2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Baku, June 04 - 06

[PlatinumZealot]

WHAT A RACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT A RACE so many emotions so conflicted! I thought for sure Hamilton was going to be 14pts ahead of Verstappen, then neither score at all. The constructors championship has swung in RBR's favor with Perez's huge win. Huge huge drive from Perez. Shame for both Hamilton and Verstappen, they did everything perfectly but those second rate Pirelli's....

What a race though, what a podium, well done for Alonso and Tsunoda for bagging some points. I'm so conflicted, but also very entertained.

https://th.bing.com/th/id/Rb889231fb5bb ... pid=ImgRaw

Funny thing is 14 points is nothing at this stage of the championship, but it feels like every race is pivotal. Speaks for a good championship!

[Sieper]

Max second time (last year Imola) that a tire that is supposed to be fine, and seemingly was, killed his race. I was totally down, sweating from the utter bad feeling. But at least in the end Hamilton did not profit. Al though I am still dissapointed from the win down the drain it at least is on still for the WDC for now. But a great opportunity lost.

On performance and lack of mistakes Max should be leading the championship by a much larger margin, but the next couple of races with two at RedBull ring should suit RedBull more. He is champion caliber. With the championship so close who needs sprint races.

Yes, I agree with that, but in the meantime it is Max again with bad luck. But OK, race done, too late now, let’s see how the rest goes.

[PlatinumZealot]

Max second time (last year Imola) that a tire that is supposed to be fine, and seemingly was, killed his race. I was totally down, sweating from the utter bad feeling. But at least in the end Hamilton did not profit. Al though I am still dissapointed from the win down the drain it at least is on still for the WDC for now. But a great opportunity lost.

On performance and lack of mistakes Max should be leading the championship by a much larger margin, but the next couple of races with two at RedBull ring should suit RedBull more. He is champion caliber. With the championship so close who needs sprint races.

Objectively, I think I would give it to Max too if I had to choose who has been driving better so far, but it's nip and tuck. I don't necessarily think Max is the better pilot, but he has been keeping a calmer head I would say. Lewis of course is wringing the neck of the car like Max was last year. Early days though. I have a hunch that the Mercedes will become the fastest car once the first set of upgrades come in, and I hoping for a return to dominance.

[saviour stivala]

Maybe Lewis het BB+ during the upshift?

It's in the last couple of pages. He was in the wrong "brake magic" mode.

team radio said he turned it off, but bumped it back on in the up shift.

What is ''brake magic'' mode?.

[dans79]

No one knows the cause yet of these deflations. You are jumping to conclusions too soon.

Red Bull said they had no indications of any issue to the tire. They also called the race director and basically asked them to throw a red flag on the grounds of safety.

two left rear tires failing in such a similar way is very suspect.

And how does that conclusively indicate it is a Pirelli fault? You are clutching at straws. Lets wait for Pirelli to investigate and then conclude. There is no need to accuse them before you know all the facts.

They showed close-ups of both tires and neither one of them showed excessive amounts of graining or tire wear. That suggests neither of the drivers had worn the tires out yet.

If it had been debris, Red Bull would have seen a drop in tire pressure, as the tires would not deflate instantaneously. Think back to when Bottas hit something and had a tire failure, at literally the same point on the track a few years back. The tire deflation was slow enough that Bottas was able to get off the power and keep the car from going into the wall.

What we saw today, kind of reminds me of Silverstone 2013, when the sidewall to tread interface would fail with no warning.

[e30ernest]

Wow! What an amazing race!

Kudos to Perez for picking up his first win as a Red Bull Driver. Kudos to Vettel for his first podium in the Aston as well. Great drive from Gasly to take advantage of the mistakes up front to take the final podium step. This podium is pretty much all RB.

Hamilton dropped the ball there. That was huge and unexpected. I really feel for Max. He drove a pretty much perfect race. He deserved that win.

[dans79]

I'm bettering we're going to see a slightly larger guard on whichever switch or button actuates brake magic before the next race.

[Brenton]

No one knows the cause yet of these deflations. You are jumping to conclusions too soon.

