2023 - Race 4 Azerbaijan

[Tazio]

Brilliant move by Fred

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

[The Black Knight]

Nice to see Perez show everyone that Verstappen isn't the great driver everyone seems to think. IMO he's the most overrated driver in the history of the sport. Like Vettel pampered by RBR and made to look a lot better than reality. He only has two titles because of his teams cheating and Masi's stupidity.

I think without DRS there would have been almost no overtaking today. The new rules are an abject failure- the cars look ugly fat and slow.

I don't watch F1 as much after they fixed the title in the 2021 season - missed two races this season - but really I haven't felt like I've been missing much either.

[Zico]

Nice to see Perez show everyone that Verstappen isn't the great driver everyone seems to think. IMO he's the most overrated driver in the history of the sport. Like Vettel pampered by RBR and made to look a lot better than reality. He only has two titles because of his teams cheating and Masi's stupidity.

I think without DRS there would have been almost no overtaking today. The new rules are an abject failure- the cars look ugly fat and slow.

I don't watch F1 as much after they fixed the title in the 2021 season - missed two races this season - but really I haven't felt like I've been missing much either.

I caved in after saying I wasn't going to watch it and just finished watching the highlights. Doh..

Ok, I'll bite... the exact same also applies to Lewis.
Even Bottas beat Lewis on occasion, well.. when he wasn't told to let Lewis through, does that make Lewis not a great driver? Of course not.

Or... are you saying that you believe Sergio is better than Max?

Not to take away anything from Sergio today, yes he benefited from the safety car while Max suffered from it... but Sergio also drove very well.
He typically performs at his best on street circuits though so it wasn't a surprise for me.

100% sounds like Max is still living rent free in your head. While I can understand your anger at Masi's decision, you really ought to try to come to terms with it and let it go.. or the bitterness will affect your lifes outlook and consume you. It's just a 'sport' without a level playing field at the end of the day.

[Bagwan]

Best radio of the day was from Fred , who , when told about Lance saying he wouldn't attack him , and that hey were playing the same game , said "He can have a go ."

Now , there's a couple of guys who are working together .

Lance had no mentor with Massa .
He got closer with Seb .

But , now he has a real team mate .
It's nice to see .

[Tazio]

Would you say that Fred is a messiah to Lance, or just a righteous bro? At any rate, a great result for the team.
May the Forza be with them!

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

[Tazio]

"Carlos Sainz has praised Fernando Alonso for his stellar moves during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after his fellow Spaniard overtook him during a tricky race for the Ferrari driver.

The Ferrari driver praised the work of Aston Martin driver Alonso after he overtook him.

https://i.imgur.com/FGfVmFx.jpeg

Alonso took home P4 in the race, breaking a clean sweep of podiums so far this season.

Sainz said: “Fernando got me right, clean, and then defended in a great way."

Well played by Fred.....
and his hero

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

[The Black Knight]

I caved in after saying I wasn't going to watch it and just finished watching the highlights. Doh..

Ok, I'll bite... the exact same also applies to Lewis.
Even Bottas beat Lewis on occasion, well.. when he wasn't told to let Lewis through, does that make Lewis not a great driver? Of course not.

Or... are you saying that you believe Sergio is better than Max?

Not to take away anything from Sergio today, yes he benefited from the safety car while Max suffered from it... but Sergio also drove very well.
He typically performs at his best on street circuits though so it wasn't a surprise for me.

100% sounds like Max is still living rent free in your head. While I can understand your anger at Masi's decision, you really ought to try to come to terms with it and let it go.. or the bitterness will affect your lifes outlook and consume you. It's just a 'sport' without a level playing field at the end of the day.

No what I'm saying is thay Sergio isn't an amazing driver. I'd agree he has upped his game over the last number of years but I still don't rate him highly. For Max to be beaten consistently by him is telling.

