Analytical Review of the F1 Azerbaijan GP 2022, with the laps, the pace, the performances and the incidents and more…
The streets of Baku do deliver something always…many a times it is a very very unforeseen and heartbreaking unfortunate incident with some driver that snatches a good result away from them, and it was in that mood since before the F1 race with the circuit playing its fair share role in the Formula 2 races and the drama that ensued in both the races, and it did again deliver in the Formula 1 race held in the heat of the afternoon.
As The Friday Sense told us, it was a race that came down quite a bit to tyres and heat and was a two – stopper for those ahead which they were able to afford given the gap they built to the rest in the field in what was quite a spread out grid with all the 5 classified drivers outside the Top 10 finishing a lap behind Max Verstappen – the race winner. Mercedes clinged on the Ferrari failures to claim yet another 3rd podium finish, this time finishing 3rd – 4th like in Bahrain but with their drivers in reverse order.
THE QUALIFYING SET IT UP
The Qualifying set the race in an intriguing manner with the two Red Bulls in a Ferrari sandwich at the front and Perez being the lead Red Bull Racing car. This two were followed by Mercedes and Alpha Tauri RBPT drivers in an alternating manner. This meant that there were races all through the Top 10. The start was crucial, and in Baku that can decide quite a lot and that is what struck right for Perez who had a faster acceleration and better response start as compared to Leclerc, whose lockup increased the impact, and so was able to take the lead. This would be of help to Verstappen but while defending from Sainz and trying to navigate his way on a narrow straight, he was unable to get past as Leclerc controlled his car well after the lockup. This meant that Verstappen would have to spend more time behind Leclerc and with just a slight pace advantage, only getting past him when Leclerc pitted during the VSC period.
Behind them, the Mercedes and Alpha Tauri battle was one that had a lot on it. Russell was the one ahead and also the fastest while Gasly slowly pulled ahead as Hamilton lost some pace in the next laps and the gap built up instead of closing down as in the first 2 to 3 laps. This was an important race for Alpha Tauri who have had a season that has to some extent been inexplicably poor. Tsunoda was overtaken by Vettel and then overall, it had not turned out too good for the Alpha Tauri team. But all of this was till the time Carlos Sainz was on the track. His hydraulic issue which saw him not just retire but having to do that by stopping his car in the escape road led to an interesting series of events.
VSC & STRATEGY
The Sainz incident led to a Virtual Safety Car period, i.e. a period where although there was no Safety Car out on track, all cars had to still reduce their speed by 60% and could not make any on track overtakes, and this was instead of the Race Director choosing the Safety Car which would have bunched all ca together. From a race direction perspective, this was aright move given that Sainz only had to be moved a bit into the exit of the escape road and then the car could be easily and safely retrieved but for the race, this meant that the gaps remained. Some would be helped to run longer on their then current tyres while for those who decided to pit as they would lose less time as compared to when pitting under Green Flag conditions, they did lose position and had to recover the gap ahead of them in racing conditions.
The jump into the pits for some, and a double stack by Mercedes which seemingly hurt Hamilton’s gap a bit, resulted in Vettel overtaking Hamilton in the pits, Leclerc now in third behind two Red Bull cars that did not pit; Russell still in fourth and the un- pitted Alonso and two McLarens in positions 5 to 7 with Gasly in 8th and Ocon in 9th. And this made it a tricky one for those who pitted as the others planned to go long and so they had to be overtaken and even with straight line speed and DRS on the long straight, it wasn’t the easiest work.
LECLERC COULD HAVE GOTTEN BETTER STUFF?
After pitting, Leclerc was in third position but the two Red Bull cars had not pitted and he was also faster by a good margin when compared to both the RBR drivers. He was gaining on the both of them. And with Verstappen taking the lead, and Perez pitting soon as he was struggling and also had to cover the undercut by Leclerc, Leclerc would have be chasing Verstappen directly with a good gap ahead and behind him. Then with Verstappen pitting, it was Leclerc in free air and although maybe a win might have been a bit difficult with Verstappen’s speed after that but a fighting second place could be on the cards.
ALSO FOR THE OTHERS?
For the 3 other Ferrari powered cars, 2 of which seemed to retire due to engine issues could have also done good. Zhou was good on his new tyre and has been settling in well in his Alfa Romeo car and so could have really made an impact performance while Magnussen was the faster one of those around him, and during his stint on which he had to retire, he was even lapping faster than Ocon. With Vettel having disturbed his own race due to overshooting while trying to overtake and Alpine drivers defending, Magnussen could have gone on to grab a point if his second tyre choice which he would potentially go on was the right choice by Haas who have faultered on tyres a couple of times in the season.
MCLAREN
It was a race where their driver performance issues came into the fray, with them being put on the spot with regards to strategy related to which driver would be ahead on the track. With Norris qualifying ahead of Ricciardo, he was ahead at first, but Ricciardo wanted to be allowed to pass instead of being told to stay back as he thought he had better pace on his hard tyres as compared to Norris on the mediums, which is true to a small extent but that wasn’t allowed until Norris pit which also helped Gasly overtake Ricciardo. In the stint after that, Norris was faster when on newer hards and then still quite faster (a bit more than Ric was before) even when Ricciardo changed to the Medium tyres. The two race engineers could be heard trying to get the best finishing position for their drivers but due to what happened in the first stint, which probably bore out of the fact that Norris has brought in more pace and better longer performance in the season as compared to Ricciardo generally in the season, but this decision meant that Ricciardo was allowed to stay ahead unable to overtake Alonso.
As Rodi Basso said in the conversation, as a Race Engineer himself, he has experienced that just like a rivalry between drivers to perform better ” naturally there was rivalry absolutely, also between engineers”
ALPHA TAURI
If not for the bizarre incident with Tsunoda wherein his rear wing’s upper plane (the one which lifts when using DRS) split in two from the middle where the DRS actuator is attached, they had a super qualifying and race. Both drivers had good individual pace and this was a step ahead for the team but an issue with the rear wing, something that has also been affecting Max Verstappen, meant that they lost out on what could have been a much better actual points haul.
All in all, it was another race with a lot of action around the whole grid but a lot of the major impact – making action was concentrated in the first half of the total laps of the race. It was a brilliant drive from Hamilton after suffering from continuous backpain during the race and still being on the attack throughout and that is something that really is about the commitment of all the drivers and how the analysed unfortunate incidents would have broken their hopes for the day. The race put the pendulum further away from Scuderia Ferrari but there is still plenty of time for a comeback.
|BAKU CHALLENGED THE BRAVE|
spielens 