Grand Prix 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Baku.

No, fear not fellow clippers, it's not my hayfever getting the better of me but it's the next F1 venue in the 2017 F1 season. Designed to be the worlds fastest street circuit, this year the grand prix carries the name of the host country unlike last year when, for reasons never fully explained it carried the European GP title.

Last years race was effected by kerb bolts not being fully tightened down, causing a number of tyres to be shredded and a flying drain cover that re-arranged the underside of one of the cars. These little issues to one side, on the whole, the circuit did set out to achieve its aim of speed with some of the highest straight line speeds ever recorded in F1, along the long back straight.

The race itself saw the top 6 spread out by over a minute showing that the key to success was a powerful engine and a high top speed. Hamilton suffered badly due to starting in the wrong mode. This highlighted the 'radio driver instructions' issue once again and was the catalyst for this rule being quietly slide into oblivion not long after. The track itself drew praise from several drivers.

So, to this seasons GP. Given the criteria for success at this track, Mercedes and Mercedes powered cars must start as favourites to do well. With Perez rounding out the podium spots in 2016 and with Force India's strong performane in Canada, they will surely be in the mix as the next best Merc runners.

Ferrari will be looking to bounce back after a difficult GP in Canada where Vettel did brilliantly to recover to 4th however, his pace over the weekend could have delivered more, and Kimi suffered from failing brakes which meant his race disolved into nursing the wounded car home over the last few laps.

Red Bull's season continues to underwhelm with pre-season predictions of title challenges now very much a distant memory. With Ferrari and Mercedes clearly a measure better than RBR and with this track requiring power, Force India should be right on Red Bull's tail. Max will be looking to bounce back after his DNF, and hopefully not over Seb's front wing this time while Danny will want another good finish.

Williams should do well here. They have the Merc engine and Stroll will have a certain spring in his step after a strong enough performance in Canada to show why he's in the car. Massa is also confounding some critics this season by driving pretty well. It's clear that neither driver have a great car underneath them but they should be able to do something here.

Torro Rosso, Haas and Renault will be pounding around looking for a sniff of some points. Of these three teams, none of them seem to be setting the world of F1 on fire and mediocrity is the best they can expect. Of the 6 drivers, Jolyon Palmer has the most to loose. He MUST start out performing his team mate or come the next set of European races he'll be watching from the sidelines. The Hulk looked pretty on it in Canada so Palmer has no easy task.

Last up comes Sauber who, running last years Ferrari engine, will stand little hope of doing anything here and will be praying for a race of high attrition. Much to everyone's suprise, last year there wasn't a single safety car period and only 4 cars DNF'd so it's not looking good for the team.

So I can't see much further than a Hamilton win and should anything go wrong, Bottas will more than likely pick up the pieces.

Oh..... hang on.... I missed one team out.

McLaren.

Hmmmm, it's a high powered circuit that requires a lot of grunt from the engine. It's a street circuit so the car needs to be able to handle bumps well, be well balanced but at the same time have a high straight line speed.

I'll give both cars about 10 laps before they are smoking and stationary track side.
 
Well Bushi I remember Hamilton saying Vettel should not get booed on the podium back in 2013 for his skullduggery on Webber in Sepang


I 'd very much doubt now Hamilton will ask the fans to not boo Vettel

Ow, was he booed for that? I thought he was booed throughout the years for just being Vettel.

Maybe, it's just a thought, but when you look at the replay the lights of the safety car are on before the corner and out after the corner. Seeing that Lewis is the first to spot the lights off and backs off to dictate the pace. An unexpected Vettel didn't see the lights where off and Lewis could dictate the pace and drove in the back of Lewis.

Thus we conclude, race control created a dangerous situation and therefor Charlie Whithing should get a race ban. ;)
 
im happy with the penalties he got given because he lost a victory & because of the 9pts accrued the threat of a punishment is more effective than a punishment majority of times

but i wonder if this not ban because of baku but build up of problems the fact he has shown no remorse for his actions, almost trying to make them acceptable which they arent whether you a 4x world champion or 2 race rookie . i remember after mexico when he told charlie whiting :censored: off. that any more trouble could lead to a tribunal

i would still say to him anything 3pts straight away & post Britain 5pts. as he would have to clean up his act
 
He deserves a race ban. I still can't beleive he rammed another driver on purpose. Anyone else would have been black flagged and banned. I hope the FIA grow a pair and treat him as they would any non-world championship contender.

