2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Baku, April 27-29

[rgava]

Is there any change on the track layout or resurfacing?
I've been comparing las year's lap times with current year for all the circuits up to now and this is the only one where qualy lap average lap time increased 0.339 secs.
On the rest of the tracks average qualy lap times reduced 0.808 secs
Or it was just the weather conditions?

[Xwang]

Last year the race was in June. Higher temperatures and maybe less wind (I do not remember).

[maxxer]

Anyone missed Martin Brundle btw ? It was funny how they messed up that going up and down the starting grid. Ha poor camera man was running all over
Especially when Simon Lazenby was trying to get a quick word with Daniel. Something like get lost or ill punch you in the stomach?

[Wynters]

Overall a fun race although it was a shame that the Safety Car had such a big influence on the outcome.

Thought Hamilton had another poor race, seems he lost all his energy since Australia. I think his engineer is getting a bit tired of it too. Particularly interesting that he could make no impression on Vettel after the final restart. He had a double-tow and yet pulled out early and didn't even reach Vettel, let alone draw level or overtake. Not sure why Vettel took such a risk trying to overtake Bottas either. Still, it gave Force India a podium and they badly need every piece of luck available.

As for Red Bull, as others have pointed out, Kimi warned Verstappen that double-moves were going to cost him one day and, low and behold, they did. Ricciardo was fine to commit to the inside line as the only way it wouldn't work is if Verstappen decided to not only violate the regs by making a second move but also deliberately cause a double-wipe out. As others have said though, it's a significant line in the sand from Verstappen and I do think others will think twice when trying to overtake him in similar circumstances.

[Andres125sx]

Ferrari: "We're tired of having the same ass all the time, so we'll have the other driver's ass today."

Max moved twice, again. You're allowed only one move during defending. When it came to him, it was never policed properly, and here is the outcome.

You’re allowed one move under braking, unless you’re verstappen. This was proven in 2016 many times against Ferrari. No one cared because it was Ferrari being princesses. Now it’s their own driver.

Of course Horner would never admit it on air, but I wonder if verstappen’s defending style was brought up in their little debrief. I dare say it would have been.

Your allowed to move while defending (but not braking) as much as you like as there is no rule. Verstappen didn't move while braking...

I wonder if we watched same GP....

[Shrieker]

Why did Ferrari FXXX Vettel when the SC came out ? Were they worried that Bottas would still come out ahead after his pitstop ? I think not; and Vettel on softs should've easily been able to keep Bottas behind on ultra softs. If Vettel was coming out ahead by staying out, than pitting him was an epic fail, and not just in hindsight...

What' s the deal here ?

The first corner had debries so the FIA gave instructions that all cars should go through pit lane. It was displayed on tv when the SC came out.... so all were going to come through pit lane anyways, so no point in not changing his tyres

Ok I saw that, but the fact that it was the first time they were coming to the start finish under the sc seems to have completely went over my head. Probably because it's a long lap here.

[Andres125sx]

Clearly another typical dive bomb action from Ricciardo, that this time went wrong..

Interesting to see how far people go to blame everything on Verstappen.

Not as interesting as seeing how far people is goig to defend Verstappen even after ruining his whole team GP

Yours, or this one, are pretty good examples

Your allowed to move while defending (but not braking) as much as you like as there is no rule. Verstappen didn't move while braking so he didn't break the rule.

It was crystal clear. Verstappen was closing the door at the inside, so Ricciardo went to the outside, but Max moved to the right to close the ouside gap, then Ricciardo changed direction to go to the inside, and Max changed direction again under braking closing the gap and causing an accident.

It was easy to see even live, but once you look at Ricciardo onboard it is not possible to defend Max by any means

[Shrieker]

Bottas did come out ahead after the put stop, even if Vettel didnt take new tyres

Oh.. That was unlucky for Vettel then. A bit like oz. 12 seconds is enough to come out ahead even under sc. Do they have to drive to a delta (as in vsc ) round the entire circuit ? Cause the last time i remember, you could drive fast under sc other than the crash site. Maybe Ferrari should have put ultra softs on Vettel s car on his first stop then.. He drove really well today and up until he went wide on the second sc restart he was the driver of the weekend for sure. I wonder whether the muricans are pressuring race control to hit the nascar button whenever there s a chance. Which would obviously be a shame.

Have you actually watched the race?

Yes I have. Apart from a few bits where I went to grab drinks and stuff.

[maxxer]

Clearly another typical dive bomb action from Ricciardo, that this time went wrong..

Interesting to see how far people go to blame everything on Verstappen.

Not as interesting as seeing how far people is goig to defend Verstappen even after ruining his whole team GP

Yours, or this one, are pretty good examples

Your allowed to move while defending (but not braking) as much as you like as there is no rule. Verstappen didn't move while braking so he didn't break the rule.

It was crystal clear. Verstappen was closing the door at the inside, so Ricciardo went to the outside, but Max moved to the right to close the ouside gap, then Ricciardo changed direction to go to the inside, and Max changed direction again under braking closing the gap and causing an accident.

It was easy to see even live, but once you look at Ricciardo onboard it is not possible to defend Max by any means

It has nothing to do with moving under braking even

More than one change of direction to defend a position is not permitted. If a driver has moved off the racing line while defending their position, they may move back but must ensure there is at least one car’s width between their own car and the edge of the track.

Max went off line to left then right back to racing line then left before braking even

[Andres125sx]

[...]

Saints was not faster then Hulkenberg, and yes you obviously because of Saints don't like Verstappen (who crushed him at STR) so keep your nonsense to yourself please.

It works because more people see it that way than dont.

