2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Baku, April 27-29

[Phil]

Let's look at how Lady Luck has done until now:

- Australia: Vettel won, but should have been 2nd

2nd? Surely you mean 3rd. That is where Vettel would have been withoutva safety car.

[f1316]

I’m frustrated as a Ferrari fan - partly because the safety car pulled the race in a different direction, against Ferrari, for the second race in a row, partly because if Vettel had just sat behind Bottas he would have won - but, that said, there’s something about going for it the way Seb did which felt right. Didn’t work, I guess it was foolish, but could have been something heroic with a tiny bit more grip.

And yeah, this is a bit of turnabout from Melbourne, so you win some you lose some. But it does feel like it could these last two races - where Seb had the outright pace advantage and lost big big points - could hurt down the line.

At least the car is fast

[siskue2005]

Don't think so, Hamilton was only 4s ahead when he pitted, and Bottas made many fastest laps after that, he would've come out right around Hamilton on US, he even had a chance at Vettel imo (no SC).

Good strategy by Merc with him, Ferrari screwed the pooch putting Vettel on softs for no reason.

You need 22 to 23 sec to make the pit stop and come out..... and Lewis was always within 18 to 20.5 sec behind Bottas - and sometimes even dipping to 17 and as high 20.5 at times, and Vettel was always 10.2 to 13 sec behind Bottas. So i dont think he would have come out in front of any of them.
If you say yes i will post the f1 live timings of all the 16 laps when Bottas was ahead?

Valteri would have come out on brand new ultras on a track where the faster car getting past is never in doubt against Lewis and Seb on softs that couldn't even match 30 lap old supersofts.

He would have easily got Lewis regardless of coming out ahead or behind and had a very good shot at Vettel who was only another 7 seconds up the road.

he would have required 4 to 5 laps to be get temperature in the tyres, the merc car is really poor in this aspect... and by that time nobody can know if he could catch up or burn up his tyres......that is why they waited soooooooo looong to pit Bottas.

[LM10]

Let's look at how Lady Luck has done until now:

- Australia: Vettel won, but should have been 2nd

2nd? Surely you mean 3rd. That is where Vettel would have been withoutva safety car.

Yes, thank you.

[epo]

Ferrari: "We're tired of having the same ass all the time, so we'll have the other driver's ass today."

Max moved twice, again. You're allowed only one move during defending. When it came to him, it was never policed properly, and here is the outcome.

You’re allowed one move under braking, unless you’re verstappen. This was proven in 2016 many times against Ferrari. No one cared because it was Ferrari being princesses. Now it’s their own driver.

Of course Horner would never admit it on air, but I wonder if verstappen’s defending style was brought up in their little debrief. I dare say it would have been.

Your allowed to move while defending (but not braking) as much as you like as there is no rule. Verstappen didn't move while braking so he didn't break the rule. Ricciardo perhaps braked too late also frustrated he came behind Verstappen again after the pits. Anyways it's a shame they crashed and also couldn't let the tired to work in the first laps.

Some dude said Verstappen ruined Ricciardo's race, well first of all he shouldn't let him be passed at first laps, secondly he only could follow Verstappen because of the tow and DRS. Actually Verstappen had 3,5s lead I believe, but lost it because of Hamilton so Ricciardo could come back and free tow + DRS.

[epo]

- Wonderful Vettel meltdown. He is simply not that good.

- Race ban for Verstappen - that was a criminal move, +2 changes of direction, and braking with a car mm behind. Red Bull deserved it.

- Grosjean - WTF?! Until this point driver of the race. Let's wait. If it's his fault at least Vettel and RB messed up even more .

Obviously you don't like Vettel and Verstappen which is fine, just don't post dumb hate stuff. I see you doing this quite a lot. Apparently the mods let this go which is a shame.

[Sevach]

You need 22 to 23 sec to make the pit stop and come out..... and Lewis was always within 18 to 20.5 sec behind Bottas - and sometimes even dipping to 17 and as high 20.5 at times, and Vettel was always 10.2 to 13 sec behind Bottas. So i dont think he would have come out in front of any of them.
If you say yes i will post the f1 live timings of all the 16 laps when Bottas was ahead?

Valteri would have come out on brand new ultras on a track where the faster car getting past is never in doubt against Lewis and Seb on softs that couldn't even match 30 lap old supersofts.

He would have easily got Lewis regardless of coming out ahead or behind and had a very good shot at Vettel who was only another 7 seconds up the road.

he would have required 4 to 5 laps to be get temperature in the tyres, the merc car is really poor in this aspect... and by that time nobody can know if he could catch up or burn up his tyres......that is why they waited soooooooo looong to pit Bottas.

No US would not take 4 laps, and they seemed fine at the end.

[siskue2005]

Let's look at how Lady Luck has done until now:

- Australia: Vettel won, but should have been 2nd
- Bahrain: Vettel won square and fair with an unbelievable job
- China: Hamilton should have finished behind Vettel, but ended the race way up instead
- Baku: Hamilton should have finished 3rd at best, but won and at the same time Vettel should have won, but finished 4th

Luck wise, Hamilton has definitely turned things around and is leading against his main rival in that matter.

