[Hatari]

What a unique race. I cant recall a race where practically the entire field had tire warm issues, a few mid stint!

The ones spicing up races are rookies like Sirotkin, refusing to brake early enough to avoid a 1st corner incidents and safety cars!
(and marshals not picking up debris caused by an incident.. what a shame for Bottas)

What a shame for Red Bull as well. but in the end after racing in sequence for the entire race, something had to give. Both are to blame in my book, too much weaving from Max and over enthusiasm on the brakes from Daniel.

Im quite peeved about Ocon as well, Kimi was alongside, you have to give room to the driver.

Great drive from young Leclerc and Alonso in a compromised car.

This finally looks like a close championship. Ferrari have got their mojo back.
Alonso will really be kicking himself (again).

[ajmat]

It was an interesting race which took a physical and emotional toll on everyone.

Vettel had a controlled race until he screwed up the restart. My heart went out to Bottas. The Red Bulls provided entertainment.

Lewis had a lot of empathy for Bottas. He did not feel at ease in taking the trophy. Lewis was also drained, no guesses where he had to go which delayed his run-up to the podium.

Kimi had a "it is what it is" attitude - Thats Kimi

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by DigitalNomad

If you take the lane markers as reference, it doesn't appear as though Max moved that much - Daniel's exaggerated moves give that illusion. Any other driver would have done exactly what Max did to defend his position.
The problem here is - and this is my interpretation - Daniel was so engrossed in his overtaking maneuvers that he lost sight of the fast approaching corner and missed his braking point. Max had a clear view of the corner and braked - Daniel didn't.
It is hard to imagine a driver braking early knowing that it would certainly cause a fender-bender.

Braking point for these drivers is ingrained. They don't need to see in front of the track when to brake. So no chance he lost sight.

Verstappen didn't move that much but did enough to make Ricciardo think he was going outside so Ricciardo moved in. Had Verstappen not moved back there were 3 outcomes, Ricciardo outbraking and passing Verstappen on the exit, Verstappen keeping the position, Ricciardo and verstappen wheel to wheel like few laps earlier.

The move of Verstappen back inside from slightly going out meant Ricciardo was a sitting duck and just a passenger. He had DRS and was in slipstream, that meant he was getting sucked into the car in front.

A more experienced driver would have let Ricciardo enough space so that he would lose momentum entering the cornering and had no chance exiting the turn.

[ajmat]

Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo have been ordered to Red Bull's factory so they can make a personal apology to staff over their collision in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Team principal Christian Horner said that both drivers were in the 'dog house' - and that they had been asked to travel to the team's Milton Keynes base prior to the next race in Spain to speak to team members.

More here

[RM Motorsports]

A very entertaining Race. Here is the Race highlights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iculr0LElws

[Turbo_Charger]

I was really disappointed by yesterday's result. Especially the way Vettel finished 4th. I'm not a die hard fan of him but am supporting him because he's the best candidate to galvanize Ferrari to beat Mercedes but he did a sort of repeat of last year when his lack of patience snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Last year he bumped into Hamilton who didn't win and this year if he had shown a little patience, Bottas might still have got his puncture and Vettel could have romped home.

Secondly I think Ferrari's Tactical Miscalculations are back. I think when Vettel came into the pits Ferrari should have changed to the Ulta Soft instead of just the Soft tires and not have blindly followed Hamilton. That would have not necessitated the extra pit stop during safety car period and Bottas wouldn't have overtaken Vettel during safety car. Ferrari missed a golden chance there. Ferrari had done the same mistake in Bahrain when they couldn't stop him a second time as doing it would have made Bottas the winner. About time Ferrari Strategy matches upto Ferrari Engineering.

Regards to Max, I think the soul of Pastor Maldonado's now dead F1 career has somehow entered in his body. He's shown much more consistency in crashing this season than Dravid in Batting or Indian Met Department in mis-predictions.

