F1 2023: Azerbaijan GP - Baku (Apr 30)

[M5Rick]

Every drivers radio at the end of race.

[G30M]

Max says he was not happy with car balance so while behind Perez was changing all the settings and at the end he found a balance setting that allowed him to close in towards Perez, and he's now very happy with what he's achieved

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by g21

Max says he was not happy with car balance so while behind Perez was changing all the settings and at the end he found a balance setting that allowed him to close in towards Perez, and he's now very happy with what he's achieved

Kudos to Perez for not cracking under pressure. He took the safety car pit stop opportunity with both hands and remained level-headed, making no mistakes.

Also, alike during the 2023 Saudi Arabian GP, no "OK Valtteri, we will invert the cars into Turn 1" result-doping interference at camp Red Bull.

[M5Rick]

The race highlights.

Maximum points for RB again and with Newey's new contract
it looks like only Ferrari and Alonso can hang on to their coat tails.

[M5Rick]

Constructor points after 4 races and a Sprint
RB 180
AM/M 87
Merc 76
Ferrari 62
---------------
Drivers
Max 93
Checo 87
Fernie 60

[NYG]

Even if Sergio got lucky with the safety car, he won this race 100% on merit.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by NYG

Even if Sergio got lucky with the safety car, he won this race 100% on merit.

Agree, kudos to Checo for that effort and he was certainly in his maximum'street' mode there.

[NYG]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Agree, kudos to Checo for that effort and he was certainly in his maximum'street' mode there.

His pace was incredible all weekend. I think, like most of us do, that once we hit the European circuits, Max's mastery will be difficult to contend with. We may even see Alonso's abilities highlighted.

[GuidoK]

So I was wondering about Max' pitstop during the yellow flag of DEV.

Isn't that a strategic risk?
I mean there might be an advantage as under yellow it's safe to assume that cars drive a little bit more slowly (at the place of the accident), and when coming in for tyres would result in less time lost, but that only applies when the accident happened within ~20sec of the entry of the pitlane. In this case DEV crashed in turn 6 which is probably more than a minute away, so there you gain nothing.
And on the other hand, a yellow flag means in incident and can always turn in to a VSC/SC situation (which it also did in this instance) which would mean coming in during yellow would mean a substantial risk to miss out on a 'free' pitstop.

So taking that into account, it would virtually always mean a strategic risk to pit during yellow flag, unless yellow is within ~2-3 corners from the pitlane.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by NYG

Even if Sergio got lucky with the safety car, he won this race 100% on merit.

Sure . I totally agree .

On the other hand...
Some stats. :

1-MAX was already P1 in lap 4
2-His tyres were already gone in lap 10 and was forced to pit at that unfortunate moment

MAX was complaining about a bad balance . And that was really visible ..
He was sliding around like it was wet , and that's why his tyres were gone in no time .
Later on , he was complaining again about the balance . And only in the 10 last laps he found by the settings in his car a much better balance .

I think there wasn't time enough to find the ultimate setup for MAX's car , after the race he said my car ran really better in the last 10 laps .

Sure . Checo had the best pace in this race ,that's why I said congrats to Checo .

[NYG]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Sure . I tottaly agree .

On the other hand...
Some stats. :

1-MAX was already P1 in lap 4
2-His tyres were already gone in lap 10 and was forced to pit at that unfortunate moment

MAX was complaining about a bad balance . And that was really visible ..
He was sliding around like it was wet , and that's why his tyres were gone in no time .
Later on , he was complaining again about the balance . And only in the 10 last laps he found by the settings in his car a much better balance .

I think there wasn't time enough to find the ultimate setup for MAX's car , after the race he said my car ran really better in the last 10 laps .

Sure . Checo had the best pace in this race ,that's why I said congrats to Checo .

I like how after checo banged the barrier, he gained front end on the car lol.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by NYG

I like how after checo banged the barrier, he gained front end on the car lol.

MAX banged the barrier as well (softly)

[GuyOh]

Hehehe

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by GuyOh

Hehehe

Yeah the pos is good at that

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Yeah the pos is good at that

Horner said : The big hole was only an inch away from the HONDA PU 'radiator .
Russell's twin-dive bomb was bad luck for MAX , but this could have been a DNF for MAX ...

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Horner said : The big hole was only an inch away from the HONDA PU 'radiator .
Russell's twin-dive bomb was bad luck for MAX , but this could have been a DNF for MAX ...

The Russel boy knows this and I'll lay odds that's what he was hoping for. I was saying all along that wolfy plans that from his warlock dark place with his bunch of yes men, and dirty tricks are at the forefront at brackley.

[G30M]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

So I was wondering about Max' pitstop during the yellow flag of DEV.

Isn't that a strategic risk?
I mean there might be an advantage as under yellow it's safe to assume that cars drive a little bit more slowly (at the place of the accident), and when coming in for tyres would result in less time lost, but that only applies when the accident happened within ~20sec of the entry of the pitlane. In this case DEV crashed in turn 6 which is probably more than a minute away, so there you gain nothing.
And on the other hand, a yellow flag means in incident and can always turn in to a VSC/SC situation (which it also did in this instance) which would mean coming in during yellow would mean a substantial risk to miss out on a 'free' pitstop.

So taking that into account, it would virtually always mean a strategic risk to pit during yellow flag, unless yellow is within ~2-3 corners from the pitlane.

Perez was about to unleash DRS come the straight.

The internet theory is they saw that and immediately pitted Max to avoid a crash between the 2. Rosberg v Ham, Vettel v Webber.

Wise.

[Artemis]

[Jackie Chiles]

Originally Posted by g21

Perez was about to unleash DRS come the straight.

The internet theory is they saw that and immediately pitted Max to avoid a crash between the 2. Rosberg v Ham, Vettel v Webber.

Wise.

Wise? Look at the result.

[G30M]

Originally Posted by Jackie Chiles

Wise? Look at the result.

the result was there wasn't a million red bulls pieces buried into the barriers.

[Jackie Chiles]

Originally Posted by g21

the result was there wasn't a million red bulls pieces buried into the barriers.

Yeah, I guess RB is risk avoidant.