Azerbaijan GP Race Report

Post-qualifying, the stewards were busy.  McLaren wanted the procedures undertaken during the Qualifying sessions investigated after Norris saw a Yellow Flag and aborted his lap, rightly or not.  Gasly was disqualified despite Alpine showing that the flow of fuel at the speed it was gave him no benefit.  

Ocon, who had a technical problem during Qualifying, decided to start from the pit lane rather than last on the grid.  Joining him was Hamilton who changed some bits and pieces on the car and were basically planning a testing session.  There was a big shunt off the start in the Formula 2 race when someone stalled on the grid.  This was a reminder that there are many different ways to make up places on the grid.  Ocon, Hamilton and Norris would all be hoping for some of those.  With so few Red Flags and Safety Cars this season, would they be out in this race?

It wasn't a Piastri special start and LeClerc was able to get away cleanly.  The Red Bull launch is good and Perez overtook Sainz for third and Verstappen also made up a place.  Bearman fell back from his excellent Qualifying position and ended up behind the Williams.  Stroll picked up a puncture in a coming together with Tsunoda.

Norris was up to 11th by lap 3.  His team mate Piastri was close to taking the lead; over the following laps it looked like Piastri would get into LeClerc's DRS zone and push past but slowly the Ferrari built up a gap and held a one second then two second lead.

On Lap 20, after the pit stops, Piastri overtook LeClerc for the lead, with the Ferarri on newer but colder tyres.  Norris had really helped his team mate by holding Perez up to give him a clean pit stop.  There was a lot of battling up and down the pit lane.  Albon and Norris held out a very long time before pitting, waiting to see if the race would be paused any way at any point.  They held up long queues.  Albon pitted on Lap 32 and gave Norris some space to push before his stop.  He came out in 10th behind his team mate, Hulkenberg immediately overtook him.

There were two main battles going on: Piastri, LeClerc and Perez for the top three and then Sainz, Norris, Verstappen, Russell behind them.  Sainz was pretty much on his own, this not being his circuit by his own admission.  The similar make-up team-wise caused a lot of confusion; with all the graphics options available you'd have thought they would be able to let us know who we were watching.

When Norris did pit on Lap 38 of 51, it was a longer one as he overshot his marks and came out in 7th ahead of Alonso.

In the last few laps, LeClerc's newer tyres went off and he was under pressure from Perez and needed Sainz to help.  This didn't seem likely but then Sainz picked up the pace and was right behind the Red Bull, Perez went to make the move but LeClerc held him off and Sainz was able to slip through the hole left for third.  Off LeClerc went for a clear second position on the podium.  Something happened to Sainz's car and he snapped to the side, collecting Perez and sending them both into the wall.  Perez's body language was very upset inside the car.  A Yellow Flag was shown and Verstappen pitted, banking on a Safety Car pit stop, presumably so he could get the point for Fastest Lap.  Norris, who had started 15th, 8 places behind him and his main championship contender was now 3 places ahead of him.  Hands were raised in the Italian garage.  A Virtual Safety Car was called so Norris and Verstappen finished 4th and 5th.

Just before this Colapinto got past Hulkenberg for the final points position but no one showed or told us this.  I also don't know how Hamilton suddenly jumped the two Haas to get into the points.

In the end, Stroll retired himself, the Saubers finished last again and McLaren lead the Constructor's Championship.  There must be some former McLaren leadership who are slowly realising that it was them who had been holding the team back for so long.  Christian Horner said that Sainz "had got a nip up the inside", which made me think that Perez had touched Sainz but the Mexican was adamant that he should get a penalty.  The stewards looked at it and said that no driver had driven erratically (which I guess they will have seen on the data) and both drivers could have done more to avoid the collision.  No penalties were awarded.

Perez needed this strong race more than Red Bull needed the points that were eventually lost (well, nearly).  Alonso was strong but I don't think we saw his car at any point during the race.

