2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Baku, April 26-28

[JordanMugen]

The sport needs Ford, Toyota, BMW, Peugeot, Porsche, Audi---major factory involvement back in it.

But do Ford, Toyota, BMW, Peugeot, Porsche and Audi need F1?

[Bill]

Why are some of you winging about engine I think you need to take control of you emotions and get real Ferrari has a great pu better than Mercedes but has a car lacking downforce which also hurt tyre usage Redbull has also problems with tyres warm up and lack a little downforce the had already acknowledged that nothing to do with Honda they are not miracles workers they can't make a sup chassis fly. If you want to lay the blame at someone blame fia who constantly change rules which favors Mercedes. If torro rosso was complaining about tyres would they have changed it's unlikely same goes for stupid front wing totally unnecessary some teams has to start from zero again.mercedes in favor of a wing change should have been a warning why would they agree to it unless they knew they will extend their winning streak

[Mach]

Curious to see Spain updates

And 2020 as this year is already done

No one seems to be talking about the rather poor health of F1 at the moment.

I agree this season is done, but that is because there is only a single team that is capable of potentially bringing the fight to Mercedes, and that team didn't get it right with the car design this year. So the season is over.

Everyone else is just in the way making up the numbers.

The sport has changed and these engine rules mean if you aren't a major factory effort, you don't have a chance. But there are only four factories in F1 these days, and 2 of those (Honda and Renault) don't seem to really want to be there in the first place. Honda in particular seems incapable of getting out of its own way, and it's been that way with them for a long time now, going back to and including their last stint in F1.

I have no idea what happened to the Honda of the '80s and early '90s, but that organization is dead.

The sport needs Ford, Toyota, BMW, Peugeot, Porsche, Audi---major factory involvement back in it.

This Mercedes dominance might last as long as they choose to remain in the sport, and may only end when they leave!

Reminds me of Audi in sports car racing; a major factory effort running a top notch program at a time when literally no one else was. The result was 10,000 Le Mans victories.

I doubt Ford, Toyota, BMW et-al have an appetite to return to F1 with required multi $billion dollar budget from scratch considering it may take around 10 years before seeing positive results.

Mercedes has been involved uninterrupted in F1 since supplying engines to McLaren in 1995....24ish years. These last 4 years have proved they are the most efficient & productive team in F1. Ferrari, Honda, Renault are performance struggling to keep up even though they've been involved in the sport in the modern era in one capacity or another.

[dren]

Honda and Renault PUs seemed to have made good strides. Honda wasn't magically wonderful when they entered back in the 80s. It took them a few years of stumbling. Also, it's apparent that Honda 100% wants to be in F1 and is committed to winning.

[dxpetrov]

Why are some of you winging about engine I think you need to take control of you emotions and get real Ferrari has a great pu better than Mercedes but has a car lacking downforce which also hurt tyre usage Redbull has also problems with tyres warm up and lack a little downforce the had already acknowledged that nothing to do with Honda they are not miracles workers they can't make a sup chassis fly. If you want to lay the blame at someone blame fia who constantly change rules which favors Mercedes. If torro rosso was complaining about tyres would they have changed it's unlikely same goes for stupid front wing totally unnecessary some teams has to start from zero again.mercedes in favor of a wing change should have been a warning why would they agree to it unless they knew they will extend their winning streak

Complete and uter truth! My thought exactly! The only team that benefits after major rule changes is the one with unlimited resources. We all know who that is!

[dans79]

I think several people here have rose tinted glasses on. If anything, the last several rule changes have been designed to hurt Mercedes. The reason why we so much whining now, is because the other teams have failed to capitalize on the opportunists given to them.

[TAG]

I think several people here have rose tinted glasses on. If anything, the last several rule changes have been designed to hurt Mercedes. The reason why we so much whining now, is because the other teams have failed to capitalize on the opportunists given to them.

Rose is the appropriate color, foggy rose colored to boot. Maybe we can be back to Baku on the discussion though. I was surprised as to how difficult it was to overtake even with DRS, yeah you can overtake another car easily especially if there's a tire advantage but I was very surprised and happy to see Bottas defend against Hamilton's late charge the way he did.

Seems like what the new front wings have helped with is front tire degradation while following close behind, but I was really really expecting an overtake that never materialized and reading some of the post race commentary from Hamilton he knew it wasn't going to happen. Probably something to keep in mind going forward.

[Carl Mccoy]

In 2014-2016 it was by far the best engine at present, it is not the engine that decides that they are so strong.

[Zynerji]

I think several people here have rose tinted glasses on. If anything, the last several rule changes have been designed to hurt Mercedes. The reason why we so much whining now, is because the other teams have failed to capitalize on the opportunists given to them.

Except that rule change that gave us thin gague tyres that solved Mercedes' problem, and gave it to everyone else..

[yelistener]

albon 359 kmh slipstream vs gio and mag

https://streamable.com/l9fne
https://streamable.com/l9fne

Biggger DRS with the Baku long straight made this year's overtaking a bit ridiculous. Most of the time the overtake happened WAY before the Turn 1 braking zone. The car in front is totally defenseless.

I guess that's partialy why no major incident happened in the race. Since it's too easy to overtake at the long straight, why bother trying too hard at anywhere else?

Yes, of course. But that principle is as old as motor racing itself.

No, the crazy action happened in 2017 didn't happen last wknd. Drivers simply didn't try as hard in S1 & 2 as they did in 2017, because the vulnerability of being in front in S3 went to a new level.

[Bill]

Mercedes didn't need "hurting " we had pretty good competition Ferrari in the first half and redbull in the second half they should have carried on from that rule stability that most preachers but can't practice. Mercedes pace is interesting they are people who subscribe to the notion that they hide their pace in the first half of season and only shows it in second half to quell complaints of dominance but that theory have been proven to be false the got nothing to hide

[dans79]

Rose is the appropriate color, foggy rose colored to boot. Maybe we can be back to Baku on the discussion though. I was surprised as to how difficult it was to overtake even with DRS, yeah you can overtake another car easily especially if there's a tire advantage but I was very surprised and happy to see Bottas defend against Hamilton's late charge the way he did.

Seems like what the new front wings have helped with is front tire degradation while following close behind, but I was really really expecting an overtake that never materialized and reading some of the post race commentary from Hamilton he knew it wasn't going to happen. Probably something to keep in mind going forward.

I think Lewis would have gotten him without the VSC. However Lewis lost 2 seconds behind the vsc, and by the time he got his tires back up to temp it was 2 late.

[zac510]

I couldn't work out what happened to Alex Albon after his first stop - he dropped way down the order. Was it a long stop or did he lose a lot of time on burnt out tyres on the in-laps?
Anyone who was following can you let me know? Cheers.

To answer my own question, he got undercut by just about everyone during the first pit stops. If they'd pitted a couple of laps earlier they might have kept track position.

[zeph]

I’m glad Bottas is stepping up his game, at least there’s an intra-team battle if nothing else.

I’m happy for Checo finishing sixth. His McLaren debacle tarnished his rep, but I still think he can hang with the best of them.

I watched the start, and slept through most of the race.

[Sieper]

I couldn't work out what happened to Alex Albon after his first stop - he dropped way down the order. Was it a long stop or did he lose a lot of time on burnt out tyres on the in-laps?
Anyone who was following can you let me know? Cheers.

To answer my own question, he got undercut by just about everyone during the first pit stops. If they'd pitted a couple of laps earlier they might have kept track position.

Thanks for this, I was wondering what happened. This Guy is talented imho.