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.
 
Seb's dark side is utterly immature and thoroughly entertaining. I'd like to think he knew he was only banging wheels, that he had that under control and wouldn't have rammed any bodywork, although it was clearly deliberate and foolish in the extreme. I guess the stewards also thought it wasn't dangerous enough for a one race ban.
 
What world are Ferrari and Vettel living in?
They seem to know nothing of Vettel banging wheels with Hamilton...

This reminds me of another great driver; Michael Schumacher.
 
vintly Seb is just doing what his idol Schumacher did to his rivals ... one of them gave him the world title and the other time he came off 2nd best because as Brundle put it "He hit the wrong side of him"

Hamilton came back with some strong words so next time wheel to wheel could be very feisty with Vettel. Off course Vettel is going to protest his innocence but you are approaching a chicane mate so chances you're going to need to slow down

The stewards verdict was pathetically weak and in my mind sent out the wrong message to the other drivers about such unsportsmanlike conduct

This is F1 not demolition derby or Nascar racing. I am awaiting for another amusing Vettel swipe by Alonso...we saw last year that Vettel thought the whole world was against him when he was getting penalised or coming off 2nd best
 
Thing is they were doing about 20mph, and he banged wheels, so however petulant it was, it wasn't actually very dangerous. Hence the verdict.
 
I guess the punishment would have been severe if Hamilton spun into the wall because of it which meant his race would have been ruined and Vettel would have potential robbed points out of Hamilton
 
I don't see what Hamilton is complaining about, Ricciardo on the other hand....

Race - Ricciardo beats Bottas in Baku, as title rivals come to blows

Then slide down the page to watch the video, paying particular attention to the names of the drivers concerned.:oops:
I thought there were only two planets people were living on today, on one they witnessed Vettel driving into Hamilton, on the other planet Vettel and Ferrari only saw Hamilton slow down and Vettel bump into his rear for which Vettel received the penalty according to these people, but now there seems to be a third planet on which people witnessed a collision between Ricciardo and Vettel...

What a crazy dream, I think it's time to wake up...
 
Regardless of the relative dangers of vettel's actions, he got off very lightly. Should have been at least a DSQ and a race ban. This kind of behaviour is not acceptable especially for a world champion. What kind of example does it show to the rest of the motorsport world?!
 
The precedent is a grid penalty, which some may say is lenient.

Personally, i think it is clear that Vettel is in real danger of losing his head, and needs to focus.

And on to Austria. Where no driver has ever purposefully driven into another. Not even last year
 
Actually Il_leone it's one of the things Hamilton does under safety cars, driving extremely slow and brake testing the other cars. Just look at Fuji, where again Vettel was off guard and rammed Webber.

Am not saying what Vettel did was in his right though, he should've know and he get's easily hotheaded. I wouldn't put him in the same shelf as Schumacher as a unfair driver.
 
Bushi Hamilton did the same speed as the previous lap through that chicane and he already said the safety car needed to speed up

When you have a rule that is currently in place where the safety car pulls in ,the lead car becomes the pace dictator then there is a possibility someone will not be paying attention and potential create an accident.

It will be interesting to see if the roles are reversed what happens next time between Hamilton and Vettel
 
Did he Il_leone? I don't have the telemetry next to me to check it, maybe you do? :)

Fact is, he brakes at corner exit with a big shiny Ferrari in his rear mirrors. Vettel should have paid attention, but in a way it's understandable that he's that close for a restart.
 
i absoultely loved that race just finished it an hour ago. i knew baku circuit gave good racing because you dont get 4 good races in both years of gp2 & forumla 2 by accident/fluke, if abit last man standing with only 10 - 2016 & 8 - 2017 making the distance in 1 piece on feature races. but action all over the place. bit like brazil 2012 how many drivers on that grid today leaving Azerbaijan. saying i could have won that race today. im thinking Lewis, Kimi, either Force India, Verstappen, Massa. even more that could have been on that podium. if anyone guessed that podium on lap 2 their lying with top 2 Riccardio 17th & bottas lap down. 13 gps since german anthem wasnt heard. ironically when Riccardio won the Malaysian gp back in October

Vettel was a out of order today. even if he believed Lewis brake test him which i dont believed he did was just getting a big gap to safety car after cutting it fine as proved 3rd time around. but ill admit he was slower around that corner than usual & vettel was caught out. but you never get justice into your hands & use the car as a battering ram. if that was stroll or canamasas who performed that in formula 2, he would have the bookcase nevermind the book at him. didnt like his interviews were like Theresa May driving that ferrari. if you dont mention the event, it never happened. as i said above he got lucky not to be black flagged because it would set a dangerous precedent for f1 & lower down
 
Well if this incident alone could the deciding factor in deciding whether Vettel or Hamilton becomes world champion..it might leave a bad taste in people's mouth about a deserving champion
 
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