Official 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

[Derek Smith]

Kizmiaz said:

Thankfully I'm not a Ferrari fan but it must be heart breaking to see the season slipping away already.
How many beatings can they take? What's next?
Sack SV? Sack the management again?

No more sackings, please.

They need to work out what they are doing in a way that is inferior to Merc and, to an extent, RB. Until they know what's wrong, they won't get better.

I'm no Ferrari fan but I am a fan of F1 and they are the only hope of taking on Merc.

SV should be good enough with a good enough car. I don't think he has the edge on LH, nor that he is the equal, but the difference is marginal. SV needs to discover what he's doing wrong and stop doing it. Bashing a steering wheel in anger is not the proper response.

RB might manage to challenge Merc later in the season, once Honda get the engine up to power. I would not bet on it. RB might have the beating of Ferrari later in the season. I might bet on that.

[SpudLink]

rdjohn said:

I think Baku will be make-or-break time for Ferrari.

If they do not have a very strong showing here, I think they could implode with the repercussions.

If they fail to beat Mercedes this weekend, do they have to start focusing on 2020? Or, here’s a thought, focus on 2021. Effectively write off the current era of F1 completely.

Edit: that’s just idle thinking, not a serious suggestion.

[thegreenhell]

exelero said:

Grosjean won’t get past the first corner tho wiping out like 3 different people in the process

He should be fine this year without Ericsson in the race...

[rdjohn]

SpudLink said:

If they fail to beat Mercedes this weekend, do they have to start focusing on 2020? Or, here’s a thought, focus on 2021. Effectively write off the current era of F1 completely.

Edit: that’s just idle thinking, not a serious suggestion.

I just think that this race will be a pivotal moment. If Ferrari score a 1;3 everything will be hunky-dory. If it is a 5;7 the season will be lost amongst finger pointing at Vettel (did you see what I did there?) and the appointment of Binotto as TP.

The big problem is that in race mode, it all comes down to simulator work, fuel consumption and tyre degradation. Ferrari might be focussed on winning this race, but Mercedes are focussed on completing 7-races and 7-Friday FPs with PU-1.

A completely different mindset.

[TheDeuce]

Derek Smith said:

They need to work out what they are doing in a way that is inferior to Merc and, to an extent, RB. Until they know what's wrong, they won't get better.

Anglo-german vs.. Italian.

Spend enough time working with engineers from each country, and you can soon see why they both have roughly equally 'fast' cars, but somehow the Mercedes generally gets the result.

[Nickp82]

thegreenhell said:

He should be fine this year without fking Ericsson in the race...

FTFY

[angrymoby]

Deesee said:

No one has claimed a WDC and not won one of the first four races..

Keke?

[paua]

Deesee said:

No one has claimed a WDC and not won one of the first four races..

1982 - K Rosberg

[Deesee]

Sorry, 1982, had slipped my mind, must have a read up on that, as looks an interesting year.

[paua]

Deesee said:

Sorry, 1982, had slipped my mind, must have a read up on that, as looks an interesting year.

It was - both good & bad. Driver's strike, Fisa/ Foca war, fked up team orders at Ferrari ( a theme here, lol), death of Villeneuve. Return of Lauda, he'd turned down Bernie, who then said he was past it. Niki said "I'll need 3 races to get back into it" ( words to that effect), promptly won his 3rd race. Nobody won more than 2. Until quite late in the season it looked possible Ros would take title without winning a race - eventually took the Swiss GP in France. No racing in S.land.

Summary here - www.theguardian.com/sport/that-1980s-sports-blog/2...
cheers

[Eric Mc]

Ricardo Paletti also died that year in a horrendous start line accident at the Canadian GP.

[Exige77]

Deesee said:

Sorry, 1982, had slipped my mind, must have a read up on that, as looks an interesting year.

Wasn’t it the last NA championship before the first Turbo era took over ?

[Eric Mc]

There had been turbos running in GPs since 1977 but by 1982 it was becoming obvious that the turbo cars, once their reliability issues had been sorted, would eventually dominate.
Despite that, Keke Rosberg was World Champion in 1983 in a normally aspirated Ford Cosworth powered Williams - so there was a bit of life left in the NA cars.

[Kizmiaz]

Eric Mc said:

Ricardo Paletti also died that year in a horrendous start line accident at the Canadian GP.

I was not aware of this. You Tubed it out of curiosity. Hells teeth I wish I hadn't now.

[kiseca]

Exige77 said:

Deesee said:

Sorry, 1982, had slipped my mind, must have a read up on that, as looks an interesting year.

Wasn’t it the last NA championship before the first Turbo era took over ?

Yes. it was, and remains, the last championship win for an NA car in a season where turbocharged cars were eligible.

[Petrus1983]

Kizmiaz said:

Eric Mc said:

Ricardo Paletti also died that year in a horrendous start line accident at the Canadian GP.

I was not aware of this. You Tubed it out of curiosity. Hells teeth I wish I hadn't now.

Did exactly the same and feel exactly the same. Just read about him on Wiki - very sad.

[Evangelion]

I won't be watching this time, just turn on the news afterwards to see who won.

(Like I don't already know.)

[TheDeuce]

Evangelion said:

I won't be watching this time, just turn on the news afterwards to see who won.

(Like I don't already know.)

Dunno... About as unpredictable as any race this year is likely to be.

[Gad-Westy]

Well, the boring race complaints have started early this time around!

I like this track. Good action/carnage through T1,2 and 3 and a track that seems to often produce some unusually high up finishing positions from some drivers. Looking forward to it.

[TheDeuce]

Gad-Westy said:

Well, the boring race complaints have started early this time around!

I like this track. Good action/carnage through T1,2 and 3 and a track that seems to often produce some unusually high up finishing positions from some drivers. Looking forward to it.

Yup. My only prediction for this race, is that once it's done, it will in some way have thrown up a result/incident that no one has predicted.

Anyone who thinks F1 is boring and predictable, if you watch only 2 or 3 races this year, this is one to watch. All the more this year where the new regs have had a tangible effect on overtaking potential.