2017 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand PrixFormula 1 

  • Thread starter Jimlaad43
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LMSCorvetteGT2
Azerbaijan GP advert:

Hi, do you like watching Formula 1 race cars? Do you like watching a city praise itself for putting on an event? And do you like sleeping? What would you say if you had them all at the same time? Well this race is the race for you! Join us on June 25th to sleep through the Azerbaijan GP.
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My wife and I were in the UK for our 20th anniversary last June, and decided to check into the Inn and Pub early to be able to check out the race on TV. I walked from our adjacent room over to the pub to grab a nice cask Golden Ale, and got to see the Sky F1 commenting team in action for a nice change of pace.

So let's just say my memory of the race has some serious rose colored tint going on. :lol:
 
TenEightyOne
Of course, all the tested parts have exploded.
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And they were just sitting there on a workbench. They hadn't even been put into the car yet.

As with most things in life, this case be related to "The Simpsons". There's an episode where Homer becomes Mr. Burns' assistant and has to make him breakfast. Everything inexplicably catches fire, even the bowl of cereal he makes. That's Honda for you.
 
Timlour
"Both drivers have already used more than the permitted number of relevant parts after just seven races of 21."

Seriously? :eek:

Geez... I didn't realize Mclaren-Honda's situation was THAT bad.
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Yeah.

I was expecting them to hit their parts quota in just five races. They're seriously not living up to my expectations.
 
You've got to feel for poor Stoffel. This has to be the worst possible scenario for a rookie driver: a double world champion teammate, a woefully unreliable car that limits your running, and a lack of power that leaves you unable to defend your position on the rare occasion you're actually out on track. I hope Mclaren keep him around until they give him a car that lets him show what he can do.
 
aarror
I hope Mclaren keep him around until they give him a car that lets him show what he can do.
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I think they'll want to. They know he's good and they know he's been compromised by the chassis. And they might lose Alonso in 2018, so I think they'll do whatever they can to keep him. The only way they will lose him is if someone else picks him up.
 
My previous statement about Arrows F1 making better engines than modern day Honda from the Russian thread still holds true.
 
prisonermonkeys
I think they'll want to. They know he's good and they know he's been compromised by the chassis. And they might lose Alonso in 2018, so I think they'll do whatever they can to keep him. The only way they will lose him is if someone else picks him up.
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Why is he compromised by the chassis? Alonso's statement of bringing McLaren 5 to 6 tenths nearly a decade ago has finally come to visible fruitation this season. Vandoorne seems a bit better than Stroll and Palmer, if with more experience in later part of the season he doesn't improve then I think McLaren will try and find a potentially better driver even if they keep Alonso. I think with F1 going to 3 PUs for next season, even if Honda find more performance, I'm sceptical they could have reliability of the others so I think McLaren will likely try and switch back so maybe Ocon or Wehrlein could have a chance if Vandoorne doesn't improve.

Stroll looked really slow last race, I think if both Massa and Stroll have a race without any problems, Stroll might get lapped by Massa on pure pace at the moment. I would rather see someone like Buemi, Kobayashi or Kubica get another chance at F1 than see Stroll struggling.
 
I stand by my assessment that Vandoorne is the best young driver in F1. Better than Verstappen. As PM says above, if you've followed his junior career, it's tremendous. He's a very, very far second driver at McLaren. That, compounded with the horrible Honda in the back, is why he's had a slow start to the year. When the car actually has a decent engine, and he's not the definition of a number 2 driver, you'll see what all the hype was about.
 
Belgian-Dutch lad Verstappen top of the timesheets, Mercedes down in 5th and 6th. The Mercs had traffic and, as usual, one can never usually take much from FP1 times.
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JayOTT
My previous statement about Arrows F1 making better engines than modern day Honda from the Russian thread still holds true.
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In fairness, all they had to make was an internal combustion engine, Honda has to combine that in a hybrid system.
 
Simmpa
Mercedes in position 5 and 6? Pretty much clear now the Mercedes domination have come to an end thank god!
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To be fair, I think FP1 was them just getting the car into the groove. It was a pretty low-key session for Ferrari and Merc. I can't see a Red Bull topping quali
 
Red Bull and Mercedes were using Supersofts in Fp1, ferrari didn't. But Red Bull seemed to be more on the edge than Merc.

btw, here is a video of Perez' crash:
 
prisonermonkeys
Because the car is horrible.


A bit better? If you watched his junior career, you'd know he's excellent.
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It's one of the best chassis on the grid, PU is horrible though. Hopefully Honda make a decent step in performance and reliability for at least the final part of the season so McLaren can start scoring points regularly. Probably the worst chassis they had in the hybrid era was the 2014 one yet they scored the most points with it, what a difference a good PU makes... Since getting Prodromou back, they've become again a decent F1 chassis maker which is good to see.

