Formula One

[Jimbuna]

^ Yep, fully agree

[Threadfin]

What a result!

Where to start? The race itself was about as expected, I don't recall seeing a single overtake aside from those resulting from pit strategy.

But it was the drama surrounding the race that stands out. Ferrari really bottled it. There is talk that the problem forcing Leclerc from the race was unrelated to the crash. Maybe. But if not they took way too big of chance, having said they would not. To not make the start is a massive mistake. Sainz helped mitigate the damage with his impressive drive, but they had two podium cars this weekend and to let it slip in such a fashion seems inexcusable.

I was shocked and delighted with Bottas' pitstop. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Incredibly unfortunate for him and Mercedes, who have a very tight pitcrew, maybe the finest on the grid. If it was a cross-thread it's on them. But that is really poor luck that has huge ramifications in the title chase. Bottas had a potential winning car and to fail to score is a massive blow.

Combined with Hamilton's pedestrian drive it was a nightmare weekend for Mercedes.

Red Bull however had a fantastic weekend. Partly it was due to the misfortune of their rivals, and partly due to what they got right. First, Max drove a great race. Very focused, fast, consistent and he showed great patience to temper his pace, yet turn it on when needed. It was a masterful drive and well done to him for his first Monaco podium. It was nail-biting stuff in the final part of the race, as I expected disaster when so much was on offer.

Secondly, Perez once again showed good racecraft, turning his lackluster ninth on the grid in to a solid fourth at the flag. Great strategy to overcut the midfield and take more points than I thought possible at the start. But he must improve on Saturday's with his one lap pace to turn these good drives in to podiums.

Still, Red Bull emerge in the lead in both titles chases, which is insane and way more than they could have dreamed of heading in to Monaco. My posts earlier were warning against it slowly slipping away as Mercedes were more polished each race. But this result tears it all up and we have a right proper title fight once again. Great for the sport, for the fans and for Red Bull supporters

Lando again. What a great drive, and he is putting together a hugely impressive season. Vettel really redeemed himself, and Aston Martin had a great race. Alfa scored and Kimi nearly did. Seems like he is 11th every weekend, doesn't it?

Lastly, and Buddahaid touched on it, is the fact that the race was so clean. No safety car, not even a yellow flag, right? Unbelievable. I expected carnage. Nope. This had to have been the fastest Monaco Grand Prix in history. Well done to all the drivers for such a clean race, which is so difficult to do here.

[Threadfin]

Bring on Baku! Not a big fan of the track itself, but its nature produces some great races, mostly due to the carnage. It's a very interesting circuit from a setup perspective, as it is the one track that demands Monaco wings and Monza wings, ya know? It allows the most leeway for chassis setup, as you can get very similar laptimes from two very different approaches. But I know from racing there in Codemasters sims that you really must set it up low drag for the race or the other cars will eat you up on the start-finish straight. Qualifying is a different thing, but with Parc Ferme rules I suspect most teams will tilt their wings back in favor of top end. I'm curious to see how the DRS zone is configured this year.

In general I am not a big fan of street courses, but the oddly shaped corners, narrow sections and two-wide entries in Azerbaijan do make for a great racing spectacle, not to mention the absurd straight.

It will be interesting too to see what comes of the flexi-wing controversy. Whether Red Bull (and others) will run it. Toto is raising his concerns, threatening a protest. If there is any track where such a concept would pay the biggest dividends it is Baku. But then again, these wings have passed all scrutineering, and do not appear to run afoul of the regulations as they are. It may add a touch of off-track drama to the proceedings.

[Threadfin]

It's looking good at Baku for Red Bull (and Fez) through FP2. Mercedes were off the pace, but looks like they're running mediums, while Red Bull ran softs. Ferrari also ran mediums and turned in some impressive times.

The most encouraging thing for me is seeing Checo at the top of the speed chart for FP2. None of this ultimately matters all that much, only Q2 and Q3 really matter. But you try to gauge things based on these sessions, which reveal some, but not all.

