Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, Baku City Circuit, 2018

2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix championship points

2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

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2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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46 comments on “2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix championship points”

  1. Hamilton and Ferrari now on top, a reversal of the last race.

    Vettel clearly is a smart driver, as we saw at the first restart, but he really needs to make better judgements when under pressure or he’ll lose this championship.

    1. @paeschli – Bottas’ clean path through turn 1 at that restart just served to underscore how poorly Vettel attempted his overtake. I think he held back a bit (hence Hamilton catching up) and then gave it a late burst, but he just didn’t have the tyres to make it stick.

    2. @paeschli Except this had nothing to do with being under pressure. He had defended from Hamilton successfully, he just wanted too much into T1.

      1. @flatsix Vettel pretty much admitted he was under too much pressure. He had Hamilton to his right and was afraid to be overtaken. He said he couldn’t judge his braking by being on the left and on cold tyres and felt forced into trying a late braking maneuver on Bottas from miles away.

        Yet again his poor race craft and spatial awareness show through when Vettel gets pressured and he comes undone.

        1. @patrickl So below are all the direct quotes of him, now tell me where does he ‘basically’ admit to being under pressure?

          Yet again your very biased opinion about a four time world champion show through, the only reason one cannot take you seriously really. I’m also really surprised by you inability to read an article but instead once again choose to twist and turn it to your own agenda in slandering Vettel.

          However, perhaps you can enlighten us on why Hamilton made the exact same mistake into T1 when nobody was near? Also his lack of spatial awareness I guess then?

          I’d really suggest you either grow up and make sensible comments with a tad less bias, or don’t reply to my comments whatsoever. I’m always open for discussion but with you, not so much.

          “I’m happy that I tried, I’m not happy that it didn’t work, but I have to try,” said Vettel.

          “I don’t think it was overly optimistic to jump down the inside.

          “I wasn’t overly late, otherwise I don’t make the corner at all, but I did make it, just.

          “I didn’t have any option – Lewis [Hamilton] was on the right so I can’t close on him.

          “Valtteri was ahead of me, he left a gap. I was surprised, judging the braking was very difficult.

          “I was a bit trapped because I couldn’t see where I was relative to Turn 1.

          “We have our references, and they are on the right – a kerb, the signs on the wall, and on the left there is hardly any reference.

          “I had a decent restart, I saw the gap on the inside, and unfortunately I locked up.

          “Without the lock-up, braking at the same point, I think I make the corner and it turns out to be a good move.

          “It’s easy to say it didn’t work, so it is the wrong thing, but I had to try.

          1. “I was a bit trapped”
            “on the left there is hardly any reference.” (so he should have gone for safety, but he didn’t)
            “Valtteri was ahead of me, he left a gap” (he clearly wasn’t of sound mind anymore cause there wasn’t a gap at all.

            The way he explains it it was a desperate move of someone who felt boxed in. There is no evidence of sound decision making in any of those quotes.

          2. @patrickl Yes, we should’ve expected him to park the car for a moment, analyse the situation with several camera angles, had a brainstorm session with the team, consult Alesi who was in the paddock, sleep a night over it and then on monday take an informative decision on it.

          3. @flatsix Or he can act like a lune and crash into someone or slide out off control off track. Yes, that is Vettel’s way when there is a bit of pressure.

            Perhaps there is a middle way? Drive like a sane person or something?

  2. So pacewise it would’ve been:

    Vettel: 18 – 25 – 25 – 25 = 93, but only has 66.
    Hamilton: 25 – 15 – 15 – 18 = 73, but only has 70.

    1. Wow. So instead of a 20 point Vettel lead, it is a 4 point Hamilton lead – a 24 point swing!

      Hamilton should send flowers to Max Verstappen – securing him his 4th WDC in Singapore last year by taking out both Ferraris, crashing into Vettel in China last race and now today’s antics that resulted in the luckiest race win I have seen.

      I am so happy that Red Bull finally got to pay the price for Verstappen’s dangerous favorite party trick – moving in the braking zone. Acting like he is some kind of racing savant for constantly doing this, when really he is just a kid with nothing to lose in the WDC and more guts than brains. Apalling attitude, thinks the track belongs to him. Always slamming the door at the very last moment and pushing people wide on corner exits (the worst offender along with Alonso).

      Will they try to put this on Ricciardo (arguably the best wheel-to-wheel racer in this field)? Or will they finally ban Max for a race or two so he can re-evaluate his approach to racing?

      1. Last year, Vettel lost the WDC on his own, without the help of anyone. He also showed how immature he was. So far this year, he’s showing the same trend.

        1. Lol. Keep saying that, you might convince yourself.

        2. …other than labeling him a Wold CHAMPION immature, I agree with your sentiment.

    2. After the restart, if not for the puncture, it would’ve been –
      Bottas – 65
      Vettel – 64 (because he would’ve still been overtaken by Perez anyway)
      Hamilton – 63
      Kimi – 45

    3. Vettel should have be 12 for Aus if you are truly doing pace wise. I believe Bottas and Raikkonen were better in the race.
      I think you could also make an argument for Hamilton having better race pace in Bahrain … he certainly would have been right in there without the gearbox penalty

      1. I did make use lap 1 order as a base. So granted, 15 points for Melbourne would make more sense as he only got past Kimi thanks to the SC even though Vettel clearly had the better pace.

  3. Grosjean man, what a donkey ruined the race. Max weaving finally caught up with him.

  4. So frustrating being a Haas fan…they continue to throw away points.

  5. Mclaren is 4th! Shock ! Horror!

    1. And Alonso’s exactly halfway between the two Red Bull drivers! :-) @jaymenon10

    2. Well, that’s what you get for being consistently so far away from the action that both your drivers inherit points. As a McLaren fan, I don’t see myself complaining too much, though.

