Formula 1 SOCAR Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2019

[GTFan24]

Who else is ready for another 1-2 in Spain?!

WOOOOO! So much competition and parity! Love it can't wait!

 

[PzR Slim]

I'd love to have been alive when this golden age where any car on the grid could win was happening. Unfortunately in my 40 years of watching that has never been the case. Sucks to be me.

 

[jake2013guy]

I'd love to have been alive when this golden age where any car on the grid could win was happening. Unfortunately in my 40 years of watching that has never been the case. Sucks to be me.

The closest we probably ever got to that in a season was 2012.

 

[Moglet]

Gasly didn’t park his car in the protected part of the run off, so marshalls and what not would’ve been exposed to the track, even if it was unlikely for a car to go down there.

Well this answered the question that I came here to ask! I was very confused as to why they had a VSC but that explains it. 👍

 

[axletramp]

McLaren now up to 4th in the Constructor's!

On another note - Renault's new wheel for Barcelona...

 

[NightHawkFur]

Hell might as well call the season at this point. No point in racing since Merc is gonna win everything AGAIN

This.

Have stopped watching and around every second sunday I'm like "oh.... what a suprise !" ...

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Easy to say after the fact, but Leclerc's strategy could have gone a little differently. I know the last stop was basically free for the fastest lap. But I wonder if things would've been better if they pulled him in earlier on the 1st stop.

 

[MatskiMonk]

I'd love to have been alive when this golden age where any car on the grid could win was happening. Unfortunately in my 40 years of watching that has never been the case. Sucks to be me.

I'm not sure anyone is really calling for every car on the grid to be able to win... but if you think entering a sixth year with 3 out of every 4 races (78 out of 104) GP's being won by the same team is good for the sport, then I'd suggest you're wrong - or a Hamilton or Mercedes fan. And no, neither Ferrari, Redbull, Renault, Brawn or McLaren enjoyed a stat as high as that over the course of their dominant periods, and people did still complain then too.

 

[PzR Slim]

I'm not sure anyone is really calling for every car on the grid to be able to win... but if you think entering a sixth year with 3 out of every 4 races (78 out of 104) GP's being won by the same team is good for the sport, then I'd suggest you're wrong - or a Hamilton or Mercedes fan. And no, neither Ferrari, Redbull, Renault, Brawn or McLaren enjoyed a stat as high as that over the course of their dominant periods, and people did still complain then too.

Which tells you that is just the nature of the beast. Someone has got to win and more often than not it's the person or people who do a better job. Eventually someone else comes along and does a better job. So no doubt we'll all be back here having exactly the same discussions when Ferrari, Mclaren or maybe Renault are the next dominant team.

I'm a fan of F1, Hamilton and Mercedes have only been around for a very small part of my F1 watching. I prefer to sit back and watch and appreciate both the driving and engineering talent that is on show. If people can't find enough intrigue and interest in every F1 race no matter how processional then I suggest they have very small attention spans.

 

[Veinz]

I thought the race was pretty decent despite not a whole lot of action going on. No one really knew who was going to win until the final laps.

Ferrari was awful on the softs, Merc seemed to have a better handle of them. Leclercs strategy was the best one available to him given his Q2 crash. Both Ferrari guys did good with the tools they had.

Bottas had control over Hamilton all race, which was really impressive. That was some nice and clean racing between the two on lap 1 as well.

 

[jake2013guy]

I thought the race was pretty decent despite not a whole lot of action going on. No one really knew who was going to win until the final laps.

Ferrari was awful on the softs, Merc seemed to have a better handle of them. Leclercs strategy was the best one available to him given his Q2 crash. Both Ferrari guys did good with the tools they had.

Bottas had control over Hamilton all race, which was really impressive. That was some nice and clean racing between the two on lap 1 as well.

I thought the same thing. It was a close race. Not an action race. But there were various stories.

 

[GroupB]

It’s looking more and more like Daniel Ricciardo has effectively begun his retirement 10 years early.

 

[Schmiggz]

If we forget about Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, the boring and predictable part of the championship, we can say we are having an incredible competition in the mid field (except Williams )

 

[MatskiMonk]

Which tells you that is just the nature of the beast. Someone has got to win and more often than not it's the person or people who do a better job. Eventually someone else comes along and does a better job. So no doubt we'll all be back here having exactly the same discussions when Ferrari, Mclaren or maybe Renault are the next dominant team.

I'm a fan of F1, Hamilton and Mercedes have only been around for a very small part of my F1 watching. I prefer to sit back and watch and appreciate both the driving and engineering talent that is on show. If people can't find enough intrigue and interest in every F1 race no matter how processional then I suggest they have very small attention spans.

So what you're saying is you support it no matter how **** it gets. I'll say again.. this is not good for the sport.