What they will need to improve next season (and I don't know if this is due to a change in the time of year we are visiting) is the camera angles.  With the low sun, all the cars were shadowed and appeared black so it was very hard to keep abreast of what was happening.  It didn't help that Sky had dispatched their B Team to commentate.

Azerbaijan GP Qualifying Report

 The past fortnight had brought some big news to the paddock.  Firstly, that Adrian Newey has chosen Aston Martin and the Stroll dollars for his new home.  There were lots of reasons for this choice: the money, the location, the new factory, the two-time world champion...no mention of Lance Stroll though.  Secondly, McLaren decided to get some headlines for themselves as they finally made the choice to give Norris any and all the help they can to get Norris the drivers' championship ahead of Piastri.

Into Qualifying, LeClerc was the favourite to take pole  He had to have three shots at getting through in the first session with various problems.  Sainz was struggling and took the car off the track; not his favourite track.  Colapinto was flying in his Williams, having crashed in Free Practice.  Bearman, subbing for Magnussen in the Haas, also crashed in Free Practice.  Lots of drivers were pushing.  LeClerc was first at the end of the session, with the Williams in second and eighth.  There were lots of brief yellow flags as mistakes were made.  This caught Norris out.  Ocon was last, then both Saubers, Norris and Ricciardo (back to putting in a poor show again).  This was good news for Piastri and Stella as no difficult team orders decisions will need to be made during the race.

The second session was quieter.  Verstappen took the lead, which was needed, with LeClerc in second.  Bearman finished in 11th, 3 places ahead of his team mate Hulkenberg in 14th.  Also out were Tsunoda, Gasly and Stroll in 15th ( a mere 10 places behind his team mate).

In the final session, Verstappen slid the rear end of his car off the track on his first run, piling the pressure on himself for the end.  Williams left the airbox on the car as it went out; his crew pointed this out on the television monitors.  Albon managed to get it out himself and threw it away.  It was an unsafe release of the car and his tyres and time to the line was compromised.   He didn't make it in time and lost his last chance to set a time.  LeClerc predictably took pole, followed by Piastri and Sainz, Perez, Russell, Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso, Colapinto and Albon.  It was still a worthy out-qualifying by the rookie at Williams.  

What Norris needs during the race is for as many drivers as possible to finish ahead and take points from Verstappen.  I think there are several contenders who not only want to do that but are in the position to do it.  It lines up to be a great race.  There has been a dearth of safety cars and red flags this season...will the Baku GP bring them?

Azerbaijan GP Sprint Report

 The first event of the day was the Sprint Shootout - or qualifying for the sprint.  The biggest ask for the drivers was not to damage the car as there was almost no time between the qualifying and race to fix it and, because the engineers will be busy with the sprint race, then less time to fix the car before the main race on Sunday.

It's a shame the FIA didn't go for an old-skool one hour long "see what you can do?" session.  There was a step towards this by limiting cars to one tyre for the whole session, so drivers stayed out for the whole session.  Everyone managed to get through cleanly apart from Sargeant for Williams, who had the biggest wall-smash of the weekend.  If it was going to be anyone....He was also particularly slow in bringing his car to a stop.  With 25 seconds to go, the Red Flag meant the session was over.  With Sargeant actually through to Q2, there would be a free pass for someone to go through to Q3!  Both Alfa Romeos were out along with Tsunoda, Gasly (abysmal weekend so far) and De Vries.

With a few Yellow Flags, Sainz taking a trip off the track, we got through the second qualifying session without any Red Flags, which feels like all the drivers are making progress.  Piastri, Ocon and both Haas were out along with Sargeant and Albon made it through, showing that there is promise in the Williams car, they just need to pick a second driver who is as good as Albon or better.

Norris didn't have any soft tyres to participate in the final Qualifying session.  Somehow LeClerc went straight into the wall and still managed to keep his pole position ahead of Perez then Verstappen.  I don't know why the Red Flag wasn't out.  Russell managed 4th ahead of his team mate Hamilton in 6th.  Sainz was 5th and affected by his team mates crash.  Then Albon in the Williams, at last showing the pace promised.  Next the Aston Martins, who were suffering from a fault with the DRS opening of their wing, which would seriously hamper their progress up the grid and leadership boards.

