2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Baku, June 04 - 06

[Tony]

Yes maybe we can do better but can we do enough to challenge Merc and Red Bull? Probably not. So what's the point of investing in big updates that ultimately won't improve our standing? We are P3 at the moment.

Having said that, we need to be careful of AlphaTauri and Aston Martin interfering with our fight with McLaren.

Personally for me as a fan, I am not really concerned whether Ferrari finish anywhere from last to second best this season. We know already that Ferrari are not fast enough to finish first, so I prefer they end up wherever they have to that gives them the best advantage for next year. Now obviously, Ferrari do care because there's pride and money involved, but let's just hope Ferrari can get as much of an advantage as possible for the next round of changes or it's going to be a very long decade ahead of us as fans :(

[Tony]

Max Verstappen had bad luck today and retired from the lead through no fault of his own, Lewis Hamilton made a mistake and paid for it, thats not bad luck. Hamilton would have lost 11 points to Max if Verstappens tire does not blow. And yet Hamilton now lost 0 points, so Hamilton rather was lucky today, just made a huge mistake.

Yeah it seems LH was very lucky in his misfortune... MV lost out the most today...

[paneristi]

I think we should appreciate what LEC snd SAI had achieved in Baku, given our cars are weak. Ferrari is F1’s legacy, so it is bothersome (to me, at least) that we are struggling even on mid-pack, and the management can only say “we’ll be better next year” yet we usually made less progress compared to other teams. Perhaps the top guys are more interested in selling merchandise than winning F1? Nice guy is not needed. We need winning, top podium, 1-2, like Scuderia Ferrari should be.

[20000rpm]

Personally for me as a fan, I am not really concerned whether Ferrari finish anywhere from last to second best this season. We know already that Ferrari are not fast enough to finish first, so I prefer they end up wherever they have to that gives them the best advantage for next year. Now obviously, Ferrari do care because there's pride and money involved, but let's just hope Ferrari can get as much of an advantage as possible for the next round of changes or it's going to be a very long decade ahead of us as fans :(

While adding to it, the team also needs to ensure that the lads do not get demotivated with the current performance. Frankly, we would have been further down the order had it not been for these amazing drivers. And this year is a long one to keep them motivated. While I have seen steps taken by Ferrari in this regard, especially Carlos(message on the steering wheel in Monoco, his race engineer telling him to keep his head down while giving him info during the race)and they are in the right direction.

[20000rpm]

Turkey Gp cancelled so it got replaced by two back to back races in Austria.

Thanks for the update. Bit disappointed though, Singapore and Turkish GP cancelled which were somewhat favourable to our car this year.

[jgonzalesm6]

What is the Mercedes magic button and what does it do?

Lewis Hamilton threw away a potential Formula 1 victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix by accidentally pressing a "magic" button on his steering wheel. Here is what that magic brake setting actually does.

Hamilton lost the chance to fight for the win and the opportunity to regain the lead of the F1 drivers’ championship at the Baku restart after a dramatic Turn 1 lock-up.

Just moments after surging to the front for the two-lap restart triggered by Max Verstappen’s crash, Hamilton’s front tyres locked up as he hit the brakes and he skated down the escape road.

After trailing home at the back of the field, Hamilton immediately told his team that he suspected what had caused the drama: the famous Mercedes ‘brake magic’.

He said over team radio: "Did I leave the magic on? I could have sworn I turned that off."

So what is this magic setting and what exactly does it do?
The magic button

We’ve heard it referred to over the radio on many occasions, sometimes as a ‘magic paddle’, and George Russell last year talked about needing to hit the ‘magic button’ during his one-off appearance at the Sakhir GP.

‘Brake magic’ is actually a button on the rear of the steering wheel that is a very clever tool to help drivers generate heat quickly for the front tyres.

When F1 moved to the hybrid power units in 2014, it did so knowing that the braking system would need to be overhauled too. For there needed to be more electronic assistance for brake balance, given the extra onus on energy recovery via the MGU-K.

As a consequence, teams had to get used to using a brake-by-wire system (above), with separate maps created within the software to manage the front to rear brake balance, whilst also considering the prevailing level of harvesting being conducted by the MGU-K.

Whereas brake bias used to be controlled by a manual lever inside the cockpit, it’s a process that’s been shifted on to the steering wheel via control settings.

This requires the driver to select increments on dials along the bottom edge, which you’ll often see flash up on the steering wheel’s display when FOM is using the onboard shots.

The driver has a few tools at their disposal in this regard, with a rotary and two buttons used on the Mercedes wheel for brake balance, and another rotary to select the amount of engine braking.

The magic button is an override setting though, and hitting it sends the brake bias much further forward than you’d ever use under normal race conditions.