 

[baldgye]

So what you're saying is you support it no matter how **** it gets. I'll say again.. this is not good for the sport.

The show is good at the moment. Ferrari ******** the bed isn't the fault of Mercedes or Hmailton. Shows like Netflix have done an amazing job of showing just how important and good the sport is in the midfield and this season the middle of the pack is closer than it's been in a long time.

What IS actually **** for the sport is that in most European countries (the region where F1 is most popular) it's locked behind a paywall and looks set to be that way for a good while.


So while some might lament the fact that Mercedes have had the best start they've ever had, perhaps the vitriol should be more aimed at their competitors who, for the 3rd season in a row have utterly failed to match them. And the people who've locked the sport away for only the priviaged and die hard fans.

 

[jake2013guy]

The show is good at the moment. Ferrari ******** the bed isn't the fault of Mercedes or Hmailton. Shows like Netflix have done an amazing job of showing just how important and good the sport is in the midfield and this season the middle of the pack is closer than it's been in a long time.

Exactly. If you had two separate races with the top three teams and then the rest of the field, we'd have two very interesting races. And to be honest, I think it would provide a pretty decent show.

But if nobody can watch it, and reports I've seen are a big drop in the UK from even last year. And even comparing Mexico 2017 with Brazil 2008, it's a huge drop. If you want viewers, make it available globally for free on YouTube with commentary in various languages. If you don't, just put it behind a paywall where Sky can chuck loads of money at you.

The only alternative I can think of whilst still getting the Sky money is forcing F1 qualifying and races on FTA, Sky 1 is what I was thinking, and additional things such as FP1-3 and other features on SSF1.

 

[mustafur]

In other words if your not a Lewis or Mercedes fan then go to hell.

The series has been deja Vu since 2014 and in exact order since 2016, the new regs couldn't come quicker enough.

 

[PzR Slim]

So what you're saying is you support it no matter how **** it gets. I'll say again.. this is not good for the sport.

Nope, I don’t think it is ****.

 

[JarreauPique]

It’s been a bit of a shore to watch these last races... I don’t feel any excitement, cause it’s the same people constantly on podium. Hope the season gets better.

 

[baldgye]

In other words if your not a Lewis or Mercedes fan then go to hell.

The series has been deja Vu since 2014 and in exact order since 2016, the new regs couldn't come quicker enough.

Not the F1 seasons I've been watching... I feel bad for you if you've just been watching 2014 over and over. That said though it was a good battle with Lewis and Nico.

 

[Carbon_6]

McLaren now up to 4th in the Constructor's!

On another note - Renault's new wheel for Barcelona...

View attachment 817450

Well, visibility in F1 has been a bit of an issue of late, so...

 

[PocketZeven]

I would like to see just a single engine mode for qualification and raceday. My thought is that it will improve engine reliability and prevent the use of "party mode".

 

[DesertPenguin]

Is there even a set number of HP that the cars can't go over or is really just go for broke and don't blow it up?

 

[FoxMulder]

Nope, I don’t think it is ****.

Me either.

F1 doesn't make a big enough deal about the engineering and how these cars break track records with smaller engines and reliability rules.

It's not Merc's fault that other top teams have failed to match them since 2014. The midfield is still tight though.

 

[PocketZeven]

Is there even a set number of HP that the cars can't go over or is really just go for broke and don't blow it up?

6 cilinder, 1.6 litre capacity, max 15.000 revs, weight limits etc.
You can read all about it here:
https://www.formula1.com/en/championship/inside-f1/rules-regs/Power_Unit_and_ERS.html

 

[DesertPenguin]

It kind of is Merc's fault, but not directly. The fact that they have the budget they have compared to them and that they use it is their fault. Budget limits need to be put in place because of Merc and Ferrari

 

[jake2013guy]

It kind of is Merc's fault, but not directly. The fact that they have the budget they have compared to them and that they use it is their fault. Budget limits need to be put in place because of Merc and Ferrari

But they won't be put in place because of Mercedes and Ferrari.

 

[DesertPenguin]

But they won't be put in place because of Mercedes and Ferrari.

 

[baldgye]

It kind of is Merc's fault, but not directly. The fact that they have the budget they have compared to them and that they use it is their fault. Budget limits need to be put in place because of Merc and Ferrari

Ferrari gets more money from F1 than anyone else and has a massive budget... yet Ferrari's been beaten to constructors title for the past 10 years.

 

[PzR Slim]

But they won't be put in place because of Mercedes and Ferrari.

You say that but the FIA are thinking of budget capping by other means. Kravitz said during his notebook after the race on Sunday that there were rumours that the new rules wouldn't include budget caps directly but would for example limit the number of specs of a front wing a team could have throughout the year. They hope by such measures that some teams could still have much more money that others but would have anything to spend it on.