There were questions whether his car could be fixed in time for the sprint race.

On after the Sprint Qualifying or Squint as I shall now be calling it, we moved on to the race.

Sargeant was not going to be able to race as his car couldn't be fixed, which could have cost Williams badly if they show strong.

It was a clean start, narrowly, I hadn't noticed how tight the corner was and close to a wall the track run off the start line.  Russell was passed Verstappen, who was very unhappy about it.  Then we saw a tyre rolling down the track; was it LeClerc with typical bad luck?  No Tsunoda.  A Virtual Safety Car was called for.  Then a Safety Car.  And the laps ticked away.  When they restarted, a few people were able to overtake the car ahead of them.  If you're Alonso, that was two cars.  Really it didn't take long for Perez to take the lead from LeClerc.  It didn't bode well for the main race.

Post-race, Verstappen was very unhappy with Russell leading to apologies for "language" and a slight storming off.

Azerbaijan GP Qualifying Report

Incredulously, the format of the sprint weekend was only decided when the teams had already arrived and started setting up at the track.  I can't imagine the rules of any other sport being decided so close to the event.  Previously, Qualifying on a Sprint weekend set the grid positions for the Sprint race, now it sets the grid positions for the actual race and the Sprint has it's own Qualifying.

There was only one Free Practice session, in which Gasly's car caught fire and it took both sides of the garage to fix ready to qualify.

Many Red Flags were predicted for the weekend and De Vries brought out the first one under competitive conditions, putting his Alpha Tauri nose-first into the wall.  This element of jeopardy and cars being trashed has highlighted Baku's unsuitability for being designated a sprint weekend.

The second Red Flag was for Gasly,  this time for smashing sideways into the wall.  I really don't know if this pressure enhances the event for spectators.  All the drivers were quizzed by the media this weekend for their feelings about the format change and Sainz summed it up - he'll do it if the spectators and media want it.

Everyone was out together to secure their places for the second Qualifying session.  Magnussen retired with a car problem.  Out he went with the crashed De Vries and Gasly, his team mate Hulkenberg and Zhou.

The second Qualifying session was much more civilised, with all the drivers likely to crash already out.  The result was a bit of a shocker though, with both Williams out, having looked so promising, both McLarens through, having looked to unpromising, Ocon and Bottas, unsurprisingly and the Mercedes of Russell, just ahead of his team mate.  The team were unable to take advantage of their own engine power with customer teams able to.  Albon blamed Sainz, who had to reverse his car on the track.  The surprise driver through was Tsunoda.

There was huge relief for Ferrari in the end, with LeClerc able to take pole, ahead of Verstappen and then Perez.  And it was a dominant lap.  Sainz followed them, continuing to show that, despite being ahead in the championship, his team mate is the team's championship hope.  Hamilton beat Alonso, whose streak of top 3 finishes seems to be coming to a halt.  Ferrari and LeClerc were surprised with their result, establishing his reputation as the fastest driver over a single lap.

Even is Verstappen dominated the Sprint day, it left spectators some hope for race day.

Azerbaijan GP Race Report

I started watching this race knowing who won but not how or why.  So after the start, where Perez had a strong lead over pole-sitter LeClerc, I began to worry that Red Bull are killing the sport in F1 by denying Perez victory.

Obviously Williams are killing themselves in the sport by hanging about on the grid for too long and then taking their stop and go penalty without also changing the tires.

First scalp of the race was Sainz as something failed on his car and he pulled to the side of the track.  This brought out a Virtual Safety Car call, LeClerc pitted immediately and the Red Bulls did not.  It was not the perfect pit for Ferrari, loading the pressure on their one remaining driver.

Lap 15 and it did appear that Verstappen took Perez in a clean overtake with no team orders.  Then we heard the radio and Perez had been told not to "fight".

Next clue as to how he won it; LeClerc's engine blew as he was going down the straight in the middle of the race.

