2016 European Grand Prix - Baku City Circuit, Fri 17 – Sun 19 Jun

[Phil]

Marko already laying it on thick about how they have a huge power deficit, but they will try and make it all up with their "outstanding car".

I'm aware that Marko isnt a popular figure on these forums, but has anyone actually done the math? 1.2s difference across the long straights? How much of a top speed and acceleration difference would we be talking here?

I have my doubts that number isnt a tad bit pessimistic, but i do think the Renault is still a bit behind. I suppose we will see how much. I thought they were quite close in Canada (in qualifying with the car at its lightest), but i think a lot of that had to do with the type of track Canada is. Baku... i have no idea how things will turn out.

[3jawchuck]

Do we know how many are the race laps?

Races are usually around 300 km so about 50 laps for the 6 km circuit.
This should give a total race time of over an hour and a half if a good lap time is expected to be 1 minute 40 seconds.

[ChrisDanger]

Found some more photos (34 of them) over at Imgur: http://imgur.com/a/MwPQM

[langwadt]

Do we know how many are the race laps?

Races are usually around 300 km so about 50 laps for the 6 km circuit.

from the sporting regulations: The least number of laps required to exceed 305 kilometres, except Monaco where it is 260 kilometers

[Just_a_fan]

Red Bull 'will lose 1.2s on Baku F1 straight' - Marko: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.ph ... u-straight

That seems pretty extreme if you ask me.

Funny how they haven't said much of this up till now. Couldn't be because they were busy trying to get an engine deal perhaps? Now that deal is done, it's back to the old record being played again.

I think RedBull will do well here because there is a lot of high speed corners in the run up to the straight.

[ME4ME]

I think RedBull will do well here because there is a lot of high speed corners in the run up to the straight.

That makes no sense. Red Bull has a power deficit, they therefor must run with less downforce & drag, they therefor will give up performance in high speed corners and will be disadvantaged anyway. Besides, Red Bulls advantage this year is in slow speed corners. I think they will be 3rd at best.

[dans79]

I'm aware that Marko isnt a popular figure on these forums, but has anyone actually done the math? 1.2s difference across the long straights? How much of a top speed and acceleration difference would we be talking here?
.

I'd need a lot of data to come up with anything meaningful.

[Just_a_fan]

I think RedBull will do well here because there is a lot of high speed corners in the run up to the straight.

That makes no sense. Red Bull has a power deficit, they therefor must run with less downforce & drag, they therefor will give up performance in high speed corners and will be disadvantaged anyway. Besides, Red Bulls advantage this year is in slow speed corners. I think they will be 3rd at best.

Not sure. They seem to have efficient downforce which means they can carry a bit more for the same drag. Getting a decent grid position is going to be important and they'll likely do a good job of qualifying. Being able to run through the fast corners before the long straight means going on to the straight with a good gap.

We'll see in a few days.

[Goran2812]

This will be a Mercedes walk in the park due to their supreme engine... Ferrari will mount a challenge but will fail either for a botched pit stop or smth like that...

Great, I'll expect Williams 3rd/4th, Force India 5th/6th and Manor 7th/8th then?

Ofcourse not... I didn't mention the fact that Mercedes has the most complete package and the team can make it work the best... (that's something we're all used to by now so I didn't have a need to mention it...) That's why they will probably win... The track just screams Mercedes... So no need for sarcasm and mockery...

[Phil]

I'm aware that Marko isnt a popular figure on these forums, but has anyone actually done the math? 1.2s difference across the long straights? How much of a top speed and acceleration difference would we be talking here?
.

I'd need a lot of data to come up with anything meaningful.

according to the opening post, the longest straight at Baku is 2.2km long. At Monza, it is less than half that?? (Acccording to google about 1km in length)?

Is that info for real?

[Sonador]

The track at certain points looks very very tight, it scrares me a little bit to be honest.

I am curious how grippy the asphalt is, a car with good traction and top speed wil be good here

[giantfan10]

Marko already laying it on thick about how they have a huge power deficit, but they will try and make it all up with their "outstanding car".

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.ph ... u-straight

But Marko was pessimistic ahead of the European Grand Prix saying: "The extremely long straight will not benefit us.

