2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Baku, Sep 24 - 26

[erudite450]

Another manipulation tactic from the FIA, that is a VSC every day of the week.

Awful from the race director! Absolutely awful!

This is partly driven by the constant moaning of the TV broadcasters (particularly Skysports) any time a race ends under the safety car.

Awful driving from Bottas. Perez drives in circles around him.

Bottas had an atrocious weekend.

[Wouter]

Verstappen went alongside RUS under SC, but Wittich just said that it normally should result in some kind of warning at most

.
Wittich or do you mean Rui Marques?

[search]

Verstappen went alongside RUS under SC, but Wittich just said that it normally should result in some kind of warning at most

.
Wittich or do you mean Rui Marques?

Wittich. He works as an expert for German Sky now.

[Artur Craft]

Awful from the race director! Absolutely awful!

This is partly driven by the constant moaning of the TV broadcasters (particularly Skysports) any time a race ends under the safety car.

Awful driving from Bottas. Perez drives in circles around him.

Bottas had an atrocious weekend.

I guess Bottas had an issue with his car because, with 13 laps in, I noticed Perez was keeping up with Bortoleto, Sainz.... while Bottas was 20s behind Perez already. Sergio is a phenomenal driver on street tracks but that is simply too much

Anyway, now that Antonelli is set for the WDC, there is almost nobody caring for F1 anymore. The racing is dull and the regulation is an atrocity

[Wouter]

Verstappen went alongside RUS under SC, but Wittich just said that it normally should result in some kind of warning at most

.
Wittich or do you mean Rui Marques?

.
Wittich. He works as an expert for German Sky now.

.
OK. I didn't know that.

[search]

.
Wittich or do you mean Rui Marques?

.
Wittich. He works as an expert for German Sky now.

.
OK. I didn't know that.

he more or less has a similar role as all those former referees in football coverage. When a potential rule violation happens, they call Wittich and ask for his opinion. And in this particular case, it apparently was a rule he created himself.

[clownfish]

Awful driving from Bottas. Perez drives in circles around him.

Bottas had an atrocious weekend.

I guess Bottas had an issue with his car because, with 13 laps in, I noticed Perez was keeping up with Bortoleto, Sainz.... while Bottas was 20s behind Perez already. Sergio is a phenomenal driver on street tracks but that is simply too much

Anyway, now that Antonelli is set for the WDC, there is almost nobody caring for F1 anymore. The racing is dull and the regulation is an atrocity

Yeah Sky never mentioned it but I noticed he was losing about 2s a lap at one point, with Alonso stuck right behind him unable to overtake.

[j_ste]

Guess Red Bull do have a semi decent PU after all

[Rikhart]

Guess Red Bull do have a semi decent PU after all

Yes indeed, in this engine dominated regulation, look at all their wins.

[search]

It’s a pity that this race thread only has 3 pages so far and we’re halfway through to the Grand Prix. Granted everything is a bit out of place with everything being a day ahead, but still… a somewhat concerning state of affairs with the current formula.

yeah, although tbh, the past two races felt the most like watching 2025 so far. And for sure not in a positive way.

[Quantum]

Guess Red Bull do have a semi decent PU after all

Best result of the season for Red Bull at the most power sensitive track.

Coincidence right?

[bluechris]

Guess Red Bull do have a semi decent PU after all

Best result of the season for Red Bull at the most power sensitive track.

Coincidence right?

RB was always good in the hand's of Max in Baku with less wings. The difference this year is that for the 1st time the teammate is also fast.

[Farnborough]

Guess Red Bull do have a semi decent PU after all

Best result of the season for Red Bull at the most power sensitive track.

Coincidence right?

RB was always good in the hand's of Max in Baku with less wings. The difference this year is that for the 1st time the teammate is also fast.

What about Perez ? He was pretty handy around here, along with Max crediting him with learning from his pace around the short corners of this track layout.

[Farnborough]

Guess Red Bull do have a semi decent PU after all

Best result of the season for Red Bull at the most power sensitive track.

Coincidence right?

They, RBPT, appear to be evolving their own interpretation of most effective deployment "landscape" in running this PU.

As other teams are realising, there's different focus that's been forced by these rules now in place for production of most effective method and resources.

It's pretty boring watching algorithm in performance sport, but essential if they are to succeed under this rule set.

[Quantum]

They, RBPT, appear to be evolving their own interpretation of most effective deployment "landscape" in running this PU.

As other teams are realising, there's different focus that's been forced by these rules now in place for production of most effective method and resources.

It's pretty boring watching algorithm in performance sport, but essential if they are to succeed under this rule set.

Genuinely dont think that addresses the elephant in the room.

What about Red Bull having their best performance of the season at the calendars most power sensitive track?

The tied next Venue for power sensitivity is Canada, where Max finished 3rd despite having "car degradation" (Mekies and Max's words) due to the bouncing and Max disagreeing with the team on set up direction but taking the teams choice to show it didnt work in the race.
3rd at Monza too which has high demand for power sensitivity and carrying a rear axle issue which made the car lack low speed compliance(Max's words).

4 podiums at 3 power sensitive tracks despite 2 of those races carrying chassis related issues.

RBPT "evolving their own interpretation of most effective deployment" has no relevance.
Because RBPT are the only entity that should be interpreting their deployment.
It's their engine after all.

And teams being forced by the rules to find the most effective method and resource is an F1 constant, not a 2026 variable. I unfortunately do not see how this explains outlying results for Red Bull at power sensitive tracks.