The Official 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Thread **Spoilers**

[hairyben]

Vaud said:

I think many of Schumachers were worse. 1994 is debatable (still). 1997 was clear cut. His move against Barichello in 2010, etc.

Theres a big old row in the semantics of whose crash was mostest immoral and Im happy to have it, but my point was that the demented tantrum road rage idiocy ram is something quite different and something I've not witnessed in the sport. Schumacher and others were as you say, calculated risks, even the "Im committed, ceed the place or we crash" "no you ceed" *crunch* mentality has tactical merit insofar as theres an objective however wrong or unsporting we might argue it is. But vettel no, that was all tantrum using a car as a weapon and if that is where hes at he needs some help.

PhillipM said:

Maldonado, also on Lewis!
Who got a measly 5 place grid penalty for it.

Fair enough, esteemed company eh.

[Adrian W]

VladD said:

I agree, I can't imagine the minor damage to Lewis' car had much of an impact on its performance. I don't think the damage altered the result.

I think the headrest is just one of those things. I can't see the Vettel impact causing it. It either wasn't fitted properly and was replaced as a precaution or is just broke during fitting. I'm sure we'll find out over before the next GP.

Surely screwing up the airflow behind the car will upset something as sensitive as an F1 car

[swisstoni]

oyster said:

He set at least 1 fastest lap after that.

I saw the Mercedes patch up work as part repair, part FIA message - in a 'look how Vettel has knackered our car'.

You saw the car being patched up as 'sending a message' and one subsequent fastest lap as testament to all being ok.
You've convinced me.

[308mate]

Also - Ricciardo to Ferrari in 2018. Contracts schmontracts.

[oyster]

swisstoni said:

oyster said:

He set at least 1 fastest lap after that.

I saw the Mercedes patch up work as part repair, part FIA message - in a 'look how Vettel has knackered our car'.

You saw the car being patched up as 'sending a message' and one subsequent fastest lap as testament to all being ok.
You've convinced me.

No one from Mercedes has mentioned that the damage caused much of a performance loss. OI course it will have had some effect (I hope, or else the design is wrong!), but it's possible that the effect was very minor.

You're assuming the damage stopped Hamilton from passing Vettel, all I'm saying is you can't be sure.

[Roofless Toothless]

Technical question.

If Hamilton was on the brakes, would the flashing light at the back of the car have come on? I believe it indicates when the car is generating charge through deceleration. Or am I wrong, and it wouldn't happen at safety car speeds?

[anonymous-user]

What Vettel did was inexcusable. It was dangerous and very stupid. Pure track rage.

The issue was that Lewis got a massive jump on Vettel during the previous safety car period and Vettel did not want to be shown up again. He basically guessed that Hamilton was going to go again early and he hit the back of him. To then go alongside and hit Hamilton was pure nuts.

Another point which was pretty poor during the race was the fact Hamilton got onto the radio basically telling Mercedes to get Bottas to slow up so he could get extra points.

This would be more acceptable if Bottas was nowhere in the Championship but he is only 28 points behind Lewis.

[SystemParanoia]

oyster said:

swisstoni said:

oyster said:

He set at least 1 fastest lap after that.

I saw the Mercedes patch up work as part repair, part FIA message - in a 'look how Vettel has knackered our car'.

You saw the car being patched up as 'sending a message' and one subsequent fastest lap as testament to all being ok.
You've convinced me.

No one from Mercedes has mentioned that the damage caused much of a performance loss. OI course it will have had some effect (I hope, or else the design is wrong!), but it's possible that the effect was very minor.

You're assuming the damage stopped Hamilton from passing Vettel, all I'm saying is you can't be sure.

At the very least... It didn't help

[Drive Blind]

I haven't seen any official comments from Vettel or Ferrari today. PR people working hard to come up with a response, or will they just not bother?

[FourWheelDrift]

Drive Blind said:

I haven't seen any official comments from Vettel or Ferrari today. PR people working hard to come up with a response, or will they just not bother?

I think they are going to go with the excuse that Vettel saw a sniper's red laser dot on Lewis and barged into him to break the target lock.

[PhillipM]

Drive Blind said:

I haven't seen any official comments from Vettel or Ferrari today. PR people working hard to come up with a response, or will they just not bother?

I think they've probably just told him to shut up before he makes things worse.

[Munter]

PhillipM said:

Drive Blind said:

I haven't seen any official comments from Vettel or Ferrari today. PR people working hard to come up with a response, or will they just not bother?

I think they've probably just told him to shut up before he makes things worse.

Ferrari have been under "say nothing about anything to anybody" rules all season anyway I thought. They seem to be doing the "let the results do the talking" thing.

[Drive Blind]

FourWheelDrift said:

I think they are going to go with the excuse that Vettel saw a sniper's red laser dot on Lewis and barged into him to break the target lock.

