2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Baku, April 26-28

[SmallSoldier]

Who can say with 100% confidence whether Ferrari had another medium tires for Leclerc? Maybe some posts/images that shows they didn't have mediums for the race, only 1 for Leclerc's start

He started on Mediums... He had to stop for Softs regardless and after that, another pit stop for another set of Mediums wouldn’t have placed him close to Verstappen to make the pass...

Leclerc admitted that after passing Gasly, he was told that he wouldn’t be catching Max and simply managed his pace until the end and went out for the fast lap


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[jumpingfish]

Who can say with 100% confidence whether Ferrari had another medium tires for Leclerc? Maybe some posts/images that shows they didn't have mediums for the race, only 1 for Leclerc's start

He started on Mediums... He had to stop for Softs regardless and after that, another pit stop for another set of Mediums wouldn’t have placed him close to Verstappen to make the pass...

Leclerc admitted that after passing Gasly, he was told that he wouldn’t be catching Max and simply managed his pace until the end and went out for the fast lap


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I know that, I mean did Leclerc has another medium tyres to make Medium-Soft-Medium?

[Restomaniac]

But even if that’s the case, that Mercedes has more parts coming for Barcelona, that doesn’t mean that their upgrade will give them more lap time improvement than Ferrari could get out of theirs.

So far it seems that Ferrari is having a harder time putting energy into the tires, if their upgrade tackles that, they could get the upper hand versus Mercedes... Let’s also keep in mind that Ferrari seems to have struggled with lower temperatures, which shouldn’t be an issue during the European leg since it will be held in summer time.

So far, Mercedes has dominated really in 3 out of 4 races (Bahrain was definitely a Ferrari race)... And their advantage has really been based on having great work through the weekend, not only by the car, but as a team they have been better (better strategy, more reliability and less mistakes from their drivers)... This race showed how focus the team is with Lewis and Valtteri been extra careful in the first lap...


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But Ferrari have shown that those updates haven’t fixed their fundamental issues. ANY Mercedes improvement will make the Ferrari job harder. A job they so far are failing at.

However what have we learned about Mercedes and their updates in previous seasons? It’s normally they are bang on the money.

That’s before we even start on RedBulls updates.

You are speculating that the updates they brought for this race didn’t help their issues, reality is that we don’t know that... Furthermore, this is a track particularly hard to get the tires up to temperature due to the long straight... So, they may have still struggled more than others... But the car has pace as showed in Bahrain.

Let’s wait and see, we can speculate a lot, but we won’t really know until Q3 in Barcelona... I have a feeling that Ferrari will bounce back, if that would be enough for Pole, no idea... But their pace should improve based on track layout and expected temperatures


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Vettel sounded utterly defeated in his post race interview, himself mentioning the car falling out of its window. However the worst was the fact he clearly had NO idea why the car was able to just fly right after the VSC restart. That doesn’t sound like a car struggling with tyre warming but more like a car that is totally baffling it’s drivers. That’s not a good place to be.

Please can we stop playing the ‘Ferrari will be better next time’ game. You sound like the TV commentators. It’s not done them any good so far. TBH I worry for them.


Also can I clarify something, I am taking no enjoyment in this 1 sided game, I was hoping for a nice fight between, Vettel, Hamilton, Bottas, Leclerc and Verstappen. I was hoping for those 2 young bucks to really ruffle some feathers. I’m finding this procession boring and that’s before Mercedes bring updates that if we follow previous seasons will help them.

[SmallSoldier]

But Ferrari have shown that those updates haven’t fixed their fundamental issues. ANY Mercedes improvement will make the Ferrari job harder. A job they so far are failing at.

However what have we learned about Mercedes and their updates in previous seasons? It’s normally they are bang on the money.

That’s before we even start on RedBulls updates.

You are speculating that the updates they brought for this race didn’t help their issues, reality is that we don’t know that... Furthermore, this is a track particularly hard to get the tires up to temperature due to the long straight... So, they may have still struggled more than others... But the car has pace as showed in Bahrain.

