Baku's European Grand Prix track set to give F1 teams set-up angst

At 3.732 miles, the 20-turn circuit is the second longest on the calendar and has been described by its designer Hermann Tilke as the fastest city track in the world.

But alongside its fast, sweeping corners and long straight, there is also a narrow and twisty section through the Old City.

"It's going to be quite a challenge for the engineering teams because you've got this requirement for huge straightline speed, [but] it's also a very low efficiency circuit," said Williams performance chief Rob Smedley.

"It almost goes into this Monaco-style street circuit in places.

"It looks like it goes into some reasonably sweeping, quite quick right handers or medium speed right handers.

"So there's going to be some real challenges there.

"The place where I would say it's most similar to is Spa.

"You'll see some teams taking different choices for both qualifying and the race."

Red Bull boss Christian Horner believes the length of the main straight, which measures 1.4 miles, will push teams towards a low downforce set-up.

"The straight is twice as long as the longest straight in Montreal, which is enormous," he said.

"It's going to be fascinating to see what set-ups people adopt.

"I guess the length of that straight will push most people towards the lower end of the downforce spectrum."

Force India Nico Hulkenberg believes the layout will demand a compromise with set-up.

"The layout looks fast, especially for a street circuit," he said.

"There is a massive straight, with just a few flat-out kinks, and some more twisty sections which will require a compromise in terms of set-up.

"I haven't had a chance to try it in the simulator yet but I saw the video on YouTube.

"In any case, it really is all about getting there, getting into the car and finding out about the track in those first few laps."