It shifts the brake balance to around 90% of the front axle, whereas typically a driver would select between 55-60% during normal use. Once in play, the magic setting also prevents MGU-K from recovering energy.

It is activated as a way of transferring more of the heat generated by the brakes into the tyres, in order that they come into their working range quicker than if a normal setting was used.

In Hamilton’s case, he opted to use the brake magic function on the formation lap before the standing restart in order to heat the front tyres.

His success in having heated up the brakes (and tyres) was obvious by the way we saw the brakes smoking so much as he waited for the grid to form up behind him.

Once in his grid slot, Hamilton will have deactivated the brake magic function via the controls on the wheel and then set about preparing for the restart.

However, during the start, as he steered away from Sergio Perez in the run to Turn 1 he accidentally hit the ‘magic’ button – engaging the brake bias override.

This moved the brake balance forward and caused him to snatch the brakes into Turn 1, before sailing past the apex into the run-off area and effectively ending his chances of scoring points.

Mercedes’ post-race investigation will look into how Hamilton was able to reactivate the magic setting, and that will potentially prompt tweaks to its steering wheel controls or software settings to ensure it cannot happen again.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/wh...mpression=true

[20000rpm]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je75lhoEt4o
Apparently, the headset lives on to see another day thanks to Toto's restraint.

[WS6TransAm01]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je75lhoEt4o
Apparently, the headset lives on to see another day thanks to Toto's restraint.

I saw this on IG and it made my day. Nothing is more fun that seeing Toto have a hissy fit cause one of both of those tools screwed the pooch.

[jgonzalesm6]

F1 fans when Lewis Hamilton locked-up into turn 1...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dzVZ0MAuhw

[20000rpm]

F1 fans when Lewis Hamilton locked-up into turn 1...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dzVZ0MAuhw

Hehe.. good one. Even I, sought of jumped from my chair seeing Ham going for the shortcut.

[aroutis]

Hehe.. good one. Even I, sought of jumped from my chair seeing Ham going for the shortcut.

I cheered loudly , honest to God. There is nothing better than Lewis and Merc scoring zero points. It's.. good for the sport:)

[FerrariF60]

I cheered loudly , honest to God. There is nothing better than Lewis and Merc scoring zero points. It's.. good for the sport:)

exactly my thoughts on this.....the more of these the merrier ......lol
like i said at the beginnign of the year, if Ferrari can't win the championship this year (for obvious reasons....aka missing the 20HP or so from the engine) i really hope (as much as i hate saying it) that red bull takes the champioships away from them

[wisepie]

exactly my thoughts on this.....the more of these the merrier ......lol
like i said at the beginnign of the year, if Ferrari can't win the championship this year (for obvious reasons....aka missing the 20HP or so from the engine) i really hope (as much as i hate saying it) that red bull takes the champioships away from them

Same here, but I'm wary of enjoying other teams' misfortunes because it could easily have been one of our boys! Anyway, it's usually Ferrari fans who suffer from disappointment time after time.

[tpe]

The thing is, I am tired of this GOAT thing. LH had it easy all this time. And although I admire him because he makes too few mistakes, I truly believe that this is happening because he has no pressure. And when more pressure applies, he will have to handle it and then we will how faultless or not is.

So, mistakes like this, or the one in Imola (not the go out thing, but the noob thing of destroying his front wing) are good for this purpose.

[Brembo]

Imagine Sir Lewis pushing a wrong button on his rocket ship! F-1 needs a brake from Merc & Co. every race, fans by the millions are happy with what happened. The " mistakes " are truly for the sport to stay strong; and it works. Charles; Carlos and Mick i'm sure want to know the sport is very much more alive and well. Ferrari on the podiums and maybe a point or more fore Mick soon.

[aroutis]

Same here, but I'm wary of enjoying other teams' misfortunes because it could easily have been one of our boys! Anyway, it's usually Ferrari fans who suffer from disappointment time after time.

It is a matter of perception. The way I see it, this is a great year as it turns out for us, if one takes into consideration what a disaster the previous year was.
One needs to be realistic. We could not possibly be challenging for a championship THIS year if one considers where we ended up just last year, but I am pretty sure
that very few expected where we are (#3) this year.
So , as we speak, I am cautiously optimistic for 2022 and the past 2 races specifically, I see as great results. !

[aroutis]

The thing is, I am tired of this GOAT thing. LH had it easy all this time. And although I admire him because he makes too few mistakes, I truly believe that this is happening because he has no pressure. And when more pressure applies, he will have to handle it and then we will how faultless or not is.

So, mistakes like this, or the one in Imola (not the go out thing, but the noob thing of destroying his front wing) are good for this purpose.

