2019 Azerbaijan GP

[N4D13]

Surprised there's no thread for this yet.

Does anyone know if Leclerc crashed on the same tyres he set his fastest Q2 time on? He flatspotted these, so that might be quite a bit of a problem.

[The Black Knight]

I’m surprised no one has crashed at the corner LeClerc and Kubica crashed on before.

A big surprise pole for Mercedes given how dominant Ferrari were in FP sessions. The cooler ambient temperatures coupled with the Mercedes cars stopping at the end of the pitlane swung the pendulum Mercedes way. It was probably LeClerc’s accident that cost Vettel a chance of pole by delaying qualifying further. Bottas ten delivers when it matters and Hamilton made a hames of the first sector.

Ferrari just keep slipping up and handing the advantage to Mercedes.

Looking forward to the race!

[journeyman racer]

Hey, this thread's pretty quiet!

Don't worry about Bottas' PP, he's still the same dud form last year. Anyway, having track position when the field is established is what matters. Hamilton's got Bottas right where he wants him, closer to the nasty start/finish line.

I expect a genuine safety car worthy incident to occur today, and I expect it to jumble the results. After a charmed run, no 1-2 for MB today. But who is it going to benefit?

[Tazio]

'morning boyz!
I'm interested to see how McLerc's race develops.

[journeyman racer]

Well, that was disappointing. That wasn't meant to happen. Hamilton was supposed to cruise up to Bottas, and Bottas was supposed to wilt under the aura of Hamilton's increasing presence.

What went wrong? I look forward to Autosport finding out.

[zako85]

This gotta be the least popular GP, if three hours after it ended no one wants to talk about it.

[gm99]

Well, it wassn't exactly a cliff-hanger, was it?
Renault are having a dreadful season so far - having set out to challenge Red Bull Racing for third in the constructor's championship, they find themselves behind the essentially one-car-outfit of Alfa Romeo.

[N4D13]

I'm glad to finally see McLaren put in a good race and show that they have some decent pace, much better than they've had in previous seasons and vying for best of the rest honors. However, there have been some dubious strategy calls, with the decision to pit Norris before Sainz even though the latter was in front, and then pitting Norris again for a set of softs without much of a noticeable difference in pace, so it only served to make Lando relinquish a position to his teammate.

I'm also failing to understand most of what happens on the track this season. The tyres' performance seems to be unpredictable -at least on the Ferrari-, and we're seeing some wild swings. It may be that Mercedes don't have the fastest car, but they are definitely understanding the tyres better than everyone else and seem to extract performance more predictably from them.

[journeyman racer]

Also, it's better that I acknowledge this first.

What a howler from Daniel "Ben Foster" Riccardo???

He's lost his rhythm, his mojo. 150 races prior to this season, and I can't remember when he's made errors which have damaged the car. He certainly wouldn't have done 3 in 4 like he's started this season. It's best for him to be more conservative for the next few races and slowly regain some form and momentum.

This gotta be the least popular GP, if three hours after it ended no one wants to talk about it.

Yeah, Hamilton didn't win.

[Zico]

Ferrari's current situation is a strange one. In testing they have looked like they were going to dominate but for various reasons including poor decision making by the team, they have not been able to capitalise.
Meanwhile Mercedes have made the best strategy decisions as a team, and coupled with a large amount of luck, have made the best start to the season in years.

I think we have all been surprised by it. Will Ferrari get their act together and finally claim the status as being the dominant team this season? Im not so sure now..
So what are the reasons? Highest straightline speed does not necessarily equate to quickest car. Ferrari have a lower drag, higher top speed, lower downforce 'peaky' car acheived by going down the inwash route which seems to have limited their downforce envelope and therefore tyre temps operating window... while Merc, despite considering their car to still be a diva, have the opposite, providing a more versatile and perhaps more forgiving car that can be made to work well enough but over a wider range of circuits, fuel load, tyre types/wear and race conditions than the Ferrari.

Sure Ferrari are close but as Anthony Davidson said, we need to stop talking about the Ferrari advantage because under scrutiny, it clearly isn't really there.
Ferrari will no doubt also have a fair amount of 1-2 finishes this season when everything lines up well for them and Merc aren't perfect but I think by having to play catch up, coupled with my above assesment, its going to be Mercs year once again.