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Post by Carl on Apr 26, 2019 23:55:16 GMT
Comparing "before and after" photos, it still amazes me that it was accepted to send a field of F1 cars through these narrow street sections. But good that it was (accepted).  I wonder if the citizens of Baku now try to drive through there at F1 speeds. Tricky on wet cobbles, but you'd have to wouldn't you? I would, in the wee hours of the morning, definitely try to slide through in a sequence of countersteers while hoping the anal-retentive traffic cop with an unmet quota of arrests was on the other side of town.
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Post by Jamie on Apr 27, 2019 6:54:46 GMT
Really hoping for a close battle at the front and I'd like to see Leclerc get a win here just to stir the pot at Ferrari a little more.....I think Seb and Charles will build to a simmering resentment by the end of the year, the new boy is just too good!
Also, I have high hopes for Albon to put in a strong points scoring performance, he won at Baku last year I think so know's his way around here. If he can temper his natural 'full-attack' driving through practise and qualifying he could be a factor in the race I hope.
Oh, and Sette Camara for the F2!
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Post by René on Apr 27, 2019 11:32:37 GMT
It's looking even better now for Ferrari and Charles is driving sublime! Febbre Leclerc!   |
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Post by charleselan on Apr 27, 2019 16:28:57 GMT
I see the spectre of drain covers not being securely bolted down has reared its head once more on a street circuit. I wonder if Napoleon will now insist on the cars having armour plated undersides for next year as a result! It's not just manhole covers, do you remember the drain cover that ripped the wheel off Grosjeans Haas at the Malaysian GP in 2017? In an incident like that, does the Team have a claim on the organisers or FIA for the cost of damage, or is it all self insured? I can go back way further than that  . My very first trip to a motor race was the Friday Practice for the 1969 British GP at Silverstone. Mere minutes after walking up to the spectator area on the outside of the old fast Woodcote Corner JYS hit a dislodged curbstone on the inside of the bend which smashed the front wheel and suspension as well as serious monocoque damage, along with what must have been a pretty scary spin. According to my ratings Williams will be seeking financial redress for the damage, just as Haas did after Romain's accident that you mention. |
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Post by charleselan on Apr 27, 2019 16:45:48 GMT
That as a pretty eventful qualification which obviously suited Croft for it allowed him some extra time to babble on inanely. It would appear that Ferrari have flattered to deceive yet again, or are those wearing tin hats correct about MB "sand bagging" once more.
I do think that Charles would have secured pole without his error, but my goodness you have to admire the lad for being so brutally honest. He really is like those guys from previous days when they just told it as it was, without the corporate and blameless culture we have seen in recent times.
Many of the pundits laid the blame on Ferrari for sending out their drivers on mediums instead of the softs used by everyone else; undoubtably that was partly to blame, I however feel that the previous implementation of team orders came back to bite them on the backside. Charles was fired up all weekend and had the measure of Vettel throughout. With this in mind he was out to prove a point, and putting this kind of insidious pressure on the boy the result is that he pushed like crazy which was instrumental in the crash.
In Charles' mind he has to beat Sebastian emphatically to be at least given a fair chance and this is what happens; poor team management, and even worse man management. Tonto and MB must be laughing their socks off right now for they are more than just benefactors.
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Post by robmarsh on Apr 27, 2019 17:00:08 GMT
Disappointing in the end but Charles is starting 9th on the medium tyres so all is not lost. I haven't liked a driver as much as I do Charles since that awful weekend 25 years ago this coming week.
Lando Norris continues to impress and Albon should be good to watch as well. I expect Gasly to have a good race from the pitlane, so all in all much to look forward to in the race.
George Russell was extremely lucky, another 10mm and he would have been hurt really badly.
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Post by charleselan on Apr 27, 2019 17:48:55 GMT
Disappointing in the end but Charles is starting 9th on the medium tyres so all is not lost. I haven't liked a driver as much as I do Charles since that awful weekend 25 years ago this coming week. Lando Norris continues to impress and Albon should be good to watch as well. I expect Gasly to have a good race from the pitlane, so all in all much to look forward to in the race. George Russell was extremely lucky, another 10mm and he would have been hurt really badly. Do you know Rob, I feel the same, in fact I might go back as far as 1979(ish). You yourself likened Charles to Gilles in some respects, and I can see many likeness' especially the way he was sliding the car about in practice and early qualifying. His open honesty is also so like the little French Canadian. |
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Post by Carl on Apr 27, 2019 22:28:04 GMT
A friend is an NPR (non-profit FM radio) disk jockey and had a program today that coincided with a convenient viewing of qualifying, so I watched Formula One with the sound muted and had no problem knowing all that was happening. I was very happy listening to good music instead of the silliness and wounded cow hysteria of David Croft. I would have been sorely tempted to listen to Martin Brundle's analysis, but he's not in Baku so all was good.
