Valterri is immense in power circuits- If he can also do well at the technical and twisty tracks (this is where Hamilton really stands out from the crowd) then he will have a great year. It’s 2-2 so far and given the headspace the guy was in last year, that’s a heck of a start against a bonafide F1 champion in Hamilton. Guy deserves a lot of credit. Like you, I think he will find beating Hamilton over a 20+ race season a little bridge too far, but if he puts up a title fight then that’s a huge step up he will have made. The Merc team must be delighted at their respective start.
True but you can imagine Riccy kicking himself for out braking himself and trying to get back on track asap. Then just getting into reverse as quick as he can and no even looking in mirrors thinking Kvyat would be long gone or even thinking he had made the corner! I guess Riccy would love to have the feel and confidence in the Renault brakes he has in Red Bull!!!! Not sure how long Renault will carry on. They seem to be failing to get reliability on the MGU (I think that's the constant failure over the last few years). Hopefully the board will forgive this year if they can show where they failed and have a plan to sort things. Merc just seem to be getting every little thing right. Like yesterday on Quali 3 sending Lewis and Bottas out early to make Ferrari jump. Then pulling over at the end of the pits to 'do a clutch calibration'. The Sky commentators at the time were questioning Mercs stupidity!!!!! Little did they realise it was all to stop Ferrari getting a tow!! Ferrari seem to be reacting to things where Merc are running to their plan.
I avoided the result all day to watch the C4 highlights, because "Baku is always great and I'll enjoy not knowing how it ends up". That was stupid.
Didn't manage to catch the race but saw the results. Is this a highlights job or is it worth watching in full?
I just watched the highlights. It was a one stop race, can't see that Ferrari could have done any different with Le Clerc unless a harder tyre would have worked. Eddie Jordan says they should have brought him in earlier, but would not have made a difference, the tyre would have gone off. It is getting boring. Merc have effectively won the constructors, Ricciardo and Renault are nowhere, Honda PU suspect reliability, Ferrari on the back foot. Verstappen behaving himself. The womens racing might be more interesting.
hmm, highlights. hmm. Can only remember one, Danny Ric pretending to be a woman attempting parallel parking.
I thought it mildly interesting for a few moment but the it was mostly attrition driving not racing. Mostly it was swapping lap times and conservation. The rules are: can't use engines cos they are expensive. - major driver of conservation. Can't use tyres - why??? cos manufacturer makes them last too long and attempts to have them be predictable failed. They are either conserve or they fall off a cliff or they are so hard they can alst all race. Can't refuel - so we have safety in mind but its another conserve item that has a major impact. for me its all desperately dull. All the "passing" was likle pushing baby chicks into a pod. Once anyone (as in anyone) got to with in a second they were by under DRS. sadly there was no repassing even.. I'm not even bothered by a bottas/hamilton duel now. been there done that with rosberg.
I honestly think we can ignore free practice. Whatever mercedes are doing on a friday they are letting ferrari on with it and then turning up the wick and blasting them in Quali. I don't know where le clerc would have been if not for crash. I do think ferrari were on right strategy with mediums first I just think vettel is washed up. His head is gone and he's been put in his place by hamilton. He's a beaten man IMO. BAcking him is going to be ferrari's biggest error. He's not going to complete with mercedes.
He's also forgetful . Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel says Mercedes consistent success in Formula 1 is "boring". The world champions have taken one-two finishes in the first four races of 2019 - after winning the past five drivers' and constructors' titles. "Boring, isn't it?" Vettel said. "So boring. It's not just four races. It has been four years, more or less."
Fun fact. Red Bull won 68% of races in 2013, Mercedes have won 75% over the last 6 seasons. I remember Vettel said something in 2013 along the lines of "enjoy this while it lasts" and that's the difference. Dominance in the past always felt temporary. Next race it could change, worst case scenario like 2013 I could wait for next season. I don't know what I'm waiting for right now. 2020 is basically a write-off. 2021 rule changes if they actually get a budget cap? Some VW style emission scandal to force Mercedes to withdraw? The heat death of the Universe? They have to lose one day right?
Just patiently waiting for Red Bull and Honda now, Ferrari seem to have no interest in being successful at the moment.
It does seem a very long time they have dominated. I am surprised that no one has caught up. OK so we had the 'tokens' holding PU development back at first. I think they have mastered all aspects at the moment so even if knowledgeable staff in one department leaves for another team they only have the knowledge from their specialism. It's like they have the best power recovery, storage, PU mapping, aero, tactics and strategists not to mention great drivers. Even if the budget caps come in in 2021 the rules will be out this year so teams with big budgets will invest massively knowing there is a reduction coming. So it will probably take 3-4 seasons before the budget cap actually starts to work, maybe even longer.
I think we all said the same about Schumacher/Ferrari, but they crumbled eventually. But I agree Mercedes seem fundamentally so rock solid in their approach to everything that it's hard to imagine how they'd slip up.
I think there has arguably been worse domination in the past, it's just these days the others can't wait for unreliability in order to get in on the action. A top driver having a few break downs would be seen as season destroying these days. I remember the races of late 90's early 00's well. You'd miss the start of the race and tune in part way through to see the leader a minute in the lead, don't see that anymore. It's just the cars are so reliable now, if you're faster then that's that, nothing is going to stop you.
Reliability that's a good point. Remember when the engineers used to strip components overnight to check them and then had reliability issues next time on track I wonder if it's all the computers being able to analyze everything from stress, heat, pressure, etc... That said Renault don't seem to be able to get their MGU-K to be reliable. I wonder if that's the way to limit the teams, cut down on the computing capability but I guess their simulating, cfd etc has filtered through to other engineering disciplines. It's a difficult one as I love the engineering skill involved, wish we could see more of it, but somehow budgets need controlling.
