2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Baku, April 26-28

[Unc1eM0nty]

I thought it was building into a close finish but that VSC ruined it, totally unnecessary as well, the car was behind a barrier well off the racing line

The race was a bit of an anticlimax after recent years

[FittingMechanics]

The SKY mob are STILL talking about Leclerc pitting earlier onto the Softs.

What is wrong with these people

I do not understand how do they not get it. Ferrari knew Leclerc cannot win on pace, but if he got lucky with VSC or SC he could have. This is why he went long and it almost worked out for him. If the VSC was a bit earlier, he could have got a pitstop and lost only 9 seconds instead of 20. With SC it could have been even better. This is not uncommon, teams with drivers that had compromised qualifying often times gamble with SC. In Baku this is even more logical.

[LM10]

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.

Fundamental flaw in the set up? How do you imagine such a flaw? The car is a diva, that’s the main thing. It needs to be learned and the team will have more clue every race. Just like the Mercedes especially in 2017.
This talk about a fundamental problem is quite funny. If Ferrari managed to be faster than Mercedes in Bahrain and kind of faster (Leclerc) in Baku as well with a car which is claimed to have fundamental problems, then Mercedes might pray Ferrari not to overcome those issues?

[dans79]

@LM10, being a diva is a fundamental flaw.

[Bill_Kar]

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.

Fundamental flaw in the set up? How do you imagine such a flaw? The car is a diva, that’s the main thing. It needs to be learned and the team will have more clue every race. Just like the Mercedes especially in 2017.
This talk about a fundamental problem is quite funny. If Ferrari managed to be faster than Mercedes in Bahrain and kind of faster (Leclerc) in Baku as well with a car which is claimed to have fundamental problems, then Mercedes might pray Ferrari not to overcome those issues?

Leclerc faster in Baku? Where did you get that from

[TAG]

4th 1-2 in a row for Mercedes. That's gotta sting.

Nice to see the silver arrows fight a little bit today, but Bottas was the better of the pair and deservedly won the contest both on Saturday and Sunday. Relatively boring race without the unpredictability introduced by the carnage of previous years though. Back in a couple of weeks and Barcelona is where the season starts right?

[LM10]

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.

That’s not the bottom line, it’s just your opinion.
The team and both drivers were very happy with he car in Barcelona. It was fast on short and long runs, it was stable, planted and only appeared to have mechanical issues.
4 races into the season and they’ve not been as happy as in Barcelona anymore. The thing is that Barcelona is just one track and they seemed to have had nailed it with set up there. Now the car turns out to have a tiny operating window and that’s also the impression on track.

[LM10]

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

Fundamental flaw in the set up? How do you imagine such a flaw? The car is a diva, that’s the main thing. It needs to be learned and the team will have more clue every race. Just like the Mercedes especially in 2017.
This talk about a fundamental problem is quite funny. If Ferrari managed to be faster than Mercedes in Bahrain and kind of faster (Leclerc) in Baku as well with a car which is claimed to have fundamental problems, then Mercedes might pray Ferrari not to overcome those issues?

Leclerc faster in Baku? Where did you get that from

Seems you’ve not watched the sessions until yesterday? Leclerc was constantly 3 tenths faster than Vettel and he probably would have gotten pole. Or let’s say, he at least would have been as fast as Mercedes and I’m not sure that would be possible with a car with fundamental aero problems.

[LM10]

@LM10, being a diva is a fundamental flaw.

Well, there is room for interpretations. Not understanding how to operate the car is not really a fundamental problem. Mercedes got faster and faster in 2017 by understanding the car step by step.

[LM10]

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.

The upgrades were a part of what will come to Barcelona. There still are a few new parts in pipeline.

[Restomaniac]

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.

The upgrades were a part of what will come to Barcelona. There still are a few new parts in pipeline.

A few. Mercedes have got them ALL to come.

Not exactly difficult to understand I wouldn’t have thought.

[dans79]

@LM10, being a diva is a fundamental flaw.

Well, there is room for interpretations. Not understanding how to operate the car is not really a fundamental problem. Mercedes got faster and faster in 2017 by understanding the car step by step.

You are correct, the team not understanding it isn't a flaw. Having an incredibly narrow window is a flaw though. Not to mention in 2017 the Mercedes looked way better than it actually was, Vettel and Ferrari made sure of that with several issues towards the end of the season.

[Shrieker]

I thought it was building into a close finish but that VSC ruined it, totally unnecessary as well, the car was behind a barrier well off the racing line

The race was a bit of an anticlimax after recent years

Yes, it was developing into a climax with only 1.5 secs at the top, with 10+ laps to go. It got ruined with an unnecessary vsc.

[Bill_Kar]

Fundamental flaw in the set up? How do you imagine such a flaw? The car is a diva, that’s the main thing. It needs to be learned and the team will have more clue every race. Just like the Mercedes especially in 2017.
This talk about a fundamental problem is quite funny. If Ferrari managed to be faster than Mercedes in Bahrain and kind of faster (Leclerc) in Baku as well with a car which is claimed to have fundamental problems, then Mercedes might pray Ferrari not to overcome those issues?

Leclerc faster in Baku? Where did you get that from

Seems you’ve not watched the sessions until yesterday? Leclerc was constantly 3 tenths faster than Vettel and he probably would have gotten pole. Or let’s say, he at least would have been as fast as Mercedes and I’m not sure that would be possible with a car with fundamental aero problems.

What? Did you see that Mercedes was way ahead in race simulations? Free practice times mean nothing, especially when Vettel and Mercedes are holding back till Q3.

[falonso81]

Can we please stop this nonsense that Ferrari is the fastest car? It clearly isn't. Toto is the biggest troll to date and people are buying into his crap.