Let’s wait and see, we can speculate a lot, but we won’t really know until Q3 in Barcelona... I have a feeling that Ferrari will bounce back, if that would be enough for Pole, no idea... But their pace should improve based on track layout and expected temperatures


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Vettel sounded utterly defeated in his post race interview, himself mentioning the car falling out of its window. However the worst was the fact he clearly had NO idea why the car was able to just fly right after the VSC restart. That doesn’t sound like a car struggling with tyre warming but more like a car that is totally baffling it’s drivers. That’s not a good place to be.

Please can we stop playing the ‘Ferrari will be better next time’ game. You sound like the TV commentators. It’s not done them any good so far. TBH I worry for them.


Also can I clarify something, I am taking no enjoyment in this 1 sided game, I was hoping for a nice fight between, Vettel, Hamilton, Bottas, Leclerc and Verstappen. I was hoping for those 2 young bucks to really ruffle some feathers. I’m finding this procession boring and that’s before Mercedes bring updates that if we follow previous seasons will help them.

It actually sounds like it has everything to do with the tires... The car is unchanged during the course of the race (with very limited front wing adjustments possible during a pitstop)... If the car “started flying” after the VSC is related to tire temperature, not the engine, not the aero.

A car that “baffles” a driver is a car that goes from oversteer to understeer or is unpredictable in terms of handling / balance... That’s not what either Ferrari driver is saying.

I’m not saying that Ferrari will be better or on top in the next race or anything like that... I’m saying that you are speculating on the potential performance improvement from either Mercedes or Ferrari without having any information to base yourself upon... You are entitled to think whatever you want to think, but without any actual data is nothing more than just a guess.

I’m sure Mercedes upgrades will help them, the question is how much? We just don’t know... Everyone will bring updates, the question is how much performance those are bringing.


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[Restomaniac]

You are speculating that the updates they brought for this race didn’t help their issues, reality is that we don’t know that... Furthermore, this is a track particularly hard to get the tires up to temperature due to the long straight... So, they may have still struggled more than others... But the car has pace as showed in Bahrain.
Let’s wait and see, we can speculate a lot, but we won’t really know until Q3 in Barcelona... I have a feeling that Ferrari will bounce back, if that would be enough for Pole, no idea... But their pace should improve based on track layout and expected temperatures


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I don’t know where he pulls the speculation out of. Claiming the upgrades didn’t help Ferrari when in reality they must have worked otherwise they would have put them off after free practices.
Some people don’t know what they’re talking about. Before this week there was talk of Ferrari being slaughtered in sectors 1 and 2 in Baku, but in fact, they were pretty fast there. Now, one would assume it partly was because of their upgrades.

‘Claiming the upgrades didn’t help Ferrari when in reality they must have worked otherwise they would have put them off after free practices.’

You mean like just LAST season when Ferrari removed updates months and numerous races after they had started adding them. As was admitted by Ferrari and Vettel themselves at the time.

‘Some people don’t know what they’re talking about.’ Oh the utter irony of that statement.

[Restomaniac]

You are speculating that the updates they brought for this race didn’t help their issues, reality is that we don’t know that... Furthermore, this is a track particularly hard to get the tires up to temperature due to the long straight... So, they may have still struggled more than others... But the car has pace as showed in Bahrain.

Let’s wait and see, we can speculate a lot, but we won’t really know until Q3 in Barcelona... I have a feeling that Ferrari will bounce back, if that would be enough for Pole, no idea... But their pace should improve based on track layout and expected temperatures


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Vettel sounded utterly defeated in his post race interview, himself mentioning the car falling out of its window. However the worst was the fact he clearly had NO idea why the car was able to just fly right after the VSC restart. That doesn’t sound like a car struggling with tyre warming but more like a car that is totally baffling it’s drivers. That’s not a good place to be.

Please can we stop playing the ‘Ferrari will be better next time’ game. You sound like the TV commentators. It’s not done them any good so far. TBH I worry for them.


Also can I clarify something, I am taking no enjoyment in this 1 sided game, I was hoping for a nice fight between, Vettel, Hamilton, Bottas, Leclerc and Verstappen. I was hoping for those 2 young bucks to really ruffle some feathers. I’m finding this procession boring and that’s before Mercedes bring updates that if we follow previous seasons will help them.

