azeri opera singer. Bülbül’s real name was Murtaza Mammadov, but names can be very confusing in Azerbaijan. Originally in these parts children would not be named until they were in their teens, so that the name bestowed on them would reflect their personality.
But people needed a way to communicate with children and so they used informal names. A logical consequence of this was that childhood names were often retained alongside official ones when they grew older. Things became more complicated when Islamic influences arrived and patronymic elements were added to names. The meaning of a name was more important than whether it sounded nice or not. Later Soviet styles were adopted as well, but somewhere along the way, the wily Azeris concluded that this was all a bit silly – and so often resorted to nicknames.
The aforementioned Mammadov was a tenor and he sang so beautifully that he was named after the nightingale. His voice was so good that he would sing opera at La Scala in Milan.
Not only is the street in Baku named after him, there is even a rather big statue.
To illustrate the complexity of Azeri naming conventions, Murtaza Mammadov’s son is Polad Bülbüloğlu, a popular singer in his own right before he decided to become a diplomat. He has been the Azeri ambassador in Moscow for many years.
Baku is a city of monuments and statues. Azerbaijan is a country that is fiercely proud of its cultural heritage. Its history has been complicated, largely because everyone has been keen to get hold of the oil that bubbles to the surface in and around Baku. This black gold attracted the worst of folk – as it often does. Thus the country has tended towards strong leadership to avoid chaos. The problem with strong leaders is that they do not always believe in democratic methods.
A great deal of the oil money in recent years has been spent to make Baku a nice environment for visitors and to pay for iconic buildings to give the city a good international image. One day the oil will run out and Baku wants to develop other ways to make money. As a tourist destination it is pleasant and the country is happy with the impact F1 is having on its tourist industry. The people seem industrious and clearly understand – and enjoy – capitalism.
There was a bit of a kerfuffle in the days leading up to this year’s Baku race because of some diplomatic wrestling between the French and Azeri governments. This is rooted in France’s support of neighbouring Armenia (which is traditionally the enemy of Azerbaijan). Last autumn a French businessman with the unlikely name of Martin Ryan was arrested in Azerbaijan, accused of espionage. Two French diplomats were expelled and the French duly expelled two Azeris. Pretty normal stuff in diplomatic circles. However in March another Frenchman called Théo Clerc decorated a train in Baku with “street art”. He and two non-French accomplices were arrested, fined and told that they could not leave the country. In the days before the race Clerc was sentenced to three years in jail, which seemed a little harsh for some not very interesting graffiti. The French Foreign Ministry issued a travel advisory warning French people not to travel to Azerbaijan because of “the risk of arrest, arbitrary detention and unfair trial” and added that “respect for fundamental rights is not guaranteed”. This upset the government folk in Baku.
The result of all this was that there were some wobbles in F1 circles as the FIA has a lot of French employees, and Alpine too, while Meteo France (F1’s weather service) is government-owned and decided not to send its regular crew to the race. Fortunately, the weather was pretty stable and no radar pictures were required for TV…
Stefano Domenicali spent some of Sunday morning meeting with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev to discuss extending the contract of the Grand Prix, which runs out after the race in 2026. Azerbaijan wants a quick deal to secure its place on the increasingly busy F1 calendar. The sport is keen for the track to be upgraded with the pit buildings, designed to be temporary structures, needing to be done properly. F1 always wants to see bigger crowds and more space for VIPs…
Domenicali was a busy man (as usual) and also had a meeting with South Africa’s Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, who had flown up to Baku for discussions about a South African GP. This is not unrelated to the fact that a group of executives from the Formula 1 group flew to Kigali in Rwanda, in the week after Monza, to look at the F1 project that Rwanda is proposing. The concept is believed to be similar to that adopted in Malaysia in the late 1990s, with the construction of an international racing circuit close to the new international airport. The project will not be quick, however, with the first race not being for four or five years at the earliest.
South Africa has been trying to get a race organised for some years, but it cannot use public money (the economy is not very good) and there are bigger problems to solve. Private enterprise has failed to put together a deal that is interesting for F1.
Still, it is good to see that a race is on to get a race in Africa…
The big news in the days before Baku was that Adrian Newey has finally decided to join Aston Martin, lured there by a pot of gold of epic proportions and two and a half percent of the team’s shareholding. Good luck to him. It is not yet clear how Newey’s role of Managing Technical Partner will dovetail with all the other technical bigwigs that the team has been collecting in recent years. It is fairly clear that the current technical director Dan Fallows, who worked as an aerodynamicist under Newey at Red Bull for many years, is not going to be around for ever. But there are also questions about what the recently-appointed chief technical officer Enrico Cardile will do when he joins the team from Ferrari in 2025. There is also former Mercedes engine boss Andy Cowell, who is joining as group chief executive officer on October 1. Cowell is supposed to be reporting directly to Stroll, but the arrival of Newey may mean that he will be asked to report to Newey instead, given that a managing partner should have more clout than a mere CEO. And let us not forget Bob Bell, who enjoys the title Executive Director – Technical.
Besides the pushing and shoving that this may cause, the biggest problem will probably come down to philosophy because there will eventually come a day when Newey will ask the question: Do we have the best possible driver line-up? No-one who isn’t Spanish believes that a 43-year-old driver is as quick as a 21-year-old rising star, even if the older driver is still an impressive racer. And will no-one ever say that there might be an option better than the boss’s son? There’s an elephant in the room at the new Aston Martin factory which no-one seems able to see…
Talking of housebound pachyderms, McLaren now leads the Constructors’ Championship, despite the fact that Max Verstappen still has a solid lead in the Drivers’ Championship. Sergio Perez had a better race than normal, much to the relief of his Mexican fans who have banged his drum so hard despite his consistent failure to score sufficient points. Unfortunately, at the end of the race, Perez collided with Sainz. The aerial shots show that Perez was clearly behind Sainz but the Spaniard was moving over, although he was entitled to do it. In the end the stewards concluded that both drivers had been punished enough by their own actions and did not apportion blame. Neither scored points and Perez dropped to eighth in the Drivers’ Championship.
Paddock rumours suggest that Sunday was the date on which Red Bull had to inform Liam Lawson if he will have a race seat in F1 next year. If not, Lawson will be free to discuss drives with other teams. Helmut Marko says that it is Red Bull’s intention to sign the 22-year-old New Zealander, but it is not yet clear which seat he would get. The most likely would be for him to replace Daniel Ricciardo at Visa Cash App RB.
The most intriguing rumour of the weekend, however, related to Alpine’s awful performance in qualifying with Esteban Ocon missing both FP1 and FP3 because of power unit problems and Pierre Gasly being disqualified for excessive fuel flow. This meant that Alpine had no chance of scoring points on Sunday and indeed the team dropped a place in the Constructors’ Championship as Williams steamed ahead as both of its drivers scored points for the first time in three years.
The strange blitz of engine problems was very odd because the power units these days are pretty bulletproof. The paddock began whispering that perhaps the failures were not unrelated to protests because of Renault boss Luca de Meo’s plans to shut down the F1 engine project in Viry-Chatillon.
It is impossible to prove or disprove such claims… unless someone spills the beans.
This makes it rather similar in style to another infamous Enstone “mystery” involving cars, walls, Renault and… Singapore.