These practices are also a bit chaotic, with plenty of spins and drives in to the run-off. This race is going to be fun. All the carnage missing from Monaco is going to make an appearance here I think

[Jimbuna]

The Singapore Grand Prix has been called off this year and Formula 1 is assessing its options to replace the race.

F1 and the Singapore authorities agreed it will not be possible to hold the event in the context of immigration restrictions in the city state.

Other races later in 2021 could also fall prey to the coronavirus pandemic.

Turkey, China and a second race at Austin in the USA are all under consideration as replacements.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/57360662

[Threadfin]

No big loss. A lousy circuit and I doubt the teams will be mourning this.

Except of course we do not know which track will fill in. it was to be Russia>Singapore>Japan, which is fairly manageable from a logistics point of view considering the massive distances involved. If they need to fly to Italy or Germany or wherever instead, and then on to Japan it makes it more of an issue.

We will probably see more schedule juggling before the season's out.

[Jimbuna]

[Threadfin]

Q2 was amazing with just .035 covering the top five cars. I cannot recall ever seeing that many cars that close in qualifying. Remarkable.

Q3 results are a bit more spread out, and not great for Red Bull, but not bad either. Baku has overtaking, so Max sitting third isn't ideal, but not the end of the world either. I suspect he has the fastest car but the mayhem in Q3 prevented him from showing it.

Not sure where Hamilton pulled out these laps. Great driving, and especially with Bottas well off the pace in tenth. Perez was super fast all weekend, topping the charts at times. And then when it matters most he can't put it together. Very disappointing, but he is ahead of Bottas which is good. But had Bottas matched Hamilton then Perez's result would be bad, once again. I expect his race pace will be good, but he can't keep stacking the deck against himself.

Ferrari feel like they are sandbagging us. Their improvement is stunning and each weekend now you expect this will be the one where they revert to form and boom, right near the top, and that makes back to back poles for Leclerc. If Fez got zero poles this season I wouldn't have been surprised. but two in two races? Unreal.

But the real amazing results are Alpha Tauri. Out of nowhere. Tsunoda was fourth in Q2, and while he slipped to eighth in Q3, Gasly pulled out all the stops to claim that fourth spot on the grid. Fantastic. Gasly is a driver I find myself pulling for, and it's great to see his hard work and obvious improvement pay off with a second row.

Alonso had a good session, ninth. he'll be encouraged by this result. Ricciardo is beginning to look like a lost cause. I know changing teams is a challenge. New car, different handling and balance, new engineers. But he's had a couple months now to get up to speed and has yet to impress. I can't believe he won't come good, but I think it should have happened already. McLaren are in a tight tussle with Ferrari, and like Perez at Red Bull, they need their second car in the mix not only for points, but also for the strategy options it opens up. Thirteenth is not good enough. It has to be frustrating for him and the whole team, particularly when you look at Lando's good results every weekend.

One interesting thing about this event so far is the fact that the best times are well off what the top cars were running in 2019. Bottas took pole that year with a 1:40.495. Leclerc was seven tenths off that pace, suggesting to me the grip levels at the track are significantly lower. A dirty track? Temperature? A different tire compound? I would have expected the fastest cars to at least match Bottas' record. It looked throughout the weekend that grip is pretty low.

All in all not a bad session for Red Bull even if neither driver could put it all together for Q3. As a team they have a starting edge over Silver Arrows due to Bottas' pedestrian effort. In the grand scheme this is good, even if I would have preferred each car to be a little higher in the order. But Baku serves up plenty of drama and carnage (four red flags in Q3 is a record) and it's all there for the taking.

[Jimbuna]

[Threadfin]

Lando got a grid penalty for remaining on track for Giovinazzi's red flag. But they reduced it to three places due to having so little time to react as he was already on the start-finish straight. A bit odd, that, but I think it's fair for that reason, and I'm OK with the call.

That means Perez, Tsunoda and Alonso all move up one spot, which is great for Red Bull of course as it puts one more grid position between Perez and Bottas.


Hamilton's found that pace it turns out, by switching rear wings to a lower downforce one. That worked out well for one lap pace on an open track, but could possibly hamper him in the race, in the twisty sectors, and especially in the dirty air in the opening stages.

