2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Baku, April 26-28

[Restomaniac]

Imagine a season with a Mercedes 1-2 every race...

Mercedes might bring the update at Barcelona while Ferrari still got no clue what is wrong with their car.
Maybe RB will manage to fix their car at least.
If Racing Point continues like that they might have a real shot of 4th overall.

Sidenote: Vettel was way to happy in my opinion for a third place. Is he mentally already in a fight with Leclerc only and not Mercedes anymore?

This is just me, but I think his body language resembles the mental state he had towards the end of 2017 and 2018.

I’m starting to wonder if he has just accepted that their is a fundamental flaw in the current Ferrari set up.

[dans79]

Is this a 1-2 record?

[dfegan358]

They are slightly behind Mercedes in most areas and unless they develop at a frightening pace over the next 2-3 months it’s going to be a lost season.

[Bill]

Last year we had close grid among the top three changing the front wing was a bad idea after 5 years of stable regulation now we have Mercedes running away with championship. The high rake car have been put at a disadvantage

[Shakeman]

I’m starting to wonder if he has just accepted that their is a fundamental flaw in the current Ferrari set up.

Peter Windsor, again accurately IMO, said the Ferrari is an exceptionally fast car with a tiny operating window.

The big problem is the car slides very quickly out of this window and it looks extremely ordinary. Ferrari must hope they can get on top of the setup and updates widen the operating window because Merc could do 1-2 all year at this rate.

[Restomaniac]

I’m starting to wonder if he has just accepted that their is a fundamental flaw in the current Ferrari set up.

Peter Windsor, again accurately IMO, said the Ferrari is an exceptionally fast car with a tiny operating window.

The big problem is the car slides very quickly out of this window and it looks extremely ordinary. Ferrari must hope they can get on top of the setup and updates widen the operating window because Merc could do 1-2 all year at this rate.

But Ferrari have already thrown their double six (Barcelona) updates early. Mercedes will (I imagine) have theirs still to come for Barcelona.

That for me is the biggest worry.

[MtthsMlw]

These were only parts of the bigger Barcelona update. According to some rumors obviously. I'm eager to see if they converge the FW to a design similar to Merc.

[dfegan358]

I’m starting to wonder if he has just accepted that their is a fundamental flaw in the current Ferrari set up.

Peter Windsor, again accurately IMO, said the Ferrari is an exceptionally fast car with a tiny operating window.

The big problem is the car slides very quickly out of this window and it looks extremely ordinary. Ferrari must hope they can get on top of the setup and updates widen the operating window because Merc could do 1-2 all year at this rate.

But Ferrari have already thrown their double six (Barcelona) updates early. Mercedes will (I imagine) have theirs still to come for Barcelona.

That for me is the biggest worry.

I totally agree, Mercedes will unleash updates for Barcelona and Ferrari could be further behind.

[Restomaniac]

Hamilton ‘I was too nice into turn 1’ Hmm.
If I’m Bottas my ears would be pricking up at that!

[dtro]

Season is Over.

Send everyone home, shut down the forum, close the gates to the factories!

Really though, nah, even if Merc runs away with it, watching cheetahs getting outrun by gazelles is fun. Merc dropping dong is still impressive, and if nobody catches them it is literally not my problem.

[Shakeman]

Last year we had close grid among the top three changing the front wing was a bad idea after 5 years of stable regulation now we have Mercedes running away with championship. The high rake car have been put at a disadvantage

I think Merc have done the most exceptional job of all teams on and off the track. Merc are nailing it and it's not a question of rake or front wing rules.

If the new front wing regs were sub-optimal to high rake concept then the designers would've gone with a low rake design.

[mzso]

Hi!

What did Bottas pull off the top of his helmet after he won the race? It was visible from the cockpit camera, when they cut in a radio message.

[Shakeman]

During next season's testing and one team is setting the timings alight can we please remember that testing means absolutely nothing?

[dans79]

Imo, the issue that Ferrari has, is that each week they don't get on top of their issues is one more week Mercedes has to overcome any performance deficit they initially had to Ferrari. if they don't get on top of it soon they might find that when they finally do Mercedes is legitimately ahead of them.

[dfegan358]

Bottom line is, Ferrari were not ahead in pre season testing. It just appeared that way.

Ferrari has straight line advantage due to lower drag and possibly longer deployment of ERS but that’s about it in my opinion.