Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2017 - Practice and Qualifying

[alluri84]

I bet the media will say nothing about bottas being a number 2 driver when that happens

Correct. On the other hand, can't wait to hear crofty crying if seb manages to overtake kimi.

[mwk360]

Whoever laid the foundation did a pretty good job. Not sure who did it though, maybe it was Alison before he left or maybe it was Binotto, i don't think it's official. Nevertheless, the SF70H is a great car but it needs to be further developed because Ferrari are in a brutal development race. It looks like the team sucks with upgrades. We'll know for sure in Austria though. If we don't go for the win there we are toast.

thanks for info, yeah most disappointing thing for me is seeing that gap increase more and more

[jgonzalesm6]

It almost sounds impossible to beat them in a year , does RB have the same force as Mercs & Ferrari because they are close to us and usually get match better and closer to Mercs within the year. I guess you right the location is extremely important, devoting all your time etc , So much sources to get great heads into Merc HQ

Redbull is interesting for a number of reasons. 1.) They use a Renault F1 engine badged TAG for sponsorship reasons. While Ferrari and Mercedes give Haas and Williams old spec.

or re-mapped engines (meaning no possible way of getting to the front), Renault is different; they use the same engine as RedBull uses. They don't do what Ferrari and MB do to their

"competitors." but Renault are no where near the hp of Ferrari and MB....probably bout 25hp down...which is huge in F1. 2.) RedBull has Adrian Newey....nuff said on that one. 3.)

Dieter Mateschitz(48% owner of RedBull) has enough money to put two teams in F1 therefore he also has alot of money along with his counterpart(Thai family). So his(DM) and his

counter-parts money is what drives RedBull by selling "energy-drinks." Not cars......ENERGY-DRINKS!!!. Their location by and large has something to do with it as well.

Organization wise I would put them right there with Ferrari....they do mess up...but no over and over again when it comes to strategy. Also, their driver pool recruits talented young

drivers.....Webber, Vettel, Ricci, Max.

[Ferrarichamp]

Ferrari really misses a leader like Todt.

[mwk360]

Redbull is interesting for a number of reasons. 1.) They use a Renault F1 engine badged TAG for sponsorship reasons. While Ferrari and Mercedes give Haas and Williams old spec.

or re-mapped engines (meaning no possible way of getting to the front), Renault is different; they use the same engine as RedBull uses. They don't do what Ferrari and MB do to their

"competitors." but Renault are no where near the hp of Ferrari and MB....probably bout 25hp down...which is huge in F1. 2.) RedBull has Adrian Newey....nuff said on that one. 3.)

Dieter Mateschitz(48% owner of RedBull) has enough money to put two teams in F1 therefore he also has alot of money along with his counterpart(Thai family). So his(DM) and his

counter-parts money is what drives RedBull by selling "energy-drinks." Not cars......ENERGY-DRINKS!!!. Their location by and large has something to do with it as well.

Organization wise I would put them right there with Ferrari....they do mess up...but no over and over again when it comes to strategy. Also, their driver pool recruits talented young

drivers.....Webber, Vettel, Ricci, Max.

Thank you very much for info! Seems they are very good with recruitment. Imagining them with a Ferrari or Merc engines and i think they'd be as powerful as mercs on track 0_0

[mwk360]

Ferrari really misses a leader like Todt.

i think there was some article lately talking about his progress and leadership with FIA , he is great

[mwk360]

If the drivers or team gave some indication why they were so far off today then i think it wouldn't be so bad, saying race pace could be closer, sounds like they don't have any solutions .

[springfield]

Guys, don't give up after one bad qualy. Maybe this track just suits them or we screwed up the setup. Hopefully race will be better or we'll be back on the top in Austria, you can never know. Championship is long

[Ferrarichamp]

Guys, don't give up after one bad qualy. Maybe this track just suits them or we screwed up the setup. Hopefully race will be better or we'll be back on the top in Austria, you can never know. Championship is long

there is no doubt Ferrari will win more races this year. All we can do is try to win as many as possible.

[mwk360]

Red Bull's recent chassis progress and latest engine update has helped lift the team level with Ferrari in overall pace terms – and even ahead of its rival – reckons Max Verstappen.

[FerrariSteve]

I've given up on this race, I simply don't think we have the pace to get near the Mercs and I can foresee rapper boy going off into the distance as his #2 driver slows everyone up. Pitiful really, shame Toto doesn't have the stomach to have 2 top drivers in the team.

Roll on Austria, maybe there we will have a better chance at beating them and getting some solid points.

[gmpe23]

www.f1today.net/en/news/f1/228038/vettel-thinks-mercedes-were-out-of-reach

<<Vettel also wore an old engine for qualifying and will do so for the race, as he was forced to take the original engine out this morning when a hydraulics leak was detected.>>

[Smintlemon]

Oh man.... This higher Tyre Pressure kills us. And without highspeed corners the Front tyres dont get in the Working range

[mwk360]

When asked if he was surprised that Ferrari appeared to have fallen away from Mercedes, Verstappen said: "I am not sure if they dropped back. I think Mercedes, with the long straights and improving the car again, they made a step."

