[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by jpcoolguy

Now, Kimi is in trouble - disqualified from Qualifying in Baku due to front wing design.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...WxKapXYCM.html



Double blow for Alfa Romeo, who looked strong having both the cars in Q3, after Giovinazzi's grid penalties which pushed him to P18 (now P17). Kimi set to join Gasly and Kubica in pit lane.

Only positive for Kimi (if at all) is that he can stay out of any first lap melee, but that's about it. Gasly at least has a few new sets of tyres to try something.

[Red Liner]

I think Ferrari messed up Leclerc again. They should have brought him in much much eariler. I was dumbfounded.

[avdhesh15]

It's Mercedes all the way. I guess this season is only going to be about Hamilton or Bottas. I don't see anyone else even coming close to the silver arrows.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

I think Ferrari messed up Leclerc again. They should have brought him in much much eariler. I was dumbfounded.

I really cannot understand Ferrari. They have a driver capable of winning now and they are not helping him and screwing up the strategy like last year.

Atleast we have Bottas to challenge Hamilton and that will be interesting since Bottas is determined to win this year and Hamilton is not going to give up.

On the other hand, Williams had some super bad luck this weekend.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by tharian

I really cannot understand Ferrari. They have a driver capable of winning now and they are not helping him and screwing up the strategy like last year.

Atleast we have Bottas to challenge Hamilton and that will be interesting since Bottas is determined to win this year and Hamilton is not going to give up.

On the other hand, Williams had some super bad luck this weekend.

Firstly, i think they asked Leclerc to conserve his tyres and go easy when they should have pitted him. Because at that very same time, gasly on a similar strategy and hadn't stopped yet like charles, was charging through the midfield setting fastest sectors if not the fastest lap.

Then, they made him stay out far too long thinking the soft tyres will not last the distance.

His pitstop was a few hundreths too long and he got stuck behind Gasly. What the heck was pit strategy doing? The commentators were having a laugh wondering if the italians had gone back to drinking espresso and forgotten about a pitstop in the first place.

The final nail in the coffin was the vsc, which effectively killed any chances of Leclerc even closing the gap to max.

Thankfully someone there had the brains to call leclerc in before the final few laps to get the fastest lap time in and an extra point. Pizza for him.

Ferrari and vettel are screwing around big time. It almost feels like both of them are in it together... Like some kind of sabotage to not win and not let leclerc win either.

This Binotto guy is not new, he has been with the team long enough, and yet he is not delivering. Even an idiot with half a brain would have called leclerc in many laps earlier.

If i were Leclercs manager, i would be furious, and i would be having some very very tough conversations over at the pitwall. I really think Leclerc should stand up and fight for his right to race and to win, the Ferrari team feels wooden, archaic and no soul anymore.

Maybe the tifosi should start trending #letleclercrace

[fz_rider]

I'm glad that I didn't miss anything by skipping the race.

Fun facts :
1. Bottas became the first driver in this season to win from pole.
2. Bottas is the fourth different winner at Baku in that much races.
3. Mercedes now has the record for most consecutive 1-2 from the start of season i.e 4

[jpcoolguy]

It seems as if a conspiracy, by everyone, to make Ferrari complacent during the race by making statements like "Ferrari is Fastest", "Ferrari is deadliest" and cometh the race the clowns in Ferrari Strategy team, thinking as if they had everything under control, relaxes and ruins the race, especially of Leclerc.

A forgettable race for Renaults, especially Ricciardo, what was he thinking when he reversed into Kvyat. Ricciardo torpedoed into torpedo Kvyat .

Good showing by McLaren, first time both cars in the points this season. A great race for Perez who continues to do well in this circuit and lucky Kimi to get the final point thanks to retirements of Gasly, Daniel and Kvyat. Kimi has scored in all the 4 races till now and in a stark contrast his team mate is yet to score.

Finally, a wonderful race by both Bottas and Hamilton, both going wheel to wheel at the start without any incident and Hamilton managed to keep within striking distance of Bottas.

Below picture depicts the Ferrari pit walls current state -

[ValarMorghulis]

I'm excited for Leclerc's future in Ferrari. He's incredible right now and hopefully will only improve with Ferrari. I am, a tad concerned with what Ferrari has been doing lately. Vettel isn't exactly giving Hamilton any sleepless nights, and despite what everyone says about Ferrari being excellent and super etcetera, they aren't anywhere near Mercedes right now. The constructor standing depicts that as well.
Come one Vettel, at least try challenging Hamilton, will ya?

[Makin Rulesz]

Danial Ricciardo's upgraded steering wheel for next GP



Source: Twitter

[sgiitk]

Has Vettel cooked his goose. Ferrari needs schumi Junior.

What happened to Leclerc he was 20 seconds behind and then became 40 seconds behind. Must be some issue. Today I rate him higher that Vettel.

[Arjun Reddy]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

What happened to Leclerc he was 20 seconds behind and then became 40 seconds behind. Must be some issue. Today I rate him higher that Vettel.

Leclerc was on the fast sections of the track when the virtual safety car was flagged. He had to drop pace by 40% and hence lost more time than the others who were on the slow sections of the circuit, ie 40% of 300 kmph vs 40% of 100 kmph.

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by Arjun Reddy

Leclerc was on the fast sections of the track when the virtual safety car was flagged. He had to drop pace by 40% and hence lost more time than the others who were on the slow sections of the circuit, ie 40% of 300 kmph vs 40% of 100 kmph.

Heard commentators talking about it. It's a big flaw in the way VSC works. Ideally they should turn off VSC when the leader is at same place when it was turned on. That way everybody has to slow down in all parts of the track, but it will get tricky if lead car pits.

[shibujp]

If there was a free practice championship Ferrari would have won it by miles now. This has now settled into a pattern. Ferrari dominate free practice and come the weekend, Mercedes comes in and dominates like stealing candy from a kid.

At the front, it's developed into a battle between team mates. Vettel v/s LeClerc and Hamilton v/s Bottas with Verstappen occasionally playing the interloper. I love the fact that Bottas is taking the fight to Hamilton and giving him a hard fight. I just hope Mercedes does not ask him to play second fiddle like last year.

There was an analysis that perhaps Ferrari had played their strategy wrong by starting on the medium softs rather than the ultra soft which lost them crucial time in the race. Perhaps this played a part in their demise over the race.

Drive on,
Shibu

[swissknife]

Originally Posted by shibujp

There was an analysis that perhaps Ferrari had played their strategy wrong by starting on the medium softs rather than the ultra soft which lost them crucial time in the race. Perhaps this played a part in their demise over the race.

Drive on,
Shibu

There are only 3 relative compounds in use this year. Soft, medium and hard. The compounds range from C1 (hardest) to C5 (softest). The lap times difference ranges from 0.6 to 1 second between each successive compounds.

While Vettel started on the Soft compound, Leclerc had to start on the Medium, as per the regulations which mentions that one has to start on same set used to set their fastest lap in Q2. Since Leclerc had a crash, he was allowed to use another set of the same compound. Ferrari had no choice.

[motorworks]

Except Bahrain, Ferrari has looked to be the slightly slower car than Mercedes everywhere. The hype around Ferrari pace is not justified and in my opinion is just mounting more pressure on the team than it already has. They should have just underplayed a bit in the testing to save them from all this pressure.
In this hybrid era, its going to be very difficult to catch Mercedes. Like Ferrari, Renault and Honda have been struggling too. Ferrari have been the closest to Mercedes in the last 2-3 years, but never had an edge over them in terms of consistent pace. So far this year, it looks like Ferrari is not even showing the kind of pace they were having last year same time. Another championship for Hamilton!