2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Baku, April 26-28

[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.

I don't think Charles ever had it in the bag. I think assumption is a sin in sport analysis. While I was watching live with my wife, I told her that Charles is really risking it a lot. I could just feel it and as is often the case with Lewis, I told her he would gobble up the deficit in Q3. I think Seb has said already that he was pacing himself and in general, he ramps up the lap times in Q3, much like Lewis. I think, Ferrari made a blunder by sending both drivers out on M tyres and I think they missed pole with either driver in Q3 because Charles was not in it. A tow would have helped both drivers.

I am sure about one thing- Ferrari, is NOT 0.7 faster than Mercedes. They're at BEST, even Stevens.

[Phil]

Maybe, but Charles aced his run on the M tire in Q2. There was absolutely no need for him to go out and risk it again. I also think his mistake was small. Street tracks will always favor the bold and I thought Charles had just the right amount of it. I genuinely believe he was the driver to beat today and he just so happened to beat himself. I don't think Vettel would have had him and I think worst-case, it would have been a battle with the Mercedes.

To be fair though; Considering Vettel had no tow at all, I really think Mercedes looked better than they should have. I think Leclerc would have shown that.

[Juzh]

ham vs vet q3 - so much for ferrari's straight line advantages. with proper prep on the outlap hamilton would wipe the floor in q3, probably even leclerc couldn't match his time.


P02 hamilton baku q3 1.40.554
https://streamable.com/nld6t


P03 vettel baku q3 1.40.797
https://streamable.com/845wu


P04 verstappen baku q3 1.41.069
https://streamable.com/r2tbc


which other laps would be worth doing?

[tpeman]

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.

The Alfa Romeo driver behind didn't help though, it was way too close to the main straight, it looked like he was about to do a divebomb. The drop in temperatures definitely helped the Mercs (as well as the tow). Bottas won fair and square and deserved it. Absolutely amazing from Perez and Kvyat, as well as Norris, great performance from all three. Should be interesting tomorrow with Leclerc starting in 9th.

Tomorrow's race should be an interesting one. Both Vettel and Hamilton seem to struggle a bit, Bottas is a huge question mark, same as Verstappen. I wonder how Gasly's race will evolve, his Q1 performance showed he has some speed.

[MtthsMlw]

Gutted for Leclerc but this photograph is amazing

from Twitter @clivejmason

[epo]

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.

Yeah they should hire you

[Bill_Kar]

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.

The Alfa Romeo driver behind didn't help though, it was way too close to the main straight, it looked like he was about to do a divebomb. The drop in temperatures definitely helped the Mercs (as well as the tow). Bottas won fair and square and deserved it. Absolutely amazing from Perez and Kvyat, as well as Norris, great performance from all three. Should be interesting tomorrow with Leclerc starting in 9th.

Tomorrow's race should be an interesting one. Both Vettel and Hamilton seem to struggle a bit, Bottas is a huge question mark, same as Verstappen. I wonder how Gasly's race will evolve, his Q1 performance showed he has some speed.

I don't think Hamilton struggles. He had a horrible first sector just because his outlap was rubbish.
Both Mercedes seem very strong and I would place them as favourites, Q3 tells that they were always there for the fight. Race pace seems better for them, so why not.
The big question mark is Ferrari's performance tomorrow.

[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.

Yeah they should hire you

Of course not, but he actually led people to believe that ferrari is way faster and afterwards he concluded that Verstappen is the favourite, just because he had a good q2 lap, while Merc were not showing their hands.
He is the guy who'll make bold and early claims, so he can show up afterwards and say 'I told you so'. Personally, I don't rate him at all. AD is so much better.

[drunkf1fan]

ham vs vet q3 - so much for ferrari's straight line advantages. with proper prep on the outlap hamilton would wipe the floor in q3, probably even leclerc couldn't match his time.
https://youtu.be/jkrouUjuXbU


which other laps would be worth doing?

That is a very strange take on it. First off Vettel is faster down almost the entire straight, he starts off almost 10kph up and it's only almost at pit entry that Hamilton matches him.

Also, Vettel has literally no one ahead of him at all, Hamilton is following Bottas. So with the slight tow, Vettel is still faster down around 3/4s of the straight or so, but of course this 'straight line speed' advantage is entirely made up.

On the straight after T2 again Vettel is a few kph ahead all the way down to just before the third bridge before Hamilton has higher speed. Out of T3 on a much shorter straight Vettel is again faster the whole way and because they don't go beyond the 310kph or so that it takes for Merc to be faster, he's faster the whole straight and hits 221 before braking while Ham only reaches 217kph.

Straight line advantage isn't about max speed, it's about how fast you get down a straight. It doesn't matter if you're 5kph slower for the very end of the straight if the other guy is 5kph faster over the first 80% of it.

WHere Vettel screwed it heavily was in corners. Hamilton is 138kph through the the apex before heading onto the start finish straight, Vettel is at 128kph at the same point. Then down the straight to finish they are pretty much trading blows, then Hamilton is a little ahead yet they cross the line with 1kph difference. This despite Bottas being <2 seconds ahead of Hamilton offering some tow while there wasn't anyone ahead of Vettel.

It seems plainly clear that Vettel had more engine power, that they match top line speeds despite less drag from the tow and this is from a long line of cars giving the tow while Vettel was the one punching the first hole through the air. If he didn't have more power there is absolutely no chance he'd have the same speed crossing the line.

[F1Krof]

I wonder what is the sudden change in pitch in engine noises. I've noticed this year on all cars. Did they change the position of the microphone? Sometimes it almost sounds too digital, like the transition of pitch from low to high and vice versa is like a digital wave.

