Formula One 2016: Baku

What? Again?

I’ll try not to belabor this too much because I have many other irons in the fire (well, I notice my absences and what can I say except they’re related to business, personal, and family issues I choose not to share with the entire Internet).

It’s a new track, a street track, and it’s horrible. Think Monaco with two long straights.

Oh, straights you say. Surely you can overtake there.

Pfft. You pass in the corners and they are twisty tunnels of blindness. When I get on the freaking highway it’s always blocked up with traffic because the dumbass drivers won’t even do the damn speed limit into an uphill drop away curve. There’s no reason for it, you could take it at 120 (and I have), they just get scared.

Not that F1 drivers ever do even though they’re pushing around machines that cost about a million per, just that it’s not really able to give you opportunities. Of course all the teams are running with zero downforce because of the straights.

And then there’s the green track, and I mean really green, like they laid it down just last month (and they did). I’m sure it’s a dream to drive in a passenger car but it’s not suited to racing because it’s not very grippy.

But in Formula One you soldier on despite difficulties and though many people have parked this weekend and the grid is suitably scrambled to prove it we will race. There will be a huge mix up in the first lap and whoever survives will have to choose a pit strategy based on tires which include Mediums, Softs, and SuperSofts (the tire of choice but many were flat spotted during qualifying).

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  1. Vent Hole

  2. Your half hour of hype

  3. Everyone in the Top 10 is starting on used SuperSofts

  4. Assembly lap

  5. We race

  6. Hey! We made it through the first lap

  7. DRS enabled

  8. Start repeat

  9. Sainz pits

  10. Lap 5 of 51

    Rosberg
    Vettel
    Ricciardo
    Raikkonen
    Perez
    Massa
    Massa
    Bottas
    Hamilton
    Grosjean
    Hulkenberg

  11. Ricciardo pits

  12. Magnussen Button pit

  13. Kvyat pits

  14. Kvyat parks

  15. Nasr pits

  16. Raikkonen pits

  17. Gutierrez pits

  18. Lap 10 of 51

    Rosberg
    Vettel
    Perez
    Hamilton
    Bottas
    Hulkenberg
    Ricciard
    Raikkonen
    Wehrlein
    Massa

  19. Palmer pits

  20. Hamilton pits

  21. Lap 17 of 51

    Rosberg
    Vettel
    Perez
    Bottas
    Ricciardo
    Raakkonen
    Hulkkenberg
    Massa
    Perez
    Hamilton
    Verstappen

  22. Only Rosberg, Vettel, and Bottas have not pitted and still run on Super Softs

  23. Vettel pits

  24. Hulkenberg pits

  25. Verstappen pits for Mediums

    Things are screwed up for Red Bull

  26. Lap 21 0f 51

    Rosberg
    Raikkonen
    Vettel
    Perez
    Hamilton
    Ricciardo
    Massa
    Bottas
    Sainz
    Alonso

  27. Ricciardo pits for Mediums

  28. Verstappen (18th) also on Mediums

  29. Red Bull has a wacky tire strategy going on

  30. Alonso and Nasr pit

  31. Button pits

  32. Lap 25 of 51

    Rosberg
    Raikkonen
    Vettel
    Perez
    Hamilton
    Massa
    Bottas
    Hulkenberg
    Sainz
    Ricciardo

  33. Grosjean pits

  34. Sainz pits again

  35. Lap 30 of 51

    Rosberg
    Vettel
    Raikkonen
    Perez
    Hamilton
    Bottas
    Hulkenberg
    Ricciardo
    Massa
    Verstappen

  36. Lap 32

    Sainz parks, suspension. Same as Kvyat.

    Toro Rosso is out.

  37. Lap 35 of 51

    Rosberg
    Vettel
    Raikkonen
    Perez
    Hamilton
    Bottas
    Hulkenberg
    Ricciardo
    Massa
    Verstappen

  38. Lap 40 of 51

    Rosberg
    Vettel
    Raikkonen
    Perez
    Hamilton
    Bottas
    Hulkenberg
    Ricciardo
    Massa
    Verstappen

  39. Werhlien parks

  40. Alonso pits

  41. Lap 45 of 51

    Rosberg
    Vettel
    Raikkonen
    Perez
    Hamilton
    Bottas
    Hulkenberg
    Ricciardo
    Verstappen
    Massa

  42. Alonso has parked

  43. Final

    Rosberg
    Vettel
    Pere
    Raikkonen
    Hamilton
    Bottas
    Ricciardo
    Verstappen
    Hulkenberg
    Masa

  44. Meh, lamenting over Hamilton from the commentators. He finished 5th from 10th and is still breathing down Rosberg’s neck which he wasn’t 4 races ago.

  45. Among the littles,Force India is putting on a show despite financing concerns and the fact that most of their owners are under indictment for corruption.

  46. What? You say Williams is a little too? I agree.

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