F1 2021 Season

this is one track where qualifying isn’t that important anyway, top speed and traction will be king.

cant see leclerc lasting more than 10 laps in the lead, should be fun between lewis and max
 
HA HA you really dont like Mercedes do you, other had the tow also.
Leclerc is only on pole because of Lewis and Bottas !
The least Lewis could do was acknowledge Bottas. Without him he would have been third at best. It really isn't hard to see that apart from Leclerc (which was pure luck) Lewis had by far the best tow. That's alright, that's just the way the track is, but bit weird not to say anything
 
Bottas was unlucky with that Red flag, he would have got a nice tow behind leclerc and probably dragged himself up to p6-p7.

Will be an interesting GP tomorrow, max has fresher tyres that leclerc and lewis. Though Merc is better at lookimg after its tyres. Also leclerc and lewis cars are running very little downforce so both a rapid down the straights.

Would like to know why lewis and bottas were running different rear wings in qually and maybe after the race will find out what Mercedes changed after fp3 to make the car more competitive over a single lap or was it just down to the tow alone.
 
Azerbaijan GP Qualifying Timesheet
DriverTeamTime
1) Charles LeclercFerrari1:41.218
2) Lewis HamiltonMercedes+0.232
3) Max VerstappenRed Bull+0.345
4) Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri+0.347
5) Carlos SainzFerrari+0.358
6) Lando NorrisMcLaren+0.529
7) Sergio PerezRed Bull+0.699
8) Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri+0.993
9) Fernando AlonsoAlpine+1.109
10) Valtteri BottasMercedes+1.441
Knocked out in Q2
11) Sebastian VettelAston Martin1:42.224
12) Esteban OconAlpine1:42.273
13) Daniel RicciardoMcLaren1:42.558
14) Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo1:42.587
15) George RussellWilliams1:42.758
Knocked out in Q1
16) Nicholas LatifiWilliams1:43.128
17) Nikita MazepinHaas1:44.158
18) Mick SchumacherHaas1:44.238
19) Antonio GiovinazziAlfa RomeoNo time set - crashed
20) Lance StrollAston MartinNo time set - crashed
 
True but just feels a bit strange, maybe more to do with their history than purely on today.

If you saw the video, they were cheering that Tsunoda crashed and switched to "oh shit" when they saw Sainz but don't let that stop your petty hate
 
HA HA you really dont like Mercedes do you, other had the tow also.
Leclerc is only on pole because of Lewis and Bottas !
And Lewis is only second because of Bottas? So what? This circuit needs a tow. Bottas is an official #2 now (as he should be). If I were Red Bull I'd do the same with Perez. Both are too far from their team-mates.
 
Not easy to get the tow distance right, on lewis first run he said on the radio that he was too close to bottas through sector 2. Don't know how long it takes for the turbulent air to settle around Baku (Sinagpore for example you need a 7 second gap to car in front for your aero not be affected by the turbulent air as it settles down). I think leclerc, max and lewis would have gone quicker on the final runs. Shame about the red flag. Someone needs to have a word with tsunoda. He'll get a rep like crashanardo soon. Unlike mazaspin he actually has some talent.
 
Toto Wolff has explained why Lewis Hamilton appeared to be the beneficiary of a tow from his teammate during qualifying, as the British driver stayed in distance for a good slipstream down the Baku City Circuit's long straights.

With the main straight being over two kilometres long, the benefits of a slipstream can be huge, and Hamilton was able to qualifying in second place having followed the Finn. By contrast, Bottas could only manage 10th, but didn't get to finish his final flying lap due to the red flag.

"So we have a rule at the beginning of the season," Wolff explained to Sky Sports F1 when asked about the apparent tow.

"Any driver can decide whether he wants to go first or second, this weekend this was Lewis' call. And he decided to go second. Nothing surprising."

With Mercedes failing to show pace for most of the weekend until qualifying, Wolff explained that the team had gone through extensive trial and error to figure out where things had been going wrong.

"We were just experimenting in FP3," he said, "and I must really say that the job that has been done back in Brackley and in Brixworth and then the engineers here really designing a program which we went through line by line by line, some experiments useful, others not. And at the end, we had so many more answers to our questions and then a car that was good.

"It's all interlinked, there is not one single thing, it's about the aero balance, deciding about the right amount of downforce, temperatures in the tyre, and then obviously the balance."

With the two Mercedes drivers opting for different wing configurations, Wolff explained that both Bottas and Hamilton had gone in different directions.

"We debated it and we have a lower downforce configuration and the higher one. Valtteri opted for the higher downforce configuration and Lewis for the lower but there's not a lot in it."
 
The gap was much bigger, so definitely not as good a tow as Leclerc or Hamilton
Surely he had a choice in how big the gap was to his teammate, could have closed up like Hamilton did on his warm up laps to maximise the tow but instead chose a larger gap to avoid more of the dirty air.
Toto Wolff has explained why Lewis Hamilton appeared to be the beneficiary of a tow from his teammate during qualifying, as the British driver stayed in distance for a good slipstream down the Baku City Circuit's long straights.

With the main straight being over two kilometres long, the benefits of a slipstream can be huge, and Hamilton was able to qualifying in second place having followed the Finn. By contrast, Bottas could only manage 10th, but didn't get to finish his final flying lap due to the red flag.