[mwk360]

Can someone explain to me that when Seb changes this old PU unit he is currently using, will he receive a grid penalty? would be stupid to risk racing next GP on a unit that has a higher chance to fail as well as a lower powered one

[mwk360]

"We are again up close to Ferrari, or even in front – so that is good," explained Verstappen. "We expected difficulties on this track, so we can be happy with the performance of the car.

"The car so far here has been working quite well. We still have to improve compared to Mercedes for example, especially this weekend again, so we have to keep working hard."

Verstappen said that winding his engine down after Q2, due to an issue related to the rev limiter, allied to a lock-up at Turn 7 and a subsequent gear sync issue, cost him at least four tenths – which would have been enough for third on the grid.

"We should be ahead without all of those things that happened in qualifying," he said.



https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f...=recirculation

[doublesixes]

I anticipate that RB drivers will take out one or both Ferraris by turn 1 or 2, possibly taking themselves out of the competition as well. More inclined to think that fast charging MV will do the honors as he's proven how vehemently aggressive he could be in the early stages of the race.

Ferrari can not match the get away speeds, (particularly in this horrendous circuit) of MB and RB seems quite capable of challenging Ferrari from a stand still.

[doublesixes]

So get your popcorn and beer ready for the show. It's gonna be a massacre at rows 2 and 3.

[mwk360]

So get your popcorn and beer ready for the show. It's gonna be a massacre at rows 2 and 3.

lol, thats worst case scenario....which is highly likely tbh

[IulianFerrari]

Seb Hardly any setup in fp3 , low PU and barely slower than Kimi

Your comment is just stupid, Kimi got 3rd, thats the most anybody could have gotten today.

[IulianFerrari]

Incredible how people have gone from worried to given up, even before the race started. May I remind you all the times most have given up before the race and we won?

[doublesixes]

Incredible how people have gone from worried to given up, even before the race started. May I remind you all the times most have given up before the race and we won?

Buddy, if a second + deficit isn't a good enough reason to give up, I don't know what is.

[wappad]

Incredible how people have gone from worried to given up, even before the race started. May I remind you all the times most have given up before the race and we won?

Agree with you.

Only Kimi didn't start from the first 2 rows once in Bahrain. 15x from the first 2 rows this year for our boys.

3 wins, 2 poles, all points- finishes apart from Kimi's bad luck during the first lap in Spain.

I'm sure the team works their heads off this year too and as always I look forward to tomorrows race.

Bad times or good times, I love to watch the red cars around the F1- circuits.

If you win, you have lots of friends, if you don't..

Forza Ferrari

[Christopher]

Buddy, if a second + deficit isn't a good enough reason to give up, I don't know what is.

If leading the championship isn't a good enough reason to keep faith I don't know what is

[Hornet]

www.f1today.net/en/news/f1/228038/vettel-thinks-mercedes-were-out-of-reach

<<Vettel also wore an old engine for qualifying and will do so for the race, as he was forced to take the original engine out this morning when a hydraulics leak was detected.>>

Things like this really kills the excitement of a championship fight.
I sure miss the days when we can just swap the engine out for another new one anytime we want

[doublesixes]

If leading the championship isn't a good enough reason to keep faith I don't know what is

I really hope I'm proven wrong and that tomorrow's race will be a case of the underdog beating the favorites. Somehow I doubt that will happen though. Kimi doesn't have what it takes to overcome MB. Seb, who could win races, with a second rate PU will have a tough time keeping RB at bay. Oh well, there's always a next time but this gross speed deficit looks ominous going forward.

[FerrariF60]

Of course its pretty clear that Merc is on another level

and that;s WHY he's gonna join the MERC FORCE in 2018....ferrari as usual is slowly losing the development battle over the season....aero and power unit now...so i'm wouldnt' be surprised if he's gonna jump ship

[FerrariF60]

If leading the championship isn't a good enough reason to keep faith I don't know what is

for now we're leading it....but what concerns me more is that the Merc have fixed their tire issues they had at the beginning of the year and now they're gonna run wiht both WDC and WCC....

unelss Ferrari has something to say about it.....but given the previous years we're always losing in the development season for the rest of the year......let's hope this year will be different

[JPBD]

I'm checking out of this forum for a week or two. Honestly the people here are unbearable. This is sport! You never give up. Remember why you support Ferrari before you whinge about this and that. You don't KNOW we're losing the development race. I think many things have transpired at this track to generate this result: non-abrasive track surface, high tyre pressures, old power unit, track layout.

All that considered, we are second best. Yes, the gap is 1 second - but it is 1 second to US! People think Ferrari is doing such a terrible job, but we are still leading the WDC. We could very well have won the last race if not for Max. People are so short sighted. It's honestly like dealing with children here. I can't handle it. Grow up people!! Omg

[doublesixes]

for now we're leading it....but what concerns me more is that the Merc have fixed their tire issues they had at the beginning of the year and now they're gonna run wiht both WDC and WCC....

unelss Ferrari has something to say about it.....but given the previous years we're always losing in the development season for the rest of the year......let's hope this year will be different

MB was just toying with the rest. They "lost" three races so the ratings would go up a little bit and the business side of this circus would not suffer as it had been doing for the last couple of years. These MB guys are doing either something great with their car or something extremely inconspicuously illegal to gain such a tremendous advantage. They also have LH which is the best driver of the last few years. In any case, the championship has already been defined and it's not going to go our way, sadly. As always, these are my pessimistic although highly realistic views on this year's championships.