2016 European Grand Prix - Baku City Circuit, Fri 17 – Sun 19 Jun

[ripper]

I hope they Will choose a tyre set that has been used by someone else in Q2 or Q1 For His qualyfing lap, otherwise if they give him a set that has been gently used For 5-6 laps what should be a penalty will become an advantage

[LionKing]

So unfair, what prevents him from pitting at the end of lap one or even starting from pitlane if it is indeed a problem?

[Godius]

Damn, I just watched the qualifying and I'm amazed how many drivers their flying laps were destroyed because of Hamilton's mistakes in each session.

[morefirejules08]

Safety?

I don't get it why it's suddenly a problem? Have people never flat spotted their race tires in the past? How about the red bull fiasco in spa 2011 when they blistered their tires in Q3 and fia forced them to start on them anyway.

I'm guessing the powers that be consider it a problem because Baku is unique in that it is a high speed street circuit with virtually no run off. I mean what kind of damage would be caused to a driver if a damaged tyre went pop in the breaking zone after the long straight?

[morefirejules08]

I hope they Will choose a tyre set that has been used by someone else in Q2 or Q1 For His qualyfing lap, otherwise if they give him a set that has been gently used For 5-6 laps what should be a penalty will become an advantage

I'm guessing Pirelli will pick a set which shows similar degradation to what they'd expect to see on hamitons tyres but minus the damage. They do something similar in test cricket when the ball becomes damaged.

[Andres125sx]

Question; If Lewis had qualified on pole would they have still been so lenient?

I´d say no.

Also, I don´t think the tires are flattered so bad, but since Pirelli had some concerns about his tires managing those sustained top speeds, they decided to be on the safe side.

But I agree if it was his mistake, he should be penalized some way, maybe with tires with some more lap than the ones he flattered?

[F1NAC]

According to Merc twitter they changed only front left

[Andres125sx]

Considering this years' form, it's way more likely for Hamilton to do a big cock-up than Rosberg. Lewis is yet to show this season how superior he is to Nico.

Edit: Another thing. If this is Nico's pole time, could someone please explain how that lap was validated after the massive track extention at 1:06?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAohcHKY-20

Probably because that was the best for the rest, as he could have improved that lap (he´s the only top5 driver to not improve his lap from Q2 to Q3).

No need to show everybody he could have been more than a full second faster than next fastest driver

[ripper]

Sound reasonable

[Unc1eM0nty]

its driver error so they should be punished for their mistakes, Pirelli are scared to death though, they've increased the pressures yet again and even then they still have concerns with the kerbs and the high speed.

Lewis knew he was struggling, he should have got a steady banker lap in to guarantee a decent grid slot, in Q2 his lap was a second slower then Nico but still good enough for 2nd, he should have done the same then taken his wheel off

[diego.liv]

Read somewhere Pirelli is invoking art 24.4, safety measure?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_European_Grand_Prix

but is most famous for McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen almost winning the race but crashing at the start of the final lap from the lead because of a suspension failure caused by a flat-spotted front tyre

[Schuttelberg]

Very very lucky for Hamilton that. It's a bogus rule and if I were anyone but Hamilton, I'd be absolutely fuming!

Every driver should object to this. If it is a safety issue, start from the pit lane? Really daft!

[atanatizante]

1. It is allowed to swap left tyre with the right one, which has the same amount of mileage?
2. It`ll be interesting to know how much they`ll under-fuel the cars in a prospect of possible at least one SC period during the race ...10kg on this track worth at least 4 tenths ...
3. Which is the best possible cause of Lewis`s "bad day at the office" yesterday, both in FP3 and Qualy? In a Sky interview he did briefly mentioned that they changed the car between friday and saturday, but quickly divert the attention and taking all the blame on him for the Q3 mistake ... why is he being overly too diplomatic, lately, and not blame the team? or maybe he is just fair play? ... So after all what could it be : setup changes? glazed new brakes? the sun? the lowered tyre pressure? ...
4. I`m not with lack of focus theory, coz in Qualy he always can manage the pressure and deliver the goods ... and regarding this lack of focus story what you could say about it? It`s something like a football player having a bad day coz is out of shape? Can we say that also in motorsport?
5. Which is the difference between SS-S-M here?
6. Nico should be cautious at the start not to hit someone or something ... he should take the outside line in turn 1, coz Vettel and Ricci they often do the inside line and for sure they`ll beat him off line at the start of the race ...
7. Lewis, on the other side, should be extra cautious at the first turn with an outside line and had he survive the start incidents he could nurse his SS tyre opting for a long first stint and trying to do a one stop race ... for this race S tyre is mandatory?
8. There are voices which says drivers must be penalized for trying to many times to exceed the limits, like Lewis did many times in free practices with those offs in the run off areas, trying to find - as is said - the limits for the braking zone ... Lewis deliberately do that, trying to get some advantage out of it, is`t it? ... how are your thoughts guys about this matter?

[iotar__]

Considering this years' form, it's way more likely for Hamilton to do a big cock-up than Rosberg. Lewis is yet to show this season how superior he is to Nico.

Edit: Another thing. If this is Nico's pole time, could someone please explain how that lap was validated after the massive track extention at 1:06?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAohcHKY-20

Not this again, I knew which place it was before watching. Have you seen other drivers there? Everyone was going off = normal line. Some other track, Abu Dhabi (? I'm not sure), has the similar corner when walls not painted line dictate the limit, although without kerbs AFAIR. Edit: Couldn't find the other track (not AD ) but checked Q - others went off there too - Vettel, Grosjean.

[simieski]

GP2 chaos!