The Official 2016 European Grand Prix Thread **Spoilers**
Discussion
The next race is coming this weekend so we’ll get this started now…
Date(s): Friday 17 June - Sunday 19 June 2016
UK Broadcast Timings (and local time)
All sessions are live on Channel 4 and Sky F1.
Baku City Circuit
Live timing for all sessions available here:
http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/f1-...
Info such as lap times, PU use, technical reports, stewards decisions etc for the weekend will appear here:
http://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula-one-world-ch...
Weather forecast:
http://www.accuweather.com/en/az/baku/27103/daily-...
The tyre choices requested by the teams:
The established F1 fan base tend to look up on any new circuits introduced to the F1 calendar with some trepidation, but the new circuit only need to produce a good racing spectacle to win the fans over. On first look, the layout of the Baku City Circuit is typical of street circuits with a lot of 90-degree corners but here we have a very long 2.2 km straight. I’m going to hold judgement till we get cars out on track, racing. Sector 2 looks the most interesting of the track.
Tyres wise, Pirelli have gone conservative for this race as they did for the inaugural Russian GP, so it might turn out to be a borefest if the track is found to be a low degradation one. Remember Rosberg doing a whole race distance on a set of Mediums? I hope it doesn’t happen here.
We have a Ferrari team that is showing some improvement and a resurgent Red Bull at the front so there is hope that at least one of those teams will get it right in their fight with Mercedes. However, the very long straight and the very long circuit in general may tip the competitive balance in Mercedes’ favour.
Williams will look to extend their gap to Force India in the Constructor’s Championship as Force India were rather fancying their chances against Williams after their strong showing in Monaco. Force India must be wary of Torro Rosso edging closer too. Red Bull are firmly targeting Ferrari in the hope that the Scuderia continue their failure in extracting the maximum from both their drivers. Haas is only two points off McLaren’s position, but can they bring further developments to challenge for that position?
As for the drivers, Hamilton has finally cracked the 100 point barrier and within touching distance of Rosberg. A consistent challenger has not emerged from rival teams yet, so both the Mercedes drivers should feel that the fight is between themselves for the WDC. But Vettel, Ricciardo and Raikkonen would be banking on the Mercedes drivers continuing to fight hard between themselves to give them a chance of closing the gap in the Championship standings.
Anyone going to this race from here? Excited?
Date(s): Friday 17 June - Sunday 19 June 2016
UK Broadcast Timings (and local time)
All sessions are live on Channel 4 and Sky F1.
| Session | Day | Sky F1 | Channel 4 | Session Start | Local Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Practice 1 | Fri | 0945 | 0955 | 1000 | 1300 |
| Practice 2 | Fri | 1345 | 1355 | 1400 | 1700 |
| Practice 3 | Sat | 1045 | 1055 | 1100 | 1400 |
| Qualifying | Sat | 1300 | 1300 | 1400 | 1700 |
| Race | Sun | 1230 | 1300 | 1400 | 1700 |
Baku City Circuit
| Circuit Length | 6.001 km |
| Number of Laps | 51 |
| Race Distance | 306.051 km |
Live timing for all sessions available here:
http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/f1-...
Info such as lap times, PU use, technical reports, stewards decisions etc for the weekend will appear here:
http://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula-one-world-ch...
Weather forecast:
http://www.accuweather.com/en/az/baku/27103/daily-...
| Day | Comment | High/Low (C) | Chance of Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri | Sunny/clouds | 30/23 | 0% |
| Sat | Sunny | 32/24 | 1% |
| Sun | Sunny | 31/23 | 0% |
The tyre choices requested by the teams:
The established F1 fan base tend to look up on any new circuits introduced to the F1 calendar with some trepidation, but the new circuit only need to produce a good racing spectacle to win the fans over. On first look, the layout of the Baku City Circuit is typical of street circuits with a lot of 90-degree corners but here we have a very long 2.2 km straight. I’m going to hold judgement till we get cars out on track, racing. Sector 2 looks the most interesting of the track.
Tyres wise, Pirelli have gone conservative for this race as they did for the inaugural Russian GP, so it might turn out to be a borefest if the track is found to be a low degradation one. Remember Rosberg doing a whole race distance on a set of Mediums? I hope it doesn’t happen here.
We have a Ferrari team that is showing some improvement and a resurgent Red Bull at the front so there is hope that at least one of those teams will get it right in their fight with Mercedes. However, the very long straight and the very long circuit in general may tip the competitive balance in Mercedes’ favour.
Williams will look to extend their gap to Force India in the Constructor’s Championship as Force India were rather fancying their chances against Williams after their strong showing in Monaco. Force India must be wary of Torro Rosso edging closer too. Red Bull are firmly targeting Ferrari in the hope that the Scuderia continue their failure in extracting the maximum from both their drivers. Haas is only two points off McLaren’s position, but can they bring further developments to challenge for that position?