      1. SUNDAR…..keep it together….we are all in this together…we will get to the podium at some point….stay strong…WE GOT ALONSO ON OUR SIDE.

    3. ….AWESOOOOOOOOME….I am over the moon……

    4. You guys remind me those football fans that start to celebrate because their teams reaches first place on the standings, only for them to lose it over the season.

      Not that I want you guys to feel bad, don’t worry, be happy

      1. All good…its just sport….I have not have so much fun watching my team since HAMI left us back when…Getting ALON back is the best thing Ron did before being sacked. Have fun yeall.

      2. The main point to note is that Mclaren have already scored more points than they did all of last year…that itself justifies their decision to ditch Honda.

        Secondly, they are ahead of their Renault at this point,and they are expected to run their massive update in Spain. On paper, this is the best outcome they could have hoped for.

    5. Feels good as a fan, even though this is not where they are supposed to be pace-wise.
      Finger crossed for the reminder of the season!

  6. When some people said yesterday that Vet is already WDC for this season, I wanted to comment that there still are reliability factor, Vettel’s-mental-stability factor and Verstappen factor. Well, two of these already played in this race.

    1. He was caught napping by Bottas on the SC restart which can happen and has happened to the best of them that’s for sure which compromised his defence against Hamilton who as always is naturally programmed to overtake.

      I think he came up to the conclusion that at the end of the long straight and with the slipstream Hamilton would always end up ahead and that’s why I think he chose to try that late braking manoeuvre on Valterri, with the options being getting stuck behind Bottas round turn 1 whilst a charging WDC rival breezes past you round the outside or have a go at the race lead. It didn’t work, but with the number of laps remaining he had to try something, anything and I’d begin questioning his mental-stability if he just let Bottas and Hamilton sail into the sunset without so much as a fight.

      And with how fast everything was happening he could have easily ploughed into Bottas ala Daniel into Verstappen and taken Lewis along too, a thrilling end to the GP too but thankfully everyone got through mostly unharmed .

      1. @mim5 Exactly, Vettel got pressured into a blunder yet again. That’s the point Tim was making.

        1. @patrickl I don’t discount Vettel does have multiple lapses of judgement
          but today he was momentarily caught between a rock and a hard place with seconds to decide but if I recall correctly Bottas was castigated for not trying a move on Vettel for the lead during the final laps of the Bahrain GP, so how come Vettel is being labelled mentally unstable for an a move on Bottas for the lead, as much as he disnt make it stick under considerably different and difficult conditions? Yet Daniel who I think is sublime and quite frankly some of his overtakes are just ridiculous couldn’t overtake Verstappen without locking up or crashing into them! Last time I checked Daniel wasn’t being labelled mentally unstable even after today’s events!
          All I’m saying is that they’re all mentally unstable in their own way!

          1. @mim5 Ricciardo got blocked by Verstappen’s dirty moves. Vettel simply flew off the track because he braked way too late. How are those two even remotely comparable?

            I’ll agree that Ricicardo takes a lot of risk with his dive-bombing moves, but this was not one of them. He was simply faster on the straight and easily driving past Verstappen. Until Verstappen made 3 moves and left Ricciardo with nowhere to go.

            Even when Ricciardo pulls his dive-bombs, he makes the braking. Again, nothing like Vettel showed here.

            The fact that Vettel deemed that an overtaking opportunity is exactly what makes him mentally unstable.

          2. @paeschli

            I’ll agree that Ricicardo takes a lot of risk with his dive-bombing moves, but this was not one of them. He was simply faster on the straight and easily driving past Verstappen

            .

            Ok, the thing is Riccardo wasn’t simply faster than Verstappen how do you explain him trying to squeeze Verstappen into the wall like Vettel does on his failed first move yet Max was able to keep him behind?
            How is it also that after overtaking Max on his second attempt which uncharacteristically contained a lockup ended up behind Max after the pitstops? Which led to his race engineer literally telling Daniel “You’re going to have to do him again”

            Again as you say Vettels move was his choice during that moment and as such makes him mentally unstable which sometimes he seems to be as all humans are but how is it whatever decisions Daniel made today which let’s not forget ended up in a collision don’t make him mentally unstable as Vettel or Max Or Lewis

    2. It’s the Baku effect. It’s the gp closest to the red sea, that’s where the red mist comes from

  7. Leaderboard for Merc/Ferrari without that puncture:

    Bottas – 65
    Vettel – 64
    Hamilton – 63
    Raikkonen – 45

    I don’t know about you, but I think that would have been incredible!

    1. Leaderboard if I was a watermelon

      Hamilton – 34.3
      Vettel – 98
      Bottas – 43.543
      Kimi – /&£)@

      Now that would be incredible.

      1. Maldonado – half a pot noodle

      2. Isn’t that too many characters for the taciturn Kimi, Tim?

        1. Tim tried to draw a car with those characters

      3. Was that really the best you could come up with, given the infinite scope for intelligent and funny ways you could have played that one up?

    2. Yeah instead Bottas is 30 points behind Hamilton. All from one little piece of debris. That sucks.

    3. I’m not a fan of the ifs and buts, but my days how rotten this is for Bottas. He really doesn’t deserve what happened today

  8. Maldonado – half a pot noodle

  9. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
    29th April 2018, 20:57

    When was the last time all teams had points this many races into a season?

  10. Funnily Hartley has scored more points this season than Grosjean.

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