2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Baku, April 27-29

[godlameroso]

Massive flat spots and vibrations for both Renault's!!

The whole chassis on both Renaults were resonating in roll from side to side down the entire straight, there's something seriously wrong with their setup, it never settled, looked like a nightmare to hang onto lap after lap.

Simple, the slots on the wing isn't working like intended. They're supposed to interact with the shear coming off the tire, but it has to be just right, like how you blow air over a bottle just right to get it to make noise. But if it's not just right, you get nothing.

[PhillipM]

I don't think it was that, it looked more like the front suspension, or maybe the front wing oscillating - it was definately more pronounced up front than anything from the camera shots.

[MtthsMlw]

Ferrari and Redbull equal on US and over a second faster than Merc.
Redbull fastest on SS.
Merc slightly slower than Ferrari on S.

[Phil]

Ferrari and Redbull equal on US and over a second faster than Merc.
Redbull fastest on SS.
Merc slightly slower than Ferrari on S.
https://i.redditmedia.com/ha8lVnpgCRJnZ ... be3b39fa88

While I appreciate the effort, what exactly are you showing here? some random stints? Fastest arbitrary laps with unknown fuel amount? Tire state? With or without DRS? With or without a tow?

[Juzh]

Red bull has got some speed on the straight here with that non-existent RW. Easily catches up alonso even though he's defending with drs.

[MtthsMlw]

Ferrari and Redbull equal on US and over a second faster than Merc.
Redbull fastest on SS.
Merc slightly slower than Ferrari on S.
https://i.redditmedia.com/ha8lVnpgCRJnZ ... be3b39fa88

While I appreciate the effort, what exactly are you showing here? some random stints? Fastest arbitrary laps with unknown fuel amount? Tire state? With or without DRS? With or without a tow?

Haha I would love to answer that but I took this of Reddit. I only know that these are the long runs at the end of FP2 and that laps in traffic are excluded.
Keeping my eyes open for a proper analysis

[Shrieker]

Merc were probably carrying a bit more fuel. Ant said as much in his commentary, indicating that the car looked lethargic during turn in to some of the corners, which is a sign of a heavier car. I'd wager their tanks had a tad more fuel than Red Bull and Ferrari. How much more is the question obviously.

[Vettel165]

Vettel seems happy. Car is good, in the quali sim he couldn't find the right rhythm and made some small mistakes, but quite happy with long run pace and confident they can improve the car for tomorrow.

https://www.formulapassion.it/motorspor ... 80151.html

[MtthsMlw]

Red bull has got some speed on the straight here with that non-existent RW. Easily catches up alonso even though he's defending with drs.

https://streamable.com/glk6g

Very impressive that they're not losing time in Sector 2.

[PhillipM]

You do get an amazing tow down the straights here though with the high speed corners leading into them.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

The pole lap for last year was 1:40.593, so expect that to get lowered around 1:39.xxx. So, whatever times they have been doing in FP2, doesn't reflect anyone's ultimate time. So, it doesn't matter who hooked it up and who didn't.

Last year, the leaders started the race with 1:47.xxx, so that would ideally go down by a second, based on the GPs that we have seen so far this year.

Needless to say, everyone is conserving the engines. Some probably carry more fuel than others, but no one is running on fumes yet.

[godlameroso]

I don't think they'll quite get into the 39's. They usually can't qualify faster than 2 ish seconds over their P2 time.

[LM10]

Red bull has got some speed on the straight here with that non-existent RW. Easily catches up alonso even though he's defending with drs.

https://streamable.com/glk6g

And still again Horner at the end of FP2 was mentioning the power sensitive last sector to let their times look even more impressive.

First of all, I'm sure Ferrari and Mercedes turned down their engines more than Redbull and secondly on race pace this difference on power is not even near being as significant as in Q3.
And I also think that the deficit of Redbull in Q3 is not explained just by lack of power, but they just have a different concept and are softer on their tyres. Making it harder for them to put as much energy and heat into the tyres in qualifying, but on the other hand it means they are strong on race pace.

[MtthsMlw]

Apparently the work being done on Kimi's car in FP1 was purely to change the set up not because something was broken.

[Phil]

You do get an amazing tow down the straights here though with the high speed corners leading into them.

Exactly. This was nicely demonstrated in FP1 & FP2, at least those that followed it (it was broadcasted on CH4) and witnessed Kimi's lap, but also Ricciardo's earlier fastest lap (vs his later laps). I also think that with this years engine needing to last more races, it makes sense to run a lower power-mode for the most part in practice. On a track like this with such a substantial straight, any power deficit will show in a significant way, especially S3.

The key will be to bring the tires into their optimum tire window. RedBull looks very much on form, but the question for tomorrow especially will be how much power deficit there will be once Mercedes and Ferrari turn up their engines. I think Ferrari will be there, Mercedes hopefully too.

AMuS FP2 report isn't out yet, but once it is, I am sure there will be some (better) insight into the long-run pace (that's a much better performance indicator than the fastest laps thrown around in this topic).