2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Baku, April 26-28

[NathanOlder]

Yeah, you only need to say it once or twice, not so often selvam_e2002.

[Webber2011]

I do see bright future for Alonso coming into Ferrari 2020 replacing Vettel. There is not reason to keep Vettel in Ferrari.

Give it up mate.

Alonso's not coming back.
Why would he ?

He's having to much fun enjoying life and racing, without all the bullshite required in F1.

[ubuysa]

I do see bright future for Alonso coming into Ferrari 2020 replacing Vettel. There is not reason to keep Vettel in Ferrari.

IMHO there is no reason to take Alonso back (he is too much political).

Agreed, I don't see anyone, except possibly Williams, wanting to take on Alonso.

[Phil]

They couldn't afford him, so no, they wouldn't.

[Unf]

Gyus, Ferrari's problem is not driver x or y. Ferrari's problem is... Ferrari. Try count how many stupid points they lost past two years...

[dans79]

Gyus, Ferrari's problem is not driver x or y. Ferrari's problem is... Ferrari. Try count how many stupid points they lost past two years...

Imo, Ferrari's biggest problem is the national press, its fans, and then its senior most executives. Any time they aren't winning the blame game starts, and the call goes out for heads to role.

[dtro]

Gyus, Ferrari's problem is not driver x or y. Ferrari's problem is... Ferrari. Try count how many stupid points they lost past two years...

Imo, Ferrari's biggest problem is the national press, its fans, and then its senior most executives. Any time they aren't winning the blame game starts, and the call goes out for heads to role.

Byproduct seems to be a pair of drivers that are questioning their abilities and lacking confidence/stability.

[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.

He is a true racer, too bad that his time in McLaren damaged his career because he could have raced for Ferrari, for example.

True, but he took the Mclaren seat and threw away his chance at a Ferrari seat. So, it was his own decision t do so. I read that Ferrari would have taken him for 2014/15 but he had to stay at Sauber for another year, He chose Mclaren in 2013, so that was the Ferrari door firmly shut.

Yup,he acknowledged that in the “Beyond the Grid” podcast.

But I would suggest Raikkonen’s return to Ferrari would have prevented Perez’ admission into the team anyway. Montezemolo got Raikkonen back because Alonso was making unsatisfied noises, and Ferrari has to have a champion in the team. When Alonso stayed, I doubt they would have replaced Raikkonen with Perez, even if he had stayed at Sauber as agreed.

[PlatinumZealot]

Mercedes has better drivers at this point. Yes, even Bottas is looking better than Vettel right about now. LeClerc is the pole-man for Ferrari now, but he hasn't the experience to keep it together yet. Vettel is slower and mentally not in it any more.... so it is going to be hard for Ferrari even with the fastest car to beat Mercedes.

[yelistener]

Baku Long Straight Speed Comparison 2016-2019 Pole (2017-2019 Telemetry from Juzh)

Straight-line speed almost dropped to V8 level since 2018

[Carl Mccoy]

Something like 80's turbo cars. Benetton _BMW needs 1400hp to achieve 350Km/h

[Just_a_fan]

Baku Long Straight Speed Comparison 2016-2019 Pole (2017-2019 Telemetry from Juzh)

Straight-line speed almost dropped to V8 level since 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSWQDeHEKhM

Yes, but look at the cornering speed. Top speed on the straight is great for Top Trumps, but it's speed though the corners that gives lap time. In the last real corner, the current car was over 20kmh quicker than the "fast in a straight line" earlier cars. Multiply that by the number of corners and you see why downforce is so important.

Back in the day, Minardi (lacking downforce) were regularly top of the speed chart, but bottom of the lap time chart. Exactly the same as seen in this video, in fact.

[LM10]

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..

That's not correct. Ferrari was also suffering massive blistering problems with "standard" 2018 tires at high-energy circuits.

Vettel also eventually explained that the switch to the thinner-gauge rubber was the right move.

Proof:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D5SiVT7XkAA-OK8.jpg

So you're putting a picture on here and say it's the proof for anything. It's a no brainer that on high energy tracks with high track temperatures there will be blistering to some extent, no matter which team.
I think we don't need to discuss much at all that it has been Mercedes suffering the most with tyres for the last couple of years, do we? They were the ones putting the most energy into them out of the top teams, hence their overheating issues. The thin threaded tyres which were used 3 times last year helped them most.

This year, with those thin threaded tyres being the standard ones, they don't suffer from any overheating issues and probably also won't in the future races. It's a question of the whole concept how the car treats the tyres. Telling that every team has had the same amount of time testing the tyres is a bit of an easy thing to say. As we know, Mercedes has been known to put quite much energy into the tyres for years. They would have changed it on the concept side, if it was that easy (without losing performance). Coming up with new rims was the solution they went for.

Ferrari and RedBull don't even use these rims which shows that they don't have overheating problems. Ferrari was one of the teams suffering the most when it came to putting heat into the tyres in Baku. When the temperatures dropped in qualifying their performance visibly dropped relative to Mercedes and Toto also told that the colder temperatures helped them.
This should also cancel the totally wrong rumour about Ferrari overheating the tyres in comparison to Mercedes.

[dans79]

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

That's not correct. Ferrari was also suffering massive blistering problems with "standard" 2018 tires at high-energy circuits.

Vettel also eventually explained that the switch to the thinner-gauge rubber was the right move.

Proof:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D5SiVT7XkAA-OK8.jpg

So you're putting a picture on here and say it's the proof for anything. It's a no brainer that on high energy tracks with high track temperatures there will be blistering to some extent, no matter which team.
I think we don't need to discuss much at all that it has been Mercedes suffering the most with tyres for the last couple of years, do we? They were the ones putting the most energy into them out of the top teams, hence their overheating issues. The thin threaded tyres which were used 3 times last year helped them most.

This year, with those thin threaded tyres being the standard ones, they don't suffer from any overheating issues and probably also won't in the future races. It's a question of the whole concept how the car treats the tyres. Telling that every team has had the same amount of time testing the tyres is a bit of an easy thing to say. As we know, Mercedes has been known to put quite much energy into the tyres for years. They would have changed it on the concept side, if it was that easy (without losing performance). Coming up with new rims was the solution they went for.

Ferrari and RedBull don't even use these rims which shows that they don't have overheating problems. Ferrari was one of the teams suffering the most when it came to putting heat into the tyres in Baku. When the temperatures dropped in qualifying their performance visibly dropped relative to Mercedes and Toto also told that the colder temperatures helped them.
This should also cancel the totally wrong rumour about Ferrari overheating the tyres in comparison to Mercedes.

Are you going to go full tinfoil hat on us?

[LM10]

Are you going to go full tinfoil hat on us?

You’re accusing me of being an conspiracy theorist, though, I’ve just stated things which are easily observable.

If there is anything you’re not agreeing with me, you’re free to use arguments.