We move on to Azerbaijan, and so seeing as we are heading into P1 tomorrow thought it time to create a thread to discuss the race....
First up, my usual reminder for those doing the GTP thang to get those times in.
Click here to go to the GTP thread put up by @CraigX. (The GTP Guvnah)
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk/forums/vi ... 17&t=17114
OK, re this weekend .... What do we know?
Well Mercedes are still bitching about Red Bull's bendy bits, and have threatened protests this weekend if the FIA dont do something about it pre-race. Even though the timeline set out by the FIA allows teams to have had a few weeks to fix things, with new tests to be initiated and used at the next GP in France. Not good enough say the team who ran with the suspect DAS system all last year.
Marko has hit back with a comment that suggests the MB front wings are dodgy as also flex.... could we have tit for tat protests or will it all turn out to be 'huff and puff' pre race banter.
It seems MB have their noses out of joint because bendy wings might be particularly advantageous at Baku, moreso than at Monaco, due to the twisty bits needing the downforce but the 2+ klm main straight benefitting from the low drag of a flat(ter) wing.
In other Mercedes news it appears Bottas is stranded in Finland unable to get a flight to Azerbaijan! It appears Bottas will be able to get a flight (I thought F1 did charter/private flights exec anyway, certainly the drivers.)
Continuing with Bottas it appears that he and Toto are at odds at the moment, with Toto having gone public with a story of Bottas contributing to his Monaco pitstop woes (remember, the wheel that took 3 days to remove and led to his retirement. Toto claims Bottas not stopping on his marks was contributory, to which Bottas claims he was within 3 cms when the window is 10cms variance. Bottas also stating that MB are the most efficient pit crew, or words to that effect. Rumours of a "very honest post Monaco debrief" from Bottas (honest to me suggests a lot of accusations flew around with people saying their piece, but maybe im being a drama queen there.
Hamilton has already admitted he regrets some of the comments he made post an ordinary Monaco weekend for him
Ferrari are not expecting their form resurgence witnessed at Monaco to continue in Baku.
Verstappen says he ‘can’t be bothered by mind games’ with title battle set to continue in Baku
Anyway enough already....
The fifth-ever Formula 1 race at Baku takes place this weekend . It has been run as the Azerbaijan GP three times, with the opening race in 2016 known as the European GP.....
Why was the first race known as the European GP?
All a bit of a bluff really, trying to appeal to the great unwashed of Europe and the rest of the world. Trying to reinforce itself as being European.
Azad Rahimov, the minister responsible for its race, hinted at the thinking behind the decision to adopt the ‘European’ title when the grand prix was announced in 2014: “Azerbaijan is a modern European country that has established a reputation as a centre of sporting excellence.”
Azerbaijan is at pains to project an image of itself as being ‘European’. It has already hosted the Eurovision song contest and the European athletic games – the latter amid some controversy over its poor human rights record and refusal to admit journalists who had written anything critical about the country.
There have been four different winners on the streets of Azerbaijan's capital city, Baku, which is the largest city on the Caspian Sea, the lowest-lying capital city in the world and the largest city in the world located below sea level.
It's known as the 'city of winds' for its gusty conditions, which may throw drivers off this weekend, but there's no chance of rain at Baku, according to the forecast. Full forecast later.
First Grand Prix
2016 (When it was known as the European GP.... see above)
Number of Laps
51
Circuit Length
6.003km
Race Distance
306.049 km
Lap Record
1:43.009 Charles Leclerc (2019)
When was the track built?
It wasn’t – Baku is the newest street circuit on the Formula 1 calendar, joining the ranks of Monaco, Melbourne and Singapore.
When was its first Grand Prix?
The first Grand Prix in Baku was held in 2016, as the European Grand Prix. That was followed by the inaugural Azerbaijan Grand Prix in 2017, which witnessed one of the biggest upsets of the season, with Daniel Ricciardo winning out from Valtteri Bottas and the Williams of Lance Stroll, while Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel engaged in some argy-bargy behind the Safety Car.
What’s the circuit like?
A mixture of wide and open and tight and twisty. The lonnnnng main straight along the Baku shoreline is a slipstreaming mecca, and with cars able to run three abreast into Turn 1, the action often looks more IndyCar than F1. However from there, the track loops around into the city’s narrow, winding Icheri Sheher old town, dramatically wending past Baku’s medieval city walls. As in Monaco, slightest mistakes are punished quickly and severely, while set-up wise, the teams are forced to choose between downforce for the twisty bits and less drag for the straight.
