[Official] Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2024

[Richard C]

Crazy finish! Fantastic for Williams. Bearman sets a record as only F1 driver to score points in his first two races with two different teams.

Richard

[ScotsBrutesFan]

The collision between Sainz and Perez has been classed as a racing incident

The VSC overtaking after the checkered flag has resulted in all involved receiving warnings..... McLaren also got a €5000 fine for personnel and equipment in the pitlane.

[ChrisA]

Originally Posted by Richard C

Crazy finish! Fantastic for Williams. Bearman sets a record as only F1 driver to score points in his first two races with two different teams.

Richard

Brilliant race, one the best this year. Shame about Perez and Sainz coming together. All 4 Brits in the top ten. Also, speaking with my observers hat on, I think the Perez/Sainz accident was a racing incident, that's my opinion.

[GT6]

good race but must admit i was expecting a few more incident, plenty of overtaking and some surprising points for drivers/teams

[broadrun96]

Sainz, holy crap WTF was that. If KMags got a race ban for ungentlemanly points that should be well Ollie have a seat with Ferrari until Lewis comes in. That was blatant blocking attempt and drove a car right in to a wall. Absolutely TRASH driving

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by ChrisA

Brilliant race, one the best this year. Shame about Perez and Sainz coming together. All 4 Brits in the top ten. Also, speaking with my observers hat on, I think the Perez/Sainz accident was a racing incident, that's my opinion.

And that is exactly the same conclusion that the Stewards arrived at; a racing incident.

I think that 4 drivers were given a ticking off by the Stewards for passing another car after passing the chequered flag, because the VSC was still active even though the race had finished. The drivers had claimed mitigation because some drivers had done the same at a previous race, but this had not been noted by the Stewards at that time. Now all the drivers are on notice that if it happens again, then time penalties will be applied for any transgressors.

[Guthrie]

Originally Posted by E.B

Albon and Colapinto scored 10 points between them and Bearman also scored a point for tenth place. Hulkenberg just missed out in finishing 11th.

I failed to understand why Bearman does so well in F1 but not in F2.

[Greem]

Originally Posted by ChrisA

Brilliant race, one the best this year. Shame about Perez and Sainz coming together. All 4 Brits in the top ten. Also, speaking with my observers hat on, I think the Perez/Sainz accident was a racing incident, that's my opinion.

That's what I said at the time and the two far more senior and experienced stewards I was sitting with disagreed.

Then we all saw the overhead view and they almost came all the way back to my way of thinking, but we then read the stewards' decision document and the way it was written was "well really one car could have given the other more room to be honest, but didn't, and they crashed. Oh well how sad never mind".

There's a bit of ambiguity in the paperwork, but then... oh well how sad never mind

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

That was blatant blocking attempt and drove a car right in to a wall. Absolutely TRASH driving

Maybe a heat of the moment post, but I didn't see it that way at all. I think both drivers bear some responsibility in that collision. I think Perez assumed Sainz was aware of his location and I don't think Sainz knew Perez was as close as he was. At the same time, Perez was the following car, so more on him to avoid things IMHO. I can't disagree with the stewards decision, but also think it was all very avoidable. It had been a great drive by Perez up to that point.

Sergeant seeing Colapinto doing so well in the Williams has to be crushing. I wonder how the remainder of the season will go for Colapinto? It will be interesting to watch.

Richard

[bathurst77]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

If KMags got a race ban for ungentlemanly points that should be well

Kmag didnt get a ban for any single issue, his ban was points accumulation. Like on your own drivers licence, various offenses get you a point or 3... rack up enough within 2 years and its.. take a bench for a while.

Off to the room full of mirrors where you can take a long hard look at yourself.

[bathurst77]

Was a top race. Oscars pass was a ripper, and some great defending when charles was all over him, both cars sliding like drifting contest.
Cant take this win from Oscar, he showed his stuff.
No wonder he was so excited at the finish!
I think I almost saw him smile. Was probably just wind

[Go Harder.]

Originally Posted by bathurst77

Was a top race. Oscars pass was a ripper, and some great defending when charles was all over him, both cars sliding like drifting contest.
Cant take this win from Oscar, he showed his stuff.
No wonder he was so excited at the finish!
I think I almost saw him smile. Was probably just wind

Painfully Reserved...


The new Iceman?

[TrapezeArtist]

I'm surprising myself for saying it, but I like that track. The precision needed to get up close to those walls several times per lap is off-the-scale, yet everyone managed it all race long. Obviously DRS on the straight is the only proper overtaking place, but the length of the DRS zone seems to be finely tuned; some people could make it work and some couldn't.

It's hard to understand what is going on at Red Bull. For the last few races Max has been complaining something rotten about the car but at least kept it in front of Checo who seemed to be keeping fairly quiet. This time Perez was in his element on this track and ran away from his illustrious colleague. Then he ran into a Ferrari.

Clearly Carlos Sainz is miffed at being dropped at the end of the year. I think that might be part of the story behind the last few laps. When Charles managed to out fumble Checo in the first corner Carlos grabbed the opportunity to jump past the RB. Then he got carried away and tried a no-hoper move around the outside at the second corner. As a result he was slow off the corner and Perez saw a chance to get him back. Carlos had DRS and the chance to slipstream Charles so moved across slightly. Checo had some sort of brain fart and moved the other way. Bang!

I wonder if Fred Vasseur is wondering about the wisdom of his apparent coup in luring Lewis away from Mercedes. George Russell seems to be getting the better of Lewis every time and the different in Baku was one of the biggest. Perhaps a more motivated and less angry Carlos would have been a better bet.

