Bravo Baku & Painful Pirelli

Alright here we go, i’ve finally got a day off work so let's get started on a project i’ve been wanting to start since pre-season (turns out working in COVID clinics takes up a lot of your time and too many weekends) but the plan from here on out is to write a piece about my thoughts on the previous race weekend and maybe a little looking forward to the next race.

So that brings us to Baku. Now I can’t tell you how happy I've been this season seeing two teams neck and neck fighting for both the drivers and constructors championship. It's amazing to see Lewis and Max pushing each other to the limits. And as we saw in Baku sometimes F1 finds those limits and they both ended the race with zero points to their name.

The big talking point from Baku is obviously the tyre failures. Now, Formula 1 as a whole has given Pirelli a lot of slack over the last few years when it comes to tyre failures. Frankly the fact that these failures are nothing new, and that drivers can now predict the excuse Pirelli will give for the failures is shocking in itself. Since 2013 we’ve seen tyres failing while on track. I remember the British GP in 2013 in which you were basically the odd one out if you didn’t get a puncture. Going forward it just doesn’t feel acceptable to allow Pirelli the same slack we as fans have given them up till now.

If Formula 1 isn’t prepared for another tyre war (which I don’t know if that would be the right way forward either) then they need to consider the possibility of allowing another manufacturer a go at creating a tyre that was designed for the demands of modern F1.

5 Key Driver Ratings from Baku

1. Max Verstappen - 8.5/10

An exceptional overtake allowed him to get ahead of Charles LeClerec in the early stages of the race and put him in a prime position to capitalise on a slow stop from Hamilton to take the lead but nothing much happened after that in Verstappens race until his accident on lap 45.

2. Lewis Hamilton - 6/10

What was looking like a great race restart for Hamilton quickly became a nightmare as Lewis accidentally knocked his front brake warming system back on as he went for the overtake on Perez. Managed to keep relative pace to Perez and Verstappen despite struggling all weekend with the car.

3. Sergio Perez - 9.5/10

Finally Perez looks comfortable enough in that Red Bull to start extracting some pace and put himself exactly where he needed to be to put himself in contention for his 2nd race victory in F1. All while managing a hydraulic leak that threatened to ruin his race.

4. Sebastian Vettel - 8/10

Similarly to Perez, Vettel seems to have found his confidence over the last few races and drove an excellent race to give Aston Martin their first ever podium in F1. It really is nice to see he still has the fire to compete (now we have to wait and see if Fernando Alonso can do the same).

5. Valtteri Bottas - 2/10

2/10 feels like a high mark here, the only reason it wasn’t any lower is because he didn’t cause any kind of issues on track. Despite repeated calls from the pitwall urging him that he could still be on to overtake the Alpha Tauri of Pierre Gasly, Bottas couldn’t get past the McLaren of Lando Norris before dropping back to P12. 2 places lower than he qualified in a car competing for the world championship and even that was aided by Verstappen, Stroll & Hamilton dropping down the order. The likelihood is that Latiffi would have beaten the Mercedes had he not had a 10 second stop go for not using the pitlane during the 2nd safety car period.

If Mercedes weren’t already seriously considering change for 2022 they should be now.

Okay so i’ll leave it there for now, I could go on for a lot longer but we’ll save some of it for another day. Next up is the French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard. Not a track known for amazing racing but who knows… This season has had a few surprises already!

-A.