You only see your British bubble, that works for you eh

So when he´s Vasconia then it´s because he´s spanish, and when he´s NathanOlder it´s because he´s british.... thanks god no Aussie said a word!!

[Vettel165]

Never stop believing. Forza Ferrari!!!


All I have to say about that race is. I dont blame Seb for trying, some of you armchair experts dont really have a clue what f1 is all about. It is about racing, passing, taking risk, not hanging back and not trying. Yes it didnt work, but next time it might. Bring on Barca.

[Phil]

Thought Hamilton had another poor race, seems he lost all his energy since Australia. I think his engineer is getting a bit tired of it too.

Hamilton's race performance is exaggerated to an extent, because he was in a position to challenge Vettel (behind by 2.5 to 4s up to the point he made a mistake and then later ruined his tires). At that point, there were no indications on how the soft tires would be. The only indications were that Kimi was struggling, but the thinking behind Mercedes strategy was probably that their car would behave better on them. Up until that point, Hamilton was at least driving closely to Vettels pace, Bottas falling back (around 6s behind Hamilton, a full 10 behind the leader Vettel). Then Hamilton ruined his (perhaps by pushing too hard) and that cascaded into his strategy unfolding into going on that one-stop for softs. Turned out, the fresh unused soft was not faster than the old SS everyone else was still running on, which pretty much destroyed Hamilton's race at that point, because the strategy was done and he was committed to it.

With this knowledge, Mercedes of course left Bottas out - there was no point in pitting him and putting him on a fresher tire that was effectively slower. This allowed the ulterior strategy of going long (as long as possible) on the SS and then go for a short US stint and betting on a safety car situation.

Ferrari at some point decided to pit as well at the point when Hamilton's lap time started to match Vettels on the old SS. They probably felt that staying out longer might not yield much advantage. Obviously, they were wrong and Vettel being 12 seconds behind Bottas (who hadn't stopped yet) gave Mercedes the ace on strategy in case of a safety car.

So, to some extent, one could say that Hamiltons early pitting cascaded into the strategy of Vettel and enabled Bottas to benefit in the first place. If all 3 had stayed out, then they each would have nullified any advantage and came in at the same time when a safety car hit.

Particularly interesting that he could make no impression on Vettel after the final restart. He had a double-tow and yet pulled out early and didn't even reach Vettel, let alone draw level or overtake. Not sure why Vettel took such a risk trying to overtake Bottas either.

Vettel had a tow from Bottas. Hamilton was faster than Vettel thanks to the tow and less drag, but as soon as he moved out of Vettels tow to overtake, he rapidly lost acceleration relative to Vettel who was still in Bottas tow. Arguably, Hamilton was too close to Vettel and that in turn meant he had to move out of the tow earlier. Vettel was farther behind Bottas, thus could stay in longer and used that for a risky maneuver into T1.

[zac510]

All I have to say about that race is. I dont blame Seb for trying, some of you armchair experts dont really have a clue what f1 is all about. It is about racing, passing, taking risk, not hanging back and not trying. Yes it didnt work, but next time it might. Bring on Barca.

https://postimages.org/

I swear that stupid Senna quote is the Godwin's Law of F1 internet forums.

[TAG]

As for the Ric/Ves crash - at least RedBull, like Mercedes, allow their drivers to race each other. Hey, Ferrari - how about that as an idea?

I was thinking to myself, how is Ferrari going to make Kimi give Seb the position back? The only thing that saved him was Perez nipping him for fourth making the switchback unsavory to the team.

[iotar__]

10 laps old US would have been completely cold after the SC. Same as the S he had.With the early stop he was anyways forced to pit under the SC.
There was only one chance: Stay out like the Bulls or Bottas. It was a plain stupid move to pit by Ferrari. Vettel and Bottas were both faster on the SS than Ham on his S.

Vettel was always at a disadvantage having to fight two cars. Mercedes could afford to go for it with Bottas. Same with Vettel in Austrailia. Ferrari had to attemt something different and wait for something. Same for Merc here. They had to attemt something different rather than settle for second and third. So stop blaming Ferrari! They had it covered till the bulls lost it. That is how they lost it. Hopefully spain is a proper race as last year. Safety cars deciding races are getting too artificial now.

This is so annoying "Mercedes could afford to go for it with Bottas" "Same with SV in Australia..." "Vettel was always at disadvantage fighting 2" Quickest car both in Q and in the race is a disadvantage. Yes, 2 vs 1 (but not identical) and a SC - similarities. Differences:

1. Could they? How long, when to decide? This is the part that was v. different from Australia. Hindsight, committing to strategy (~40 stint as it turned out) judging by the leading Merc driver (Ham) was not that obvious. Full link doesn't work, find the lap comparison: http://en.mclarenf-1.com

2. Doing "something different" there was meant to jump Raikkonen (de facto TO, rest - side effect). Ferrari weren't strategy geniuses (nevermind the driver, slower than 2 leaders) they aren't losers here .

Baku's long stint for quicker Mercedes had only SC in mind and only with the right performance againt two stopping Vettel. It does matter how far before/close after pitstop you are, on a shorter stint unlike VB you don't have to worry about tyres (margin for error matters). There can be VSC etc.

3. Vettel was not affected by Hamilton pitting. Had to stop but did not have to cover. They could run any tyre/stint strategy. Went for obvious and safe (including pace) - not a flaw. 4. Smaller but connected - whatever pace under SC miscalculation Mercedes messed up. 5. Bottas' puncture, not strategy but effect +1 position.

6. Most important. Hamilton after losing the lead, didn't mess up with a bad attempt on the restart and didn't end up fifth (+1) instead of 2nd, but let's dilute with strategy dissection . For nitpickers: length of the last stint, same tyres and first SC also differences in Baku.