I agree. Lewis had virtually no pressure, a huge advantage re. engine and also had it quite easily re. FIA.
When pressure is on, he will make mistakes and we 're witnessing it as we speak. As I said, good for the sport.

[wisepie]

It is a matter of perception. The way I see it, this is a great year as it turns out for us, if one takes into consideration what a disaster the previous year was.
One needs to be realistic. We could not possibly be challenging for a championship THIS year if one considers where we ended up just last year, but I am pretty sure
that very few expected where we are (#3) this year.
So , as we speak, I am cautiously optimistic for 2022 and the past 2 races specifically, I see as great results. !

I get your point and we have all been relatively happy to see that we are more competitive in 2021, but the next series of circuits on the calendar probably won't work in Ferrari's favour, and I feel it will be harder for us to maintain that P3 in the WDC, given the ICE superiority of the Merc and Honda-powered cars, specifically Mclaren in Ferrari's case. Charles and Carlos can only do so much.

[SilverSpeed]

Mazespin....

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/v...348271416.html

[20000rpm]

Just curious.. Did Ferrari bring a new PU for the Baku circuit?

[aroutis]

I get your point and we have all been relatively happy to see that we are more competitive in 2021, but the next series of circuits on the calendar probably won't work in Ferrari's favour, and I feel it will be harder for us to maintain that P3 in the WDC, given the ICE superiority of the Merc and Honda-powered cars, specifically Mclaren in Ferrari's case. Charles and Carlos can only do so much.

It is a marathon, not a sprint. It is 23 races. We need to remember that we 'll lose and regain the 3rd spot. It remains to be seen where we'll end up at the end of the championship.
The point I'm trying to make is; when 2020 ended, we were at shambles, and in all honesty, when 2021 started, noone expected to be where we are and compete the way we are competing.
This is what we need to be keeping this year and keep eyes on the prize. Which is 2022.

[aroutis]

Just curious.. Did Ferrari bring a new PU for the Baku circuit?

AFAIK,yes.

[20000rpm]

Are we allowed to make changes to increase the PU power? Coz the Sky commentators mentioned a lot of times that the Merc new PU has a lot of power. Kind off confused now.

[jgonzalesm6]

Are we allowed to make changes to increase the PU power? Coz the Sky commentators mentioned a lot of times that the Merc new PU has a lot of power. Kind off confused now.

Ferrari is working on reliability and to improve ERS. nothing on the ICE unit.

Merc PU has been up on power and ERS deployment.



AMuS

Honda is planning to bring new engines in France. By then, the Honda V6 turbo should have turned the last loop on the test bench.

Honda wanted to further secure the reliability [reason why no new engines in Baku] and thus can release more power.

Red Bull engineers: "With better reliability, we can call up more power."

Sergio Perez, Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly will get new engines. Yuki Tsunoda might have to wait since he is already on his second power unit…

[jgonzalesm6]

VIDEO: How Every Driver Passed The Double Yellow of Verstappen’s Incident

Max Verstappen went into the wall after a tyre failure on the main straight of Baku. Despite this very dangerous place where they go over 300 km/h the safety car wasn’t deployed immediately. All drivers raced by close to the Red Bull as shown in the video below.

https://www.sportvideos.tv/video-how...pens-incident/

[GustavoTrunci]

It looks like late call for almost every driver until Riccardo.... That was dangerous. And Leclerc's engineer does not know what's left and right....

[SS454]

VIDEO: How Every Driver Passed The Double Yellow of Verstappen’s Incident

Max Verstappen went into the wall after a tyre failure on the main straight of Baku. Despite this very dangerous place where they go over 300 km/h the safety car wasn’t deployed immediately. All drivers raced by close to the Red Bull as shown in the video below.

https://www.sportvideos.tv/video-how...pens-incident/

The only driver that properly slowed down was Mick Schumacher.

[KimiBot]

Instant karma?

Monaco: "Lessons to be learned from today? For me personally, no," Hamilton told Ziggo Sport. "The team, for sure."

And then there was Baku.

[ntukza]

Max Verstappen had bad luck today and retired from the lead through no fault of his own, Lewis Hamilton made a mistake and paid for it, thats not bad luck. Hamilton would have lost 11 points to Max if Verstappens tire does not blow. And yet Hamilton now lost 0 points, so Hamilton rather was lucky today, just made a huge mistake.

Good point. Well put.

[Brembo]

Sir Lewis was indeed lucky not losing any points . And even more lucky because of his mistake are millions of F-1 fans that want Merc and Sir Lewis out of 1st place. Instead of thinking boring; everyone is excited for the next races to see who will be on the podium and the winner. And there's our two Ferrari drivers right up there in the front mix!