2019 Azerbaijan GP - Printable Version
+- F1 Banter Online Forums (https://www.f1banter.co.uk)
+-- Forum: Formula 1 Discussions (https://www.f1banter.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: F1 General Discussion Board (https://www.f1banter.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?fid=2)
+---- Forum: 2019 Race Threads (https://www.f1banter.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?fid=22)
+---- Thread: 2019 Azerbaijan GP (/showthread.php?tid=517)
+- F1 Banter Online Forums (https://www.f1banter.co.uk)
+-- Forum: Formula 1 Discussions (https://www.f1banter.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: F1 General Discussion Board (https://www.f1banter.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?fid=2)
+---- Forum: 2019 Race Threads (https://www.f1banter.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?fid=22)
+---- Thread: 2019 Azerbaijan GP (/showthread.php?tid=517)
RE: 2019 Azerbaijan GP - DRicc - 28-04-2019
(27-04-2019, 09:53 PM)Jody Barton Wrote: Mercedes is quite frankly the best team I've ever seen in F1. No question for me. They're quite frankly phenomenal, and given the competition for that title from the Brawn / Todt era Ferrari and Senna / Prost era McLaren amongst some others that's saying something. They have been brutally efficient for such a long time it's utterly scary and there is no sign of them letting up. I don't think they had the best car in 2017 or 2018, but they developed their car better than anyone else, and they got the most out of their package virtually every weekend. There is not a single weakness in that team, not one. They are utterly terrifying, and if they get a one two tomorrow would anyone bet against them doing the double again. Rumours in the paddock are they're deliberately limiting their new engine design before cranking up the performance for spec 2 in Canada. If true then heaven help the other teams.
Ah crap... Ferrari may have had to use a new monocoque for Charles Leclerc in rebuilding his car. If so he'll be starting from the pit lane like Gasly. May as well bang in a new gearbox as well if that's the case. He'll learn from it.
You are probably right in everything you say about Mercedes. But unless you are a fan of theirs or a Hamilton fan, this has to rate as the most boring era - even more so than the Schumacher snooze-fest. And absolutely nowhere near as exciting as Senna/Prost. They are 'brutally efficient' but have the advantage of throwing millions and millions into R&D and although I know money isn't everything, in F1 it definitely has its advantages.
Its all very well for ppl to say 'there are exciting battles going on in the mid-field' but I want to see exciting battles going on at the front as well, not one or two cars disappearing in the distance every race. I only watch the Ch4 highlights programme and often you never see the leader. Why? cos they are just driving around at the front - not really any 'highlights' to show in that.
RE: 2019 Azerbaijan GP - Jody Barton - 28-04-2019
(27-04-2019, 06:24 PM)Jody Barton Wrote: Truth is I'm far more pissed off about the Merc front row lock out than I thought I would be. Honestly, I'm bored of this now.
DRicc, and as you can see, I agree with you. I wrote this further back in the thread, and I know it can be pain in the derriere to trawl through all the comments in a thread. I'm in the position of having to defend why I find it boring from the likes of Morini, and defend why I also find it impressive from the likes of you. I can hold both opinions at the same time. For the record it's only since 2017 that Mercedes budget became the second largest in F1 (behind Ferrari), until then they were behind McLaren and Red Bull. Hell, right now they're not massively ahead of Red Bull, and if you throw in the vast sums Honda are now throwing into R&D that probably doesn't show on the RBR bottom line... well... RBR Honda combined are probably matching them. Then there's Renault who now are pumping similar amounts into their project and we can all see how that is going. So it's not just having the money, it's spending it well, which Mercedes have clearly done.
Unlike Morini I'm not fussed either way if they do the double championship thing again and break Ferrari's record, and I mean either way, if they do? Good for them, they'll deserve it. If they don't? Tough luck it's a shame, but staying at the top of F1 like that for such a long time is hard. The last two seasons Ferrari have had the car to challenge them, no question about it. Arguably in 2017 you could say it was Mercedes, but on deltas and track data it was Ferrari that were quickest at most tracks, and if they weren't quickest they were always second quickest unlike Mercedes who actually dropped behind RBR at some tracks. 2018 I think we all know what happened there, the Ferrari was the better car, but Mercedes was the better team. I held out hopes this year that maybe, maybe Ferrari would get on top of the team side of things and push on with their car, that hasn't happened, they've gone backwards on the team side, and regressed to all the silly mistakes made prior to Arrivabene arriving, and the car has gone backwards too, because the W10 is clearly the class of the field. So yeah, 2019 if it continues like this will be as dull as ditch water, and I'd argue it would be even if you are a Merc / Lewis fan, which I'm not.
So where is the challenge to Mercedes dominance going to come from? Possibly the Mercedes board, if they get bored of it at this rate. There's talk of them looking at WEC with the new rule changes, and FE obviously, so maybe they'll get bored of dominating F1 and bugger off. Beyond that maybe RBR Honda are the most likely, because I just can't see Ferrari with their current attitudes prevailing, and when someone wants to challenge that status quo and get the team working more professionally and efficiently like Arrivabene the staff whinge and moan about it and the board get shot of him for "harmony" reasons and you see the results. Truth is you often need a ruthless asshole at the top of the team in motorsports, as much as Toto comes across as a nice affable sort of chap, you know he's an asshole when he needs to be, ditto Todt, Brawn, Dennis, Horner and anyone else who has led a successful F1 team, I still think Arrivabene had the team travelling in the right direction, but he was facing over a decade of flabby sloth in the team that had set in, yeah, rumours are he'd been ruthless and cut people, or made people upset, but you could see it was turning around. Binotto seems to have undone much of that to me.
