Understandably, Arif Rahimov, the organiser of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, has taken strong exception to Mr Maffei’s opprobrium. Mr Maffei has been involved in F1 for less than half a year,” he told Reuters reporter Claire Bloomfield. The Azebaijan Grand Prix contract is worth a total of $400 million over the ten-year term of the contract and, as Forbes predicted it is now at risk. In an interview with Azerisport, which was reported by leading F1 news agency GMM, Mr Rahimov said that Mr Maffei’s “attitude is harmful to the legacy of Formula One. “It is a real honour for me to be invited to Baku ahead of the 2017 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix,” he said.

Source: Forbes March 16, 2017 19:41 UTC