A further clue, being told to slow down by his team with a strong warning that "you know what can happen here..."

The Ferrari-powered cars continued to drop like lead balloons: Zhou then Magnussen.  The latter needed another Virtual Safety Car to clear the car.  The cars flew in to the pits for a "free" stop.

After all the engine failures, the next part to fail was the DRS wing.  Firstly, Tsunoda's split in two and had to be fixed with gaffa tape in the pit, next Verstappen was told not to use his for the rest of the race.  Not to worry as he was out ahead with his wingman Perez behind him.

Further back the McLarens were having a spat over who got to be the first one to cross the line and the Mercedes drivers were being bounced to pieces by their car.  Next thing we know, Hamilton takes Gasly for 4th, which means that they are 3rd and 4th.  Still it's better than Ferrari.  And Latifi gets into trouble for ignoring blue flags.

Russell took a strong third (Mr Consistency, as his team called him, sexy).  Alonso had a strong race but we didn't see anything of him.  Ricciardo finished ahead of his team mate but I'm sure the media will say Norris was told to stay behind him.  The Big Question as we leave the street tracks behind was whether team orders were at play at Red Bull, Perez did take the point for fastest lap.  Also why was Hamilton voted Driver of the Day?  Lots of overtaking I suppose and he could barely get out of the car for back pain.

I'm really enjoyed the return of the televised cool room, especially with the screen warning the drivers not to swear.  They decided not to say anything just in case.  Not long to wait to see if the tension in the teams boils over, next week Canada.

Azerbaijan GP Qualifying Report

Firstly, Qualifying was delayed.  Then, nothing much happened for ten minutes or so.  Our predictions were LeClerc for pole (me), Verstappen for pole (him) and Schumacher (me) and Latifi (him) to bring out a Red Flag during Qualifying.  It was Stroll.  Leaving lots of drivers in a precarious position of trying to qualify with two and half minutes left.  Still, it's a street circuit, and one should know to get a banker lap in.

With seconds to go, thirteen cars were out on track and hoping to pass the chequered flag in time.  The Haas made a last-minute overtake to be ahead of the McLarens on track.  The back of the train were further hindered by a Yellow Flag in the second sector of the track.  Albon was calling for Alonso (the bringer of the Yellow Flag), to be penalised for holding everyone up.  There were no surprises with the two Williams drivers and the two Haas out with Stroll.

Qualifying 2 was then held up by Stroll's team mate Vettel, hitting the wall (who still made it into the final session???).  Luckily, for the drivers, not for Aston Martin, he was able to reverse and get back to the grid.  The session continued with no great drama.  Both McLarens out and most of the usuals through.

The final Qualifying session was, once again, down to the Red Bulls and Ferraris.  Perez, having looked very strong so far,  conveniently wasn't fueled in time and let Verstappen out cleanly.  Not to worry, he still popped his car ahead of this team mate to take second.  With his recent record, Verstappen may fall out of love with this team quickly.  Sainz didn't have the pace to match his team mate, who pulled his trade mark single spectacular lap out of the bag to take pole.  There was no way the Mercerdes were in the mix as the bouncing looks unbearable, I don't know how they're going to keep it up for 2 hours.

Johnny Herbert has been let loose in the paddock again, not really asking questions and bewildering the drivers.

Baku GP Race Report

It's a long lap, nearly 2 minutes at Baku, so only 51 of them.  You can certainly feel the length.  My prediction for the race (usually posted on Twitter and Instagram @pitstopprincess) was Verstappen for the win if Red Bull get the strategy right, Hamilton if not and Gasly for the surprise contender.

LeClerc maintained the lead from pole for a couple of laps, but Ferrari's lack of horsepower on the straight finally gave Hamilton the chance to use the tow and DRS to take first place.  It took Verstappen far longer than expected to replicate this for second place.

Russell and Giovanizzi went for a Lap 2 pit stop to get the obligatory change of tires done.  10 laps in LeClerc pitted and that was him out of contention.  Everyone was playing for the undercut, Alonso and Norris pitting very early to get past Bottas.    Given it's such a long lap, why is getting out from the pits into traffic such an issue?

