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

[Deesee]

janesmith1950 said:

Deesee said:

Here’s the gaps from living timing.

Lap 43. 10 seconds +




Lap 46 6+ seconds



I can view it lap by lap, mini sector by mini sector.

What was the gap at the same point on lap 45?

ClC was quicker than almost all the field, apart from HAM

[Durzel]

TheDeuce said:

I mean.. why say anything at all? Two teams have very fast cars, and Ferrari will almost certainly win races at some point this season.

But not enough to take titles, and not fast enough to say "yup, the Ferrari is definitely faster than the Mercedes". If we could somehow distill all the facts and discount outside influences, I accept it's possible that the Ferrari could be identified as 'faster'. But it would be so marginal that's it's just not relevant. It's emphatically not relevant as proven by the fact that their supposed speed advantage has provided them with a 100% loss rate in their battle with Mercedes.

I could also speculate that heat was a contributing factor to the electronic failure that robbed CLC of victory - heat is by far the biggest cause for electronic failure. That is just speculation but also there is a question mark over their cooling, and that won't go away until they can complete a high speed race in first place without a mechanical issue. The truth is any team (not you, Claire) could have the 'fastest car' if longevity was of zero concern. That's why it really doesn't count if you can't complete a race.

I wonder if some want to maintain the delusion of Ferrari being effective competitors because otherwise it would mean accepting that Mercedes are probably just going to dominate another season. For all of Ferrari's apparent parity or even speed advantage to some they have consistently been unable to translate that into victories. How much of that is Hamilton, the car, or some nebulous "all pulling together" advantage that Mercedes have, and Ferrari don't, is rather academic.

Ferrari aren't competitive, not to the extent where it feels like Mercedes are actually being pushed. Whenever they threaten to impose Mercedes somehow manage to find something in their reserves, etc. This has happened consistently.

A very impressive technical masterclass, but very boring unless you are really just happy to see Hamilton win, sport be damned.

[glazbagun]

Yeah withvthe exception of Rosberg and Bottas being able to put up a fugg, the Hamilton Era is fast becoming another Schumacher era.

[Jasandjules]

Not clear how people can say Ferrari are not having the fastest car. On paper more than once this season they should have been on Pole and should have ran away with the race. Once of course it was cruelly stolen from CLC.

But somehow Ferrari seem to be snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Ric, I was seriously concerned at that given he was reversing onto the track - would love to know if his engineer had radioed him and said the track is clear so he went for it....

I also think he has a bit of a disadvantage - he is used to the superior downforce of the RB, so he is used to knowing he has much more braking under his foot (bearing in mind the impact good aero has on braking in the F1 car) - now he has lost that downforce and has not yet adapted to the result....

I also agree with Lewis, he COULD have squeezed Bottas more and actually I thought at the time he left a bit more space than was necessary but then again had Bottas clipped the wall instead of braking I am sure Merc would not have been happy. Worse if Bottas had clipped the wall and then bounced into Lewis and taken the pair of them out... But either way Bottas beat him fair and square - Lewis clearly messed up the VSC restart for whatever reason and that IMHO cost him the race, or at least the chance to get Bottas...

Fantastic mid field scrapping though, can't quite believe the step forward McLaren seem to have made, really pleasing to see.

[TheDeuce]

Durzel said:

I wonder if some want to maintain the delusion of Ferrari being effective competitors because otherwise it would mean accepting that Mercedes are probably just going to dominate another season. For all of Ferrari's apparent parity or even speed advantage to some they have consistently been unable to translate that into victories. How much of that is Hamilton, the car, or some nebulous "all pulling together" advantage that Mercedes have, and Ferrari don't, is rather academic.

Ferrari aren't competitive, not to the extent where it feels like Mercedes are actually being pushed. Whenever they threaten to impose Mercedes somehow manage to find something in their reserves, etc. This has happened consistently.

A very impressive technical masterclass, but very boring unless you are really just happy to see Hamilton win, sport be damned.

It's exactly that, an opportunity to see a team as close to perfect as you can get. Although the Hamilton v bottas fight is shaping up quite nicely.

Then there is Mercedes reliability, which so far is total. So if they are threatened at some point, a small yet sufficient power tweak should be within grasp too.

Unless another team finds an innovative exploit in the regs somehow, then it's probably Mercedes all the way until at least 2021. Which isn't all that thrilling, but they're doing the best job and deserve to win. Plenty of action in the midfield though, and in general plenty of drama. I'm enjoying the season.

And if you're a Ferrari fan reading this, relax - they will have wins this year. Just don't get over excited and claim it's a turning of their fortunes..

[shirt]

Jasandjules said:

Ric, I was seriously concerned at that given he was reversing onto the track - would love to know if his engineer had radioed him and said the track is clear so he went for it....

I also think he has a bit of a disadvantage - he is used to the superior downforce of the RB, so he is used to knowing he has much more braking under his foot (bearing in mind the impact good aero has on braking in the F1 car) - now he has lost that downforce and has not yet adapted to the result....