[Buddahaid]

Wonderful mix of car and drivers on the grid.

[Jimbuna]

Max Verstappen looked set to take his first first-ever Azerbaijan Grand Prix victory before he crashed out from the lead with just five laps to go – giving Sergio Perez a second career victory, as Lewis Hamilton locked up on the penultimate lap to finish 16th in a hugely dramatic race in Baku.

For the first time this season, Charles Leclerc led away from pole, but he was passed for the lead by Lewis Hamilton with no need for DRS, so strong was the tow, on Lap 2. Verstappen then swept by the Ferrari man on Lap 7.

Verstappen took the lead after a crucial sequence of pit stops, Hamilton starting that sequence on Lap 12 with a slow switch for hards thanks to traffic in the pit lane. Verstappen pitted a lap later and emerged first, followed by Perez who split the championship rivals. And the Dutchman seemed to have victory in the bag, mastering a Lap 35 Safety Car restart after Lance Stroll's terrifying accident, when the Aston Martin driver's left-rear tyre appeared to gave way on the pit straight.

That was until Verstappen himself, comfortably in the lead on Lap 47, spun and crashed after an apparent tyre issue of his own. Unhurt, but shaken, his crash triggered the Safety Car, which turned into a red flag that suspended the race on Lap 48. The race resumed with a standing start 35 minutes later on Lap 50, giving us two laps of flat-out action, the field all having switched tyres during the stoppage.

Perez would lead Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Pierre Gasly and Leclerc off the line for the re-start. Hamilton got away well, his nose seemingly ahead of Perez's, but the Briton locked-up heavily and went into the Turn 1 run-off. He finished 16th, leaving Perez in the lead, Vettel second and Gasly – having held off a charging Leclerc in the final laps – to take the final podium place.

Vettel started 11th but finished a brilliant second as he pitted 18 laps later than anyone else, and emerged sixth. On the re-start after Stroll's crash, he took P4 off Leclerc and Gasly, and was promoted to the podium by Verstappen's retirement.

Leclerc finished fourth as his Lap 10 undercut attempt on Gasly didn't pay off. While he tried to wrestle P3 off the Frenchman after the final re-start, his efforts were in vain and the Ferrari driver finished fourth.

Lando Norris shrugged off a three-place penalty and undercut his rivals having started P9 to take fifth ahead of Fernando Alonso, both movers in that final re-start, while AlphaTauri's rookie Yuki Tsunoda started seventh and finished there having pitted early on Lap 9.

Rounding out the top 10 was Ferrari's Carlos Sainz in P8 – who bounced back on hard tyres after a huge Lap 11 lock-up that left him as low as 15th – Daniel Ricciardo, up to ninth from 13th, and Alpine's Fernando Alonso in P10 having badgered the P9 McLaren driver throughout the race.

But the headline story was Verstappen's retirement from the lead, and Hamilton's shocking late lock-up that cost him a shot at re-taking the championship lead after this astonishing Azerbaijan Grand Prix finish.

[Threadfin]

I have many thoughts on the race, but I'll save it, no one engages with my commentary anyway

So one word

Cruel

[Jimbuna]

Should be a crackin race between the two at the font in France today.

[Jimbuna]

Red Bull took their third consecutive win of the season at a cracking French Grand Prix courtesy of Max Verstappen, who passed Lewis Hamilton with two laps to go to claim the thirteenth victory of his career, Hamilton finishing second as the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez completed the podium.

In a mirror of the Spanish Grand Prix – when Mercedes out-strategised Red Bull to claim the victory – Verstappen stopped twice to Hamilton’s one-stop, with the Dutchman then using his fresher tyres to close up to the Mercedes, passing on Lap 52 of 53 to check out for his third win of the year.

It more than made up for Verstappen losing out to Hamilton from pole at the race start, Verstappen taking the win as well as the extra point for fastest lap – with the result also marking the first time Red Bull have won three races on the bounce in the turbo-hybrid era.

Behind, Valtteri Bottas ended up a disgruntled fourth behind Perez, having complained to Mercedes that he was ignored when he advised them to switch to a two-stop, as Red Bull did with Verstappen.