Azerbaijan

[pfc_m_drake]

Unfortunately Verstappen had a very Valtteri Bottas-like ending to his day. Sucks for Red Bull.
In other news, it looks like F1 is going to adopt their own NASCAR/IndyCar version o GWC with this red flag session.

[pfc_m_drake]

Evidently the red flag was to give everybody a chance to change tires - there's some concern over multiple failures (Stroll & Verstappen)
Sounds like they might do a standing start after the red flag.

[pfc_m_drake]

Well Hamilton tells his team before the restart that the championship is like a marathon NOT a sprint...then promptly goes out and blows it by sprinting through the first turn :confused:

Congratulations to Sergio Pérez. A lot o people said that he was a no-talent wanker that didn't deserve the Red Bull ride. His performances this year have proven otherwise.

Should be a very interesting year. Will it turn out that Honda pulled another Honda and left before they should? Time will tell...

[SteveH]

Very interesting race which makes me wish for more of the randomness of failure. Bulletproof (rev limited) engines have pretty much eliminated that. I can understand why the manufacturers don’t want it but the wild card of failure makes races all that much more interesting. Coincidentally both tire failures were on teams that finished one and two.

[gjc2]

Very interesting race which makes me wish for more of the randomness of failure. Bulletproof (rev limited) engines have pretty much eliminated that. I can understand why the manufacturers don’t want it but the wild card of failure makes races all that much more interesting. Coincidentally both tire failures were on teams that finished one and two.

I saw a recent interview of Mario Andretti where he talked about how the high degree of reliability of modern race cars has changed motor racing.

[RTKar]

Very interesting race which makes me wish for more of the randomness of failure. Bulletproof (rev limited) engines have pretty much eliminated that. I can understand why the manufacturers don’t want it but the wild card of failure makes races all that much more interesting. Coincidentally both tire failures were on teams that finished one and two.

Absolutely, the reliability issue is one of the variables that's been eliminated that made randomness in finishes more common. F1 compounds the issue with eliminating refueling, the use of tire blankets, large pit stop crews. All of the additional expense hasn't made the racing any better.

[WickerBill]

Unfortunately Verstappen had a very Valtteri Bottas-like ending to his day

And Bottas had a very Pierre Gasly-at-Red-Bull day

[pfc_m_drake]

And Bottas had a very Pierre Gasly-at-Red-Bull day
One of the easiest strategy calls that you're ever going to make was to pit during the Safety Car period following Stroll's tire failure, if you were running P10 or lower. This is particularly true if you were running a high-downforce setup.

So it came as no surprise to me when Mercedes LEFT Bottas out on track (rather than pit him) during that exact situation. One wonders what they were saving that extra set of brand new hard tires (that they specifically set aside) for? To put on the car so that it looked good in post-race pictures perhaps...

Toto would probably tell us that they were concerned the team could actually successfully pit the car without making a terminal mistake that would lead to yet another DNF for Bottas :shakehead:

Team incompetence aside, I'm sure Valtteri was highly motivated for this race after being asked to go out first in Q3 and punch a hole in the air for the entire field...particularly when this week was Bottas' turn to follow Hamilton (Mercedes has a team agreement whereby Lewis and Valtteri take turns goin out first in qualifying...this race was Lewis' turn to tow Valtteri around...so much for that agreement). Consequently Lewis started up font with Valtteri mired deep in the field (with a car designed to lead...not come to the front through the field).

To finish it all off, I'm sure Valtteri's heart was warmed when Lewis promptly threw Bottas' qualifying sacrifice away on the final restart, after specifically discussing with the Team that he needed to keep his cool for the sake of the championship. If ever there was a wanker move (by a 7-time champion with his biggest contender watching from the sidelines) that threw-it-all-away, THAT was it.

[SteveH]

I felt like a sitting duck (https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.i-felt-like-a-sitting-duck-bottas-bemused-by-lack-of-pace-after-not-fun-baku.3NLu2HHb3VLY9DONhIUgdx.html)

I doubt Valtterri will miss Mercedes next year. Quack, quack.

[devilmaster]

I am home!

and i was home for the race yesterday. But since it was 6 am here I just watched the race half asleep and then promptly went back to sleep after it was done.

Don't know what to say.... Happy for Vettel personally, and Gasly. Its naturally going to be an interesting race if the usual top 3 of Ham, Bot, Ver don't make the points.

[pfc_m_drake]

I am home!

and i was home for the race yesterday. But since it was 6 am here I just watched the race half asleep and then promptly went back to sleep after it was done.

Don't know what to say.... Happy for Vettel personally, and Gasly. Its naturally going to be an interesting race if the usual top 3 of Ham, Bot, Ver don't make the points. Welcome home!

[TravelGal]

I felt like a sitting duck (https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.i-felt-like-a-sitting-duck-bottas-bemused-by-lack-of-pace-after-not-fun-baku.3NLu2HHb3VLY9DONhIUgdx.html)

I doubt Valtterri will miss Mercedes next year. Quack, quack.

I was surprised when he re-signed with them last time. Selling his soul for a Mercedes tee shirt and paycheck.

Welcome back dm! I'm afraid I also slept through almost half the race with not as good an excuse. I saw the action part though. The last lap was a thriller and the exuberance on the podium was fun to see.

Do I get this right--Verstappen ran the fastest lap but because he didn't finish in the top 10 (through no fault of his own, I might add), he doesn't get the point for it? :shakehead: What is the reasoning for that rule?

[datachicane]

Do I get this right--Verstappen ran the fastest lap but because he didn't finish in the top 10 (through no fault of his own, I might add), he doesn't get the point for it? :shakehead: What is the reasoning for that rule?

It's to prevent someone running well out of the points from sacrificing actual race performance for that fast lap point. Not cool to be scrapping for 9th or 10th and have some guy in 16th go a lap down just to pull off a hot lap.

[TravelGal]

It's to prevent someone running well out of the points from sacrificing actual race performance for that fast lap point. Not cool to be scrapping for 9th or 10th and have some guy in 16th go a lap down just to pull off a hot lap.

Thank you. Presumably this had happened often enough for them to think of and institute the rule. A conundrum for sure. Max got the short end of that stick last week.

[opinionated ow]

Thank you. Presumably this had happened often enough for them to think of and institute the rule. A conundrum for sure. Max got the short end of that stick last week.

Actually they thought of it in advance...amazingly. The rule has been that way since the introduced it.