Baku hits back at Liberty CEO Maffei's comments

The chief executive of the Baku City Circuit has hit back at comments from Liberty Media's president and CEO Greg Maffei criticizing the value of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix to Formula 1.

During a conference in Palm Beach, Florida, earlier this month, Maffei was asked about pushback from race promoters regarding hosting fees and said: "I think it's our job to do far more to help the promoters to be more successful.

"Frankly Bernie's [Ecclestone] attitude was 'How much can I extract from them?' I heard him call them the victims! 'How much can I extract? How much upfront?' So we end up with races in places like Baku in Azerbaijan where they paid us a big race fee but it does nothing to build the long-term brand and health of the business. Our job is to find partners that pay us well but also help us to build the product and it's incumbent upon us to bring best practice.

"Some of the races which are considered the most exciting – Abu Dhabi, Singapore night race, Mexico City – what's going on well in those races? We need to share that better with the promoters in each of the cities where things are less successful. So that's all true, it's both incumbent upon us to help, but it's also recognizing that with a new order the first thing they are going do is say 'Oh, I'm paying too much.' So there is some expected noise, we're working on trying to quell that and help them."

Responding to those comments, Baku City Circuit CEO Arif Rahimov says Maffei is not yet in a position to judge which races are successful, having not visited many himself.

"It came to our surprise to hear the quote that we heard from the Florida press conference that recently happened," Rahimov said during a press conference marking David Coulthard's visit to Baku. "Indeed it is strange to hear the quote from a person who has not really been involved with the racing for a long time. Liberty Media has only acquired the significant shares to be in control of Formula 1 quite recently and as far as I know Mr Maffei has only attended one race so far.

"So I find it quite hard to understand how he can really know what is good and bad for the race, for the sport and for the business. We have David [Coulthard] sat beside me who has described our race as a success and we truly believe it was a success. It was something that was commented on and passed on to us from all the various stakeholders from across the board.

"It was also a success with the fans. They loved the racing action, they loved what they saw as entertainment in the vending areas. It was a success with the drivers. It was a challenging track that was very unforgiving and very interesting for the drivers as well. It was accepted and closer to being praised by the media as well because it was a great race, it was a great show and it was a great event altogether.

"So I find it hard to understand how someone who has not attended the race and has not attended the event can be commenting about our race in a bad manner.

"On the other hand I've seen something about the legacy of Mr. Ecclestone and that's what led to that quote, saying that Mr. Ecclestone has left this legacy. You cannot say a bad thing about the person who has created the sport, who has made it what it is today and has made it so attractive that Liberty Media has come to a decision to purchase the brand, purchase the sport, purchase Formula 1.

"So yes it does come to me as a very strange expression. I'm sure it's just something that is just in the head of one person as opposed to being across the management board of Formula 1's new management. We're here, we're ready to show what a great race we have, we're ready to host another great event in 2017 so maybe they can change their mind."