Why didn’t you need Mercedes?
And so in addressing yesterday’s race. In the general hustle and bustle, it went down a bit, but: Mercedes didn’t protest Red Bull’s “Flexwings” as originally intended. Now, of course, you’re asking yourself: Why not?
Mercedes sporting director Toto Wolff gave the answer in his media panel yesterday evening. When asked if the protest was still coming, he said: “No, the whole story is basically upsetting. We will not protest Sergio Perez’s exit now, but rather rely on the new test.”
It feels like you’re waiting to see what the FIA’s tougher stress tests will contribute to the situation and whether the “Flexiwings” problem is settled after that.
With Wolff drafted, it remains to be seen if Mercedes didn’t protest even if Verstappen won the race…
This is what Mercedes is…
… good on the fastest laps this year, like our race current list offers. And: unlike Red Bull, Mercedes got the bonus point every time.
This is something Max Verstappen was not allowed to do in Baku: he made the fastest lap there, but that is worthless because he was not ranked in the top ten due to the failure. So no bonus point will be awarded, for the first time this year.
Another thing where Mercedes is not the best
On the Mondays after the race, of course, we always spin the Grand Prix stats. And here is another Mercedes “weakness” that appeared in Baku, albeit not a serious one. But it is one that has run like a thread over the past few successful years: Mercedes is not the leader in Formula 1 when it comes to pit stops.
In our current review of the fastest F1 tire changes in 2021 In any case, Red Bull continues to lead, and clearly. On the other hand, Mercedes has not registered at all in Baku. Alfa Romeo has given way to that. But more on that in the linked article!
Meanwhile in Brackley…
The first members of the Mercedes crew have already arrived at the headquarters in Brackley, England. From there you send a message on social media.
It reads as follows:
“Back to work. It’s time to shove our way through the data and understand our weaknesses so we can respond more aggressively. We’ll turn every stone over over the next few days.”
We already know that from Mercedes, this precision in handling failures. And you can look forward to the results. Probably one of the main points was Valtteri Bottas’ poor performance over the entire weekend, as he did not bring in a green branch in Baku. See also Christian Niemervall’s column on Monday.
The shape of the enemy is a little different!
It did well in Baku: Fernando Alonso beats because of it – and, of course, jokingly! – A new format for Formula 1 racing. This looks like this:
“We have to think about the two-lap races, or about the 25-lap races, something like that on Sunday. I think it was fun because you could be so aggressive in those two laps because you knew you didn’t have to save tires or whatever. That was cool.” .
The “Sprint Qualification” races, held for the first time this year, will each run 100 kilometers and will not have a mandatory stop. You can find details about regulations and process I read here.
There are still construction sites in the Alps…
Fernando Alonso’s P6 in Baku cannot hide the fact that not everything is going smoothly in the Alps. Because in the race, Alonso was only seen in the photo when he was overtaken. To the end, his race was more reverse than offensive.
Alonso notes that he was “a bit slow”. It will have “three to four tenths [pro Runde] absent. “That was a strategy killer.” Overall, the team has been in better shape since Portimao. “It’s a trend I’m very happy with,” Alonso said.
How would you rate Alonso’s performance?
Fernando Alonso had his best result since his comeback with P6 in Baku. However, we found it difficult to rank his race performance in our Discussion of Scores.
He himself said after the Grand Prix that he was, of course, “satisfied” with the result. W: I deliberately chose the “all or nothing” strategy with the change to soft on the last reboot.
“I told the team: ‘We’ll try it.'” And if there’s a gap, I’ll drive there. If we lose points as a result or I end up in the wall or break the front wing, that’s stupid, but at least we would have tried. And yes, the two rounds at the end were fun.”
“Funny” in his view, because Alonso drove from P10 to P6 leaving Tsunoda, Sainz and Ricciardo behind, as did Hamilton, of course, who braked in front.
“The truth is: In the beginning, the guys have done an excellent job in the last three or four races,” Alonso says. “We’re always with the top three. That helps of course.” “And this time we made the most of it.”
How did the official Formula 1 vote end?
Incidentally, Sebastian Vettel won the official Formula 1 vote for “Driver of the Day”, and it shows. You can see how many fans voted for Vettel and who else was nominated Formula 1 fan vote overview.
There you will also get the full history of this award since 2016 and see who was the “Most Popular Driver of the Day” and at what races. Some may surprise you…
© Motorsport Pictures
You too can still vote!
If you now want to give a rating to all the Formula 1 drivers yourself, do it: our readers’ vote is still active and just waiting for you to give your opinion!
You can find all the information about the rating and the rating itself Here!
We discussed…
… in our Formula 1 editorial team, about driver grades in Baku. We do this every Monday morning after the race, because our ratings are included in the great Formula 1 rating we created with our readers and Marc Saurer.
How do we vote? It won’t be revealed (yet)! But I’ll send you a little spoiler: We gave you one of two cases. And now you can decide for whom… 😉
The story behind it
If you are now wondering what the story of “Flexiwings” is and what the latest version is, let me show you the history. Our video aptly summarizes the situation – and also explains (and clearly!) the most important terms, eg aeroelasticity. look here!
How the situation turned out on the day of the race in Baku (before the start of the race), you can do it Read in this article. This includes not only the statements of Toto Wolff, as other heroes have their say.
Formula 1: What are Flexiwings and what do they do?
They are the big controversial topic of the 2021 Formula 1 season: our video explains what Flexiwings are! More Formula 1 videos
about last night
Your entry into Formula 1 on Monday is of course #LastNight. Under this hashtag Christian Niemervol And our traditional columns wrote on Monday, this time again about the big winners and big losers in Baku.
who became? You can find here:
Who slept the worst last night
Who slept better last night
Let me Christian and find out what you think of our texts. We would like to discuss – also this evening from 7 pm, of course, live on Formula1.de YouTube channel!
The next day …
It’s the day after the turbulent Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku. And of course we have to talk about it. Today, however, it’s not Robin Zimmermann who directs this live-action tape as usual, but Stefan Ehlen. And if you have any questions, suggestions or comments, the best way to contact me is via Twitter And the Facebook social networking site. write to me!
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