Grand Prix 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Yeah, Baku baby! Said no one, ever.

It's time for the fourth running of the Azerbijan Azurbijun Azirbujan Baku Grand Prix, at a country on the Caspian sea. Four different winners in the four races, but only two teams have won, Red Bull and Mercedes. Previous races have been quite eventful, with safety cars, red flags, punctures, cars ramming each other, head restraints coming loose, and all sorts of other weirdness.

There is also the very unusual "single file" section through the castle, and then the longest straight on the calendar (?) where the cars could run four wide if they wanted to. In fact, after the safety car restart last they did, and as they came down in to the first corner Lewis forgot to turn off his brake warm up system, slewed down the run off area in a cloud of tyre smoke, and ended up fifteenth. Just think, had he won the race it wouldn't have mattered what Michael Masi did at Spa or in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton would have take his eight title.

There is much build up in advance of this years race about there being three teams vying for the win. I presume the pundits believe that Mercedes have sorted out enough of their aero problems for the silver cars to be able to challenge the Red Bulls and Ferraris. Not so sure myself, but it would be nice to see an actual race at the front.

Much has been made of the potential title challenge of Sergio Perez, and the "will they, won't they attitude" of Red Bull. So let me put you straight, Sergio Perez was signed as No.2 driver to Max Verstappen. Red Bull, as brand, have invested significant amounts of money in the career of Max Verstappen. If there is a choice to be made about whether Sergio or Max should win a race or a title, they will choose Max. Do not let any weasel words which drop from the lips of Christian Horner make you think anything else is likely.

This race starts at midday UK time, which clashes with the final hours of Le Mans. So you have a choice, you can either watch the pinnacle of motor sport or the Formula One race.

Here's hoping for a maiden win for George Russell. Enjoy.
 
Awww diddums. Here have a tissue. Maybe Red Bull won’t be so dominant in the future. Then you can enjoy F1 again.
The most thrilling inter team battle was Senna vs Prost - Red Bull being dominant would not be an issue to anyone if they let their drivers race.

As ever Horner seems to always have to backtrack his words to feed Verstappen 's ego and pretend Red Bull.is a team of equal opportunities for both drivers. Its clearly like Ferrari and Schumacher where even their dominant they won't race.

I could imagine Verstappen getting the message "Don't fight "and his reaction to it
 
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I wouldn't be that surprised if Hamilton can't race in Montreal after this race!
it wouldnt suprised me if he was too injured, because its only 4 days away.

toto was asked Hamilton could miss the next race in Canada, Wolff said: “Yeah, definitely. I haven’t seen him and I haven’t spoken to him afterwards, but you can see this is not muscular anymore. I mean, this goes properly into the spine and can have some consequences.”
 
yeah that was strange strategy. i would be annoyed if i was riccardio. as when riccardio asked he was refused but when Norris was behind they were all for it. but it could get interesting as Riccardio fighting for his career & norris would be strange if he didnt feel he was number 1 in that team & should have priority
 
whats going on at Ferrari. up to 56 points theyve thrown away through poor strategy or unreliability 4 consecutive poles & all they have to show for it is 1 2nd place. so bad they are only 17pts ahead of Russell in quite a bad Mercedes compared to the top 2 teams. i was working out what championship standings couldve been

Leclerc 172-----------Verstappen 150
Verstappen 139----Perez 129
Perez 114-------------Leclerc 116
Sainz 78---------------Sainz 83

Red bull 253--------Red bull 279
Ferrari 250----------Ferrari 199
 
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whats going on at Ferrari. up to 56 points theyve thrown away through poor strategy or unreliability 4 consecutive poles & all they have to show for it is 1 2nd place. so bad they are only 17pts ahead of Russell in quite a bad Mercedes compared to the top 2 teams. i was working out what championship standings couldve been

Leclerc 172-----------Verstappen 150
Verstappen 139----Perez 129
Perez 114-------------Leclerc 116
Sainz 78---------------Sainz 83

Red bull 253--------Red bull 279
Ferrari 250----------Ferrari 199
It's the typical Ferrari cock up they really need someone like Ross Brawn on the pit wall. The engine side 4 Ferrari powered cars failed which does not look good
 
It's the typical Ferrari cock up they really need someone like Ross Brawn on the pit wall. The engine side 4 Ferrari powered cars failed which does not look good
I did wonder whether Ferrari have effectively turned their engines up to 11, with the knowledge that they will be unreliable, but in order to compete (and willing to take penalties, having seen the impact of the Mercedes penalties last year when using the same strategy).

In the last few races, we've seen several Ferraris go pop.
 
Alonso tricks if he was trying any of them, might be coming to the end & it might be the end of those controversies. soon a system might in like indycar & BTCC where if you impede somebodies fast lap or bring out a red flag. you lose your fastest lap of the session

 
So Perez had a sudden difference in pace in the race as a result of higher rear tyre deg (despite that literally being the opposite of what he’s known for) and 5.6 and 4.4 second pit stops from the sub 2 second pit stop team. And that was all completely above board and Max’s win was purely due to a mature drive. Okay.

I also wonder if Lewis is playing up a bit to try and force through rule changes on safety grounds as that’s Mercs only hope this year. I’m not sure he was that broken afterwards.

Seb gets my driver of the day for that wonderful 180 spin.
 
So Perez had a sudden difference in pace in the race as a result of higher rear tyre deg (despite that literally being the opposite of what he’s known for) and 5.6 and 4.4 second pit stops from the sub 2 second pit stop team. And that was all completely above board and Max’s win was purely due to a mature drive. Okay.

I also wonder if Lewis is playing up a bit to try and force through rule changes on safety grounds as that’s Mercs only hope this year. I’m not sure he was that broken afterwards.

Seb gets my driver of the day for that wonderful 180 spin.
You know Horner has to massage and his Max's golden butt right like Jos tells him to
 
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