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.
 
I can't believe how bad Hamilton looked after the race (he certainly wouldn't have passed the escape test) - I wouldn't be surprised if he's had permanent damage done to him by that Mercedes - I would place money that he has one of the following:
  • (Stress) fracture of a vertebrae
  • Slipped disc
  • Compressed disc
I wouldn't be that surprised if Hamilton can't race in Montreal after this race! :(
 
So should drivers
I can't believe how bad Hamilton looked after the race (he certainly wouldn't have passed the escape test) - I wouldn't be surprised if he's had permanent damage done to him by that Mercedes - I would place money that he has one of the following:
  • (Stress) fracture of a vertebrae
  • Slipped disc
  • Compressed disc
I wouldn't be that surprised if Hamilton can't race in Montreal after this race! :(
start drivers suing the FIA?
 
The Perez pit stops.
Perez's tone post race was different to Spain and it looks like Jos has given Marko and Horner an earful that his son is the golden boy that deserves everything on a plate

It looks like he should change his name to Rubens Barrichello now
 
The driver association needs to get the drivers to take a stand against fia and get immediate rule change. Or at least immediate announcement of active suspension return date. Can't keep going like this the porpoising is breaking the drivers and the cars. F1 a laughing stock again.
 
The driver association needs to get the drivers to take a stand against fia and get immediate rule change. Or at least immediate announcement of active suspension return date. Can't keep going like this the porpoising is breaking the drivers and the cars. F1 a laughing stock again.

How much weight does GPDA have on the FIA ? I can see the argument about driver safety which the petty rules about racing in the wet and wearing jewellery against making racing exciting .

The FIA are going to come out to say that drivers need to be challenged and the racing needs to be exciting to put on a show

You make racing exciting by bringing back gravel traps not run off areas.

Is anyone in the FIA listening or are they waiting for someone to be crippled first before taking action which puts them in a serious difficult situation?
 
Awww diddums. Here have a tissue. Maybe Red Bull won’t be so dominant in the future. Then you can enjoy F1 again.
 
Awww diddums. Here have a tissue. Maybe Red Bull won’t be so dominant in the future. Then you can enjoy F1 again.
I think fans would enjoy F1 if Red Bull had more humility in how they conduct themselves. The only decent thing about Red Bull is Perez.

They are treating Perez like dirt nice to see his confidence sapped after being told he can challenge fior the title. BBC5live were so ignorant saying Verstappen is 34pts ahead of Leclerc forgetting all about Perez
 
Absolute f***ing Red Bullsh1T " No fighting " !
to be fair to red bull im not surprised as they have still have nightmares at drivers battling at turn 1

temp 1.gif
 
The driver association needs to get the drivers to take a stand against fia and get immediate rule change. Or at least immediate announcement of active suspension return date. Can't keep going like this the porpoising is breaking the drivers and the cars. F1 a laughing stock again.

i was feeling active suspension was inevitable back post imola,

i think that active suspension might be coming in on safety grounds

because but id make sure its not permanently but as a temporary solution. as it would be a good stop gap but say this is a problem so youve got you to til the start of next season to solve the issue


it was quite worrying hamilton looked in a very bad way, could barely walk or get out the seat going cold. to me is that is a sign that he lost feeling his bum & interesting 20 drivers had a meeting & 19 agreed said it was a problem & things needed to be done, 1 didnt alonso

the problem they do have, is there are people against active suspension but if you raise the ride height, then you reduce the effectiveness of these cars, because for them to follow easier they need the downforce from underneath the car. so active suspenion is the only solution that benefits the new rules & driver health
 
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the race was alright. just shame that Ferrari self destructed as usual & king of tyre wear lost his powers. verstappen had straight forward win & a victory at canter. & ferrari like 2010 2017 2018 & 2019. self destruction when going for a title. leclerc lost 55pts in 3 races through no fault of his own. 25 in Spain, 13 in monaco 18 or 25 in baku. but ferrari are in serious trouble 4 engines in weekend. less prancing horse more my little pony

i was joking about tsunoda when half of his wings went under DRS. i joked ah just put a set of softs on & gaffa tape it. i didnt thing would actually do it. i bet stewards werent happy about that LOL
 
I ended up watching the lowlights on All 4 because I forgot to record the race on Sky and didn't get back home in time to watch the C4 coverage.

Two points, firstly, All 4's cut of the lowlights was crap. They didn't even show Verstappen being given the race lead.

Secondly, it says a lot when the highlight of the race was Seb's rather nifty little 180 after he dropped it trying to overtake Gasly.

Regarding the cars, the massive problem here is the fact that ground effect aerodynamics are massively complex. There is simply no longer enough testing in real world conditions to overcome the issues that some teams are having. With such sweeping changes to the regs, pre season testing should have been doubled this year. However, because not all the teams have cars that bounce like Zebedee on crack, getting changes made between now and the end of the season will be almost impossible.
 
I ended up watching the lowlights on All 4 because I forgot to record the race on Sky and didn't get back home in time to watch the C4 coverage.
we had nightmare to find it. as sky q had a very weird spell it was hiding the race even though it was there & weirdly we had to delete it to watch it
 
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