2021 Formula One Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Baku Grand Prix Formula 1.jpg

Will Hamilton regain the championship lead at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix?


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Formula One is back in Baku for its fifth visit to the Azeri capital city.

The sport did not get the chance to race around the streets of Baku as expected last season. However, we are back by the Caspian sea as the race for the 2021 title begins to intensify.

The track is unusual in its nature, being a high speed street circuit. A fast lap around Baku requires a great deal of confidence through sectors one and two, which feature plenty of walls and heavy braking zones with limited runoff areas. The notorious castle section, an uphill stretch around the Old City features a track width of just over seven metres, and is set to become even faster this year. The inside kerb on entry to the castle section has been removed, so we should see the cars pass through the trickiest part of the lap quicker than ever before.

What makes the circuit particularly challenging, is that the last two kilometres of the lap are taken flat out. This of course forces teams to run less downforce than they otherwise would, making the cars even more of a handful through the twisty second sector. Conditions should remain dry, although the temperature is expected to be a fair bit hotter than on F1's last visit to the circuit.

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton will head into this weekend as favourites, having won all five races this season between them. Sergio Perez has always gone well at Baku however, having taken podiums here for Force India in 2016 and 2018. McLaren could pose an outside threat too, having shown the strongest straight line speed of all the teams this year. Norris will no doubt hope to continue his good form from Monaco, and make the most of the two kilometre sprint to turn one come race day.

This weekend sees additional pressure applied to world champion, Lewis Hamilton, with rival Max Verstappen leading the drivers standings for the first time in his career. The Briton rued lost points in Monaco, describing Sunday as a "really, really poor performance from the team." He will no doubt bounce back this weekend, as he has done so often in the past. Do you think it'll be enough to regain the championship lead? Let us know in this weekend's poll, and tell us what you're looking forward to about Baku!
About author
Charlie Lockwood
23. Motorsport and Sim Racing enthusiast.

Comments

Interesting:


So Pirelli thinks/assumes that a too low (not allowed) tire pressure could be the cause of the exploded tires of Lance's and Max' car.
Debris and tire structures has been examined and is excluded.

(Dutch) story, english not available yet but very sonnish to be expected

 
Premium
Hmm... Illegally low tyre pressure is now suspected. There are suspicious that certain teams are able to lower their pressures without it being detected by the FIA.

I thought verstappen was very quick to opine that Pirelli would blame debris :unsure:
 
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Hmm... Illegally low tyre pressure is now suspected. There are suspicious that certain teams are able to lower their pressures without it being detected by the FIA.

I thought verstappen was very quick to opine that Pirelli would blame debris :unsure:
Our Max has a new hobby ;)

 
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...aku-tyre-failures.2pILHApKjmVjoDk8NQIvY5.html

“The causes of the two left-rear tyre failures on the Aston Martin and Red Bull cars have been clearly identified. In each case, this was down to a circumferential break on the inner sidewall, which can be related to the running conditions of the tyre, in spite of the prescribed starting parameters (minimum pressure and maximum blanket temperature) having been followed.”

"Embarrassing" indeed :rolleyes:
 
Premium
And now the FIA are introducing new checking procedures to check for illegally low tyre pressures.

I will expect to see certain cars to be slower over the next few races.
 
And now the FIA are introducing new checking procedures to check for illegally low tyre pressures.

I will expect to see certain cars to be slower over the next few races.
Sounds familiar with regards to Ferrari two years ago. Nothing illegal but suddenly 'something' has been changed after FIA had a good conversation with the team. We'll see this weekend in France.
 
Premium
I had to laugh at this paragraph on motorsport.com, regarding Hamiton's first corner lock-up after the restart:

"The Briton had surged into the lead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the red flag restart, but he slid down the Turn 1 escape road after a triggering of his 'brake magic' system moved all the braking force to his front wheels.

While Hamilton immediately confessed to his error, Mercedes says it cannot shirk its own responsibilities in providing a car that is more foolproof."


Interesting use of the last word :laugh:
 
Max already responded to the Pirelli news about the exploded tires. He is very clear: If we (RBR & AM) did something wrong/illegal please tell us. We gave all our data the the Pirelli engineers/data analists. Nothing could be found. We want to learn from it so it won't happen again.

Seems pretty honest to (naive?) me. For Paul Ricard Pirelli decided to increase the pressure of the tires during the weekend. Why was the question?!

And on the other hand we have this 'statement' from Lewis:


Racing is politics :) Hopefully the battles will be on track and may the best one win (on track...)

Edit (4:30PM) meanwhile all drivers refused to attend the Pirelli meeting. Something is not okayish?
 
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