On Lap 11 Sainz took a trip to the run off area, locking up on the hard tires.  At the same time Gasly held up Hamilton's release from his pit stop, giving him a 4.6 second stop (shockingly long!).  With Red Bull holding the season record for quickest pit stop (1.93 seconds), Verstappen was able to overtake Hamilton in the pits.  Could Red Bull manage the same for Perez?  No a 4.3 second stop for him, yet still overtakes Hamilton, we were braced for  whining.  In the mean time, four time world champion Vettel became the leader of the race.  It almost felt like the television director didn't know who to follow and finally realised he should be giving the Aston Martin some airtime.

It seemed like Hamilton had been given a glimmer of hope for the race and then the reality of how much Mercedes have struggled at this circuit kicked in.

That was the first third of the race.

They followed each other through the amazing architecture for a while...Mazepin followed Sainz down the escape road later.

Then suddenly, on Lap 31, we saw Stroll spinning around on the main straight, debris everywhere, with a tire failure.  It was quite a while until he was able to get out of the car.  And sounded very shocked and shaken on the team radio.

Obviously a safety car presents the teams with options to change tires.  Mercedes and Hamilton ummed and ahhed and then did nothing.  Alonso thought he would try softs.  Schumacher too but they didn't put them on correctly.

At the restart, Vettel took LeClerc then tussled with and took Gasly ("That's not possible!") and Perez gave Hamilton the tow to attack both himself and Verstappen.

Then with 5 laps to go...a huge spin for Verstappen, who was in the lead, with another tire failure.  Furiously kicked by Max when he got out of the car.  With two tire failures, could there be any more...  The team looked absolutely devastated.  After the safety car was considered, the race was red flagged and suspended.  The cars lined up in the paddock.  Knowing he was on camera, live to millions and race control, Christian Horner explained to Dieter Materschitz (Head of Red Bull Sport) that it was the exact same failure as Stroll, I don't know why Materschitz hadn't figured this out already...it's almost like it was played out for the TV.  I can see this Netflix Drive to Survive episode already.  Red Bull got on the radio to the FIA (still loving this new for 2021 feature) to ask for a red flag and all cars allowed to change tires.  Given that they were still on for the win with Perez, it seems generous and caring.

Williams completely ballsed up the red flag, telling Latifi to stay out when they meant come in.  A simple mistake to make.  I'm sure that will please all the new investors.

After a long wait they had a short, sprint race of two laps.  Perez made an awful start and my heart sank as Hamilton moved ahead of him, then he didn't manage his brakes and went straight on...a swell of emotion.  With Verstappen out through no fault of his, Hamilton's exit neutralises the potential world championship points deficit.  I held my breath for two laps and there was the podium with no Verstappen, no Hamilton, no Ferraris, no Bottas.  Indeed Bottas finished around 52nd.  Finally Red Bull have a driver that can bring the points home and hopefully we have someone who won't be constantly questioned until they are driven out of the team.  Alongside him on the podium was Vettel (his familiar "yes yes yes yes yes" on the radio was actually heart-warming, unlike that horrible period from 2010 onwards), finally earning his wages and Gasly, my prediction for the surprise contender.

It was a bittersweet race for Aston Martin, as they scored their first podium but the owner's son had a huge shunt and brought no points home.  Also bittersweet for Perez, scoring his first podium and win for Red Bull whilst the golden boy had a huge shunt and brought no points home.  

Baku Qualifying Report

With Mercedes clearly on the backfoot, the front of the grid was up for grabs.  Things are heating up in the contest for the championship, at least in the media room.  Wolff was moved to say that: "Christian is a bit of windbag who wants to be on TV".

A scant 13 minutes into Q1, Stroll visited the corner and took the right front corner of his car to the cleaners and the session was stopped.  The debris was cleared up, the car was removed and the barrier checked.  Everyone came back out and four minutes later, Giovinazzi smashed his car up and bought out the red flag.