On a serious note, after seeing him not allowing Ricciardo to pass despite having battery charging problems showed how selfish he is. Once when Ricciardo had overtaken him and was a car length ahead, Max just didn't budge and still pushed his car towards the corner leaving Ricciardo no choice but to yield if he wanted to finish the race in 1 piece. Max has a habit of weaving his car when someone is behind him even though the rules clearly stated earlier of 1 change in racing line and now 2 (correct me if wrong). Earlier too he has had a history of hitting other people when either overtaking them or being overtaken by others. This time he also brake tested Ricciardo leading to the crash. Hope Red Bull and Media treat him with what he deserves for these antics and stop treating him like a kid.

Lastly Kimi bungled in Qualifying twice to qualify 6th when he could have easily qualified on the 1st row and I can't help but think the race would have been a lot different had he started from 1st row. About time he shows the consistency that Vettel shows and Vettel learns how to be patient from Hamilton if Ferrari and Vettel want to have a chance to beat Mercedes and Hamilton. Otherwise it will be a repeat of last year.

[deetjohn]

It was a crazy race! But I don't think I found it too exciting. Too many re-starts spoiled the momentum. Anyways, this season is as topsy-turvy as it can get. Kind of like the driver with the highest odds winning each round. Good that I am not playing any fantasy F1 this season. Kimi, are you listening? Please get on that top step at least once for all of us over here. This is the season for that!

Kudos to Red Bull for letting the drivers fight. Both are reprimanded, but the team says they will be allowed to fight. And as a fan of the sport, nothing is more welcome. thumbs up!!

Coming to the incident, it was too tough for me for read it at racing speed. After watching a lot of replays, I think Max could have avoided it. They were still racing because Daniel gave Max space despite being squeezed many a times before. The fact that Marko says both drivers are to be blamed tells the story to be honest. Max is still not ready to play the long game despite multiple incidents now. Instant gratification is not going to get him anywhere! That lack of experience is really showing!!

Lewis got a get out of jail card and how! Bottas so unlucky, he did everything right this weekend. Unlike Vettel for whom re-starts at Baku doesn't go that well.

Can't wait for Spanish GP.

[sgiitk]

Baku is a nightmare of a circuit. Very pretty, but tough to drive on. I love the old and new sections. I hope the teams learn that it is tough, for the tyres, drivers and cars. I am sure it has the potential to be the new Monte Carlo. It was sad to see Vettel knocked for a six twice due to the vagaries of the circuit. I really cannot fathom why the Red Bulls had to collide. Hitting your own team mate ??

[saurabh2711]

Really Happy for Kimi to have out-performed his teammate in whatever turn of events. Would have loved him to be at First position.

Really felt sad for Bottas. Man proposes, god disposes. Hard(est) luck for the poor fellow.
What else can I say for his team member : "Lucky" Lewis. (Thanks TOI). Many thanks to him to have accepted the fact that it was an "untidy race" for him.

Great show by Red-Bull, which ended up in a suicide. Thumbs up to the team management, to allow them to race & keep aside the team-orders.

Un-necessary aggression by Vettal, let him down, couldn't even be on podium has as a result wiped his entire lead. Sic. A lesson learned the hard way.
+1 to TurboCHarger : Vettal showed us another example of "how to snatch defeat from jaws of Victory".

[ecenandu]

Originally Posted by amitoj

Sorry if I hurt your feelings there. I just can't even start to imagine Perez's joy on overtaking a 4 times world champion for a podium finish.

Aaah, don't worry about my feelings. Whom you deem to be a good, bad, worse racer is all your prerogative. I just pointed out the fact that, it is almost impossible for an average racer to win four world championships. But your metric for a great racer could very well be different, right.

Four bad races for Verstappan and see how the fans started to react on social media, looks like they all got very short term memory.

I was actually looking forward to a season like this, where six drivers has the chance to win a race.

