2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - [RACE] discussion thread 🏎️
ROUND 17: 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan
FORMULA 1 QATAR AIRWAYS AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX 2025
Circuit stats
- Circuit name: Baku City Circuit
- First Grand Prix: 2016
- Number of laps: 51
- Circuit Length: 6.003 km
- Race Distance: 306.049 km
- Lap record: 1:43.009 Charles Leclerc (2019)
- 2024 winner: Oscar Piastri
Me enjoying F1 on a Sunday. I hope you guys are doing good.
He got a good view of the Albon-Colapinto incident 😅
Oscar's snacks: two bottles of water and a banana.
What a fucking disaster for Oscar
Not that bad actually since lando bottled his race.
It was only a 6 point swing, equally as bad as him giving the position back in the previous race
It was less of a swing than if they’d finished 1-2
Lucky Oscar, my fingers are crossed he’s gotten all his bad luck and skill errors out in one race weekend.
Finally a smooth operation by Sainz.
even the music was smooth operator in the background 😂
Commanding drive by Verstappen.
Sainz smooooooooth operation. He won Driver of the Day but it was Russell for me.
Yeah Russell really did well. You can say Sainz, Lawson did well to hold up there in what are typically worse cars, but Russell actually is one of the few who moved forward
Warning, incoming Williams fanboying:
I would not have guessed but Baku seemed to be the ideal conditions for the Williams FW47 car. Sainz provisional pole in qualifying, but still ending up at P2 at the end of qualifying is one example. The other during the race Albon starting at 19th on the grid and moving up eight places to end the race at P11 (but with a penalty).
The other possibility (which I don't even dare to hope), is that the Williams team have cracked the code on the FW47 to get Merc like performance out of it that we might see in future races. I don't think this likely, but a man can dream.
Yeah, Williams seemed to be doing great here. Thanks for pointing out Albon, I didn't notice that he made so many positions.
Could very much be that this track lent itself to Williams and the Racing Bulls, and the next ones will look different. If Williams really took a step forward as a whole that would be quite something (especially as no one is bringing upgrades for this year anymore at this stage).
It would, but its unlikely. Even Sainz in the post-race interview did not seem hopeful about a repeat performance with the races remaining.
And we know with Williams they never really did upgrades for FW47 (as its essentially their 2024 car) deciding instead to save their development budget for the post-rule-change 2026 Williams car.
Two races in a row where Max looks untouchable and wins by 15-20 seconds. Shades of 2023. If he does well at Singapore too (a completely different profile track) we might need to consider him a very alive threat for the WDC. He'll need to take 10 points per race on Piastri to win, but one more McLaren fumble and...
Cold temps and Merc look solid, it's a tale as old as time (or at least, as old as these regs).
Yeah mercedes like a cold weather.
Ah another slow stop for Norris. McLaren disasterclass.
https://bsky.app/profile/rorymitchellf1.bsky.social/post/3lzdrshwias2vWhen it rains, it pours.
Sky commentary just now claiming it won't carry over?
I dont think time penalties carry over, only grid place penalties do.
Makes sense. I got misled 😅
Max can stop and get some fries during his pit stop
Piastri has been shocking this weekend. Atleast now the championship is now very interesting
in Q3 crash, race stall start then race crash. 3 errors
Norris lost a place on race start. It's a mere 4 point advantage at the moment.
I am assuming he will gain atleast 10-15 points by the end
well not with that shitty restart.
Wow I was so wrong. Can't believe lando hasn't even gained as much as he would have gained from a win with piastri finishing a place behind in second
Let’s go
If sainz podiums this weekend 🥳
🥳
🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳
The boi did the thing. I wasn't expecting it but it happened and it felt good :>
Baku should be a track with plenty of overtaking possibilities, for some reason it's harder to plow through the field than expected
Baku has a tendency to be kind of bad unless there's chaos.
Max delivered a strong performance, leading the race solo. Mercedes performed well, securing 2nd and 4th positions. Sainz executed a flawless race, finishing in 3rd in the Mercedes Sandwich. Lawson and Tsunoda battled for their futures, both putting in respectable performances but huge kudos to Lawson for his defence. Norris and Ferrari not great performance. Overall, with Hadjar finishing in 10th, it was a solid weekend for Red Bull Racing. Aside from the drama during qualifying and the first lap with Piastri crash, the race has been about tire management. so WDC for Max still in play?
Maybe about tyre management in terms of keeping temps in them and keeping them in the window, but not really conserving. Looked like there was almost no deg out there today.
Yeah true more about pit stop timing rather than tire management you’re right
Any news about the expected weather?
Happy cake day
Who the fuck is downvoting you for saying happy cake day lol. People are wild.
Eh, didn't even notice. Thank you! 🥰
https://bsky.app/profile/danielmoxon.bsky.social/post/3lzdpztzuek2r
Austrian commentary just said that Marko had a meeting with Lawson today. Apparently either him or Tsunoda will be out of Red Bull's F1 program next year, as they need to make room for Arvin Lindblad.
Very curious to see how he does. I know Marko really rates him but his performances in F2 so far hasn't really been those of a generational golden boy.
Yeah IMO the way better play would be to keep Lindblad in F2 for another season, he's not winning the championship this season anyways
They could even do that, but told Lawson and Tsunoda to light a fire under them to see who could out-compete the other. Neither team is close to winning the Constructors championship, so the risk of losing points from being over competitive (crashing) isn't that big of a deal. Sounds like a great opportunity to really test the mettle of both drivers in real world conditions with low risk to the teams.
Marko said after the race that the decision for the seats will be made end of October. Until then I guess it's what you say: lighting a fire under them.
they should wait. The F2 folks aren't mature yet tbh.
Oh no, Oscar!
Lando, oscar has hit the wall so to keep it fair please crash your car as well
Not his weekend at all. Anyhow... Lando, hit the wall on lap 5.
what a start!
Lando just threw that plastic bag into Lewis' car live on camera lol
Piastri out!!!!
Oh shit what happened with Piastri.
This driver's championship is absolutely wild.
Straight up unforced error from him, one of the few times this season
And he stalled at the start, wow
Tsunoda's situation is so weird. He is decently close to max in qualifying but the race pace is so poor. It was the inverse for both lawson and perez
let's see. so far he is not doing too bad
after 35 laps
Max could do the funniest thing in Abu Dhabi
If you mean "win the WDC" then yeah, it looks like that's on the table again.
that will be epic to be honest.
almost half way
Williams podium hopium. Would be incredible to see Lawson hold onto that P3 even if unlikely.
Williams and RB powered
Did Lewis just try to give position to Charles and they didn't manage to do it before the finish line?
I thought so too.
Would you like a Ferrari sandwich
The Merc team trying to celebrate with Russell but not catching his virus 😂
yeah so underwhelmed compare to Max and Carlos's teams
Front right gunner is going to have to practice in Mclaren
👀
We're not getting rain are we?
Doesn't look like :( Their radar is crappy.
It's coming !
Fake call I assume
"Did you guys touch any wall" "Just One" 😂 Those cool down chat are always good.
What did Carlos say to Max' question if he had a new mascot on his helmet? is it the unicorn(?) some girl drew for him to put in on his helmet?
Edit: found the Williams article, it is indeed the unicorn sticker they talked about in the Carbono podcast
Good catch I did not fully understand during the live. Now he will have to keep that unicorn 🦄
The unicorn owner:
Also, she asked if he'd wear it for the rest of the year, so its not the last time we'll see it!
"Nice parking"
Tire management