Formula 1 2018 - Round 4 - Baku

Harika

Round 4 of this magnificent season. Back in the hearth of Azerbaijan where Mercedes hopes for the first win of 2018. Who would have thought that after testing?





TV times- Sky and Channel 4
Friday
10am − Practice One
14pm − Practice Two
Saturday
11am − Practice Three
14pm − Qualifying

Sunday
13.10pm − THE BAKU GRAND PRIX

Last year Ricciardo won in an epic race, last race was also epic with Ricciardo winning so who is gonna stop Hamilton?

Talking Points:
Max under pressure, after three bad races.
Is Ferrari cheating or creatively bending the rules with their exhaust and what will the FIA clampdown cause here?
Is RedBull there with Ferrari and Mercedes or was it just the luck of the last race?

BTW: Streaming service available from Barcelona onwards

flazio

Still no sign of the kitten softs . What races will they be used in?

Harika

Preview show by Liberty
Edit: Vettel is hilarious at 25:00 talking about the third pedal on the wheel.

skipper_G

Max in the barrier in FP1

AMKC

FP1 Max Verstappen just put his car into the wall otherwise not a lot happened so far. Ferrari very slow so far and Vettel has no grip in the rears.

Joeface

strange FP session
its like no team is really sure how the cars should run , nice to see force india in the Mix .
Mclaren were doing tow again .Ferrari do seem to be struggling .

Pos Driver Team Time
1 Bottas FIN Mercedes 1'44.242
2 Ricciardo AUS Red Bull 1'44.277
3 Perez MEX Force India 1'45.075
4 Hamilton GBR Mercedes 1'45.200
5 Ocon FRA Force India 1'45.237
6 Verstappen NED Red Bull 1'45.559
7 Alonso ESP McLaren 1'46.465
8 Sirotkin RUS Williams 1'46.480
9 Gasly FRA Toro Rosso 1'46.492
10 Vettel GER Ferrari 1'46.513
11 Stroll CAN Williams 1'46.590
12 Hartley NZL Toro Rosso 1'46.747
13 Hülkenberg GER Renault 1'46.749
14 Grosjean FRA Haas 1'46.856
15 Räikkönen FIN Ferrari 1'46.861
16 Leclerc MON Sauber 1'46.875
17 Ericsson SWE Sauber 1'47.073
18 Magnussen DEN Haas 1'47.434
19 Vandoorne BEL McLaren 1'47.967
20 Sainz ESP Renault 1'48.741

AMKC

It was a strange session alright. Ferrari were way down in the times. I do not think they had the engines turned up full do. They also seemed to lack rear grip. Renault not great either. A lot of lock up's from them. Force India seem to be doing better do. Hope they can keep it going over the weekend. Brendan Harley done decent considering it was his first time to drive on that track.

skipper_G

Seems plenty of people struggling with tyre & brake temperatures, lots of front brake locking. Flat spots in the race will shake the eyeballs out of their skulls.

H3llR4iser

AMKC wrote: »

FP1 Max Verstappen just put his car into the wall otherwise not a lot happened so far. Ferrari very slow so far and Vettel has no grip in the rears.

Heck, Max really needs to spend a week off in a spa. I still can't really stand him as he's the poster child for the "too much, too soon" kind of types out there, but can't help being a bit saddened by this carry on...come on boy - time to get your stuff together.

Joeface

Max, loads of potential given everything too soon.

The Kyvatt demotion has always been silly with me , He had out scored Ricardo something Max has failed to do. Alot of it is to do with been told your the next world champion ...Its not just handed out it has to be earned and he is rushing everything . Needed another full season in Toro Rosso before been moved up.

Joeface

If only Q could finish up like this tomorrow there would be serious
potential for a great race .

Red bull are flying with Ricciardo , Max did have some good times but appears to be an engine issue right at the end of the session .
Force India consistent again . From Alonso back to Gasly is 1sec difference . Midfield procession but hopefully a battle come Sunday


Pos Driver Team Time
1 Ricciardo AUS Red Bull 1'42.795
2 Räikkönen FIN Ferrari 1'42.864
3 Verstappen NED Red Bull 1'42.911
4 Bottas FIN Mercedes 1'43.570
5 Hamilton GBR Mercedes 1'43.603
6 Alonso ESP McLaren 1'43.700
7 Ocon FRA Force India 1'43.814
8 Sainz ESP Renault 1'43.834
9 Magnussen DEN Haas 1'43.977
10 Hülkenberg GER Renault 1'44.091
11 Vettel GER Ferrari 1'44.127
12 Perez MEX Force India 1'44.142
13 Grosjean FRA Haas 1'44.425
14 Stroll CAN Williams 1'44.459
15 Gasly FRA Toro Rosso 1'44.712
16 Leclerc MON Sauber 1'44.940
17 Sirotkin RUS Williams 1'45.007
18 Hartley NZL Toro Rosso 1'45.051
19 Vandoorne BEL McLaren 1'45.288
20 Ericsson SWE Sauber 1'46.042

Charlie-Bravo

I honestly do not know how this will pan out this weekend? Red bull look good but Ferrari are strong. And Merc now have permission to run up engines, hence why FI are a little further ahead this weekend. Should be an interesting qualy, and race.

