Poll: Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2018, Baku - Race 4/21

Rate the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix out of ten


  • Total voters
    118
  • Poll closed .
Permabanned
Joined
2 Sep 2017
Posts
10,490
Azerbaijan is the poorest country on the Calendar. Wonder where they find money for this race.

The circuit of Valencia was really interesting. Why did they ditch it? :confused:
 

mjt

mjt

Soldato
Joined
31 Aug 2007
Posts
20,020
That RB crash was just waiting to happen all race. (Not) Surprised Verstappen's dodgy weaving wasn't penalised. WTF stewards?

Azerbaijan is the poorest country on the Calendar. Wonder where they find money for this race.
Oil. And corruption. The President's wife is the Vice President!
 
Soldato
Joined
15 May 2007
Posts
12,804
Location
Ipswich / Bodham
Absolutely cracking race for me. Solid 8/10 for entertainment. Unlucky for Bottas, but his strategy would have seen him second, at best.

A tough one with the Red Bulls. For me, it ends up pretty much as a 50/50. Max shouldn't have moved as he did, but he left a space on the left, a space that no driver would have taken. They braked pretty much together, and at that point Ricciardo had nowhere to go, as he'd been indecisive about which side to take. Max may not be fully at fault for this, but the fact remains that he keeps putting himself in positions where it is all or nothing, and is losing points as a result. He really does needs some additional guidance to balance whatever his Dad is providing.

Mature from Hamilton. You can be off your game, and still take the win. Fair play to Vettel for having a go straight after the safety car. Hindsight is a beautiful thing, but he was a few yards reaction time away at 200+ mph from making it stick, and he had a go.

Grosjean? Really? Worse than Bottas last year - there's no excuse for this. You're supposed to be in the top 20 drivers in the world - yes, your tyres are cold but you should be capable of managing them as they are and getting them up to the right temperature. That's why you did testing in Barcelona two months ago IN THE SNOW!

He almost certainly wouldn't have won without the safety car. The situation was that slow tires were categorically slower than 30 lap old, qualified on supersofts. After pitting Hamilton and Vettel both of whom were pulling comfortably away from Bottas were losing time. Fresh softs vs old supersofts on Bottas who was slower in that car than either of the others had been. Before the safety car Bottas was pulling away from Vettel and had moved easily to a point in the race he could pit for ultrasofts and go to the end. Bottas was going to come out most likely <6 seconds behind Vettel with a significantly faster tire with say 20 laps to go. Vettel had nearly no chance to win that race.

You persist in coming out with this stuff presented as fact when it just your opinion. Vettel had nearly no chance to win that race without a safety car?!

Bottas wasn't going to come out 6 seconds behind Vettel with a significantly faster tyre with say 20 laps to go, because he didn't! He stayed out far beyond that, and slowed to make sure he could pit with fewer than 20 laps to go once the safety car was deployed. He then came out on a tyre that was slower.

The safety car actually enabled Hamilton and Vettel to get onto the same tire as Bottas and both had a shot at the win because as before, both drivers were faster than Bottas till their pitstops. Vettel having been gifted a free pitstop to get onto the right tire compound boned the first corner and cost himself a few places.

Both drivers were faster than Bottas until their pitstops. But whats makes you think that Bottas would be faster than them after his own change of tyres?
 

mjt

mjt

Soldato
Joined
31 Aug 2007
Posts
20,020
Grosjean? Really? Worse than Bottas last year - there's no excuse for this. You're supposed to be in the top 20 drivers in the world - yes, your tyres are cold but you should be capable of managing them as they are and getting them up to the right temperature. That's why you did testing in Barcelona two months ago IN THE SNOW!
I watched that back in slow motion and there appears to be a slight bump in the track and he loses is as the car lands.
Maybe I'm imagining it, but it seems a bit of bad luck.

Either way, LOL @ stacking a car behind the safety car :(
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Oct 2005
Posts
6,243
Location
North of Watford Gap
Ah apologies.
Sure it was around then still.
Maybe 97/98?
Nope, 1997 you had LOLa and Arrows having a terrible start. 1998 Tyrell and Minardi didn't score at all.

I've gone back all the way to the 70s and we've never had a season where all teams have scored in the first four races of the Constructors Championship.

The closest we've come to having all teams scoring within the first 4 rounds was in 1972, when all the teams that started the season scored points (3 teams raced later in the season), though of course back then it wasn't the Constructors Championship, 90% of the field used the best engine and even the lowest teams just bought older chassis off the top manufacturers.