What is going here?

[Juzh]

ham vs vet q3 - so much for ferrari's straight line advantages. with proper prep on the outlap hamilton would wipe the floor in q3, probably even leclerc couldn't match his time.
https://youtu.be/jkrouUjuXbU


which other laps would be worth doing?

That is a very strange take on it. First off Vettel is faster down almost the entire straight, he starts off almost 10kph up and it's only almost at pit entry that Hamilton matches him.

Also, Vettel has literally no one ahead of him at all, Hamilton is following Bottas. So with the slight tow, Vettel is still faster down around 3/4s of the straight or so, but of course this 'straight line speed' advantage is entirely made up.

On the straight after T2 again Vettel is a few kph ahead all the way down to just before the third bridge before Hamilton has higher speed. Out of T3 on a much shorter straight Vettel is again faster the whole way and because they don't go beyond the 310kph or so that it takes for Merc to be faster, he's faster the whole straight and hits 221 before braking while Ham only reaches 217kph.

Straight line advantage isn't about max speed, it's about how fast you get down a straight. It doesn't matter if you're 5kph slower for the very end of the straight if the other guy is 5kph faster over the first 80% of it.

WHere Vettel screwed it heavily was in corners. Hamilton is 138kph through the the apex before heading onto the start finish straight, Vettel is at 128kph at the same point. Then down the straight to finish they are pretty much trading blows, then Hamilton is a little ahead yet they cross the line with 1kph difference. This despite Bottas being <2 seconds ahead of Hamilton offering some tow while there wasn't anyone ahead of Vettel.

It seems plainly clear that Vettel had more engine power, that they match top line speeds despite less drag from the tow and this is from a long line of cars giving the tow while Vettel was the one punching the first hole through the air. If he didn't have more power there is absolutely no chance he'd have the same speed crossing the line.

yes, vettel took less speed trough the turn onto the long straight, but as a result got better exit, they're nearly identical at the end of the kerb with vettel actually being a few kmh up, but this is within margin of error


somewhere further down the straight, hamilton 6 kmh up


Difference at the line 6 frames = 0.24s


I'm not sure if you noticed but hamilton locked the front left tire in T2 and obviously had less speed at different stages on the following straight compared to vettel.

such ferrari power, much wow.

[F1NAC]

This could be a reason for sudden Gasly performance

https://mobile.twitter.com/ChrisMedland ... 4875119616

[Unc1eM0nty]

Redbull has a good chance of winning this race. Max will have the tyres in the right window way before the others. On average over the race the redbull will treat the tyres better.

This totally, and there will be a safety car/cars, he should be able to take advantage on the restarts.

This could bring Leclerc back into play too, he can go longer on the Medium, the longer you can go the more chance you have of benefiting from a safety car

[Unc1eM0nty]

It looks as though Toto has warged into Hamilton and left his impression. 7 tenths behind Ferrari?

It's all becoming a bit much now. I've been a Lewis fan since his Mercedes days began, but the trolling is beginning to feel insulting. Toto was enough already!

Usually I would agree with this but not today, Ferrari should have had pole, they (Leclerc) messed up, simple as

[Carl Mccoy]

ham vs vet q3 - so much for ferrari's straight line advantages. with proper prep on the outlap hamilton would wipe the floor in q3, probably even leclerc couldn't match his time.
https://youtu.be/jkrouUjuXbU


which other laps would be worth doing?

That is a very strange take on it. First off Vettel is faster down almost the entire straight, he starts off almost 10kph up and it's only almost at pit entry that Hamilton matches him.

Also, Vettel has literally no one ahead of him at all, Hamilton is following Bottas. So with the slight tow, Vettel is still faster down around 3/4s of the straight or so, but of course this 'straight line speed' advantage is entirely made up.

On the straight after T2 again Vettel is a few kph ahead all the way down to just before the third bridge before Hamilton has higher speed. Out of T3 on a much shorter straight Vettel is again faster the whole way and because they don't go beyond the 310kph or so that it takes for Merc to be faster, he's faster the whole straight and hits 221 before braking while Ham only reaches 217kph.

Straight line advantage isn't about max speed, it's about how fast you get down a straight. It doesn't matter if you're 5kph slower for the very end of the straight if the other guy is 5kph faster over the first 80% of it.

WHere Vettel screwed it heavily was in corners. Hamilton is 138kph through the the apex before heading onto the start finish straight, Vettel is at 128kph at the same point. Then down the straight to finish they are pretty much trading blows, then Hamilton is a little ahead yet they cross the line with 1kph difference. This despite Bottas being <2 seconds ahead of Hamilton offering some tow while there wasn't anyone ahead of Vettel.

It seems plainly clear that Vettel had more engine power, that they match top line speeds despite less drag from the tow and this is from a long line of cars giving the tow while Vettel was the one punching the first hole through the air. If he didn't have more power there is absolutely no chance he'd have the same speed crossing the line.

yes, vettel took less speed trough the turn onto the long straight, but as a result got better exit, they're nearly identical at the end of the kerb with vettel actually being a few kmh up, but this is within margin of error
https://i.imgur.com/xakq2oV.jpg

somewhere further down the straight, hamilton 6 kmh up
https://i.imgur.com/LnZxhGF.jpg

Difference at the line 6 frames = 0.24s
https://i.imgur.com/ar9g4pL.jpg

I'm not sure if you noticed but hamilton locked the front left tire in T2 and obviously had less speed at different stages on the following straight compared to vettel.

such ferrari power, much wow.

Tow from wingman ? ☺