So pole seems set to be decided by whoever gets the longest tow from their teammate.

Once Max takes Leclerc, there's an awkward decision for Red Bull coming.

Zhou seems to have Bottas' measure this weekend.

Oh Ferrari. Don't turn this into a boring championship!

 

A decent enough race today, a shame we didn't get to see how the different strategies following the VSC would have panned out

Azerbaijan Review

 

Best driver:

Worst driver:

Best team:

Worst team:

Best overtake:

Worst overtake:

Best moment:

Worst moment:

Best thing about the race:

Worst thing about the race:

 

And the race in a sentence:

Toto Wolff is now suggesting that Hamilton may miss the Canadian GP due to his back suffering during the weekend.

 

As much as it is clear that some teams and Mercedes in particular is struggling with bouncing and porpoising, the FIA should not let them dictate the way forward on this when there is a known and simple solution - raise the ride height.

They're only not willing to do this because they know it will affect their pace. Frankly, that's tough luck. You got the design wrong this time and must make the choice to sacrifice pace for driver safety. Loads of other teams have had to do this in the past and would not be acceptable or fair to change the rules mid season when the majority of teams have come up with a design that works with the new regs.

Best driver: Verstappen, but might have been Leclerc

Worst driver: In the absence of any glaring errors, Latifi

Best team: Red Bull

Worst team: 2 DNFs mean it must be Ferrari

Best overtake: Perez on Leclec was the only genuine one, all the rest were DRS assists

Worst overtake: Vettel on Ocon (althought the overtake itself was ok)

Best moment: Perez takes the lead

Worst moment: Leclerc out

Best thing about the race: First 20 laps were interesting

Worst thing about the race: Essentialy a foregone conclusion once Leclerc retired

 

And the race in a sentence: Tough Baku circuit breaks a few cars but unfortunately took out the only one capable of making the race interesting

Latifi given penalty point after passing 12 blue flag light panels in front of Gasly

ohh poor Ferrari, doesn't matter if they made such a quick car if it's not reliable :(

a 10 for Red Bull, a 0 for Ferrari

Think Perez was the best driver today, what a start! and he definitely is the best team player ever, not even fighting for 1 nanosecond

Norris on the other hand is like a toddler throwing tantrum after tantrum, a shame to hear his radio moans... love how Fernando stopped both McLaren cars and ended up ahead

 

Latifi really shouldn't be in F1, it's beyond ridiculous at this point

Funny how things change. The red Bull was fast but fragile at the start and now Ferrari have taken it over

ohh poor Ferrari, doesn't matter if they made such a quick car if it's not reliable :(

a 10 for Red Bull, a 0 for Ferrari

Think Perez was the best driver today, what a start! and he definitely is the best team player ever, not even fighting for 1 nanosecond

Norris on the other hand is like a toddler throwing tantrum after tantrum, a shame to hear his radio moans... love how Fernando stopped both McLaren cars and ended up ahead

 

Latifi really shouldn't be in F1, it's beyond ridiculous at this point

I really don't like Norris. He switches far too easily from childlike idiot to something very snide. I don't find either personality very pleasant and I think he's overrated as a driver. Even though he's clearly very good. People talk about him like he's top tier but I wouldn't put him anywhere near the level of Max, Charles or Lewis.

^definitely not on the level of Max/Leclerq, but Im sure he thinks he is :)

Best driver: Verstappen [dominated really, Russell very close 2nd]

Worst driver: Latifi [literally the only thing left he didn't do bad was chuck it in the wall]

Best team: Red Bull [even without Ferrari's dying they were unbeatable on this track I think]

Worst team: Ferrari [go home you're drunk]

Best overtake: Perez on Leclerc [this was what Lewis meant to do last year :P]

Worst overtake: Vettel on Ocon [first attempt - this cost him 5th maybe even 4th in the end]

Best moment: The first VSC (sorry Sainz) which ignited the race into throwing drivers onto different strategies

Worst moment: Leclerc retiring which effectively ended any interest in the battle at the front

Best thing about the race: It's Baku so there's always a chance of something happening out of nowhere

Worst thing about the race: For Baku it was tamer than usual, high expectations ultimately weren't met

 

And the race in a sentence: For Max it was a wrap, Ferrari power is completely crap

Formula 1 has signed a contract extension with the Australian GP, guaranteeing that the event will stay in Melbourne until at least 2035.

In addition to the above, Stefano Domenicali was in S Africa this week having discussions about Kyalami, potentially even for next year

Oh yes please! Shame it looks likely to be at Spa's expense but then mind you we don't need a repeat of last season's fiasco.

I think France is more likely to go because there will be a riot if Spa vanishes from the calendar again. Last years farce was not the fault of Spa and they shouldn’t pay because the FIA are incompetent and additionally that we have a tyre supplier that is incapable of supplying functional tyres

 

 

I wouldn’t be opposed to losing France because the circuit is a pile of shite. But F1 shouldn’t be losing core European races. I agree we need to return to ZA and make this a global championship but to have no race in France or Germany, the home of the first Grans Prix and first car respectively is absolute horseshit. Instead we have 4 races in the Middle East. If we want to expand it’s time to say f***itybye to the homophobic backwards abusive authoritarian Sand Prixes.

They need to go back to Magny-Cours, that was a great circuit.

Agreed. Even tho the 1-2 robbery at the last bloody corner still hurts 😭

 

 

But the access to it is total garbage

I was never much of a fan of Magny-Cours as there were too many dull races but France really MUST be on the calendar. If that means remodelling the circuit at Paul Ricard or building another then they should do so. Even a street circuit would do.

 

I'd make certain countries tier 1 and their circuits a guaranteed race even of that means a discount on cost because of their legacy. Tier 2 has a lesser discount bit still gets an assurance of a race

 

Tier 1

France

Germany

Belgium

Italy

Britain

Monaco (it's not the circuit that needs changing it is the cars)

 

Tier 2 has a lesser discount but still gets an assurance of a race

 

Tier 2

Japan

Australia

Brazil

Canada

S Africa

USA

 

That's 12 races. Makes the next 8 from the best tracks and global championship criteria. I'd have -

 

Austria

Hungary

Azerbaijahn

Bahrain

North American GP - coiuld rotate between Mexico, Miami, Vegas, Indianapolis and encourage circuits such as Road America and Watkins Glen to seek Grade 1 license

Middle East GP - rotate among Abu Dhabi, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia (if they must)

European GP - any from Finland, Portugal, Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, 2nd visit to a country etc.

Asian GP - any from Malaysia, China, Singapore, Turkey, etc.

 

 

That's a 20 race calendar which is plenty, but room to expand if need be (but I'd not exceed 22 races)