I’ll keep my fingers crossed!!!

 

 

Pirelli are a pure joke. How can you still be f***ing it up after so many years.

 

 

I swear back in the day you used to be able to take a restart in the 3rd car. F1 used to be so much better than it is now

Ok I withdraw any complaints about red flag procedures. That sprint finish was a f***ing genius idea.

that was a crazy ending of the race, oh my Lewis!!!

well deserved with for Perez and great race for Vettel, Gasly, Leclerq and Alonso.

 

didn't watch all the race, what happened with Bottas? how did he end up so low?

Is it wroth watching the highlights tonight?

that was a crazy ending of the race, oh my Lewis!!!

well deserved with for Perez and great race for Vettel, Gasly, Leclerq and Alonso.

 

didn't watch all the race, what happened with Bottas? how did he end up so low?

Incompetence, his.

 

Is it wroth watching the highlights tonight?

Yeah but there’s only about 7 laps worth watching.

Totally

Not a fan of a restart with one lap to go. Much prefer the old rules where the order on the red flag was the result, even if it was exciting to watch.

 

It was however, really rather funny watching Lewis miss the corner.

Not a fan of a restart with one lap to go. Much prefer the old rules where the order on the red flag was the result, even if it was exciting to watch.

 

It was however, really rather funny watching Lewis miss the corner.

In theory, I agree with you. However, a two lap no holds barred pure sprint was honestly the most exciting part of any Grand Prix this year.

 

Actually makes me think a sprint quali thing they’re talking about might be pretty fun.

 

 

 

Honestly, I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard all year as when he went straight on, well. Maybe only when I realised he was gonna finish behind Mazepin 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 almost laughed myself hoarse 🤣🤣🤣🤣

It was exciting for sure but imagine if both Red Bull’s had been 30 secs up the road. Max crashes out and then Lewis sticks the restart because his brakes haven’t overheated but Perez loses a comfortable win because his have.

 

Would seem an artificially created win and utterly unfair.

 

Fun to watch but should have ended under a safety car or Red flagged. Imagine if Lewis had been in fifth when his brakes failed...

 

Masi is bending the rules to make more of a show at the risk of racing purity and arguably safety

In a Situation where the bulls were a third of a lap clear then aye that’d be bullshit but they were never more than a handful of seconds up the road and kept tabs the whole lap.

 

If anything it’s Max I feel hard done for. Red Flag v quickly and count back under the old rules would have given him the win eg Brazil 03 and Fisi on the podium. I thought we were gonna see a safety car finish.

 

I don’t agree on safety. Hamiltons brakes did that because he f***ed up and hit a switch on the steering wheel. Run that another thousand times and no else one does that. Had he been 5th, I don’t think he’d have gone steaming through the pack (although the sport is so much more boring than it used to be without a few 5 car turn 1 pile ups). He made a mistake not even a rookie would make under pressure. I don’t think Hamilton making a tit of himself on global tv equates to the race director risking safety for a tv audience.

 

But let’s be real for a second. 2 or 3 laps whatever it was, where the drivers don’t have to worry about the tyres falling apart if they push, don’t have to fuel save. It’s the best 5 minutes of racing in any Grand Prix in the turbo era if not the last decade or more. Alonso took 4 spots. That alone is more overtakes than at Monaco this year. Tbh if anything it shows that the sport is broken and that tyre and fuel saving is ruining the sport (along with the dominance of the mercs of course). Give the drivers. Let’s bring back the indestructible Michelin tyres and refueling. If you want to pretend to be green, then lighter cars burn less fuel which over the course of the GP means the cars are more fuel efficient and produce less CO2s. Refueling is better for the planet

Was an enjoyable race, although gutted for Max. He deserved that win

 

Checo was close enough to pick up the victory and keep it at Red Bull. Was insane seeing Hamilton make that kind of mistake and fail to take advantage of Max’s retirement

 

Thrilled for Vettel and Gasly - two brilliant performances and both deserving of a good haul of points. It must have been frustrating for Leclerc to be passed by a team mate he destroyed last year!

 

Also - how was Bottas so off the pace? Lewis last race and Bottas this week. I fully expect Mercedes to bounce back but it’s very unexpected

the Spanish press is ecstatic with Alonso today, Marca says his re-start should be taught at universities (guess they mean F1 or driving schools but still)

 

think Bottas was not in the race mentally + everybody knows he's not good at passing cars

but both Raikonen and Giovinazzi passed him in the last part of there ace, which is like unthinkable

What an insane watch that latter part of the race was. Try convincing me Baku isn't the most batshit crazy race on the calendar. 4 red flags in quali for starters! Everything that's bad about Monaco is good about Baku. Has the zero margin for error aspect but with actual possibilities of overtaking.

 

That was a real gutter for Max but maybe he just didn't conserve his tyres as well. We had this scenario at Silverstone last year (and in 2013) so nothing will get changed. I personally like the tyre management aspect up to an extent. When the tyres were more durable the racing was boring, that's why Pirelli joined in 2011 in the first place.