/end rant.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.gasly-disqualified-from-baku-qualifying-after-fuel-flow-infringement.3ueBItrdO4ybadLwGr7i74.html?fbclid=IwAR1dCZpQ7jaUKdfwjiwBeEGjtSnOk6_A2mO1KkICpwBOBPouLYUajzP3jnY
Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly has been hit with his second major penalty of the weekend – this time for his Honda-powered RB15 exceeding fuel flow limits during qualifying.
The Frenchman, who was already set to start Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix from the pit lane after a weighbridge infraction in practice, was disqualified from the results of qualifying after it was found his car had exceeded the maximum allowed fuel mass flow of 100 kg/h.
“The stewards reviewed the evidence from the Technical Delegate and heard from the team representatives”, read a report from the stewards in Baku. “The Stewards find that the fuel mass flow exceeded 100 kg/hr during the fastest lap set by car 10.”
While Gasly's infringement breached Article 5.1.4 of F1's technical regulations, the penalty – like the five-place grid drop he'd also received for changing his car's gearbox – won't, in reality, have any bearing on the Frenchman given his existing weighbridge penalty. He'll now hope for some strong race pace to help him secure his third consecutive points finish in four events for Red Bull.
Soooo... at this rate Gasly will be starting back in China. Turns out it was a "technical" infringement and it might have been cause by picking up the tow as strong as he did, and even then by 0.001 of a kilogram if the whinging from RBR is true. Surely there has to be wiggle room in these situations? Right? I don't know. Either way it doesn't really matter for Pierre.
RE: 2019 Azerbaijan GP - forzaferrari - 28-04-2019
RE: 2019 Azerbaijan GP - morini - 28-04-2019
Well, Charles may be starting from the back, but at least he has new softs to work with. As we know, this race is always full of randomness and safety cars so it isn't beyond expectations to see the lad carve out a good result. It was gutting yesterday but I think it could make for interesting viewing today.
I'm still saying CLC will get a podium. I hope so or my FL will take a right kicking this weekend.
RE: 2019 Azerbaijan GP - morini - 28-04-2019
(28-04-2019, 07:33 AM)Jody Barton Wrote: Unlike Morini I'm not fussed either way if they do the double championship thing again and break Ferrari's record
Actually Jody, my understanding is if they do the WCC/WDC double this year they take that record outright, that particular record is currently shared between Ferrari and Mercedes. However, disregarding the WDC if Mercedes win the WCC they equal Ferrari's best run of 6 in a row. They have to take the WCC this year and next to own that record (something I wouldn't bet against at this point).
Quite an achievement with the level of competion in the last three seasons. Moreso given the fact that they use the same tyres as everyone else!!
RE: 2019 Azerbaijan GP - Jody Barton - 28-04-2019
(28-04-2019, 08:25 AM)morini Wrote: Well, Charles may be starting from the back, but at least he has new softs to work with.
We still don't know that for certain, as until they present the car they intend to race with the stewards won't announce any penalties. Just that people in the paddock said they saw a new monocoque being prepared by Ferrari. Truth is you could see from the footage yesterday the side impact structure was cracked open and not intact... I can't see how you fix that and pass inspection. I just can't. The front crash structure looked done for as well, plus the bottom housing had fallen off... long and short of it is, if he hasn't got a new monocoque then Ferrari's engineers are miracle workers... but until they announce it, we don't officially know.
RE: 2019 Azerbaijan GP - morini - 28-04-2019
(28-04-2019, 08:45 AM)Jody Barton Wrote: We still don't know that for certain, as until they present the car they intend to race with the stewards won't announce any penalties. Just that people in the paddock said they saw a new monocoque being prepared by Ferrari. Truth is you could see from the footage yesterday the side impact structure was cracked open and not intact... I can't see how you fix that and pass inspection. I just can't. The front crash structure looked done for as well, plus the bottom housing had fallen off... long and short of it is, if he hasn't got a new monocoque then Ferrari's engineers are miracle workers... but until they announce it, we don't officially know.
Oh, I misread it on here then. I thought you (or it might have been Forza) said it had been announced already? Sorry about that.
Anyway, I'd like him to start from 9th!!! A good start on mediums and two sets of unused softs I think he could threaten the top step.
RE: 2019 Azerbaijan GP - Jody Barton - 28-04-2019
Morini, hence why I said break it, because now they are just matching it.
RE: 2019 Azerbaijan GP - morini - 28-04-2019
(28-04-2019, 08:52 AM)Jody Barton Wrote: Morini, hence why I said break it, because now they are just matching it.
You also said "held by Ferrari"
Not strictly accurate as it is also jointly held my Mercedes.
[edit]
No, sorry, you didn't say "held by Ferrari" you said "break Ferraris record", either way not strictly accurate.
RE: 2019 Azerbaijan GP - Jody Barton - 28-04-2019
Hate to get pernickity, but it is, as the first person to achieve a record holds the record, others only match it. Like it's the same in track and field, you match a record, it isn't yours. I know this as I matched the school boys record for 1500m in the UK years ago to the thousandth. Not my record, I just matched somebody elses, so technically I'm right.