"So we have a rule at the beginning of the season," Wolff explained to Sky Sports F1 when asked about the apparent tow.

"Any driver can decide whether he wants to go first or second, this weekend this was Lewis' call. And he decided to go second. Nothing surprising."

With Mercedes failing to show pace for most of the weekend until qualifying, Wolff explained that the team had gone through extensive trial and error to figure out where things had been going wrong.

"We were just experimenting in FP3," he said, "and I must really say that the job that has been done back in Brackley and in Brixworth and then the engineers here really designing a program which we went through line by line by line, some experiments useful, others not. And at the end, we had so many more answers to our questions and then a car that was good.

"It's all interlinked, there is not one single thing, it's about the aero balance, deciding about the right amount of downforce, temperatures in the tyre, and then obviously the balance."

With the two Mercedes drivers opting for different wing configurations, Wolff explained that both Bottas and Hamilton had gone in different directions.

"We debated it and we have a lower downforce configuration and the higher one. Valtteri opted for the higher downforce configuration and Lewis for the lower but there's not a lot in it."
This is what makes me laugh. Mercedes literally switch which driver gets to choose the running order race to race in order to be fair to both drivers and treat them equally and the second Hamilton benefits from it, everyone just looks at the outcome, ignores why it happened and instead whines about how Mercedes are "sacrificing" Bottas or treating him like a number 2 driver.
 
If you saw the video, they were cheering that Tsunoda crashed and switched to "oh shit" when they saw Sainz but don't let that stop your petty hate
Petty hate? Grow up. I've got but a passing interest in F1 and it still doesn't sit right with me cheering someone else crashing OR cheering your own team crashing because it secures a favourable position. Either.
Akin to cheering an injury in football?
 
Surely he had a choice in how big the gap was to his teammate, could have closed up like Hamilton did on his warm up laps to maximise the tow but instead chose a larger gap to avoid more of the dirty air.

This is what makes me laugh. Mercedes literally switch which driver gets to choose the running order race to race in order to be fair to both drivers and treat them equally and the second Hamilton benefits from it, everyone just looks at the outcome, ignores why it happened and instead whines about how Mercedes are "sacrificing" Bottas or treating him like a number 2 driver.
The team makes these calls, Max complained about how they handled it immediately after the lap
 
The team makes these calls, Max complained about how they handled it immediately after the lap
Dunno how/why the team makes that call. What did he say on the radio, I could only find the audio of the post session stuff.
 
Petty hate? Grow up. I've got but a passing interest in F1 and it still doesn't sit right with me cheering someone else crashing OR cheering your own team crashing because it secures a favourable position. Either.
Akin to cheering an injury in football?
It's obvious there was no serious crash / injury.. Multiple had happened exactly like that with no impact
 
Toto Wolff has explained why Lewis Hamilton appeared to be the beneficiary of a tow from his teammate during qualifying, as the British driver stayed in distance for a good slipstream down the Baku City Circuit's long straights.

With the main straight being over two kilometres long, the benefits of a slipstream can be huge, and Hamilton was able to qualifying in second place having followed the Finn. By contrast, Bottas could only manage 10th, but didn't get to finish his final flying lap due to the red flag.

"So we have a rule at the beginning of the season," Wolff explained to Sky Sports F1 when asked about the apparent tow.

"Any driver can decide whether he wants to go first or second, this weekend this was Lewis' call. And he decided to go second. Nothing surprising."

With Mercedes failing to show pace for most of the weekend until qualifying, Wolff explained that the team had gone through extensive trial and error to figure out where things had been going wrong.

"We were just experimenting in FP3," he said, "and I must really say that the job that has been done back in Brackley and in Brixworth and then the engineers here really designing a program which we went through line by line by line, some experiments useful, others not. And at the end, we had so many more answers to our questions and then a car that was good.

"It's all interlinked, there is not one single thing, it's about the aero balance, deciding about the right amount of downforce, temperatures in the tyre, and then obviously the balance."

With the two Mercedes drivers opting for different wing configurations, Wolff explained that both Bottas and Hamilton had gone in different directions.

"We debated it and we have a lower downforce configuration and the higher one. Valtteri opted for the higher downforce configuration and Lewis for the lower but there's not a lot in it."
Thanks for this. Good read.
 
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Quick run down. What is the tyre situation as I could only half watch quali yesterday?

Have Merc used more sets of fresh tyres? I think I overheard something like that but could be wrong
 
Petty hate? Grow up. I've got but a passing interest in F1 and it still doesn't sit right with me cheering someone else crashing OR cheering your own team crashing because it secures a favourable position. Either.
Akin to cheering an injury in football?

Celebrating getting pole, rather than the driver crashing, no?
 
Petty hate? Grow up. I've got but a passing interest in F1 and it still doesn't sit right with me cheering someone else crashing OR cheering your own team crashing because it secures a favourable position. Either.
Akin to cheering an injury in football?
I totally disagree with you, there were not cheering the crash , they were cheering a Pole and unexpected pole I may add.
Nothing like an injury in football.
 
Baku's my fav race -- the most unpredictable, wide enough roads for overtaking opportunities and a lenghthy straightaway.