Regarding today's race, Redbull will have much to discuss in debrief again. They raced each other rather than the leading cars.
On top of that incident Grosjean mixed up everything even more with his silly move.

Vettel was running 3rd when he lucked to 1st during Safety car in Australia.
China Hamilton was running 4th and finished 4th, he didnt get any favour there.
Baku Lewis third??? he was in 2nd place...Bottas got lucky to jump them both during SC.

All in all the luck swings both ways..., there are 17 more races and we will see what happens.

[komninosm]

Ferrari should have given Vettel ultrasofts not softs I think.
Safety car ruined the strategic aspect of the race for me, which i enjoy a lot.
I think if we had no SC then Hamilton would have reached Vettel, because Ferrari seemed to struggle a lot more on softs than Mercedes and probably passed him. Bottas would be on ultrasofts and would pass both of them for the win. Maybe.

Also, it was Verstappen's fault. Again.

[Zynerji]

I think they all need to watch some reconnaissance laps from Barrichello's onboard from 2009. I think that method would help the current tyre warm-up immensely.

[siskue2005]

Valteri would have come out on brand new ultras on a track where the faster car getting past is never in doubt against Lewis and Seb on softs that couldn't even match 30 lap old supersofts.

He would have easily got Lewis regardless of coming out ahead or behind and had a very good shot at Vettel who was only another 7 seconds up the road.

he would have required 4 to 5 laps to be get temperature in the tyres, the merc car is really poor in this aspect... and by that time nobody can know if he could catch up or burn up his tyres......that is why they waited soooooooo looong to pit Bottas.

No US would not take 4 laps, and they seemed fine at the end.

everyone were lapping in 1.47s in the end with ultras...whereas before the SC everyone were lapping 1.45.2 even in soft tyres

[Raleigh]

Valteri would have come out on brand new ultras on a track where the faster car getting past is never in doubt against Lewis and Seb on softs that couldn't even match 30 lap old supersofts.

He would have easily got Lewis regardless of coming out ahead or behind and had a very good shot at Vettel who was only another 7 seconds up the road.

he would have required 4 to 5 laps to be get temperature in the tyres, the merc car is really poor in this aspect... and by that time nobody can know if he could catch up or burn up his tyres......that is why they waited soooooooo looong to pit Bottas.

Mercedes were waiting for a safety car, they had nothing to lose by staying out because Valtteri was easing away from both Seb and Lewis despite the 30 lap old supersofts. That's how slow the soft tires were, doesn't matter if it took a lap or two to switch on the ultras he would have had 12-15 laps to go hunt down Seb.

[stuartpengs]

Hehe, Grosjean post race interview just been on "Yeah I accidentally knocked a switch by two positions, and there was a massive gust of wind, and the team confirmed there was actually a second gunman on the grassy knoll, so not much I could have done"

[siskue2005]

Valteri would have come out on brand new ultras on a track where the faster car getting past is never in doubt against Lewis and Seb on softs that couldn't even match 30 lap old supersofts.

He would have easily got Lewis regardless of coming out ahead or behind and had a very good shot at Vettel who was only another 7 seconds up the road.

he would have required 4 to 5 laps to be get temperature in the tyres, the merc car is really poor in this aspect... and by that time nobody can know if he could catch up or burn up his tyres......that is why they waited soooooooo looong to pit Bottas.

Mercedes were waiting for a safety car, they had nothing to lose by staying out because Valtteri was easing away from both Seb and Lewis despite the 30 lap old supersofts. That's how slow the soft tires were, doesn't matter if it took a lap or two to switch on the ultras he would have had 12-15 laps to go hunt down Seb.

yeah could have would have, but not definite and like poeple saying here it was not slam dung or that bit doesnt mean he deserved it more than Lewis or Vettel

[LM10]

Let's look at how Lady Luck has done until now:

- Australia: Vettel won, but should have been 2nd
- Bahrain: Vettel won square and fair with an unbelievable job
- China: Hamilton should have finished behind Vettel, but ended the race way up instead
- Baku: Hamilton should have finished 3rd at best, but won and at the same time Vettel should have won, but finished 4th

Luck wise, Hamilton has definitely turned things around and is leading against his main rival in that matter.

Regarding today's race, Redbull will have much to discuss in debrief again. They raced each other rather than the leading cars.
On top of that incident Grosjean mixed up everything even more with his silly move.

Vettel was running 3rd when he lucked to 1st during Safety car in Australia.
China Hamilton was running 4th and finished 4th, he didnt get any favour there.
Baku Lewis third??? he was in 2nd place...Bottas got lucky to jump them both during SC.

All in all the luck swings both ways..., there are 17 more races and we will see what happens.

Yes, Hamilton 3rd today because I don't think he would have been able to defend against Bottas on fresh US with a lead of just 3 seconds (if we consider 20-21 seconds Bottas would have lost in pit stop).