 

So the mammoth 54-race streak of point scoring has finally ended for Sir Lewis. Must admit it definitely keeps the title fight much more interesting as we head to tracks I'd say are much more Mercedes-suited. But I don't think they've ever had 2 bad races in a row in the hybrid era so I do wonder how much this will have knocked them psychologically.

 

Super happy for Perez to win his first RB race reasonably early on but he was having his best weekend for the team regardless. Seeing 2 RBs & 1 Merc is the exact opposite of the case for much of the past 3 seasons. Vettel has also come alive in these street races but let's see if he can keep this up hereafter.

In a Situation where the bulls were a third of a lap clear then aye that’d be bullshit but they were never more than a handful of seconds up the road and kept tabs the whole lap.

 

If anything it’s Max I feel hard done for. Red Flag v quickly and count back under the old rules would have given him the win eg Brazil 03 and Fisi on the podium. I thought we were gonna see a safety car finish.

 

I don’t agree on safety. Hamiltons brakes did that because he f***ed up and hit a switch on the steering wheel. Run that another thousand times and no else one does that. Had he been 5th, I don’t think he’d have gone steaming through the pack (although the sport is so much more boring than it used to be without a few 5 car turn 1 pile ups). He made a mistake not even a rookie would make under pressure. I don’t think Hamilton making a tit of himself on global tv equates to the race director risking safety for a tv audience.

 

But let’s be real for a second. 2 or 3 laps whatever it was, where the drivers don’t have to worry about the tyres falling apart if they push, don’t have to fuel save. It’s the best 5 minutes of racing in any Grand Prix in the turbo era if not the last decade or more. Alonso took 4 spots. That alone is more overtakes than at Monaco this year. Tbh if anything it shows that the sport is broken and that tyre and fuel saving is ruining the sport (along with the dominance of the mercs of course). Give the drivers. Let’s bring back the indestructible Michelin tyres and refueling. If you want to pretend to be green, then lighter cars burn less fuel which over the course of the GP means the cars are more fuel efficient and produce less CO2s. Refueling is better for the planet

 

 

Obviously my first paragraph was talking hypothetically. I’m aware the Red Bulls were that far ahead and that Lewis made an error with the switch but both were not far from reality.

 

However when the race was red flagged another lap had been completed and Max would have been classed DNF and not the winner. I believe the old rules also stated the car causing a red flag doesn’t get a classified finish either but it’s been awhile since it came up now.

 

I still contend restarting a race with only a handful of laps is both dangerous and overly meddling with a race for the sake of the show. With the cars having completed a near full distance it puts unnecessary stress on them to restart with a greater chance of failure on a standing start, add to that the extra pressure in drivers to gain places and you have recipe for disaster. A 2nd standing start should be forfeited if the race is 85% complete. If an accident occurs thereafter it should be a safety car period, a rolling start or declared if there is not enough laps left.

Max crashing Perez was the rightful winner and Lewis 2nd.

Disagree. There's 51 laps so why only do 48? If it was pissing it down with rain or the light was fading (like Malaysia '09) then fair enough but why deny what could be the most exciting racing of the entire season? Don't see how it's any more dangerous than a regular start with a full field. I think if it was anywhere else this debate wouldn't even come up, but let's be honest Baku is a bit of a dangerous track in general.

 

We had a standing re-start in Monza last year and 2 in Mugello and don't remember anyone talking it about it then. Just so happened the red flags were thrown earlier but it doesn't matter if it's after 1 lap, 50% race distance or 99% in my opinion. Ending the race early is reserved for when actual conditions themselves would prove unsafe.

I’m with Dobbo here. Unless there is a light, weather or serious safety issue then the race should be run until complete/timed out. The one that comes to mind is Brazil 2003.

 

You could hear, at least on the Sky DE coverage, the radio between the teams and Masi. The race was red flagged in part so everyone could get fresh tyres on and there was no further risk of another exploding tyre.

 

The cars these days are built to last a lot longer than they used to be, they should be able to do a second standing start. AMD with the sprint quali proposal then they would be doing more racing starts over a weekend anyway. As an elite driver this should be within their wheel house nae bother. I don’t think it’s dangerous. They get to race properly for a handful of laps, I’m willing to bet good money that everyone apart from Lewis thoroughly enjoyed those last couple of laps

@1401932377816014850

 

Finally the onboard of Fernando for that restart. Fab stuff.

Perhaps my view is clouded because I have watched too many drivers killed for the sake of entertainment at the expense of safety.

I’ll reserve further judgment on that restart safety issue but it still feels like overly meddling in a result and the slow deployment of the red flag is still worrying.

Very much agree on the delay to the red flag. The Safety Car was extremely late to be deployed as well, unforgivably so given the high speed area of the track that they crashed in.

 

 

Baku and its high speed tyre failures is giving me Michelin Indianapolis flashbacks.

 

 

I think I maybe have a different perspective because since I started watching F1 in 2003 there has only been Bianchi who has been killed in an F1 accident - one that was arguably preventable. From memory there's a handful of crashes where I've gone oof. Bianchi of course, but Kubica in Canada, Ralf in the Williams in Indy '04, Roman last year, Alonso in the McHonda at Australia and then also with Nando in Belgium in 2018.