It now felt like a waiting game to see who would be next.  In to Q2 we went, the cars at the front were unbelievably close with 5 cars all setting the same time exactly.  Then with a minute and half to go, Ricciardo put his papaya machine into the barrier and the session was closed.  The winners from this were Alonso, who was right on the cusp and Tsunoda, who finished the session 4th and through to his first ever Q3.  He needed this boost as team mate Gasly was first in FP3.  The losers were Russell, who didn't get a chance to show what he could do with his newly-fixed Williams, it needed a new engine unit after a failure in FP3 and the world champions Vettel and Raikkonen.

These crashes, when viewed from the sofa, all seem particularly avoidable, just turn the wheel when you go into the corner.  The car-lifting truck got a lot of track time this week.

Getting a slip stream from a car in front proved to be very important.  On the first run, we saw Bottas get 8th spot, with Hamilton, who was directly behind him on track, getting 2nd.   With all the chat focused on Mercedes and Red Bull, well Hamilton and Verstappen, Gasly and LeClerc were the big names in Q3. We saw fun and games heading round the track for the second run, I didn't know F1 cars could travel so slow.  With LeClerc in pole position, could he manufacture a wee incident somewhere round the track.  I predicted Sainz would do it for him and he did, with some help from Tsunoda.  Only the four red flags during Qualifying.  LeClerc looked like he couldn't quite believe what had happened.  In interview he said: "I thought it was quite a s**t lap".  Don't write off the power of a good first run.

Still Azerbaijan looks absolutely beautiful and the coverage really sells it as a holiday destination, if I can remember what a holiday is.

Azerbaijan GP - "survived Baku for another year"

LeClerc won everybody's hearts with his post-calamity press conference: "I am stupid...For the next three or four hours, I will be mostly beating myself up."  He gave himself a grid penalty there and others also received some, most notably the Alpha Romeos, giving Kimi the chance to earn himself 15 fantasy points for moving up places from the grid.  Do you think Liberty will be stealing this idea from me soon too?  The teams and drivers are definitely taking the fastest lap point seriously with LeClerc pitting specially to earn it.

We were promised thrills from Ferrari and spills from Safety Cars (apparently there were lots in the F2 race).  There were none.  Some mistakes were made: Kubica was given a penalty for leaving the pit lane too early, Ricciardo reversed into Kvyat, Gasly lost power. 

Mercedes continue their domination despite everyone saying that they are not dominating and Ferrari have the best car and drivers.  Not if 6 1-2s and a 74 point lead have anything to say.

Finally, Di Resta dropped a "youse" into his podium interviews - reclaiming his Scottishness in case of independence post-Brexit and a Scottish passport will allow him to continue living in Monaco.

Azerbaijan GP - Results

1. BottHaas - 244*
2. Evel Marque - 226*
3. The Hope Fulls - 209
4. PickedInAHurry - 189
5. Je suis Charlie - 184
6. Ferrari Rocher - 137
7. Jack the Lad - 128
8= Hippy F1 - 124
8= The Pitstop Princess - 124
10. Francesco Bernoulli - 115*

* Home track played

Azerbaijan GP - Lewis wins despite horrendous haircut

Editor - Thanks to twctfwcautog for this - although with baby Pitstop waking up a I cut and pasted, I have yet to read!

Not that everyone kept going on about it, but apparently it was quite windy in Baku.  Does that explain why we had so many crashes and incidents this year (as in previous years)?  Baku's nickname anybody?  "City of winds".

The chaos was mostly at the start and the end of the race with some also in the middle.  The only predictable moment of the weekend - Vettel's third pole position in a row.

There was first lap chaos - Sirotkin punted Perez into Ocon (just in case those two weren't going to tango again under their own steam), then got caught in a Renault/MacLaren sandwich.  The MacLaren piece of bread (Alonso) managed to limp his two-wheeled wagon back to the pits.  Raikkonen then punted Ocon into the wall to make sure the two Force Indias definitely couldn't tango again (at least in this race).  Cue the much-predicted safety car.