Looking at his junior career, makes me doubt him more if he has the ability to do well in F1 and have a long career in it. He seems to be able to beat the drivers who won't make it as a F1 driver but has got defeated by younger drivers than him who made it into F1 like Kvyat, Sainz and Magnussen. Remember you have an issue with how long Palmer took to win GP2, considering Vandoorne won it at a similar age to him and got beaten by Palmer the season before and won it against similar level drivers if not weaker grid thanks to Palmer and Nasr not being there, why do you rate him so highly? Similarly they're both quite a bit off there teammates, not surprised he is struggling so far going by his "excellent" junior career.

Magnussen made his debut in 2014 F1 season after beating Vandoorne in a junior category the year before and he outqualified Alonso and Button, and finished second in his first F1 race ahead of them. On that basis I think Magnussen is more talented than Vandoorne and given it was a bit of a struggle for him to get back into F1, I don't see Vandoorne in F1 for long at the moment.
NW48
I stand by my assessment that Vandoorne is the best young driver in F1. Better than Verstappen. As PM says above, if you've followed his junior career, it's tremendous. He's a very, very far second driver at McLaren. That, compounded with the horrible Honda in the back, is why he's had a slow start to the year. When the car actually has a decent engine, and he's not the definition of a number 2 driver, you'll see what all the hype was about.
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Probably the most overrated driver in F1, he is quite a bit older than some of the established younger F1 drivers. If he was better than Verstappen, I think he would have been in F1 much sooner and also look more competitive relative to his teammate and more positive impressions like how Verstappen had after his second F1 qualifying, not get beaten comprehensively by Alonso but also got beaten by Giovinazzi in a Sauber and get told he needs to change his driving style...

I would rate Maldanado as a quicker F1 driver than Vandoorne for the moment, he is out of F1 and brings decent money to team so I think Vandoorne will have a short career in F1 unless he massively improves.

Probably toughest year for rookie drivers, Stroll should have most room for improvement given his age, car experience and how far he has been off the pace so far, however I don't think he has the potential to be a quick F1 driver from what I've seen so far.
 
Saidur_Ali
Probably the most overrated driver in F1, he is quite a bit older than some of the established younger F1 drivers. If he was better than Verstappen, I think he would have been in F1 much sooner
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He would have been in F1 sooner had he not been signed to McLaren Young Driver Programme. He could have been signed like Wehrlein to Sauber, but McLaren kept a deathlock on him as he'd be in the team full time just one season later.

Saidur_Ali
and also look more competitive relative to his teammate and more positive impressions like how Verstappen had after his second F1 qualifying, not get beaten comprehensively by Alonso but also got beaten by Giovinazzi in a Sauber and get told he needs to change his driving style...
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Verstappen was in a much better car than Vandoorne is in right now, one that doesn't break down constantly and suffer from large power deficits. And Alonso is by far and away the number 1 driver at McLaren as they try to keep him as happy as possible. And let's not forget he's the best F1 driver on the grid. Period.

The Sauber, as much as it pains me to say it, was a better car then the McLaren at that point. And his Q1 run was delayed by, surprise suprise, power unit problems, so he only had one or two runs, but got stuck up in traffic. So of course he'd fail to out qualify a Sauber that had all session to run.

And he spent a good year driving Super Formula cars instead of an F1 car, so of course he'd develop habits there that would creep into his early days of his career. It's not at all surprising.

Also, you seem to forget Vandoorne scored a point on debut in Bahrain last year, in a poor McLaren Honda. Something Alonso nor Button couldn't do for quite a while.

Saidur_Ali
I would rate Maldanado as a quicker F1 driver than Vandoorne for the moment, he is out of F1 and brings decent money to team so I think Vandoorne will have a short career in F1 unless he massively improves.
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And with this quote, it all becomes clear. If you think Maldonado is a better driver than Vandoorne, you're absolutely delusional and have no clue what talent is.
 
Saidur_Ali
Remember you have an issue with how long Palmer took to win GP2
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It took Palmer four years to do it. Vandoorne won it in two.

Saidur_Ali
He seems to be able to beat the drivers who won't make it as a F1 driver but has got defeated by younger drivers than him who made it into F1 like Kvyat, Sainz and Magnussen.
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How is he supposed to beat drivers who have a vastly-superior car to him?
 
Man. I know FP times are nothing to go by, but I really hope for the championship sake, that Red Bull has found the speed to challenge Mercedes and Ferrari.

Edit.

The straight is so wide that it completely destroys any sense of speed. They're doing 320 and it looks like 100. :lol:
 
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