The moody wee git needs an official slap.
 
I agree. I've reconsidered my 1 race ban comment, that would be too severe, but starting from the back of the grid in Austria would seem reasonable to me, not because of what he did, but because he was a dick about it afterwards.
 
Starting at the back in the second fastest car is hardly a punishment. He would still have a decent chance of a podium.
 
He deserves a race ban. I still can't beleive he rammed another driver on purpose. Anyone else would have been black flagged and banned. I hope the FIA grow a pair and treat him as they would any non-world championship contender.

The moody wee git needs an official slap.

Really?

I dont see any evidence to support that.

Nico didnt get black flagged and banned.

Maldonado didnt get black flagged and banned.

Happy to take any supporting evidence to the contrary.
 
Well a certain Michael Schumacher got DQ'd for a whole season in 1997 for deliberately taking a swipe at someone.

Then again he got no punishment at all in 1994.

Prost did it in 1989 and the guy he drove into got DQ'd

That guy, Senna, did it in 1990 and even admitted it. Got no punishment at all.

F1 is a confusing place.
 
Speaking of historical. It doesn't look good for you when even Juan Pablo Montoya, the king of F1 hot heads, react better to a situation than you.

Monaco grand prix: Schumacher's run ends in farce and fury

Schumacher braked suddenly, Montoya went into the back of him and Juan Pablo said it was his fault! In an environment where everyone hated Schumacher I reckon Montoya would have got away with doing what Seb did.
 
The big difference here is it wasn't under full race conditions. It was under the safety car. It wasn't a mistake or error made in a split second at race speed. It was a deliberate collision in a controlled safety car period at low speed.
 
ah, ok.

so there is no precedent then. no indication that another driver would be treated differently?

glad thats clear.
 
Maybe, it's just a thought, but when you look at the replay the lights of the safety car are on before the corner and out after the corner. Seeing that Lewis is the first to spot the lights off and backs off to dictate the pace. An unexpected Vettel didn't see the lights where off and Lewis could dictate the pace and drove in the back of Lewis.

I'm guessing a lot here so bear with me...

I was under the impression that the lights out moment was standardised by practice if not by regulation. I reckoned that that point was at the Sector 2 line, or at least near there.

The lights did seem to go off at the same place on all three restarts.

Can anyone enlighten me to the actual regulatory position?
 
It wasn't a mistake or error made in a split second at race speed

Just to be clear none of those I listed were either. Especially the Senna one in 1990. He actually told everyone the day before that if they didn't switch the pole slot to the other side of the grid he was going to crash into Prost at the first corner......and he did it.
 
The big difference here is it wasn't under full race conditions. It was under the safety car. It wasn't a mistake or error made in a split second at race speed. It was a deliberate collision in a controlled safety car period at low speed.

You make a good point. that could be big difference that under racing red mist is different to calculated move just there about to go racing. but as few have said "put vettel at the back of grid". arent we just ruining our own enjoyment because we want lewis & vettel giving us a great battle on track. lewis possibly driving off into sunset

point on safety car, just it set off alot further back than sector 3 to give the cars more time to get the gap. as this did all start because lewis had to back the pack up more because he was mighty close to Overtaking the safety car
 
It was Hamilton that was calling for a change to the re-start procedure, as each time at the re-start, chaos emerged behind him.
The only point I was making The Artist was the starting procedure shouldn't need to be changed to suit the drivers following Hamilton regardless who was calling for a change. It was up to all the following drivers, including Vettel, to leave enough space between themselves to allow for the fluctuating speed of the lead car and prevent themselves piling into one another.
 
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Additional sanctions against Vettel would be have only one negative thing:
decreasing intrigue in the championship
 
In the examples of drivers ramming each other quoted above, the common factor is that it was a title on the line. I don't condone it but you sort of understand why a driver sees it as the last option to be world champion.

In Vettel's case, he screwed up and then lost his head. I think he should get a one race ban. If we were talking about someone like Perez on Hamilton it would have happened already.

The other factor that needs to be mentioned in terms of the title race is the psychological effect on Vettel. Hamilton has the morale high ground on this one. Remember how Rosberg lost his edge royally over the incident at Spa a few years ago. I think we could see something similar this time. Vettel has shown a mental weakness that's there to be exploited. Press the right buttons and he's going to pop. That's handy if you are Hamilton and you are under Vettel's rear wing with 10 laps to go.
 
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