2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Baku, April 27-29

[TheGkbrk]

Veeery interesting race. Bottas very unlucky so far. Another race win slipped away.

you need to understand one thing, Bottas was only in front because of Safety car. Otherwise he would have been 3 rd at the best. So luck swings both ways

He would have a chance on the win switching to US at the end. If not the win, he would be ahead of Lewis I'd say.

[NathanOlder]

That was strategic. Now British media can use it against Vettel. Hamilton knows that the bias British media reaches all English speaking countries.

Absolute class from Lewis there, I have seen certain Germans celebrate like maniacs after a win like that.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

Does Lewis get more points because of the british media ?

Didnt think so, so why go on

[NathanOlder]

Let's look at how Lady Luck has done until now:

- Australia: Vettel won, but should have been 2nd
- Bahrain: Vettel won square and fair with an unbelievable job
- China: Hamilton should have finished behind Vettel, but ended the race way up instead
- Baku: Hamilton should have finished 3rd at best, but won and at the same time Vettel should have won, but finished 4th

Luck wise, Hamilton has definitely turned things around and is leading against his main rival in that matter.

Regarding today's race, Redbull will have much to discuss in debrief again. They raced each other rather than the leading cars.
On top of that incident Grosjean mixed up everything even more with his silly move.

Vettel 3rd in Oz. Kimi had him in his pocket all day.

[Vettel165]

Oh I give up.

[sosic2121]

Veeery interesting race. Bottas very unlucky so far. Another race win slipped away.

you need to understand one thing, Bottas was only in front because of Safety car. Otherwise he would have been 3 rd at the best. So luck swings both ways

Not true.
He would be 2nd, maybe even 1st.
He would easily pass Lewis on fresh US

[Phil]

Doubtful Bottas had any chance of winning it without a safety car. He was 12 second ahead of Vettel in 2nd - meaning after a stop at best 8 second behind Vettel and just ahead of Hamilton. With 12 laps to go, doubtful. He would have quite easily had Hamilton though.

[JonoNic]

At least give the media a chance

That was strategic. Now British media can use it against Vettel. Hamilton knows that the bias British media reaches all English speaking countries.

Absolute class from Lewis there, I have seen certain Germans celebrate like maniacs after a win like that.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

Does Lewis get more points because of the british media ?

Didnt think so, so why go on

[sosic2121]

Any news about Perez penalty?

[jjn9128]

No penalty for Ricciardo or Verstappen

In a statement issued by the stewards, they noted that Verstappen had made two moves to defend his position – but they added that Ricciardo had also played his part in what happened by braking so late.

"Both drivers contributed to the collision," said the statement. "The driver of car 33 [Verstappen] made two moves, both of which were relatively minor.

"The driver of car 3 [Ricciardo] admitted he left his move to overtake on the left, too late.

"It was obvious to the stewards that although the incident had its origins in the moves by car 33, the driver of car 3 also contributed to the incident.

"Both drivers expressed regret about their respective contributions to the incident, during the Stewards' hearing."

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ricc ... h-1031835/

[Vasconia]

What a fustrating result for Ferrari, again, they should have won in China and also today where Vettel was the fastest guy on the track. But RB has again runied which was a perfect result and then Vettel has been to aggressive trying to overtake Bottas and he has failed, a shame. I am afraid they will remember those races if in Barcelona Mercedes brings better updates, I hope not.

Today was a very lucky day for lewis, another "not a great" peformance by him, he was going to end the race, once again behind Bottas and Vettes but he has received a good gift. Its being an underwhelming season for him but he is the leader, races are like that.

What the hell is going on Verstappen mind? he has ruined again his race and his team race, even the usually calm Ricciardo has ended the race being desperated. His defensive moves were behind any limit.

Great race by Carlos, who was being faster than Hulk, I hope this race can be a boost for him. Alonso as always being where a good race must be, another good result.

An impressive performance by leclerc, this guy has talent!

[SectorOne]

With Marko blaming both i don´t expect anyone at Red Bull to tell Verstappen that he can´t keep moving two three times during braking because the commited guy behind you will inevitably hit you because he has no F´n clue where you will be next. Maybe this will be the wake up call for him.

Pirelli shows once again they can´t make proper tires. At least this year they don´t explode so that´s good.
Will be interesting if the upcoming tweak to the tires will help solve some of the issues.

Baku once again providing absolute fireworks and it seems the only true prediction once can make for Baku year on year is absolute chaos.

[siskue2005]

Azerbaijan Grand Prix victor Lewis Hamilton was late to the podium because he went to tell Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate Valtteri Bottas that the win should have been his.

Hamilton was only third at the late safety car restart, but gained one position when Sebastian Vettel ran wide trying to pass Bottas for the lead and was then handed the victory when Bottas picked up a dramatic rear puncture.

"I have very mixed emotions for today. It's really quite a humbling experience," said Hamilton.

"Ultimately Valtteri deserved to win. He did an exceptional job, a faultless drive. Less so on my side.

"Straight away when I got out of the car and did the interviews I went to see Valtteri.

"I just wanted to congratulate him on how well he drove and that's why I was late to the podium.

"Valtteri was very, very unfortunate. A one-two would have been a great result for today.

"I wouldn't have got by him if he hadn't had that tyre blowout."

Bottas had been third in the early laps but ran much longer than his main rivals in his first stint.

He still had not pitted at all when the Red Bull intra-team collision prompted a safety car with 12 laps to go, and was able to stop and replace his old supersofts with ultrasofts without losing the lead.

Bottas sustained the puncture when he ran over debris on the start/finish straight with just three laps to go, in an incident that Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff described as "brutal".

Mercedes non-executive director Niki Lauda hit out at the circuit for failing to clear the debris.

"Why didn't they clean up the circuit properly?" he said to Sky Sports F1.

"There was so much time to do it. It was a disaster for Bottas and for Lewis really good.

"[Bottas] did everything absolutely perfect. He could have won the race easily, but nevertheless Lewis did a good job too so thank God we won the race."

Bottas said he did not see the debris he hit.

"Street circuits in general with a lot of crashes will always be an issue, this time [it] was so unlucky," he told television crews.

"I had no idea at any point that I ran over any debris, I didn't see anything, I didn't feel anything, so I was just very, very unlucky."

Asked how he would recover from the disappointment, Bottas replied: "Maybe 10 pints of beer and we will be fine! I will get through it - of course you always need to get through difficulties, it is part of racing although at the moment it is very painful."

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13568 ... ole-bottas

[ripper]

So Verstappen will continue to move two or three times while defending? Excellent idea

[Zynerji]

So Verstappen will continue to move two or three times while defending? Excellent idea

...in a Torro Rosso.

Imagine a repeat with Gasley replacing Verstappen for Spain, and Gastley going on to win...

Might be helpful to have your guaranteed RBR driver for 2019 goto STR to push the PU development anyways.

[ripper]

Wonderkid can't be wrong and can't be moved back in Toro Rosso. He's becoming dangerous for himself and other drivers, someone should tell him to calm down and stopping defending/attacking in that way.