As for the drivers, Hamilton has finally cracked the 100 point barrier and within touching distance of Rosberg. A consistent challenger has not emerged from rival teams yet, so both the Mercedes drivers should feel that the fight is between themselves for the WDC. But Vettel, Ricciardo and Raikkonen would be banking on the Mercedes drivers continuing to fight hard between themselves to give them a chance of closing the gap in the Championship standings.
Anyone going to this race from here? Excited?
Edited by Dr Z on Monday 13th June 20:50
Good starter thread as always Dr Z. If drivers can get the medium compound working as the optimum tyre, we could have an interesting result with many taking very few sets to Baku.
Will we see some of the front running cars hit the limiter in 8th along the start/finish straight? 360+ km/hr perhaps? Should be an interesting spectacle with a 90 left at the end of the straight. It's a shame the speed trap isn't closer to turn 1.
Will we see some of the front running cars hit the limiter in 8th along the start/finish straight? 360+ km/hr perhaps? Should be an interesting spectacle with a 90 left at the end of the straight. It's a shame the speed trap isn't closer to turn 1.
Have a look at the onboard footage from here. To see what it would look like at race speeds run it at 2x 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQgAET0KczI
I like it kinda reminds me of a mix of a street style Bathurst with a touch of Long Beach... Indycars would feel at home!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQgAET0KczI
I like it kinda reminds me of a mix of a street style Bathurst with a touch of Long Beach... Indycars would feel at home!
Flooble said:
Interesting tyre choices - Verstappen, Ricciardo and Hamilton on the same "strategy" but Rosberg has opted for an extra set of mediums. Might see Rosberg doing an entire race (-1 lap) on one set of tyres again while the "racy" bunch have to stop twice?
Unfortunately for Rosberg, his driving style doesn't seem particularly kind to tyres. Indeed it is generally more likely that Hamilton will take the marginal one-stop than Rosberg. groomi said:
Sector 3 after turn 16 looks like it could be almost flat out. I suspect fuel saving could be an issue here.
A massive proportion of the track looks quick with lots of full throttle acceleration from tight corners or sweeping corners that will be taken at speed, agree with you RE fuel saving.geeks said:
I am happy to be corrected here, but isn't more time at WOT better on fuel than constant stop/start?
My uneducated guess would be that a circuit made up entirely of WOT straights and hairpin stops would probably burn more fuel than one with a series of sweeping (lower speed) curves, however, this circuit seems to have quite a lot of high speed followed by heavy braking - so using lots of energy to get up to speed then throwing it all away again at the end of the straight. McLaren certainly report fuel consumption issues due to the small additional time they spend at WOT on the straights compared to the competition. At say an arbitrary 10kph down on competitors, slower engine cars could be at WOT for nearly 1.5s longer over 2.2km according to my crude calculations. 100kg/hr max fuel flow ~ nearly an extra 2kg of fuel consumed over 60 laps.
Otispunkmeyer said:
I'd love to see the logistics for this... I mean they were in Europe (Monaco), then over to Canada and now straight back to Europe again within the week! How do they ship all the stuff so quick? Bet the mechanics are shattered!
I read an article in Autosport or F1 Magazine (I forget which) a while back which said that most teams now have 4 - 6 pit kits, which are shipped around the world (so only essentials/really high value kit is airfreighted direct from race to race) - so the kit for Baku has been in transit for a while. The mechanics must still be knackered though!Europa1 said:
Otispunkmeyer said:
I'd love to see the logistics for this... I mean they were in Europe (Monaco), then over to Canada and now straight back to Europe again within the week! How do they ship all the stuff so quick? Bet the mechanics are shattered!
I read an article in Autosport or F1 Magazine (I forget which) a while back which said that most teams now have 4 - 6 pit kits, which are shipped around the world (so only essentials/really high value kit is airfreighted direct from race to race) - so the kit for Baku has been in transit for a while. The mechanics must still be knackered though!I assumed they might take the trucks to Baku, but having a look at a map its nearly 3000 miles, so probably not! its significantly further than the Istanbul track.
From what I've seen of the track shots so far I'm not convinced this is actually going to be a good event as a 'race'. It seems like another Monaco really, with some sections looking even more narrow !
Will have to wait and see...... but I'm not convinced this is a track where Ferrari will go well at, especially Kimi. Could be good for Red Bull though.
Will have to wait and see...... but I'm not convinced this is a track where Ferrari will go well at, especially Kimi. Could be good for Red Bull though.
https://www.bakucitycircuit.com/event-guide/circui...
It's 7.6m wide between turn 7 and 8, not much more than 4 car widths. The widest point is 13m wide.
It's 7.6m wide between turn 7 and 8, not much more than 4 car widths. The widest point is 13m wide.
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