Unfortunately, I missed the very end of Q2 and the whole of Q3 because of the red flag delays, a chance one takes when recording to view later and forgetting to add 30 minutes. Good for Valtteri Bottas! A third row of Perez and Kyvat and Norris and Giovinazzi in the fourth is refreshing, whether a fluke or good progress from the lower middle classes now daring to mingle with the moneyed elites.
Interesting that almost no spectators could be seen watching from their own balconies for some reason. Hard to imagine such constraints in a paradise endorsed by Bernie Ecclestone!!
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Post by René on Apr 27, 2019 23:05:06 GMT
Disappointing in the end but Charles is starting 9th on the medium tyres so all is not lost. I haven't liked a driver as much as I do Charles since that awful weekend 25 years ago this coming week. Lando Norris continues to impress and Albon should be good to watch as well. I expect Gasly to have a good race from the pitlane, so all in all much to look forward to in the race. George Russell was extremely lucky, another 10mm and he would have been hurt really badly. I agree Rob, not all is lost. Charles would most definitely have secured pole if he hadn't crashed. A mistake yes, but he's still very young and things like this happen. He'll learn from it and come back even stronger, maybe even tomorrow. A win could still happen. Charles is very special, isn't he? In the end I was actually more disappointed with Seb. The Ferrari was fast enough for pole and should at least have been on the front row. Sebastian seems to be struggling and not as confident as he once was. Max on the other hand has matured a lot I feel. He makes no mistakes and is the clear team leader now extracting the maximum from the car. I can see him finishing on the podium tomorrow. We could do with another Barcelona 2016, couldn't we? The two Mercs colliding would give the others a chance to catch up and create some tension in Toto's ideal world. |
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Post by chrisb on Apr 28, 2019 6:17:25 GMT
there is a wonderful few minute slot on utub which shows the briefest of highlights of qualifying and that really was sufficient for me, i do tend to agree that the new 'breed' of drivers are bringing something a bit refreshing this year and Charles is a real star, so enjoyed his self-effacing and honest approach and it would be marvellous despite my feelings towards Ferrari if he won today, but the grid had the air of a mix-up with the Renaults having a disaster and the others having a good time, Perez especially seems to be thriving, so I am expecting a bit of a confused race and who knows, I still back Max to take it for reasons I cannot fathom,
gosh Rob, 25 years on - it feels surreal from that most appalling of weekends, that a quarter of a century has passed, there was a very interesting interview with Roland's parents about his accident and how basically he would have been forgotten had it not been for further tragedy that weekend - having read that warts and all book on Senna I do feel I have a much better picture and whatever else can be said of him he was one helluva of a driver and an amazing personality
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Post by Carl on Apr 28, 2019 21:16:00 GMT
If not for his qualifying accident, Charles Leclerc might have won. It's inexplicable (except to the Pirelli board) that tyres should ever be a more important deciding factor than design quality of chassis or driver talent. All's well that ends well, and the final laps, with first to fourth so close, were very exciting.
Curiously, when Bottas took the checkered flag, Toto Woolf didn't smile until noticing he was on camera, and then managed only a tight grimace.
The fastest recorded top speed at Baku is 220 mph, almost as fast as Paul di Resta's jabbering. Good commentary is important, which is why much of the time I muted the two fools.
“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.” ~ Plato
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Post by René on Apr 28, 2019 22:49:02 GMT
Another Merc 1-2 which is kinda hard to swallow but, I am still keeping the faith. I don't think it is too far off to say that if things had gone just a little bit different (more favourable for Ferrari), Leclerc would have already two wins to his name and Hamilton and Bottas just one each. That would create a completely different picture. It wouldn't look very good for Vettel though even if he drove a descent race today. But Charles just looks stronger. At some point the tables will turn in the championship.
Carl, I also noticed Toto's grimace next to the other Benz bobo when Valtteri took the checkered flag. This wan't the plan...
