2016 European Grand Prix - Baku City Circuit, Fri 17 – Sun 19 Jun

[LionKing]

It has also to be mentioned that a 2015 Ferrari PU qualified in the top 10, as did both Renault powered Red Bulls.

That 2015 Ferrari PU powered car was 2 seconds off and the fastest RBRs was 1.2 second off.

[foxmulder_ms]

LOL. Hamilton was an idiot today. He throw away a nice pole position.

I expect he will be on the podium tomorrow easily though. Mercedes looked very good.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Finally, the nonsense of other PU manufacturers having caught up with Mercedes would be laid to rest. Christian Horner rightly said, "If there ever a circuit was built for Mercedes, this is it".

While everyone improved from Q2 to Q3, Nico's pole lap in Q3 was 2.3 tenths slower than his Q2 lap. So, arguably, there was lot more to come from that Mercedes. Even if Nico's Q2 time is considered, the best Ferrari and the best Red Bull are a second and half slower. On many other circuits where down force played a role, the difference hovered around half a second and here, as the PUs are laid bare open, the difference is day and night.

Most likely, due to their power advantage, the Mercedes are running a bit more down force than Ferrari and Red Bull. So, even if half a second is attributed to the down force advantage, there is still full one second that can be attributed to the PU. So, it is safe to say that, Mercedes has, at a minimum, 80 HP over Renault and Ferrari. And to the nightmare of Honda, they are probably more than100 HP down. And this, with Mercedes NOT having introduced any upgrades in the season, whereas all others have brought significant upgrades so far.

[Fulcrum]

These are the sector times.



Mercedes are simply massive in every sector. They've probably got a balanced setup on their car, and benefit everywhere from that engine power. Similarly for Force India, albeit with a lesser chassis.

Unless Mercedes crash or have weird tyre issues Rosberg will absolutely walk away at the front, and I fully expect Hamilton to finish second. If safety cars are deployed Hamilton could have a chance to win.

[Just_a_fan]

LOL. Hamilton was an idiot today. He throw away a nice pole position.

Unlike some drivers, he was honest about why he didn't perform:

"These kind of things do happen," he added. "I did not feel comfortable in the car. Ultimately, it was only me, nothing to do with the team or car. I just wasn't feeling good."

No trying to blame others. Which is refreshing.

[F1PuertoRico]

I have a feeling that Hamilton was getting confused with those corners, I caught myself mistaking if the next corner was a left or right.

[Just_a_fan]

I think he just wasn't "there" in the car, if you know what I mean. It's a circuit that doesn't allow the driver to have "a bad day at the office".

[kasio]

Finally, the nonsense of other PU manufacturers having caught up with Mercedes would be laid to rest. Christian Horner rightly said, "If there ever a circuit was built for Mercedes, this is it".

While everyone improved from Q2 to Q3, Nico's pole lap in Q3 was 2.3 tenths slower than his Q2 lap. So, arguably, there was lot more to come from that Mercedes. Even if Nico's Q2 time is considered, the best Ferrari and the best Red Bull are a second and half slower. On many other circuits where down force played a role, the difference hovered around half a second and here, as the PUs are laid bare open, the difference is day and night.

Most likely, due to their power advantage, the Mercedes are running a bit more down force than Ferrari and Red Bull. So, even if half a second is attributed to the down force advantage, there is still full one second that can be attributed to the PU. So, it is safe to say that, Mercedes has, at a minimum, 80 HP over Renault and Ferrari. And to the nightmare of Honda, they are probably more than100 HP down. And this, with Mercedes NOT having introduced any upgrades in the season, whereas all others have brought significant upgrades so far.

How about mercedes rearwing? its extraordinaire . You can as well put that deficit to that wing! IMHO this is still out of the blue. You can compare force india or williams to redbull and ferrari! I do not think mercedes factory team have 100hp more on their engine as force india or williams.

[i70q7m7ghw]

I imagine this will be the one and only race at this circuit. It's rubbish, it's just a bunch of 90 degree corners.

[Sonador]

What happened to Hamilton and Verstappen?
Kvyat found some pace is see in the results.
Watched all the practice sessions

But unfortunatly missed the qualiy today ..

[NYGIANTS]

nico had all 4 wheels off the track in his pole lap. its right after the climb up going down hill.

[Chuckjr]

Looking more and more like off track lack of focus is maybe haunting Lewis. The championship is slipping away. This should have been a grand schlem weekend for him with the marked advantage that car has on the field.

Great job Merc. The car continues to be an unstoppable beast when in the right hands. Nico nice pole. =D> =D> =D>
Perez, wow. You should be in a faster car. [-o<

[iotar__]

What happened to Hamilton and Verstappen?
Kvyat found some pace is see in the results.
Watched all the practice sessions

But unfortunatly missed the qualiy today ..

- Hamilton crashed in Q3 and it affected other drivers.
- Verstappen and Bottas had small incidents on both Q3 runs, one overtake(?) and one failed overtake. I saw only the first one, Bottas dived inside made the corner just fine, Verstappen went off and came back next to him. Bottas probably remembered Hungary '15 .
- I'm a surprised Vettel is not bothered with losing to Ricciardo, especially on an engine track like this one. Maybe he's counting on Canada like start.
- Track is very cool to watch in qualifying, some tricky corners (left-hander before the straight when they corrected often). We'll see if you can overtake here, some SCs are guaranteed.

[NYGIANTS]

Looking more and more like off track lack of focus is maybe haunting Lewis. The championship is slipping away. This should have been a grand schlem weekend for him with the marked advantage that car has on the field.

Great job Merc. The car continues to be an unstoppable beast when in the right hands. Nico nice pole. =D> =D> =D>
Perez, wow. You should be in a faster car. [-o<

pole that should be lifted, he had all 4 tires off the track. from 1:04 - 1:07.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvC4ftdYozE

[Schuttelberg]

Looking more and more like off track lack of focus is maybe haunting Lewis. The championship is slipping away. This should have been a grand schlem weekend for him with the marked advantage that car has on the field.

Great job Merc. The car continues to be an unstoppable beast when in the right hands. Nico nice pole. =D> =D> =D>
Perez, wow. You should be in a faster car. [-o<

I was absolutely sure I would read something along these lines once I logged in.

First of all, everyone that's berating Hamilton for his 'lifestyle' are either people like you and me (internet experts) or TV pundits (ex drivers, team bosses) and have absolutely no clue what it's like to be a WDC.

I've read a lot of Lewis' articles, books, seen some documentaries, a few interviews and just hearing his schedule makes me tired! Who are we to decide what relaxes him or what keeps him fresh enough to be motivated and not risk burn out? I don't care if the ghost of Fangio or Senna or the almighty himself tells me he lacks focus, he's his own individual, who understands himself more than anyone else and is free to choose his own ways! Yes, he had an awful day today and he deserves some criticism for it (his driving), but let's not be juvenile and blame it on his personal life because we're not Lewis Hamilton. Each individual is different. While some might think breathing F1 is what keeps them in the hunt, others might need to simply switch off when not racing.

Personally, I think Hamilton is more than capable of winning tomorrow, and these same guys will the be hailing him as the axis of the earth and why he have day and night. Bad day for Lewis, we all have them!