2022 Formula One Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Max Verstappen.jpg
Formula 1's eighth race of the 2022 season sees the field take to the streets of Azerbaijan with Red Bull and Max Verstappen carrying heavy championship momentum into the weekend.

Sergio Perez collected his first win of the season at Monaco the last time F1 raced, notching the fifth win for Red Bull over seven races. Red Bull and driver Max Verstappen now hold the lead in both the constructors and drivers championships.

Ferrari's strong start to the season has slowed somewhat, though Carlos Sainz managed to split the podium finishes for Red Bull last time out. His teammate Charles Leclerc was unable to collect a first victory at his home race, though his fourth place finish was better than many previous outings in Monaco.

George Russell's impressive season continued through the seventh race, as he crossed the line with his Mercedes with yet another top five finish. Teammate Lewis Hamilton looked stronger in Monaco than he had in previous races this season, but could not find his way past Fernando Alonso and was the first in a long train of cars that stagnated on a track where overtaking is rare.

Finishing behind Russell was Lando Norris, who has been the better performing driver for McLaren this season. His team finds themselves with a sizable gap to the next constructor in the championship for the first time this year.

Azerbaijan has typically afforded significant passing opportunities thanks to a long, flat-out and DRS-assisted run from turn 19 to turn 1, so this should be an exciting race. Ferrari will look to reclaim some momentum in the championship standings another strong finish from Sainz or Leclerc. Will the red team fight back against the blue team after having no wins since Australia?

What are your predictions for this weekend? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter @RaceDepartment
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Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

Comments

I don't do the "fan of " stuff in sports. I just want to see top performers do what they do best. But after :poop: head Jos Verstappen's diatribe last week about how the team needs to support his son, even as Checko won, I am now a "fan" of Checko just to spite Jos.

Ungrateful bastard. Reminds of that stupid father of the Ball basketball brothers.
 
D
good luck, have fun
 
Horrible horrible horrible track - just a bunch of sharp 90° corners linked with an overly long straight. I fired up F1 2021 yesterday and drove a few laps, and it's an absolute chore to drive - I feel for the entire grid this weekend

Another street circuit that really doesn't suit F1 cars.

My money is on the safety car taking the top spot on the podium.
 
i expected mercedes a bit stronger after the updates... it will be between RB and Ferrari that's for sure. Ferrari still seems to have the best package so far this year
 
Charles is a very good driver but Max is more consistent when it comes to raw race pace.
I'd like to see Charles win but it will be a tall order.
Much as I want to see that smug look wiped of Christian Horner's mug, I have to give credit to Max.
Here's hoping Mercedes gets their act together so we can have a three-way fight.
 
D
Charles is a very good driver but Max is more consistent when it comes to raw race pace.
I'd like to see Charles win but it will be a tall order.
Much as I want to see that smug look wiped of Christian Horner's mug, I have to give credit to Max.
Here's hoping Mercedes gets their act together so we can have a three-way fight.
I'm dont know for sure whether Max is more consistent, they both make mistakes, but redbull are the strongest team in the paddock when it comes to race strategy by some margin.
 
Oh no! Poor LH!

How can we jusify him beating beaten by Russel every single race (while using the same car)?

I found it:
Let Wolf constantly say LH is the best driver but his car is bad.
Let's fix his halo cam so that it shows only the edge of a phosphoric helmet (unlike all other drivers).(Other drivers with porpoising? Who cares? Not poor drivers. They deserved their porpoising). Let's make the whole world compassionate at with him (again). Let's make the media focus on his every b!tch and moan on team radio.. You know.. He never lied in his complaints before.
 
Oh no! Poor LH!

How can we jusify him beating beaten by Russel every single race (while using the same car)?

I found it:
Let Wolf constantly say LH is the best driver but his car is bad.
Let's fix his halo cam so that it shows only the edge of a phosphoric helmet (unlike all other drivers).(Other drivers with porpoising? Who cares? Not poor drivers. They deserved their porpoising). Let's make the whole world compassionate at with him (again). Let's make the media focus on his every b!tch and moan on team radio.. You know.. He never lied in his complaints before.
Forgot to also point the car vs driver talk:

Leclerc doing his best but suffering extreme failures due to reliability and not his own driving?
Directors and commentators: Won't talk about that for one second.

RB having a bad car in terms of reliability but fast in overall race pace?
Commentators: It's unfair. Such thing has never happened during the last decade. FIA should intervein.

Hamilton having the best car in terms of reliability and the third fastest car of the grid?
Directors and commentators: We need to talk about the sh!t box cars.........
 
Did AlphaTauri just invent a worse way to make the car turn extra to one side but got it banned during a race?
Like the McLaren 3rd brake pedal for extra turning during corners, but extra turning on DRS straights with half a rear wing (maybe a bit counterproductive)
 
Last edited:
reliability was bad the first races for RB....Ferrari seems to have made the car faster in addition to their good cornering speed... maybe that's why it's less reliable??
 
The Ferraris retiring early pretty much killed all the excitement. Ferrari needs to work on reliability or Red Bull will run away with the championship.
 
Both teams have and have had problems with reliability. But you'd rather have a wing partially fail or have to keep it from flopping around than writing off an engine during a race.

Just hope it'll even out over the season.
 
Forgot to also point the car vs driver talk:

Leclerc doing his best but suffering extreme failures due to reliability and not his own driving?
Directors and commentators: Won't talk about that for one second.

RB having a bad car in terms of reliability but fast in overall race pace?
Commentators: It's unfair. Such thing has never happened during the last decade. FIA should intervein.

Hamilton having the best car in terms of reliability and the third fastest car of the grid?
Directors and commentators: We need to talk about the sh!t box cars.........
I won't lie, I thought that Ferrari car is so superior and going to be so dominent, so much so that I thought their forfeits are good to the competition, because they can easily and quickly catch up later.

But at this point I started to worry. Ferrari are being jerks a bit too much at this point (or always, to be honest). Leclerc doesn't deserve this. He has always been a good driver.
 

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