Well done to Williams for providing their drivers with a quick car that enabled them to more than double their points total for the season. Showing Logan Sargent the door is looking like a wise move even if Colapinto did knock a corner off in FP. After all, it was only one corner and no worse than Leclerc did.

[v8supes]

Videos have emerged online from the Mclarens rear wing showing the rear wing flap opening slightly as it picks up speed. A "mini DRS" if you will... Will be interesting if anything comes from this.

https://x.com/brakeboosted/status/1835310512738910387

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by v8supes

Videos have emerged online from the Mclarens rear wing showing the rear wing flap opening slightly as it picks up speed. A "mini DRS" if you will... Will be interesting if anything comes from this.

https://x.com/brakeboosted/status/1835310512738910387

There's a very small gap at the bottom edge of the rear wing flap. It can easily be seen at 0:11 and the gap is again clearly visible at 0:26 but I think that's due to the light accentuating it.

[morninggents]

I saw it as 75% Sainz and 25% Perez. Sainz went up the outside and ran wide and should have known Perez would have a better exit from the corner.
I feel sorry for Checo as he's taken some stick this year yet his (probably) best race of the year came to nought.

Just a thought. I am not a conspiracy theorist but was Mercedes' engine change for Lewis really necessary or a ploy to put Lando up the grid and, therefore, have a better chance to catch Max? One back to Merc at Red Bull's expense?

[BertMk2]

It's an interesting one - as I mentioned in the dotr thread I saw it as more on Perez than Sainz. You can make a case for either really but given the positioning of the cars Perez had more opportunity to avoid the contact. Sainz was ahead and took his normal line, Perez should have been more aware, he could easily have given more space and made the pass.

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

It's an interesting one - as I mentioned in the dotr thread I saw it as more on Perez than Sainz. You can make a case for either really but given the positioning of the cars Perez had more opportunity to avoid the contact. Sainz was ahead and took his normal line, Perez should have been more aware, he could easily have given more space and made the pass.

I'm not sure that I'd apportion a percentage to each driver but definitely both partially at fault. Yes, Carlos eased over but that gave Checo plenty of opportunity to move a bit left (where there was a couple of car's width room) to avoid any contact. If Carlos kept coming, then contact would have happened at some point but at least if he'd moved a bit left, Checo would have given himself a chance to not have the shunt.

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by Tourer

I'm not sure that I'd apportion a percentage to each driver but definitely both partially at fault. Yes, Carlos eased over but that gave Checo plenty of opportunity to move a bit left (where there was a couple of car's width room) to avoid any contact. If Carlos kept coming, then contact would have happened at some point but at least if he'd moved a bit left, Checo would have given himself a chance to not have the shunt.

This is pretty much my perspective.

Richard

[Lancsbreaker]

Originally Posted by Tourer

I'm not sure that I'd apportion a percentage to each driver but definitely both partially at fault. Yes, Carlos eased over but that gave Checo plenty of opportunity to move a bit left (where there was a couple of car's width room) to avoid any contact. If Carlos kept coming, then contact would have happened at some point but at least if he'd moved a bit left, Checo would have given himself a chance to not have the shunt.

I'd agree with that too. Sainz arguably left himself vulnerable by an over-optimistic lunge causing him to run wide and give Perez the sniff of a chance, but Perez had a lot better view of where Sainz was than vice versa....and the slightest touch at those speeds was enough to destabilize both.....

[Mike Harte]

Questions were asked about the upper part of the McLaren rear wing flexing, and Red Bull queried this with the FIA. The FIA have now clarified that the McLaren's rear wing full complies with the regulations.

The FIA also clarified that the front wings on both the McLarens and the Mercedes also comply with the regulations, again following queries raised by Red Bull.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1...s/cn0e8g5eg4yo

[bjohnsonsmith]

According to this Motorsport article, the FIA have requested McLaren make changes to the rear wing, even though it fully complies with the current regulations, and passes all the static tests.


https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/m...ersy/10656065/

[v8supes]

Its quite interesting because SKY said at the start of FP2 that the FIA said it passes all the tests and Red Bull didnt make an "official" protest over it but Mclaren have offered (did they offer or were they told?) to change it...(Helmut Marko said they protestd it 3 times but Ted Kravitz said not officially just spoken out in the media).

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

According to this Motorsport article, the FIA have requested McLaren make changes to the rear wing, even though it fully complies with the current regulations, and passes all the static tests.


https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/m...ersy/10656065/

According to the BBC, this might only affect the wing that might be used in Las Vegas because the wing that they will be using at other races this season, including Singapore, is different to the one used at Baku.

Also according to the BBC, this was possibly due to heavy lobbying by Horner, although not an official protest. Horner really doesn't like one of his cars not winning every race; possibly a sore loser!

[Richard C]

So this current topic is specific to McLaren, but it speaks to the general topic of how and when pushback comes from FIA when teams are walking the line with respect to regulatory compliance. The responses would range from the gentle nudges of "You are not being punished for past use, but you need to stop using that concept in the future" to much more drastic punishment.

It makes me think back to the speculation recently that some of Red Bull's loss of form was being attributed to asymmetric brake balance (because FIA clarified rules for 2026 and then did the same for current rules). However, the argument against this not being true was that the new rules to ban this came out AFTER a downturn in form so therefore Red Bull could NOT have been using a solution like this! The implication was that the ONLY way the FIA could have told anyone to "stop" was to make a rule change, issue a new technical directive, etc. I think that it is clear how that works is much more nuanced.

I am not saying Red Bull was using that system, but just saying that someone could have and the FIA might have said privately "Stop now. We are going to ban this in the very near future." It makes me wonder if this type of thing happens more frequently and we just never hear about it.

Richard