The Official 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Thread **SPOILERS**

[Dr Z]

Date(s): Friday 27 April - Sunday 29 April 2018

UK Broadcast Timings (and local time)

All sessions are live on Sky F1 and Channel 4.

Session	Day	Sky F1	Channel 4	Session Start	Local Time
Practice 1	Fri	0945	0955	1000	1300
Practice 2	Fri	1345	1355	1400	1700
Practice 3	Sat	1045	1055	1100	1400
Qualifying	Sat	1300	1255	1400	1700
Race	Sun	1130	1200	1310	1610

Baku City Circuit, Azerbaijan



Live timing for all sessions available here:

http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/f1-...

Lap times, PU component use, technical reports and Stewards' decisions for the weekend will appear here:

https://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula-one-world-c...

Weather forecast:

http://www.myweather2.com/City-Town/Azerbaijan/Bak...

The tyre choices:




Pirelli have this to say:

• With the race starting just after 4pm, track temperatures cool rapidly as the sun begins to go down. None of the free practice sessions take place at exactly the same time as the race start though.
• Because Baku is a street circuit tightly enclosed by buildings, there are many areas of lights and shade, making track temperatures even harder to assess.
• The main straight is two kilometres long, which means that the tyres can cool down before the braking area at the end of it. After Spa, Baku is the second-longest lap of the season.
• Last year’s strategy was affected by safety cars and a red flag, which can play a prominent role on the narrow track – cars have often tangled in the tight confines of Baku previously.
• The winning strategy involved three tyre changes last year, with the second one taking place during the safety car period and the last one under red flag conditions. Daniel Ricciardo won the race starting from 10th position on the grid with a supersoft-soft-supersoft-supersoft strategy.
• One of the biggest challenges for drivers last year was warming up the front and rear tyres at the same rate. With cooler conditions, this problem is likely to be accentuated.

2017 Qualifying





2017 Race








Fastest Race Lap: 1:43.441 (L47, S. Vettel; Ferrari) - lap record

---

So, a few teams tested skinny wings at China in preparation for this race. You know the score on this one: the longest straight in the calendar (2.2km), smooth roads, a ton of 90 degree corners with a tight and twisty section going through the old city. Who will be the victim of the walls this year?

The predicted chaos for the inaugural race was a year late, and it arrived in some style last year. Will we see a repeat or will the drivers have wised up now and keep their noses clean in hopes of a chaotic race they can benefit from?

Never have Mercedes gone 3 races without a win in the hybrid era. Will they make it this time out?

And F2 is back this weekend for Round 2 of the Championship.

Edited by Dr Z on Monday 23 April 17:32

[Pebbles167]

Thanks for the starter Z

Looking forward to this. I think it's a better race than Monaco.

[Sam993]

Man, I love these Tilke designed race tracks with most corners being 90 degree. They are all classic.

[Nigel_O]

Is this the lowest GP? Maximum elevation of 2.1m and as much as 24m below sea level

[99dndd]

Sam993 said:

Man, I love these Tilke designed race tracks with most corners being 90 degree. They are all classic.

I don't think Tilke was around in the 12th century when the road round the ancient city was built.

I'm looking forward to the carnage, the F2 race always throws up a decent amount,

[Dr Z]

Nigel_O said:

Is this the lowest GP? Maximum elevation of 2.1m and as much as 24m below sea level

It is indeed the race conducted at the lowest below sea level in the calendar.

[Turbojuice]

Thanks for these threads Z. Always makes for interesting reading.

If this wasn't Baku, I wouldn't be able to see beyond anything other than a Merc win. Despite being supposedly slower than Ferrari last race, Bottas did phenomenally well, and surely Hamilton is bound to bounce back. It's a high speed track too, and Merc were the fastest there last year.

But it's Baku, anything can happen. Expecting a very spicy race with lots of drivers pushing beyond the limits and putting themselves or others into the walls.

[paua]

Turbojuice said:

Thanks for these threads Z. Always makes for interesting reading.

If this wasn't Baku, I wouldn't be able to see beyond anything other than a Merc win. Despite being supposedly slower than Ferrari last race, Bottas did phenomenally well, and surely Hamilton is bound to bounce back. It's a high speed track too, and Merc were the fastest there last year.

But it's Baku, anything can happen. Expecting a very spicy race with lots of drivers pushing beyond the limits and putting themselves or others into the walls.

Virtual sweepstake: on which lap does Verstappen crash & who does he take with him?
I'll take lap 1, Hamilton.

[perdu]

Totally partisan bid

VER hit VET HAM win ALO second RIC third

I do not expect I'd win even virtually, but...