[aditya9567]

I somehow feel that Bottas should be compensated in some form due to something that was probably the responsibility of the FIA. While I understand that the conditions were same for everyone and it is the hazard of racing, this incident was not due to any of the other drivers or Bottas himself. Conversely, FIA penalizes drivers for any of their faults, so it isn't right that the driver has to pay for this. I believe the debris should have been ideally corrected by them during the SC or lax periods during the race.

#rant. Just feeling bad for they guy. Wins rarely do come in such a competitive environment and something like this will hurt

[Fullrevs]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Lewis had a lot of empathy for Bottas. He did not feel at ease in taking the trophy. Lewis was also drained, no guesses where he had to go which delayed his run-up to the podium.

It was reported that Lewis went to console Bottas on losing the race before getting on to the podium. Pretty good sportsmanship. Yeah he was totally not excited about that victory. Also I think he didn't like the whole "luck" factor of it all.

The sport can be ruthless though, I don't think even Hamilton expected to be leading the championship after yesterdays race.

[ads11]

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/h...zerbaijan.html

I know everyone is understandably picking up the pieces of the Red Bull collision but let's also spare a thought towards what is going under the radar. KMag has consistently been showing that he truly is a dangerous driver. He literally tries to do what Schumacher once did on the Brawn of Barichello and send Gasly careening into a wall.

WRT the Red Bull collision, the signs were there. I know I wouldn't have been as brave, and would've called team orders. Personally I would've let Danny pass when Max was having the battery issues as Danny was clearly faster. Instead Max slowed them up enough to bring the cars behind into the picture. I would be very very interested to see what the data shows. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a slight left steering input from Max. What I would've given to be a fly on the wall for the RBR debrief on Sunday. Christian sounded totally spent when he spoke to Eddie Jordan etc.

I really dislike the Baku circuit but once again it delivers a bonkers race that had my flatmate and I screaming for the final 10. The marshalling definitely needs to step up. How on earth the recovery truck driver decided to trundle along even as the cars were passing under safety car conditions I don't know?! Especially given how in the old town portion, this track is stupidly narrow. One day there's gonna be a pile up in the old town chicane and it's going to cause complete and utter havoc. Charlie Whiting would be totally up s*** creek in such a scenario. Also, again, I think he should've called red flag. I was worried the race was going to end under safety car at that point. Standing restart might've cleared the infamous Bottas debris and perhaps led to just as nuts an ending.

I'm curious to know if the halo impeded Bottas from seeing the debris. I know he was at speed and the pieces were tiny but David Coulthard was making the point that even so, the drivers are mega alert to such hazards. I really feel for him. Terrible way to go, having driven so well on the restart.

I'll end by saying Romain Grosjean has earned himself Idiot of the Week. I've seen some hilarious posts since. What a plonker.

Take away points though:
-Ferrari definitely seem to have an edge on Mercedes. Their race pace is solid and during quali they seem to be able to bring it together. I'm afraid Toto and co still haven't solved the diva issues of their car.
-damn tyres are still being annoying. It was bonkers seeing the Renaults go flying past the Red Bulls at the start on their cold tyres.
-I bet the teams are happy they got rid of the shark fins. Can you imagine driving in those windy conditions with a giant sail on your engine cover?! Everyone would end up like Romain.

[fz_rider]

Originally Posted by saurabh2711

Un-necessary aggression by Vettal, let him down, couldn't even be on podium has as a result wiped his entire lead. Sic. A lesson learned the hard way.
+1 to TurboCHarger : Vettal showed us another example of "how to snatch defeat from jaws of Victory".

There was no space for him on the right, Hamilton was there. He had no no space in front, Bottas was there. Because of the tow, he was carrying more speed. Vettel had no where to go.

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by saurabh2711

Un-necessary aggression by Vettal, let him down, couldn't even be on podium has as a result wiped his entire lead. Sic. A lesson learned the hard way.
+1 to TurboCHarger : Vettal showed us another example of "how to snatch defeat from jaws of Victory".

Maybe unnecessary, but wasnt he in P2?