"Our computer simulations showed we will lose 1.2s per lap there.

"This is almost impossible to make up in the corners, though we have an outstanding car."

Despite this view, Marko is hopeful Red Bull will "be chasing Mercedes and on the same level with Ferrari" on the 3.732-mile street track.

So basically he thinks their chassis is 1.2 seconds better than Ferrari......

Also, prior to the update, it would have been 1.7? Come on Marko.

At the same time, smedley saying the engines are already pretty close:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.ph ... w--smedley

The truth, as ever, is probably somewhere in between: the Renault engines cars will lose a significant amount on the long straights but nothing like 1.2 secs; if that were true, no way Red Bull would be matching Ferrari.

Red bull will not be matching Ferrari regardless....thats Markos spin on things... remember red bull was supposed to compete with Ferrari at the Canadian GP?
Max finished 48 seconds behind Vettel with both cars doing 2 stops and that was on very short track.
Marko is a good PR spin doctor

[iotar__]

Thank Goodness Maldonado is not driving anymore

Don't worry there are still drivers in F1 with more crashes and collisions than him in the last seasons, Raikkonen (3 in Monaco), Ricciardo and Verstappen

Lots of opportunities to have some major pile ups after the first corner!
Cold tires, heavy fuel, low grip and a few drivers who want to make a point, all on two straights with 90degree corners. I foresee some T-boning in turn 2 and definitely in turn 3.
I call for the installment of the "Coppa Maldonado"

Maldonado was actually very good at street circuit in Monaco but noticing that would require watching F1 with eyes opened. He outqualified Barrichello in his first season and was on track to score some nice points season before crashtor Hamilton crashed into him collecting his second drive-through. I'm not certain what coppa Maldonado means but if it's about number of crashes on a circuit like that it should be promptly renamed into Coppa Verstappenato. The driver with what 5 Monaco crashes in two races and 200% rate of complete failure. The one Maldonado outqualified in '15 in a slower car and the one that drove into him damaging FW. If reality...

- Street circuit with a long straight and high temperatures. Apart from the surface that looks like in Russia it has a feet of some IndyCar tracks but with more fences, kind of Singapore/Russia mix. " Overtaking is tricky with a narrow track, which means that qualifying and strategy is vital." Big straight not enough, one stopper and too narrow?

- Order: same as Canada. I wonder if Red Bull's pace (compared to Williams and Ferrari) was partly down to new pressure monitoring. Maybe that's why Ferrari expected Merc to suffer more? I like how they swept it under the carpet, the only entity talking about it was Pirelli, FIA acted but for teams this problem didn't exist (Clear, Bell).

[Sonador]

I think Red Bull did not account for the amount of time the upgradeded turbo Ferrari delivered.

[Sonador]

Thank Goodness Maldonado is not driving anymore

Don't worry there are still drivers in F1 with more crashes and collisions than him in the last seasons, Raikkonen (3 in Monaco), Ricciardo and Verstappen

Lots of opportunities to have some major pile ups after the first corner!
Cold tires, heavy fuel, low grip and a few drivers who want to make a point, all on two straights with 90degree corners. I foresee some T-boning in turn 2 and definitely in turn 3.
I call for the installment of the "Coppa Maldonado"

Maldonado was actually very good at street circuit in Monaco but noticing that would require watching F1 with eyes opened. He outqualified Barrichello in his first season and was on track to score some nice points season before crashtor Hamilton crashed into him collecting his second drive-through. I'm not certain what coppa Maldonado means but if it's about number of crashes on a circuit like that it should be promptly renamed into Coppa Verstappenato. The driver with what 5 Monaco crashes in two races and 200% rate of complete failure. The one Maldonado outqualified in '15 in a slower car and the one that drove into him damaging FW. If reality...

).

Maldonado was insane fast at times, because he was able to push very hard to the limits.
BUT more times he exceeded the limits way to much ....
I think 2011 an 2012 were his goo years in F1, after that he was stil very fast but only flashes of it.
In order to be a good racing driver you need to be able to tone it down a bit, and bring the car home in one piece that is.