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.
 
Stewards issued a separate statement that Hamilton did not break and
acted as in accordance with the rules and like in the previous situations.
But still there are those who continue to ascribe brake-test for Hamilton.
Although, why was he the lead in the race had to risk the outcome?
 
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?!

Let me Tell you the standard. I've seen a 9x world champion kick one of his competitors out of a corner at 100mph and only getting 3 penalty Points to his license. ;)
 
Vettel just didn't want to be caught napping and was too close to Lewis to react to any change of speed. I am surprised he is sticking to his guns despite the data proving that Lewis drove through that corner the exact same way on his previous lap. There was damage to Lewis' car, too. I'm glad that didn't ruin his race.
 
thats a good point Bushi from the moto gp last season. with Rossi's dodgy actions. anyone know how many penalty points Vettel has because i would assume that what the stewards would be handing out but very interesting last night Will buxton mention that it could not be over as there is always thing of bringing the sport into disrepute

i think Vettel is very lucky he is Vettel a 4x world champion, because imagine Lance Stroll pulled that stunt or sergio canamasas in formula 2, the mob would lining up demanding a race ban.
 
Let me Tell you the standard. I've seen a 9x world champion kick one of his competitors out of a corner at 100mph and only getting 3 penalty Points to his license. ;)
True! LOL I guess the 'standards'have already been set..
 
thats a good point Bushi from the moto gp last season. with Rossi's dodgy actions. anyone know how many penalty points Vettel has because i would assume that what the stewards would be handing out but very interesting last night Will buxton mention that it could not be over as there is always thing of bringing the sport into disrepute

i think Vettel is very lucky he is Vettel a 4x world champion, because imagine Lance Stroll pulled that stunt or sergio canamasas in formula 2, the mob would lining up demanding a race ban.

Vettel is currently on 9 penalty points, but the first of those are due to expire over the next 1-2 races. So he can continue to be a naughty boy for a while yet before he gets a full race ban ;)
 
iirc the 3 points to Rossi meant that he had to start the next race from the back of the grid, whilst not a full ban, that did at least serve as punishment and pretty much killed off his slim championship hopes.

Just reread the article, and the other reason he only got 3 points was that they couldn't prove whether it was intentional or an accident resulting from Marquez's effort to totally ruin Rossi's race finally resulting in contact
 
Vettel is currently on 9 penalty points, but the first of those are due to expire over the next 1-2 races. So he can continue to be a naughty boy for a while yet before he gets a full race ban ;)

well we know 1 thing, Vettel will be on his best behaviour in Austria, unless he wants a trip to see the mens final at wimbledon
 
Having missed the race because we were out with the kids, I've only seen the Vettel moment on the news.

I'm having a hard time squaring the fact that I thought his moment of madness was incredibly funny and the fact that he should be facing at least a one race ban for it.
 
As I see it, there are a couple of similar incidents.

Maldonado in Spa ~(forget the year) and Rosberg at Austria last year.

All examples of poor judgement and potentially dangerous, but none have resulted in bans - I cannot recall the last time a driver had a race ban - if someone could please enlighten me...

If not for a loose headrest, the resulting penalty would have been far more significant, as it was, it reminded me of Valencia 2010? Where Lewis got a penalty for overtaking the safety car (whilst coming out of the pits) but he was able to take it after he had made up the time he would have lost anyway.

So, whilst I am not defending the action at all, I think that the context would indicate that the penalty was in line with previous incidents. The penalty point system is there to penalise persistent offenders, and there is a chance that Seb could fall foul of that also.

One thing is for certain though, it would appear that Mr Angry of Germany needs a visit from the chill-the-****-out fairy!
 
Toto had a good weekend. He did something similar to EJ when it was suggested that Merc may be pulling out due to Petronas removing sponsorship.

Toto basically called Eddie irresponsible due to there being 1500 people who were employed by Merc who do not need to hear these rumours.
 
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
 
There is stories going around that Vettel could still face further punishment

Now had the roles been reversed and Ferrari was still headed by Jean Todt they would have made lot of noises that Hamilton should have been disqualified and punished severely

I just don't see the FIA putting more punishment on Vettel given Todt does not like getting involved in the politics and would like to stick his head in the sand
 
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