Or how about Vettel saw a big spider on Hamiltons car just about to climb inside the cockpit. The first hit bumped the spider down the front of the car and then his second hit knocked it off the car. That's what he was waving at - "BIG SPIDER"

[anonymous-user]

Drive Blind said:

Or how about Vettel saw a big spider on Hamiltons car just about to climb inside the cockpit. The first hit bumped the spider down the front of the car and then his second hit knocked it off the car. That's what he was waving at - "BIG SPIDER"

Unfortunately the spider had already messed with Hamilton's headrest.

[Doink]

I really hope this extra oil tank thing found on the Ferrari is true and that they've been found out and that it crops their wings just a little bit, sebs not as smug when he's 7/10ths a lap slower, when he's got the pace but isn't leading the red mist appears, something Mark Webber alluded to in his biography, let's hope the FIA are pressured into applying a one race ban(the bare minimum) to excluding him from the championship

The Silverstone crowd will be interesting as well

[NRS]

ELUSIVEJIM said:

Another point which was pretty poor during the race was the fact Hamilton got onto the radio basically telling Mercedes to get Bottas to slow up so he could get extra points.

This would be more acceptable if Bottas was nowhere in the Championship but he is only 28 points behind Lewis.

?

S0 What said:

I would also like to point out that before Lewis ASKED (not demanded) but asked if Bottas could slow down to help him, he quite clearly said " if Bottas is not racing anyone in front we should ,,,"
Not a fanboy just like to put things straight.

Hamilton specifically mentioned if there was no position to be gained for Bottas then they should play the team game, which is what is normal in F1. Ferrari will always swap Kimi round with Vettel no matter what, so it's somewhat ironic Hamilton asking if his team mate will not gain positions to help him out. Particularly when I think someone mentioned he also slowed down the pack to help Bottas catch up previously.

[Crafty_]

"Ferrari doesn't want war of words with Mercedes" https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ferrari-doesn-t...

Ricciardo "Vettel doesn't think before he acts sometimes" http://www.planetf1.com/news/ricciardo-vettel-does...

Ricciardo putting the boot in raises an eyebrow for me, any chance he just had of the Ferrari seat just disappeared I reckon.

Someone was asking about Force India:

"Perez & Ocon to be told that Baku clash was unacceptable" https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/perez-ocon-to-b...

To be honest its Force India's own fault, they should have made things clear after the last race. Perez needs to wind it in a bit imho.

[S0 What]

ELUSIVEJIM said:

What Vettel did was inexcusable. It was dangerous and very stupid. Pure track rage.

Another point which was pretty poor during the race was the fact Hamilton got onto the radio basically telling Mercedes to get Bottas to slow up so he could get extra points.

This would be more acceptable if Bottas was nowhere in the Championship but he is only 28 points behind Lewis.

See my ealyer post and NRSs post 2 posts up, he did NOT tell the team anything, he ASKED if Bottas should be backed up IF he wasn't fighting for postion, totaly differant ot your slant on things and the team quite rightly said no he was chasing down Stroll and they didn't want Bottas to drop back into Vettels DRS range, also earlyer in the race Lewis wanted to slow the pack up after Bottas uplapped himself to help Bottas out, to which the team also said no.
Again i'm no fanboy but things need to put into perspective as it seems many on here can not manage that.

Edited by S0 What on Monday 26th June 18:13

[S0 What]

Crafty_ said:

"Ferrari doesn't want war of words with Mercedes" https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ferrari-doesn-t...

Ricciardo "Vettel doesn't think before he acts sometimes" http://www.planetf1.com/news/ricciardo-vettel-does...

Ricciardo putting the boot in raises an eyebrow for me, any chance he just had of the Ferrari seat just disappeared I reckon.

Someone was asking about Force India:

"Perez & Ocon to be told that Baku clash was unacceptable" https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/perez-ocon-to-b...

To be honest its Force India's own fault, they should have made things clear after the last race. Perez needs to wind it in a bit imho.

Maybe after his year with Vettal when things were going badly for him he's seen a side of Vetle we only get glimpses off, both Webber and Ricciardo seem to not be huge fans of his, maybe it's an aussie thing

I'm with you on FI, after the last race they should have made it clear the team comes first not any one driver but i spose if the driver in question brings capitol to the team it's harder, it shouldn't be but it is i guess ? either way too late now, now they have to bang thier heads together (as my gran would often threaten to do to me and my cousins, if we didn't behave)

Edited by S0 What on Monday 26th June 18:12

[RB Will]

Doink said:

Does anyone else see the irony in this and a pattern emerging........


Sebastian Vettel

British GP 10-Jul-17 Forcing driver off track 2 points
Malaysian GP 02-Oct-17 Collision 2 points
Mexican GP 30-Oct-17 Driving dangerously 2 points
Azerbaijan GP 25-Jun-18 Collision 3 points

Lewis Hamilton

Bahrain GP 16-Apr-18 Too slow in pit lane 2 points

You could speak to a Mr N. Rosberg for his thoughts on Hamilton purposefully bumping people off the track