Baku has been described by drivers in the past as having the complexity of Monaco with the speed of Monza. While this isn’t precisely the case, it gives a good insight into the nature of the fastest and longest street circuit on the calendar from a driver’s perspective.
Aside from that, Baku has all the characteristics expected from a street circuit: a ‘green’ and slippery surface that is likely to evolve quickly, especially as it has not been used for two years. The barriers are unforgiving and it’s also extremely narrow at one point (Turn 9): all of which elevates the likelihood of a safety car, obviously affecting race strategy in turn.
Previous winners:
2016 (AKA European GP held at Baku) Nico Rosberg.
2017 Azerbaijan GP Danny Ric
2018 Azerbaijan GP. Lewis Hamilton
2019 Azerbaijan GP. Valtteri Bottas
Will we have a first repeat winner? If we do its unlikely to be Danny Ric. He has about the same chance as Nico Rosberg.
Will we continue with another new winner ? Max? CLAP? Norris? Carlos Sainz? Who knows?
What has happened before at Baku?
* Max and Danny famously got together and took each other out of the race in 2018.
What else?
* Vettel got road rage one year and rammed Lewis under an SC
* We had the famous quote from RoGro who put the car into the wall on his own and blamed it on "Ericsson hit me"
* Lance Stroll got a lucky (first) podium in the Williams (albeit got outdragged to the line by Bottas for P2.
* Bottas lost the 2018 race when he ran over debris on the penultimate lap and got a puncture giving Lucky Lewis a gift win.
In fact here is a clip with all those incidents....
We didnt have a race at Baku in 2020 due to Covid, but here are the highlights from the most recent race in 2019.
Sticky black things
The winning strategy last time was a one-stop soft-medium, used by the top four. Charles Leclerc finished fifth for Ferrari by doing the opposite: medium to soft (plus a second late stop for more softs to set the fastest lap). There was quite a wide pit stop window, with some long stints seen on the medium C3 tyre (now the hard for this year’s race) in particular.
The softest tyres in the 1 range have been selected for the first time ever at Baku: C3 as the P Zero White hard, C4 as the P Zero Yellow medium, and C5 as the P Zero Red soft.
Notably, this is a step softer than 2019 (the last time that the race was run) and the same nomination as Monaco.
This choice has been made in order to introduce an extra strategic element...... last time, the hard compound wasn’t used at all during the race. Going a step softer now brings the hard choice into play and encourages more variety in the strategies.
The track surface on the Baku street circuit is one of the less aggressive in terms of asphalt roughness and does not take a lot of energy out of the tyres, making the softest compounds in the range an optimal choice.
OK back to the weather.
Weather Forecast
FRIDAY, JUNE 4 – FP1 AND FP2 WEATHER
Conditions: Partly cloudy in the morning. Sunny in the afternoon. Dry all day long. Light-to-moderate northerly wind with gusts up to 30-40km/h in the afternoon.
Maximum temperature expected: 27 Celsius
Chance of rain: 0%
SATURDAY, JUNE 5 – FP3 AND QUALIFYING WEATHER
Conditions: Sunny and dry all day long. Dry all day long. Moderate northerly wind with gusts up to 40km/h in the afternoon.
Maximum temperature expected: 26 Celsius
Chance of rain: 0%
SUNDAY, JUNE 6 – RACE WEATHER
Conditions: Sunny and dry all day long. Temperatures around 24°C for the race. Gusty northerly wind. Gusts up to 40-50km/h for the race.
Maximum temperature expected: 26 Celsius
Chance of rain: 0%
And now the bit you have all waited for......
The Mongol update
In 1231, the Mongols occupied most of Azerbaijan. In 1235 the Mongols destroyed many of Azerbaijan's cities on their way to conquer Russia. By the 1236, all of Trans-Caucasia was in the hands of Ogedei Khan and the Illkhanid (Mongol) state. They then laid the foundations for a crappy racetrack.....
A bit of a history lesson....
Azerbaijan at the Crossroads of Eurasia
The Tumultuous Fate of a Nation Caught Up Between the Rivalries of the World’s Major Powers
Modern Azerbaijan came into being in 1991 following a national struggle for the re-establishment of its independence, initiated long before the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is situated in a unique geographic location, at the crossroads of Eurasia and on the famous Silk Road that links Europe and Asia. It has been the stage of particularly rich historical events, testament to its ancient State traditions, the wealth of its cities, the violence of the imperial invasions. Today this secular country, facing war with Armenia, is central to the geopolitical stakes in the region, whether in terms of the international strategies of major powers or the geo-economic considerations of oil and gas exports to Europe. It has put in place a multi-faceted foreign policy and initiated political and economic reforms as it moves towards a better future.
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