Edited by perdu on Tuesday 24th April 15:09

[AW111]

paua said:

Virtual sweepstake: on which lap does Verstappen crash & who does he take with him?
I'll take lap 1, Hamilton.

He has to get through practice and qualifying first.

[Dr Z]

Some more of my notes for the race:

This track is like China except the corners don't go on for long (the majority being short 90 degree ones), and a much longer straight.

Due to the longer straight, teams will try to run the lowest downforce level they can get away with in order to have good end of straight speeds in the numerous straights in sectors 1 & 3.

Cars with good mechanical grip and traction will excel in sector 2, and it's possible to offset some of the lap time loss on the straights with a good set up for this sector. However, there's no replacement for horsepower in sector 1 & 3. The balance is still tending towards the most powerful & fuel efficient engines.

Turn 16 is a medium speed corner and a better exit/traction out of it is important for slip streaming & overtaking as the DRS is only available more than half way down the straight (turns 17-19 are taken flat). Variation in mechanical grip (due to tyre strategy or inherent car setup), will come into play.

% full throttle per lap is similar to China, however fuel consumption is much higher (around 10% higher), with the hybrid systems working harder here. This would translate to a race pace advantage for teams running the more fuel efficient engines. Whether this would be sufficient to pass another car with a less efficient engine, remains to be seen.

Influence of the track temp changes are perhaps overstated by Pirelli (differences in light and shade apply though). Big swings in ambient and track temps were seen through the weekend in previous races which caught out many teams. The forecast temps are consistent from Friday to Sunday through the day, so it will allow teams to account for it much better.

The ingredients appear to be a perfect blend for Merc to dominate the weekend, so it will be interesting to see the pecking order. Also, low downforce trim has generally been a weakness for Ferrari last year, so it would be interesting to see how their car goes here. And is their PU close enough in fuel efficiency to Merc to allow them to make a fight of it? I doubt it, but if they do, then it bodes well for the rest of the season.

[Turbojuice]

Awesome notes Z

Echoing my best guesses of a Merc pole and win here. Would love to see Bottas continue on from China and give Lewis a run for his money.

It will also be interesting to see how the Renault and customer Merc teams fare. Maybe this power dependant track will finally bring some joy to Williams, but hinder the likes of Renault or McLaren, the latter of which i've heard have quite a draggy car. Not sure how true that is.

[BrettMRC]

I'm expecting a strategy in Q1 from Force India that ensures both cars are at least 6 spaces apart at all times...

Beyond that, I think another close fight between Ferrari and Mercedes - Lewis needs to get back on it and win IMO.

I also expect to see a couple of spectacular engine failures.

[suffolk009]

Gaz. said:

Many on F1Technical believe the Ferrari PU has not only more power than the Merc engine, but actually quite a bit more.

Not to dismiss the great minds at work over there, but what have they based this belief on?

[Vocal Minority]

There is a solid arguement using things like on boards and comparative viewings that seem to show the Ferrari squeaking ahead on straights

[Dr Z]

suffolk009 said:

Gaz. said:

Many on F1Technical believe the Ferrari PU has not only more power than the Merc engine, but actually quite a bit more.

Not to dismiss the great minds at work over there, but what have they based this belief on?

I'd like to know their reasoning too. Yes Ferrari have a potent qualifying mode and they have most probably surpassed Merc there. Nothing different from last year until about Canada when a Merc employee decided to tell FIA about a separate oil tank. The Ferrari used to make time up on the Merc on the straights then too. Nothing as dramatic as now, mind, although a slippery car can account for a lot of what is seen this year and that is my belief.

You don't see this supposed power advantage in the race though, where Merc seem to hit higher top speeds much more consistently with the Ferrari needing to manage the fuel more.

Edited by Dr Z on Wednesday 25th April 08:11

[Jasandjules]

suffolk009 said:

Not to dismiss the great minds at work over there, but what have they based this belief on?

Could be the overlays of the GPS? IIRC each team gets to see this for each other so they could simply see how fast the Ferrari accelerates on the straight compared to their own car and last year too....

[Vaud]

All sorts of tricks. Apparently you can interpret a lot from a good quality sound recording of the engine? (which has been used for years)

[anonymous-user]

Who is he trying to kid.

Doesn't seem to like it when he is hitting the table with his fist.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/43879519

[HustleRussell]

It is actually quite tense waiting to see which of Mercedes and Ferrari have the PU reliability advantage.

I am not a Ferrari fan in particular but if they have built a car for 2018 which is just as easy to drive as the 2017 car, with the same wide operating window, while making it simultaneously less draggy, more powerful and more reliable, bearing in mid they also made a fairly significant change to the wheelbase etc for this year, then that is actually a remarkable achievement and shows that they must be a very strong and effective team these days.