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

Rate the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix out of ten

  • Total voters
    118
  • Poll closed .
Vettel top in final practice from Hamilton, Kimi and Verstappen. Williams cars both up in the order from where they've been this season - Stroll 8th, Sirotkin 10th (although he did crash).

Interesting day so far for Hamilton. He was slower than Bottas for much of the session, until the team pointed out that he was using third gear at turn 16 rather than fourth. Did the whole 'coaching the driver over the radio' ban get rowed back on, or is it only a thing in the race itself?
 
englishpremier said:
Will he then be one of the all time greats winning 5 championships and in two different teams? Just doesn't sound right.
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I suspect this won't be a popular opinion on a British forum, I think he is, or is certainly close, to being one of the greats. You've just got to look at his debut for Sauber and what he achieved at Toro Rosso to see he was going to be one of the top drivers, and drives like his in Spain in 2010, where he finished on the podium despite having no brakes, is probably up there with Schumacher's drive there in 1994.

Sure he had the best car for two of his titles, but he beat a decent (and previously highly-rated) driver both times and in a similarly performing car he beat some of the undoubted all-time greats in Alonso and Hamilton in the other two seasons he won.

His ability to consistently go from zero to opening a several second gap within a lap in his Red Bull days was unparalleled and unprecedented.

He's not been quite the same driver since he became a father (flying home between tests the season Ricciardo beat him showed his priorities had shifted), but I don't think that tarnishes the reputation of what is one of the most dominant drivers of recent times, alongside Schumacher and Hamilton.

He has different qualities to Hamilton (he's no longer quite as consistent as an in-form Hamilton and Alonso and has seemed under an awful lot of pressure since he joined Ferrari, hence the frustration on the radio and more mistakes) but it's easy to forgot he's done things Hamilton couldn't either.

If you stuck them in the same team I think Hamilton would probably beat Vettel more often than not, but before he was a father it would have been a close-run thing.
 
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It annoys me that F1 presenters keep harping on how exciting the season is this year. It isn't.

Sure, the driver and constructor's championship are closer so far, but the racing has been far from exciting yet.
 
How much does Channel 4's Steve Jones actually know about F1? Always sounds like he knows a lot about the sport and genuinely interested.

He's an awesome presenter, the best that terrestrial F1 TV coverage has ever had imo, including what I've seen of Sky coverage. He, Coulthard and Eddy were just discussing Williams, and Jones, seemingly spontaneously, suggested maybe they could buy parts like Haas have done to which the others were in agreement. Would Jones have been told to suggest that from the experts, or do you think it would have come from him?
 
Merlin5 said:
How much does Channel 4's Steve Jones actually know about F1? Always sounds like he knows a lot about the sport and genuinely interested.

He's an awesome presenter, the best that terrestrial F1 TV coverage has ever had imo, including what I've seen of Sky coverage. He, Coulthard and Eddy were just discussing Williams, and Jones, seemingly spontaneously, suggested maybe they could buy parts like Haas have done to which the others were in agreement. Would Jones have been told to suggest that from the experts, or do you think it would have come from him?
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He is very good. I can't stand DC and EJ.
 
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