Verstappen re-defined "letting another car past" after cutting the inside of the corner and gaining an advantage, by immediately re-passing Hulkenberg to re-take that briefly negated advantage.  Hulkenberg later put himself into the wall in protest (maybe).  Verstappen moved Ricciardo aggressively aside and caused him to lose a place to Hulkenberg.  Hulkenberg later put himself into the wall in celebration (maybe).  

The main scrap was the continuing fight between the two Red Bull boys.  Ricciardo eventually passed Verstappen after multiple attempts and even contact at turn one only to immediately lose the place in pitstops as the overcut(?) worked for Verstappen.  Ricciardo was told "go on, do him again" and duly did, smashing into him in the turn one breaking zone.  My first reaction was that Verstappen had moved twice but maybe Helmut Marko was right and it was 50/50.  Anyone?  Either way, no points for Red Bull.  After the race, they both gave interviews that tried to appear contrite, not assigning blame and apologising to the team.  Both clearly better drivers than liars.  Let's hope they do better at the factory in front of everyone.  Christian Horner was both angry *and* disappointed.  DC was pleased he wouldn't be sharing a plane home with both of them in the end.

The safety car was deployed for the Red Bull clean-up, meaning pitstops for the leaders, and favouring Bottas who had not yet pitted.  Allowing lapped cars to pass was taking too long for Alonso who clearly relished the idea of a ten lap run to the flag.  As did we all.  Then Grosjean inexplicably binned his Haas under the safety car.  He said that he hit a switch on his steering wheel while warming the tyres which changed the braking, then a massive gust of wind caught him out.  Try "my dog ate my homework" next time, Romain.

Eventually the safety car was withdrawn and we had a quick blast to the flag.  Vettel went for glory from second and lost out a bit.  Bottas was unlucky to hit debris and lose out a lot.  At least it gave us three different cars on the podium for the second race in a row.

Some great drives and great results:

Sergio Perez in third - now the most successful Mexican driver ever.

Carlos Sainz in fifth - his best result since joining Renault.

Charles LeClerc in sixth - in a Sauber!  Eh?

Lance Stroll in eighth - first points of the season for Williams.

Brendon Hartley in tenth - his first points for Toro Rosso.

twctfwcautog

Azerbaijan GP - Results

1. Halo, baby! - 225*
2. Give it some Gasly! - 197
3. Two World Champions, Two Future World Champions, and um, Two Other Guys - 185
4. The Pitstop  Princess - 178
5. Beauty & the F1 Geek - 170
6. Spa Day with a Shooey - 155
7. No Vices Now - 147
8= Evel Marque - 146
8= Maximum Attack! - 146
10. Hasstag #FaceBull - 137
11. The Hopefulls - 132
12. Jack Johnson - 116
13. Hippy F1 - 113
14. Wheels on Fire - 58

* Home track played

Azerbaijan GP - "Nice job mate"

Now I'm back in the saddle with note-taking, I just need Baby Pitstop to give me some time before a Thursday to do the typing up...

Firstly, if anyone knows who the over-excited Qualifying interviewer was...?

For me, this is one of the most stunning tracks on the calendar.  I love the contrast between the old town and the modern buildings.  And also how tight the track is.  It definitely produced a great race this year, with a contract between the old drivers and the new ones cutting through.  Talking of old vs. new - Mariah Carey?

The race started with the anthem being performed by a singer in a massive flag dress - I wonder if Geri Horner gave her the idea?

It was an awful race for Toro Rosso (really anything Bull), who so many have picked this year.  Not in Q3, running off and then spinning in Lap 1.  Also a bad race for the Finns, if Bottas can avoid Raikkonen in the first corners, then I think the racing will be much improved during the season.

There was some quality radio transmission.  Starting with Grosjean asking: "If the brakes become dangerous, stop me!"  I would hope this was a given.  Verstappen's: "Oh no!  Here we go again..." as his engine blows was just comical.  (Horner said that Verstappen "lost his engine", which hints at carelessness.  The boy needs to start finishing races).  A "whinge warning" should flash up instead of Hamilton's name for his broadcasts.

