FORMULA 1 QATAR AIRWAYS AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX 2024 - Baku....Race........ ▄▀▄▀▄▀ SPOILERS ▄▀▄▀▄▀

Sweet P2 for Charles today
Powered by Honda's slide to nowhere continues with P5, 13, and 2 DNFs 17 and 20

 

Leclerc is the typical flash in the pan.

 

I'm farily surprised we don't see more of these type of crashes with the prevalence of the blocking manouver...

 

I think they had LeClerc pit a few laps too early.

 

Some intriguing photos from Piastri’s rear wing with the low profile flexing hugely on the main straight are now circulating on the net ..
What the f…!

 

LeClerc still could have gotten him with slightly fresher tires.

 

IIRC they have the support stays fixed on the exhaust.

Metal heats up, it becomes more flexible...allowing more flex, but it passes all stationary tests because metal is cold then.

 

At first glance, I also thought Carlos was trying to pull a two-fer.

But on the replays, it looks like Chuck braked earlier than Carlos expected, forcing Sainz to the outside.
(Whether Chuck was trying to back Sainz into Perez, or if Leclerc's tires were just gone ....)

When Sainz tried to get back between the white lines, Perez didn't give him any room.

I'd call that on Perez for failing to give room, but it might just be called a "racing incident".
It'll be interesting to see what the Stewards say ... if anything.
(Unless it's an automatic DWI: Driving While Italian. )

 

Now I don't feel so bad for Sainz anymore having to leave the team. That move was beyond stupid.

Feeling bad for Checko who would have deserved second spot on the podium, but that's racing for you.

Piastri was magnificent. A WDC in the making. Looking forward to next year's Championship. With the momentum McLaren/Norris/Piastri have, they just might clinch it.

As for RedBull: Newey's departure is being felt more and more every day. I bet Max is thinking about joining AM as soon as his contract allows.

PS: I can't wait for the usual commentators to come back. The new main guy is an absoulte troll and Karum is no Brundle.

 

I love your reasoning, but it really looks bad for Sainz, it was an abrupt turn in. I originally thought that Perez's front right hit Sainz and caused the crash.

 

Carlos is obsessed to prove Ferrari that they made a mistake by preferring Leclerc so he saw a tiny window of hope and tried to overtake Leclerc, his subconscious was already singing smooth operator, then reality hit hard by destroying his race, that of Perez and Ferrari’s points at the constructor’s championship. 3 in a row in a brilliant move that in his head was spectacular

 

My point was that this team has largely (understatement) had a track record of starting with a decent car and going backwards over the course of a season with piss poor development. It’s refreshing to see that this seems to have been corrected.

 

Yes, a miracle.

 

I wouldn’t say it is dreadful. Error? Yes.

Sainz was dreadful.

 

The hatred for Sainz in here is funny. The crash with Checo was 50-50 at best, tilting towards Checo being at fault. Sainz was about 60% ahead of Checo, drifting left towards center of track. Checo refused to budge, with tons of space to his left - made contact - caused the crash.

Close strategic call on when to pit LeClerc, and hard tires just not being friendly w the car, caused LeClerc to lose first place. But LeClerc did very well with what he had. And the strategic call was a close one (not a clown show as in years past). Vasseur and the drivers are doing a good job.

 

Payback time for Perez with all the litigious move he made on this kind of tracks ( with Ocon for instance who he’s not a saint either) in the past.

 

Two issues. First, the broken white line isn’t consistent in terms of space from the wall since this is a road course. Line actually dies into the wall down track looking at the overhead so it’s not a great indicator of location on the track. Second, and to me the most important part, Sainz is ahead and has position. He was rightfully moving away from the wall in order to reduce drag and stay in Chucks slipstream. Perez is behind him and drives into his rear left tire which caused Carlos’ car to hook left. Prez was behind and should have yielded to these movements or avoided the collision by moving left which he had plenty of room to do. Checo at fault and may have penalties coming next race for it…

 

KMag / Perez at Monaco crash was racing incident. This today might be the same.

 

Horner blaming Carlos rather quickly it seems.

 

Charles is rightfully crying for years that Ferrari isn’t giving him a competitive machine and ..
Now he’s driving the best car of the race, did a fantastic pole lap and throw everything away because of .. a naive behavior..
Sorry but I can’t find another word to summarize this result.

 

Nah, this was clearcut 100% Sainz. He sweared unexpectedly and strongly to the left. It almost looked like his suspension or steering column broke, it was so sudden and erratic. Turns out it was caused by the bit between the steering column and the air intake.

 

Exactly. Agreed that Sainz being clearly ahead is a critical factor here.

The only thing I’d fault Sainz on has nothing to do with who is at fault for the crash: Sainz was too aggressive/unrealistic trying to pass LeClerc, so he ended up having to go too wide into turn 2 (into area of track with less grip; and longer route). If he sticks to the inside there, he’s likely in the podium. But then again, it’s racing - hard to fault someone for being aggressive.