Red Bull said they had no indications of any issue to the tire. They also called the race director and basically asked them to throw a red flag on the grounds of safety.

two left rear tires failing in such a similar way is very suspect.

And how does that conclusively indicate it is a Pirelli fault? You are clutching at straws. Lets wait for Pirelli to investigate and then conclude. There is no need to accuse them before you know all the facts.

Horner said their team thinks it was a tire failure. You don't know what you're talking about at all.

[PlatinumZealot]

Horner is not a Pirelli tyre engineer so let's wait and see.

[aMessageToCharlie]

If I’m Hamilton, I do not want Mr Lock up directly behind me at this restart. Surely Vettel will not risk the podium with a reckless move?

Turns out he was Mr. Lock-up himself. The irony.

[turbof1]

Red Bull said they had no indications of any issue to the tire. They also called the race director and basically asked them to throw a red flag on the grounds of safety.

two left rear tires failing in such a similar way is very suspect.

And how does that conclusively indicate it is a Pirelli fault? You are clutching at straws. Lets wait for Pirelli to investigate and then conclude. There is no need to accuse them before you know all the facts.

Horner said their team thinks it was a tire failure. You don't know what you're talking about at all.

Hey a classic example here where both parties make a decent point, but get too feisty with the wording... . Please, do stay respectful.

Pirelli is notoriously for putting it "cuts". It did so during the 2013 British GP, where tyres were blowing up left and right. It blamed it on the high downforce levels and the sharp kerbstones. However, the grand prix afterwards they replaced the steel belts in the tyres with kevlar ones and the problems got solved.

Now, Baku is also notorious for debris. It is totally possible debris actually cut the tyre. But, there should be some resistance to very small pieces cutting the tyre up. A butter knife can technically cut through wood. Does that mean it should?

IMO, let's wait and see. Red Bull will probably have a reply ready should Pirelli try to just pin it on debris.

[Sieper]

It would be good if they could truthfully investigate what happened. If at all possible. Stroll and Max out. For Max this is the second time in as many years. Imola last year in P2.

[dans79]

for reference jump to like 6:20 in this video and you can see bottas got a right rear puncture from a very large piece of debris. No instantaneous crash.

[Spacepace]

And how does that conclusively indicate it is a Pirelli fault? You are clutching at straws. Lets wait for Pirelli to investigate and then conclude. There is no need to accuse them before you know all the facts.

Horner said their team thinks it was a tire failure. You don't know what you're talking about at all.

Hey a classic example here where both parties make a decent point, but get too feisty with the wording... . Please, do stay respectful.

Pirelli is notoriously for putting it "cuts". It did so during the 2013 British GP, where tyres were blowing up left and right. It blamed it on the high downforce levels and the sharp kerbstones. However, the grand prix afterwards they replaced the steel belts in the tyres with kevlar ones and the problems got solved.

Now, Baku is also notorious for debris. It is totally possible debris actually cut the tyre. But, there should be some resistance to very small pieces cutting the tyre up. A butter knife can technically cut through wood. Does that mean it should?

IMO, let's wait and see. Red Bull will probably have a reply ready should Pirelli try to just pin it on debris.

I remember that too. It also happened to one of the Toro Rosso's at Barcelona that year too. This does remind me of that. Like I had mentioned a few pages back, Pirelli opened a new tyre factory to supplement the already existing one. Could it be quality control issues I don't know.

I do know it was revealed in '13 that teams where flipping the inner part of the tyre for the outer on the wheel for a benefit. But yeah I find it funny that they changed back to the kevlar belt from steel.

[proteus]

Because RB’s front wing doesn’t flex does it

Not as much as someone elses does

You did watch the onboards this weekend right? RB’s front wing flexes just as much as Mercs.

Just saying that it goes both ways. RedBull was master of bendy wings from a decade ago allready, so i highly doubt they wont be able to convert their car to stiffer wings. On the other hand, DAS was allowed whole last season, so i dont understand why flexible rear wings which pass normal test should be illegal all of the sudden?