It actually sounds like it has everything to do with the tires... The car is unchanged during the course of the race (with very limited front wing adjustments possible during a pitstop)... If the car “started flying” after the VSC is related to tire temperature, not the engine, not the aero.

A car that “baffles” a driver is a car that goes from oversteer to understeer or is unpredictable in terms of handling / balance... That’s not what either Ferrari driver is saying.

I’m not saying that Ferrari will be better or on top in the next race or anything like that... I’m saying that you are speculating on the potential performance improvement from either Mercedes or Ferrari without having any information to base yourself upon... You are entitled to think whatever you want to think, but without any actual data is nothing more than just a guess.

I’m sure Mercedes upgrades will help them, the question is how much? We just don’t know... Everyone will bring updates, the question is how much performance those are bringing.


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When a driver admits he is utterly surprised that a car does something I think we can safely say he is baffled by it. It doesn’t require what you suggests it does. In this case Vettel couldn’t understand why the car behaved they way it did. Thus he was baffled by it.

Also, so my speculating is invalid but yours isn’t...

[zibby43]

I’m sure Mercedes upgrades will help them, the question is how much? We just don’t know... Everyone will bring updates, the question is how much performance those are bringing.

On that topic . . .

Barcelona is the race that Mercedes will supposedly be able to fix their cooling problem(s) (which limits their use of the PU throughout the weekend). I would imagine running the car closer to its potential in practice could, in and of itself, help with the set-up of the car going foward. Wonder if the fix will be predominantly "under-the-skin."

In terms of aerodynamic hardware, Hamilton, Bottas, and Andrew Shovlin all recently referred to some goodies coming in the near future. I'm guessing we'll see updated barge boards, diffuser tweaks, and perhaps a new rear wing now that Mercedes brought their "new" FW concept to both China and Baku.

A FW that is drastically different than the one it ran during the 2nd week of testing.

[Restomaniac]

I’m sure Mercedes upgrades will help them, the question is how much? We just don’t know... Everyone will bring updates, the question is how much performance those are bringing.

On that topic . . .

Barcelona is the race that Mercedes will supposedly be able to fix their cooling problem(s) (which limits their use of the PU throughout the weekend). I would imagine running the car closer to its potential in practice could, in and of itself, help with the set-up of the car going foward. Wonder if the fix will be predominantly "under-the-skin."

In terms of aerodynamic hardware, Hamilton, Bottas, and Andrew Shovlin all recently referred to some goodies coming in the near future. I'm guessing we'll see updated barge boards, diffuser tweaks, and perhaps a new rear wing now that Mercedes brought their "new" FW concept to both China and Baku.

A FW that is drastically different than the one it ran during the 2nd week of testing.

Ted in his notebook stated that Mercedes have stripped away anything causing drag that they can do without in trying to make it as slippery as possible.

[SmallSoldier]

I’m sure Mercedes upgrades will help them, the question is how much? We just don’t know... Everyone will bring updates, the question is how much performance those are bringing.

On that topic . . .

Barcelona is the race that Mercedes will supposedly be able to fix their cooling problem(s) (which limits their use of the PU throughout the weekend). I would imagine running the car closer to its potential in practice could, in and of itself, help with the set-up of the car going foward. Wonder if the fix will be predominantly "under-the-skin."

In terms of aerodynamic hardware, Hamilton, Bottas, and Andrew Shovlin all recently referred to some goodies coming in the near future. I'm guessing we'll see updated barge boards, diffuser tweaks, and perhaps a new rear wing now that Mercedes brought their "new" FW concept to both China and Baku.

A FW that is drastically different than the one it ran during the 2nd week of testing.

I don’t think that they currently can’t run the car closer to it’s potential... They just don’t see the point in running it harder in FP1 and FP2, saving mileage on the engine... My guess is that they will continue to do so after the updates.

They gathered enough data from running at an slower pace during FP1 and FP2 that there isn’t really a major advantage for them to run any harder.

Everyone will have some goodies, I understand that Mclaren is bringing a new rear wing... It will be interesting to see who gets the better upgrade package


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[LM10]

I’m sure Mercedes upgrades will help them, the question is how much? We just don’t know... Everyone will bring updates, the question is how much performance those are bringing.