4 races in and he hasn't adapted to the car? can't be much of a driver then.

[Deesee]

Looks like Hamilton’s Jet was chased down by the Hungarian Airforce yesterday on his way home yesterday.

Brilliant!

[Bullitt Five-Oh]

glazbagun said:

Yeah withvthe exception of Rosberg and Bottas being able to put up a fugg, the Hamilton Era is fast becoming another Schumacher era.

I'd take 2 Hamiltons vs 1 Hamilton and 1 Schumacher. Hamilton proves that you don't have to be nasty and vicious to be on that level. Schumacher on the other hand pulled more dirty moves during his career than anyone else I recall (IMHO). Even when he came back to race for Merc (e.g. Hungaroring, him v Barichello with Rubens almost ending up on the pit wall). What a piece of ish that Schumacher fella was.

[Stan the Bat]

Deesee said:

Looks like Hamilton’s Jet was chased down by the Hungarian Airforce yesterday on his way home yesterday.

Brilliant!

Link ?

[Deesee]

Stan the Bat said:

Deesee said:

Looks like Hamilton’s Jet was chased down by the Hungarian Airforce yesterday on his way home yesterday.

Brilliant!

Link ?

...

http://os.mti.hu/hirek/144623/a_honvedelmi_miniszt...

[RemarkLima]

Bullitt Five-Oh said:

glazbagun said:

Yeah withvthe exception of Rosberg and Bottas being able to put up a fugg, the Hamilton Era is fast becoming another Schumacher era.

I'd take 2 Hamiltons vs 1 Hamilton and 1 Schumacher. Hamilton proves that you don't have to be nasty and vicious to be on that level. Schumacher on the other hand pulled more dirty moves during his career than anyone else I recall (IMHO). Even when he came back to race for Merc (e.g. Hungaroring, him v Barichello with Rubens almost ending up on the pit wall). What a piece of ish that Schumacher fella was.

Whilst harsh on Schumacher, he was ruthless - add in Ferrari and their rule bending allowance, favouritism, special tyres etc... That period always felt a bit cheap, despite the boatload of cash they had as an advantage.

What both Hamilton and Mercedes are doing is proving that it can be done with integrity, and a boatload of cash of course. So kinda with you there!

[TheDeuce]

RemarkLima said:

Whilst harsh on Schumacher, he was ruthless - add in Ferrari and their rule bending allowance, favouritism, special tyres etc... That period always felt a bit cheap, despite the boatload of cash they had as an advantage.

What both Hamilton and Mercedes are doing is proving that it can be done with integrity, and a boatload of cash of course. So kinda with you there!

That's all pretty fair. And yes, Mercedes don't just want the result, they want it 'properly'. Germanic.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

Interesting comments by BOT over team radio after the finish

[RichB]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

Interesting comments by BOT over team radio after the finish

Which were what?

[Deesee]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

Interesting comments by BOT over team radio after the finish

You mean this one

...
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw2IRicgWau/?hl=en

Bot 2.0

[TheDeuce]

Deesee said:

LaurasOtherHalf said:

Interesting comments by BOT over team radio after the finish

You mean this one

...
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw2IRicgWau/?hl=en

Bot 2.0

Well... What other view would we expect him to have? He was probably 10 years old or younger when he made up his mind that winning in F1 was the best approach

By the same token, I don't think Lewis would want to beat a complacent team mate either. Bring it on, they should both want that title and they both definitely will fight for it. They both want and expect to lead

[Mr Tidy]

TheDeuce said:

RemarkLima said:

Whilst harsh on Schumacher, he was ruthless - add in Ferrari and their rule bending allowance, favouritism, special tyres etc... That period always felt a bit cheap, despite the boatload of cash they had as an advantage.

What both Hamilton and Mercedes are doing is proving that it can be done with integrity, and a boatload of cash of course. So kinda with you there!

That's all pretty fair. And yes, Mercedes don't just want the result, they want it 'properly'. Germanic.

That's what put me off Schumacher - he didn't mind having a crash if it gave him an advantage.

Which is ironic really, because despite being German he didn't care if he got it 'properly' or not - just so long as he got it!

[TheDeuce]

Mr Tidy said:

That's what put me off Schumacher - he didn't mind having a crash if it gave him an advantage.

Which is ironic really, because despite being German he didn't care if he got it 'properly' or not - just so long as he got it!

He is a racer, foremost. I'm sure also germanical in general life.

But when an entire team is germanically driven, you get a Germanic result. They don't want the trophy for the glory, they want to work on and conquer the formula that will achieve that trophy. And that's what they have done. They have taken the regs, distilled what it takes to win and then persistently applied 'the correct answer' to each season. It's just their way, and it's a very, very good way

[PhillipM]

Kinda falls down when most of the team is British, though.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

Deesee said:

LaurasOtherHalf said:

Interesting comments by BOT over team radio after the finish

You mean this one

...
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw2IRicgWau/?hl=en

Bot 2.0

Can you imagine the frothing on here if HAM had won and had said the same thing?