The restart at Lap 20 saw Massa in third, Hamilton and Vettel collide and bring about the notorious brake test and shunt response, giving Raikkonen a puncture soon afterwards, then the Force India's touch.  Perhaps this is what should be compulsory in all races, not sprinklers (Bernie).  The action continued apace.  Two laps later the race was red-flagged and upon it's restart Stroll overtook Massa!  It all went downhill for the Williams fans then, with Ricciardo being told to "stay ahead" after his double Williams overtake, it's this kind of top-notch pit wall support that led him to win the race.  Then Massa breaks down, which was heartbreaking.

How much the track is responsible for all this action is debatable, but it definitely led to the highly-regarded Hulkenberg "kissing" the wall.

This wasn't the end though.  Ten laps later, Hamilton's headrest became unsafe and Vettel was awarded a ten second stop go penalty.  This put Stroll up to second!  Massa would have been first!  As Alonso said: "What a shame, we could have won this race!"

Following the matchy-matchy collisions, the Saubers collided on L38.

Hamilton's ego continued abound, requesting that Bottas slow down to allow him to catch up and overtake Vettel.  He wouldn't have considered that this would have given Vettel DRS.

The biggest disappointment of the race was Bottas taking Stroll on the finishing straight.  Overall, I think everyone enjoyed the podium.  Ricciardo should have won driver of the day with his zero to hero win but Stroll deserved it too for keeping his cool to become the Youngest Driver to Take a Podium in His Rookie Season with Dark Hair in a White Car with His Father Present.

Azerbaijan GP - Results

1. No Vices Now - 479
2. Evel Marque - 470*
3. Two World Champions, two future World Champions and, um, two other guys - 469
4= Hoping for an Indian Summer - 421
4= The Pitstop Princess - 421
4= Torque of the Devil - 421
7. Bernie is a hobbit - 420
8. Moneyball - 419
9= Jenson's Whinging Legacy - 374
9= Even More Hopeful - 374
11. Beauty & the F1 Geek - 336
12. Burn After Racing - 326
13. BOT-RAI-PER - 323*
14. Slightly Slower Racing - 290
15. Hippy F1 - 270

*Home track played

Baku GP - "You did it in style there"

Firstly, apologies for the late posting of results.  Our internet provider had trouble with providing internet "to most of Scotland" yesterday.

Interesting

Mistakes - not enough of them during the race to make it really interesting but at least Hamilton gave it a go during Qualifying 3.  Also - no safety cars.
Third podium step treats - Bottas last week and Perez this week.  Giving us all hope of the racing getting better and better.

Dull

Hoardings - not sure who their PR is but there is something "lost in translation" about "Well done Baku" and "Baku welcomed us all"
First lap disappointment - no crashes!
Incisive analysis: Bedward: "Karun, is this a good time to pit?"  Karun: "Time will tell".
Poor strategies - I'm not condoning cheating in F1 but surely some sort of coded message could have been arranged before the race?  Perhaps "I can't tell you." means yes and "I can't say." means no.  Just putting it out there.
Does Baku deserve a race? - empty grandstands I can understand when they are expensive (yes) or the track is in the back of beyond (no) but empty balconies too?

Baku GP - Results

1. BogOffBernie - 439*
2. Weak End of Bernie - 431*
3. Merc-redible Hulk - 419*
4. Three teams, one dream - 405*
5. The Pitstop Princess - 397
6. Claire has to type this out each time as my team name - 396
7. No Vices Now - 351
8. Halo, it's me - 342
9. Beauty & the F1 Geek - 330
10. The Hopefuls - 302
11. Hippy F1 - 299
12. The Maranello Marvels - 297
13. Marian's Marvels - 272
14. British Racing Green - 271
15. Indiana Walker and the Tyres of Doom - 222
16. Put out to Pastor - 161

*Has played Home Track card