On that topic . . .

Barcelona is the race that Mercedes will supposedly be able to fix their cooling problem(s) (which limits their use of the PU throughout the weekend). I would imagine running the car closer to its potential in practice could, in and of itself, help with the set-up of the car going foward. Wonder if the fix will be predominantly "under-the-skin."

In terms of aerodynamic hardware, Hamilton, Bottas, and Andrew Shovlin all recently referred to some goodies coming in the near future. I'm guessing we'll see updated barge boards, diffuser tweaks, and perhaps a new rear wing now that Mercedes brought their "new" FW concept to both China and Baku.

A FW that is drastically different than the one it ran during the 2nd week of testing.

Why should a team introduce an even tighter engine cover outlet with their car having cooling issues?

[zibby43]

They gathered enough data from running at an slower pace during FP1 and FP2 that there isn’t really a major advantage for them to run any harder.

Everyone will have some goodies, I understand that Mclaren is bringing a new rear wing... It will be interesting to see who gets the better upgrade package

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That's a good point about the data.

My comment about better setup and understanding resulting from being able to run the PU a bit harder outside of just Q2, Q3, and the race mainly has to do with the tires. No matter how much data the teams gather on the tires, they still remain somewhat of a black art and the amount of energy you put through the tires changes as you ramp up the PU performance.

Anyway, my initial comment was based on an AMuS interview in which Mercedes admitted they were only able to crank up the PU for a few laps per weekend due to cooling problems. I just made the assumption that it would probably be beneficial to have the luxury of not having to be *that* conservative.

McLaren has been a pleasant surprise this year. The development race has been fascinating to watch under the new regulations.

[zibby43]

I’m sure Mercedes upgrades will help them, the question is how much? We just don’t know... Everyone will bring updates, the question is how much performance those are bringing.

On that topic . . .

Barcelona is the race that Mercedes will supposedly be able to fix their cooling problem(s) (which limits their use of the PU throughout the weekend). I would imagine running the car closer to its potential in practice could, in and of itself, help with the set-up of the car going foward. Wonder if the fix will be predominantly "under-the-skin."

In terms of aerodynamic hardware, Hamilton, Bottas, and Andrew Shovlin all recently referred to some goodies coming in the near future. I'm guessing we'll see updated barge boards, diffuser tweaks, and perhaps a new rear wing now that Mercedes brought their "new" FW concept to both China and Baku.

A FW that is drastically different than the one it ran during the 2nd week of testing.

Why should a team introduce an even tighter engine cover outlet with their car having cooling issues?

Where did I say they should introduce a tighter engine cover outlet?

[zibby43]

Ted in his notebook stated that Mercedes have stripped away anything causing drag that they can do without in trying to make it as slippery as possible.

Interesting! I'll have to watch that. Thanks for the heads up. I'm guessing that decision was a Baku-specific one.

[LM10]

On that topic . . .

Barcelona is the race that Mercedes will supposedly be able to fix their cooling problem(s) (which limits their use of the PU throughout the weekend). I would imagine running the car closer to its potential in practice could, in and of itself, help with the set-up of the car going foward. Wonder if the fix will be predominantly "under-the-skin."

In terms of aerodynamic hardware, Hamilton, Bottas, and Andrew Shovlin all recently referred to some goodies coming in the near future. I'm guessing we'll see updated barge boards, diffuser tweaks, and perhaps a new rear wing now that Mercedes brought their "new" FW concept to both China and Baku.

A FW that is drastically different than the one it ran during the 2nd week of testing.

Why should a team introduce an even tighter engine cover outlet with their car having cooling issues?

Where did I say they should introduce a tighter engine cover outlet?

They did so in China.

[zibby43]

Why should a team introduce an even tighter engine cover outlet with their car having cooling issues?

Where did I say they should introduce a tighter engine cover outlet?

They did so in China.

And?

Just because they have had cooling problems doesn't mean they're going to stop improving their car. Especially when they can still run the PU how they want to when it actually counts.

And who's to say the bodywork isn't going to get even tighter once the issues are addressed?