In fact 2002 is the first instance of all teams scoring through the entire season.
 
Soldato
Joined
15 May 2007
Posts
12,804
Location
Ipswich / Bodham
He didn't lead a single lap during the entire race. How come that he won?
Not fair, isn't it? :confused: Like a lottery gambling - pure luck and very unfair.

Because he wasn't thinking about the win, he was thinking about the maximum he could get from the weekend. That potential shifted throughout the race, and as a result he was in the right place to take the win.

He didn't have a great weekend, but he did what he did, adapted, and came away with a a win. Fairness doesn't come into it. Every sport is the same - you only need to be winning at the end, no other time. What a bizarre thing to say that this is unfair.
 
Permabanned
Joined
2 Sep 2017
Posts
10,490
Mhm, exactly the opposite of Seb who went all or nothing and got nothing :D

Who is vettel doing the talky talk hand sign to? Or is it some kind of new celibration?

Wonder if he will shut up after this mistake after all? Not his critics are guilty but he doesn't really deserve to drive for Ferrari.
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Jun 2004
Posts
19,437
Location
On the Amiga500
Of course the best race of the season so far. Interested to know why so many people rated it as highly as 9/10 though? Is it really up there as one of the all time greatest? Hmm. Maybe F1 really has become that benign, we now rate a remotely interesting race well above what we would have in the past.

Also, genuine question, has the forum suddenly decided that Bottas is a decent driver now? I had a couple of debates here the last few seasons where he was pretty much hailed as the king of crud. How does he fare on the expert ocuk meter of excellence after these last few races now?
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Jun 2009
Posts
5,967
Location
London
Wonder if he will shut up after this mistake after all? Not his critics are guilty but he doesn't really deserve to drive for Ferrari.

And Hamilton deserves to always have a championship worthy car is it? Vettel joined Ferrari after bagging 4 WDC with Red Bull, he's one of the best drivers on the grid, struggling to see why he didn't deserve the seat at the biggest team in F1.

:rolleyes:
 
Permabanned
Joined
2 Sep 2017
Posts
10,490
I don't say anything about Hamilton. I think the best/fastest drivers on the grid are Alonso, Max, Hamilton and only after them Vettel, not mentioning the youngsters some of whom can potentially be better than Vettel.

Vettel doesn't win for this biggest team in F1. But blows up all the hard work done by the factory.

Other than a 4th place, rather than second, first, third, or nothing.

From nine points up, he is now four points down. Which is a very significant loss.
 
Soldato
Joined
25 Feb 2004
Posts
18,163
Location
Hampshire
Has anything been said/identified as to where the debris came from that bottas hit. Lot of post race saying why didn't a Marshall or race control spot it.

The drivers are obviously very vocal usually so wondering if it came off on the restart or as they went round behind safety car. Surprised none of the 14 runners saw anything cruising round.
 
Soldato
Joined
15 May 2007
Posts
12,804
Location
Ipswich / Bodham
I was surprised too, as the teams are normally also pretty good at identifying debris and telling drivers to avoid. At that point in the straight, I'm not sure where it came from, given the incidents in the race.
 
Caporegime
Joined
13 Jan 2010
Posts
32,574
Location
Llaneirwg
Woah great race.

Dissapointed by hulk. Binned it and could have been a podium.

Unlucky by Bottas. Hamilton was very lucky.
Great result by lec. (how ever you spell it,)

Riccardo/max.
Well, looks like a rare mistake my Riccardo.

Lol, @ romain. Unless that was a car incident that was such a shame. More of those last laps please!


Seem to be a lot of good races recently. Been a fun start of the season
 
Soldato
Joined
20 Sep 2005
Posts
19,989
Location
West End, Southampton
Nope, 1997 you had LOLa and Arrows having a terrible start. 1998 Tyrell and Minardi didn't score at all.

I've gone back all the way to the 70s and we've never had a season where all teams have scored in the first four races of the Constructors Championship.

The closest we've come to having all teams scoring within the first 4 rounds was in 1972, when all the teams that started the season scored points (3 teams raced later in the season), though of course back then it wasn't the Constructors Championship, 90% of the field used the best engine and even the lowest teams just bought older chassis off the top manufacturers.

In fact 2002 is the first instance of all teams scoring through the entire season.

Nice work :)

IIRC Gene scored early on for Minardi in '02, maybe San Marino?

Edit - nope, completely wrong. Didn't even race in 02 :D
 
Back
Top Bottom