2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Baku, April 26-28

[Bill_Kar]

I was laughing at Di resta honestly. He is such a bad commentator/analyst. He even thought that Red bull was the favourite towards the end of q2.

[Phil]

Bottas was behind Hamilton on both runs and Hamilton benefitted a lot on the first run from the tow.

Damn, you're right. I somehow got the two mixed up. Then Hamilton just really gave it away himself in S1, well done to Bottas then. I really think though that Leclerc would have had this one in the bag. Easily. He was consistently quicker than Vettel throughout the weekend on pretty much all runs until he binned it and I think he would have aced it in Q3.

Mercedes was extremely close though, but I think both their cars were profiting of a tow vs Ferrari who didn't? The temperature just might have helped them too. Anyway, I stand by my predictions - I don't think Bottas will hold his position to win the race. And statistically, I don't think anyone since Rosberg has been able to converted a pole position into a win here. Just too much that can happen and once there's a safety car, keeping that position on the restart with that long straight is incredibly tough and difficult.

[digitalrurouni]

Lovely qualifying session. Well done Baku. Love the compromise between downforce and speed and an evolving track. The more the variables the more interesting the on track action.

[siskue2005]

Here we go... glory mercedes and "sudden gains" .

Or they could just be running in very low mod the entire practice session and only going full beans in qualifying

[jumpingfish]

After the Qualifying session Lewis will tell this:

It's unbelieveable, Ferrari was so fast. But the team did a great job and gave us the first start row, i did not expect it. I want to thank the engineer and all mechanics. We found the sweet spot and hopefully we can stay at front of the ferrari's tomorrow.

you were so right damn

[f1316]

Lovely qualifying session. Well done Baku. Love the compromise between downforce and speed and an evolving track. The more the variables the more interesting the on track action.

It really goes to show that, with these cars, the most ‘interesting’ track on paper is not the best for the spectacle. Baku is pretty much just 90 degree turns plus a massive straight, but that actually makes for a much more interesting race than, say, Suzuka

[F1Krof]

https://twitter.com/GencGashi/status/11 ... 56352?s=20

[drunkf1fan]

Lovely qualifying session. Well done Baku. Love the compromise between downforce and speed and an evolving track. The more the variables the more interesting the on track action.

It really goes to show that, with these cars, the most ‘interesting’ track on paper is not the best for the spectacle. Baku is pretty much just 90 degree turns plus a massive straight, but that actually makes for a much more interesting race than, say, Suzuka

It depends, realistically Baku is a terrible race, but it's a great destruction derby round. The last race outside of the few laps with crashes, everything else was absolutely dull as dishwater and that is the case every season.

In Japan you have people on various paces who attack on various laps, some tire deg, pitstop strategies, etc. Baku is just mostly pit whenever you want, or under a red flag if you can, avoid other people hitting each other, avoid crap on track that can give you punctures. Qualifying matches race pace a bit too strongly because of the design of track and very little real racing happens.

Japan may have less 'events', but is a much more interesting race with what moves get done being far more interesting and exciting and actual strategies going on.

[NathanOlder]

Bottas was behind Hamilton on both runs and Hamilton benefitted a lot on the first run from the tow.

Damn, you're right. I somehow got the two mixed up. Then Hamilton just really gave it away himself in S1, well done to Bottas then. I really think though that Leclerc would have had this one in the bag. Easily. He was consistently quicker than Vettel throughout the weekend on pretty much all runs until he binned it and I think he would have aced it in Q3.

Mercedes was extremely close though, but I think both their cars were profiting of a tow vs Ferrari who didn't? The temperature just might have helped them too. Anyway, I stand by my predictions - I don't think Bottas will hold his position to win the race. And statistically, I don't think anyone since Rosberg has been able to converted a pole position into a win here. Just too much that can happen and once there's a safety car, keeping that position on the restart with that long straight is incredibly tough and difficult.

No Phil, Hamilton was behind Bottas on both runs. You were right, Schuttelberg is wrong.

[iotar__]

- Nothing changes at Ferrari except their corner performance . They still need 2 better drivers.

- Leclerc messes up three out of four qualifying sessions and people or "Italian press" wonder why they didn't bet everything on him. Told you that being quicker than Vettel is not enough to compete with Merc drivers.

[Phil]

Ok, so I just checked too; First run, Bottas was ahead of Hamilton. Second Q3 run, Hamilton was stacked up behind Bottas after they left the pits and let everyone pass. Hamilton was also behind during the whole lap. So then yes, I stand behind my original thoughts that I felt that Hamilton was way too close to Bottas during the entire run. He was constantly around 2 seconds behind Bottas.

It's one thing to have a tow before you get onto your first lap or perhaps to get a tow when you end it, but I do think the cons of heating up your tires on your outlap and being distracted by the car just ahead of you outweighs the benefit of tow (not to mention Bottas said he had a tow too, presumably of whoever was in front- Norris at end?). Anyway, no hard feelings. I think whoever will start from pole will be jinxed anyway.

[Schuttelberg]

Bottas was behind Hamilton on both runs and Hamilton benefitted a lot on the first run from the tow.

Damn, you're right. I somehow got the two mixed up. Then Hamilton just really gave it away himself in S1, well done to Bottas then. I really think though that Leclerc would have had this one in the bag. Easily. He was consistently quicker than Vettel throughout the weekend on pretty much all runs until he binned it and I think he would have aced it in Q3.

Mercedes was extremely close though, but I think both their cars were profiting of a tow vs Ferrari who didn't? The temperature just might have helped them too. Anyway, I stand by my predictions - I don't think Bottas will hold his position to win the race. And statistically, I don't think anyone since Rosberg has been able to converted a pole position into a win here. Just too much that can happen and once there's a safety car, keeping that position on the restart with that long straight is incredibly tough and difficult.

No Phil, Hamilton was behind Bottas on both runs. You were right, Schuttelberg is wrong.

I genuinely meant to say Hamilton was behind Bottas on both runs. My bad.

[Bill_Kar]

Did Bottas backed up more than he should? This is a good question.

[Phil]

No, but because they stopped at the pit exit and let so many cars pass, I think it ended up being quite close to get to the line before the time ran out. They really didn't have time to spare and thus I think heating up the tires was tricky. There were some replays showing Hamilton being right up to Bottas on the outlap, heating up tires. I think from everyone, while Vettel didn't benefit from any tow, he at least had a very clean track ahead with no distractions... just my 2 cents.

[214270]

Ok, so I just checked too; First run, Bottas was ahead of Hamilton. Second Q3 run, Hamilton was stacked up behind Bottas after they left the pits and let everyone pass. Hamilton was also behind during the whole lap. So then yes, I stand behind my original thoughts that I felt that Hamilton was way too close to Bottas during the entire run. He was constantly around 2 seconds behind Bottas.

It's one thing to have a tow before you get onto your first lap or perhaps to get a tow when you end it, but I do think the cons of heating up your tires on your outlap and being distracted by the car just ahead of you outweighs the benefit of tow (not to mention Bottas said he had a tow too, presumably of whoever was in front- Norris at end?). Anyway, no hard feelings. I think whoever will start from pole will be jinxed anyway.

I genuinely think HAM was more concerned about crossing the line in time to get the lap in rather than keeping the best distance for the tow. Commentators said something about 5secs left for BOT I think when he crossed the line; would’ve been much tighter for HAM