Grand Prix thread Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Lauda backing his future driver

 

Well in hindsight if Vettel had only stayed calm on the restart he'd have won anyway.

 

Think of the 'luck' that Lewis had here last year with his headrest coming lose and him losing the win!
Some you win others you don't.
Feel sorry for Bottas as he did deserve to win. Would Merc have allowed him to win or let lewis 'pass'? Not sure.

 

Vettel was a bit too impatient same as Max has been in previous races. Surprise at Vettel really but maybe that was why he tried it as no one would really expect it. He nearly made it stick, it was closish to making the corner.

 

I initially thought Vettel had no need to try that move as he was ahead of Hamilton so was going to increase his wdc lead. but looking back he was probably worried about Bottas backing up and Hamilton getting a run the next lap, so he had to try.

 

On the replays of Bottas puncture it looks like the plank hit the debris and shot it into the rear right side wall. So unfortunate. He must be so gutted. Looked like he had a few tears. Dark glasses, which he doesn't normally wear, and a bit blotchy face.

 

Max definitely moves a bit to the left, but he always kept on the left side and I'm not sure there was much room for him there. He definitely wouldn't have made the corner.

One sling shot too far for Daniel on this one.

 

Christian Horner has just murdered Eddie Jordan twice with his eyes......

 

Got to disagree that Max kept to the left. He's clearly drifting right and there's a cars width gap at the point Daniel goes left.

If you keep moving in the braking zone and making multiple defensive moves eventually the guy behind will get wrongfooted. It's been a career-long Verstappen trait and it's finally bit back.

 

They weren't in a braking zone though

 

Until Max kills someone he will continue to cause havoc. The Max rule was bought in because of his dangerous driving, penalised others and then dropped to basically allow him to continue. That is two races that he has impacted the result and the championship.

 

Max had covered the inside line the entire way along the pit wall, as he had done most times before. Riccardo then tries to do his late brake move, which has worked well for him, but he should know that Max wasn't going to yield as easy as some do. Riccardo gambled and got it wrong, he was soo late on the brakes he was probably heading for his own accident anyway.

I can't see that Max's move would have made any difference, the accident was on.

 

he has been at fault, for his own errors and bringing others into them as well, but I think his reputation preceeds him with this one. Not every Max incident is his fault.

 

My first impression was also to blame Ricciardo, but the overhead replay is quite different looking.

He covers the inside line most of the way and then moves towards the middle to give Daniel a worse line around the outside. As they did all race. Expecting this Ricciardo thinks he can pull a dummy and dive into the space Verstappen leaves on the inside. You can see in the picture that there is a cars width and it's only getting wider at that point. Daniel may well have got his braking wrong, but it's a valid move to attempt.

Max has made his move already and should not jink back left to shut the door. If you don't yield easily, you're a fighter. If you never yield, you're an idiot.

Yes, you're right. This time it's moving twice, but the two faults cause the accidents for the same general reason so I lump them together.

 

Not seen the race yet. Sounds like an interesting one though. Looking forward to seeing it later now.

 

3min30-ish for the final incident. Fairly measured analysis. For me, Max makes two defensive moves. They're before the braking zone (in which I don't think you're meant to move at all), but it's still a double move for me, and not the first time from Max.

Has there been a stewards investigation? Obviously not needed during the race, but I'm surprised they don't seem to be looking into it.

 

There is a stewards investigation but it was after the C4 program finished! So we will have to a bit of searching.

 

Both drivers were reprimanded for the crash.

“Both drivers contributed to the collision. The driver of car 33 made two moves, both of which were relatively minor. The driver of car three admitted he left his move to overtake on the left, too late. It was obvious to the stewards that although the incident had its origins in the moves by car 33, the driver of car three also contributed to the incident."

Seems fair enough.

 

Agreed.

 

Only seen the vidoes of the incident, but it seemed to be one of those things. Max was entitled to move as he did, Ricciardo was entitled to give it a go.

What makes it an absolute mess is being teammates. Maybe it was a bit ambitious and risky from Ricciardo's point of view given the potential for a coming together. He's usually pretty clinical but that one might have been a tad risky.