I don't like Max never have - no secret there. I've never been impressed by him they way I've been impressed by LeClerc or other drivers. I didn't like Vettel either but never had an issue with how he won his championships. Max did nothing wrong with the Masi incident but they cheated throughout the year to bring upgrades to the car that they should not have been able to bring.

Don't worry Max is not in my head. I have a far richer life away from F1. And now that I don't watch races as much I have more free time to devote energy to other things.

[Nitrodaze]

I caved in after saying I wasn't going to watch it and just finished watching the highlights. Doh..

Ok, I'll bite... the exact same also applies to Lewis.
Even Bottas beat Lewis on occasion, well.. when he wasn't told to let Lewis through, does that make Lewis not a great driver? Of course not.

Or... are you saying that you believe Sergio is better than Max?

Not to take away anything from Sergio today, yes he benefited from the safety car while Max suffered from it... but Sergio also drove very well.
He typically performs at his best on street circuits though so it wasn't a surprise for me.

100% sounds like Max is still living rent free in your head. While I can understand your anger at Masi's decision, you really ought to try to come to terms with it and let it go.. or the bitterness will affect your lifes outlook and consume you. It's just a 'sport' without a level playing field at the end of the day.

I agree, Max could have won Baku if not for some bad luck with Pitstop. That said, Perez showed that he was no slouch either. The opportunity came and he took it with both hands. I think Perez is the underdog as most people underrate him. How he was used in 2021 and 2022 by Redbull as support for Verstappen seemed to box him in that mindset. And has led most to the feeling that he was not as good as Verstappen. He has built up that notorious second garage into a race-winning subteam. The stigma of that side of Redbull being where the trainee engineers are put and a support driver slot, has been turned around by Perez who has figured out how to get the most from those engineers.

It is also refreshing that Redbull is making us eat humble pie for saying they would not let their drivers fight each other for the title. It is early days but we are here at a point where Perez and the band of engineers from the notorious second Redxbull garage have a real shot of winning the driver's title.
Can Perez beat Verstappen over a full season? Yes he can, he has experience on his side and he is fast enough to give Verstappen a run for his money on a good weekend like Baku. This season is shaping out to be a really challenging one for Verstappen. This is the season where he has to work hard to win the title on his own without the support of the second driver. It would be the first title where he would properly earn the respect of everyone as a proper world champion if he can defeat Perez without the aid of Redbull at the expense of Perez. I think he can do it, but Perez is definitely not going to make it easy for him.

Also, Perez would come out of this season with a higher stock value whichever way it goes. He has nothing to lose and tons to gain. Verstappen on the other hand has loads to lose if he fails to win the 2023 title. He would have fallen short of Sebastian Vettel for a start that won four in trot for Redbull.

So far, there has been no on-track tussle between these two, but l have a feeling it would come and it would be interesting to see how Horner handles that situation. Would he be even-handed or would he favour Verstappen in those situations? That is the only real risk to Perez's chances of winning the title.

[Nitrodaze]

"Carlos Sainz has praised Fernando Alonso for his stellar moves during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after his fellow Spaniard overtook him during a tricky race for the Ferrari driver.

The Ferrari driver praised the work of Aston Martin driver Alonso after he overtook him.

https://i.imgur.com/FGfVmFx.jpeg

Alonso took home P4 in the race, breaking a clean sweep of podiums so far this season.

Sainz said: “Fernando got me right, clean, and then defended in a great way."

Well played by Fred.....
and his hero

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

That was the pass of the race. Poor Sainz did not have a chance once Alonso placed his car alongside.

[Nitrodaze]

I was always positive and optimistic that the sprints might offer something new that was good but it has become pretty clear that the format improves nothing.

I'm not going to bother watching any of this weekends sprints nor should anyone else who doesn't like them if we want to get the message across to the circus organisers.

Liberty- Just bin this silly sprint idea please.

Give it a chance, it would be more interesting at other non-street circuits. That said, l enjoyed it. You could see team bosses wince as they watched each race starts.