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Post by mikael on Apr 29, 2019 3:57:47 GMT
When Bottas declared earlier this year that he's "determined to beat Lewis Hamilton in 2019" I thought it was just "hot air". But so far, he has actually been able to stay true to those words, which is quite impressive! Ref: www.grandprix.com/news/bottas-prepared-to-be-the-villain-in-2019.html- Beautiful driving by the two Mercedes drivers in the first couple of laps; but also in the last couple of laps. - Ricciardo's "parking accident" on the run-off road, backing into Kvyat's car, was slightly embarrassing. He might not have been able to see the car very well in the mirrors, but still ... Regarding Toto Wolff's facial expression as Bottas took the checkered flag, one can understand he might start worrying if it's good to allow Bottas and Hamilton take points from each other, so to say, and to let them toggle between positions 1 and 2 in the standings for the remainder of the '19 championship. The '07 championship - where Hamilton and Alonso did just that, allowing Raikkonen to leapfrog them both (with one single point!) - stands as a deterrent. |
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Post by charleselan on Apr 29, 2019 13:50:29 GMT
As I had hoped for an exciting and eventful race in Azerbaijan my idea was to watch it live via one of the many streaming options that are available to those who know the internet  . Obviously this meant S*YF1 which was less than ideal, made even more so by Martin Brundle being elsewhere and having Paul De Resta in the comms box with Babbling Croft. After watching the event I am left with these thoughts:- Firstly these god awful tyres are destroying what could be a very competitive season and are falsifying everything to a negative extent. Ferrari cannot get the blasted things to work and that is it. Just imagine what we could have watched had they been given tyres that allowed everyone to race full on throughout the race. I have little doubt that we would have seen a memorable drive from Charles as his performance advantage was enough to have carried him all the way to a possible victory. The other thing is this ridiculous DRS idea which really is a sham. What is the point of having a device that allows anybody to overtake without any redress, all brought about to try and spice up a dismal show. Basically it is the same as politicians selling us all a pack of lies, and we are expected to lap it up. Tonto is a disgrace, and unfortunately I cannot abide the guy. He is false and duplicitous and his demeanour as pointed out by others here and elsewhere after that excellent victory by Valterri was just nasty. I have a sneaking feeling that the cut away shot of someone (probably Tonto) pressing a comms button a few laps from the end was either to tell Valterri to pull over, or for Hamilton to back off. In either case it was ignored, and hence the expression on his visage. Formula One cannot afford to have much more of this MB dominance for the descent that I see on the internets various motor sport sites/forums is very apparent. Yes we can admire MB's supreme performance, but what can one expect when they have the funding and resource to destroy everyone, including Ferrari. Its a bit like Russia taking on one of the small Baltic states. However a few positives; it was excellent to see Pierre Gasly put in such an excellent performance, let us hope this is the turning point for the young man from Rouen. Also how good to see another solid performance from McLaren, must admit I had my doubts that would happen but they really are regrouping. An outstanding drive by Max as well, and so good to see Honda really making great strides. Kimi in the points again after a rather disruptive weekend. having to run with a different front wing after the original was deemed illegal unbalanced the car but he kept plugging away with another solid drive. One final negative to close, the shambles that comes from these ridiculous penalties. Three flaming cars starting from the pit lane, and one poor soul who was even then penalised for a meaningless infraction as a result; truly F1 you are pathetic. |
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Post by charleselan on Apr 29, 2019 19:55:38 GMT
If not for his qualifying accident, Charles Leclerc might have won. It's inexplicable (except to the Pirelli board) that tyres should ever be a more important deciding factor than design quality of chassis or driver talent. All's well that ends well, and the final laps, with first to fourth so close, were very exciting. Curiously, when Bottas took the checkered flag, Toto Woolf didn't smile until noticing he was on camera, and then managed only a tight grimace. The fastest recorded top speed at Baku is 220 mph, almost as fast as Paul di Resta's jabbering. Good commentary is important, which is why much of the time I muted the two fools. “Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.” ~ Plato Carl, That is quite simply one of the best quotations i have seen in years, just shows how poorly read I am that it was previously unknown to me  . I have just read that this weekends first round of the W Formula, or whatever it is called, will be live on UKC4 this saturday afternoon and it looks as though it is another opportunity for David Coulthard to line his pockets. Apparently he will be the co-commentator along with a female lead (no idea who she is); and according to the female producer of the program Coulthard is an outstanding commentator. All I can say is that this lady obviously isn't to hasn't watched the same C4 F1 coverage that I have, for Mr Coulthard most certainly isn't outstanding in either a commentary or expert pundit role. The only thing outstanding about him is his choice in trouser design which rivals that of Eddie Jordan for their absurdity. This should please Chris however as Lee McKenzie is to be the anchor presenter, so he will be very happy . Another downside being Ted Kravitz in the pit lane, reprising his S*KF1 role; I wonder how many other national journo's he will push in front of in this program. Don't think this series will be getting any of my time anymore than Formula E does; nothing against women racing at all, in fact all power to them doing so. This is just bandwagon jumping along with all of the other PC rubbish foisted upon us in this sad age. John Charles (GOM). |
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. My very first trip to a motor race was the Friday Practice for the 1969 British GP at Silverstone. Mere minutes after walking up to the spectator area on the outside of the old fast Woodcote Corner JYS hit a dislodged curbstone on the inside of the bend which smashed the front wheel and suspension as well as serious monocoque damage, along with what must have been a pretty scary spin.
. Obviously this meant S*YF1 which was less than ideal, made even more so by Martin Brundle being elsewhere and having Paul De Resta in the comms box with Babbling Croft.
.