Jordan 199

Ricciardo will record his second win of the season this weekend.

H3llR4iser

I can't decide if I like this track - it does look ridiculous. Yes, it's set in a pretty city, but frankly...it's mostly narrow as a house driveway, and the section around the castle is beyond silly. I was looking at it the other day on F1 2017 (yes, I've had the game for a year and never drove Baku) and it does feel like driving in a car park - not sure exactly how realistic the game is, but it does look tight on TV as well.
People seem to like it just because of the motorway-like main straight...

skipper_G

Sirotkin in the wall with 5 minutes to go

AMKC

Williams looking a bit better today. Maybe they will get into Q2 maybe even Q3 today in qualifying. Ferrari looking a lot better too. Hamilton looking good. Alonso doing ok but what is up with Vandoorne? He is down the at the bottom. Magnussen doing very good but Grosjean not having a good day so far.

skipper_G

I didn't realise just how much Hulk has outperformed Sainz so far. 22 points to 3

skipper_G

Getting a tow on the main straight and Ocon goes purple in sector 3. 2nd fastest overall, the effect of the tow is massive around here.

Ghost Train

bit of a glitch with the onscreen timing there for a few minutes

Ghost Train

That was scary

skipper_G

Holy **** that was close to being a massive accident. Hartley what a plonker

EPAndlee

That would have been pretty nasty

skipper_G

Impressive lap from Leclerc, hinting at his potential

Jordan 199

Super job by Leclerc.

skipper_G

Vandoorbells is out, he's not looking like getting any closer to Fonsy so far this season.

Ghost Train

skipper_G wrote: »

Holy **** that was close to being a massive accident. Hartley what a plonker

definitely a bit of confusion between them both, did look like Gasly was the one going on the wrong side initially

Mike Litoris

Super Stroll literally scrapes through too. Love seeing those laps on the ragged edge.


WTF was Hartley thinking?

Ghost Train

Kimi will only have one chance now

Jordan 199

Ocon is doing very well.

skipper_G

So Kimi on a different strategy from the other front runners for the race

Mike Litoris

RB cutting it close with Ric there!

skipper_G

Nice job from Leclerc out qualified KMag

Mike Litoris

skipper_G wrote: »

So Kimi on a different strategy from the other front runners for the race

Could work in his favour this time.

skipper_G

Mike Litoris wrote: »

Could work in his favour this time.

Definitely, the track temperature seems to be super sensitive to cloud cover. Depending on what it's like tomorrow it could be easier to get the tyres up to temperature. Makes for an interesting race hopefully

AMKC

skipper_G wrote: »

Nice job from Leclerc out qualified KMag

It did do a great job and great to see some progress from Sauber too.

skipper_G

Kimi only P6, Vettel has a fairly sizable cushion to Hamilton

Mike Litoris

Kimi and Ric are still in this. Both made mistakes. Could be one of the tightest grids in years. Brilliant to see 3 top teams so close. It's been a while.

skipper_G

Kimi blew it again FFS

Ghost Train

Kimi was looking good till he got it sideways, pity

Mike Litoris

OK, maybe not that tight.


Some lap that by Vettel being an early one. Bad luck for Kimi. Danny Ric on the 2nd row. Should be a damn tasty start to the race tomorrow.

skipper_G

Ghost Train wrote: »

Kimi was looking good till he got it sideways, pity

He was purple sector 1 and 2, could have had pole. Anyway the positive is the race looks promising given how strong all three teams are.

AMKC

Ah feck sake Kimi. Not the most exciting of qualifying sessions. Was hoping the Red Bulls could do better but at least it is not a Mercedes on pole. So hopefully the race tomorrow is good. Almost guaranteed a safety car at some stage on this track during the race.

Ghost Train

Slightly off topic, fire in Trump Tower in baku
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5668653/Trump-Tower-fire-Azerbaijan-capital-Baku.html

Joeface

Enough of a mix in the top six I suppose for an interesting start.

Impressed with Force India

skipper_G

Joeface wrote: »

Enough of a mix in the top six I suppose for an interesting start.

Impressed with Force India

It's nice to them see them more competitive, tough first few races to be a Force India fan alright

Joeface

skipper_G wrote:

It's nice to them see them more competitive, tough first few races to be a Force India fan alright

It was good watching last season to see if Ocon get ahead of Perez

Tippex

Ghost Train wrote: »

Slightly off topic, fire in Trump Tower in baku
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5668653/Trump-Tower-fire-Azerbaijan-capital-Baku.html

I’m here at the moment and didnt hear anything about it mind you I’ve been at the circuit since 8 this morning

Harika

https://mobile.twitter.com/pirellisport/status/990290048737259520/photo/1

What a waste of yellow tyres

Charlie-Bravo

5 drivers starting on super soft at the front, the rest of the top 10 including Kimi staying on ultras. Tasty opening race tomorrow when those purples are dialed in by lap three. Nomnom.

vectra

Shame Kimis car stepped out on his flying lap.
Would have been a mega time.

Tippex

Dear god the forcast was for wind but just leaving the hotel now to go to the circuit and the wind howling and whipping dust up all over the place and it is meant to get windier. Will try to get a video when I get to the circuit