[Monster Hesh]

On the Brundle absence, hate to say it, but the planned absence later in the year must be for treatment. He'll have the best health care available.

Personally I'd like to hear Ant in the com box for qually and race. I enjoy his commentary the best, really puts a smile on my face when he's in for the practice session. Still provides so much insight, more than any other Sky personnel, and the banter he induces can be great.

Paul Di, I still find hard to listen to. He is just so reserved, like he is under contractual obligation to give absolutely nothing away, even on basic lap craft.

[forzaferrari]

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/baku-...s-1030464/

[Jody Barton]

I think Baku is already looking like an important weekend for the teams. Last year Baku absolutely 100% played to the Mercedes design philosophy in every conceivable sense. If Ferrari's concept and car is ahead of Mercedes here, then they're in serious trouble for the rest of the season I'd wager. If Mercedes are back on top then we have a proper fight on our hands. Sure given the nature of the current opening races you'd normally wait until say Monaco to call the pecking order accurately, but we'll have had pretty much 90% of all condition this expected this season come Baku. Throw in Barcelona and the picture will be clear.

Mercedes need their short term fix to work this weekend regardless, because they need to know that what they think is the problem is the problem, otherwise the work they are doing back at the factory to fix the issue is likely to be wasted effort, and show they don't have a grip or an understanding of the car. So for those who want a Ferrari WDC this year, keep those fingers crossed Mercedes are still lost, and those of us who want a classic season you'd better pray they're not.

[Jody Barton]

Well that was a rather interesting FP1. Nobody was able to really fire the Ultra Softs up at all. Lewis did not get a single clean lap in, especially on the Ultras where it was his fourth attempt at a flying lap on them that counted, as his other laps were ruined by yellow flags or seemingly Lance Stroll just being crap. One thing is clear from all that though, Mercedes were clearly running a lot of fuel.

Red Bull look genuinely rapid. Certainly in S2 where no one else could get close to them. If they had a decent donkey they'd be untouchable. As it is on the straights they were losing a lot of time. Max Verstappen yet again in the wall(s)... I've added the (s) because before his terminal smash he'd threatened to do it a few places. Driver error yet again. He's clearly feeling the stress. The look on Marko's face that he shot to Jos told a million words. Max is under pressure, but the RBR looks genuinely quick here.

Ferrari... it looks dreadful for them, and while it's not clever, I think people should take a chill pill. They were running massively heavy on fuel. They were really the only runners who seemed to be scrapping along the tarmac. Although the car looked super sluggish coming out of the corners in terms of wanting to change direction, they're not 2.5 seconds off the pace.

Force India and Williams both look to have made a step up, apparently Merc have said the engines on all three teams can run a little more performance now after the first three races. Either they've been turned down as a precaution, or Merc are already thinking that they'll need a fourth engine.

[Monster Hesh]

Take the chill pill, with a dose of see where the Sauber is compared to the other Ferrari teams. Biggest indication, that FP1 was a show "your face" at the party from Ferrari. They aren't even pre-gaming yet. Well here's hoping anyway, other wise Merc are off in the distance.

Biggest plus of this session, F1 TV graphics upgrades. They are becoming like teams upgrades, some work, some don't. This events really do. The telemetry overlay on the halo, is a real plus, love it. All the info, blended well with the TV image composition, not over powering and had a wealth of info.
I just want to see dynamic brake application, like the throttle shows. At the moment (like its always been), its just on/off. maybe that's the drivers and teams being to protective of critical info, but it would be fascinating to see.

P.S Good to see you back Jody!

[Jody Barton]

Well FP2 was really interesting. Mercedes are screwed. Their car is a pig and they clearly don't know why. Over a second a lap off of the pace on the Ultrasofts on race sims and 1.5 seconds off on the Softs, but only 0.9 off on the Supersofts. The drop off on all tyres for Mercedes was alarming with the Ultras lasting 4 laps and the Softs seeing a massive drop off after only 6 laps. It's a horrible car. On long runs it's behind Renault and Force India. They've screwed up big time.

[Monster Hesh]

Just to add to Jody's summary. Sauber could genuinely competitive for the midfield this weekend.

It's too dangerous to look at sector 3 & speed trap figures, as the some had tows others did not.

FP3 will be fascinating. 

Not to forget, that come Sunday the temperature plummets, and plummets further as the race starts late in the day, with a shadier track, cool temps even more. Will this come to Merc's aide, probably not, as it goes too far the other way. Their car is just too finite.

[Jody Barton]

So lets look at Lewis' lap. S1 his tyres are up to temps and he is clearly quickest, goes purple and the car looks switched on. S2 his tyres seem to have cooled off and are offering not grip, like they're driving on ice, yet come the end of S2 he's lighting his rears up and they seem to have overheated through S2. So he just can't get the traction onto the back straight and puts in a super disappointing S3. That Merc is more on a knife edge than the W08 was. The changes made by Merceds for this weekend haven't solved the issues they clearly have. So for me Mercedes are in real trouble this season. Lots of home work over the night I think, but I can't see how it's a set up fix, and their engine just does not have the advantage it used to so turning that up won't help.

[Monster Hesh]

Jody you mention Lewis' Merc's tyres cooling off in sector two. Do you not think they are overheating?

Heavy traction zones and sustained 90deg turns, putting pressure on all tyres during sector 1 building up too much temp.
Come sector 2, when low speed grip and stability is paramount, the tyres are over their operating window and just slide, causing rapid heating to the surface compounding the issue.
Then come the first turn of sector 3 turn 16, loss of traction due to overheated tyres, causes the huge loss in sector 3. Not until the mega main straight where everything gets a chance to cool down, do their tyres come back into the window and enable him to once again push them in sector 1.

But, like you say, it's going to be a long one for them this evening. When they say, they have about 6-10 options to fix the issue, is alarm bells enough. It's pretty much saying "we have no idea where the problem is, we're going to stab around till we hit something"

This is refreshing isn't it : D

[Jody Barton]

No, I think during S1 which are nothing but straights, with breaks the tyres are cooling down, then they appear to overheat massively, certainly the rears, is S2. In short the car has no balance, it's pretty much got the worst of all possible worlds and I don't see how they fix it without in season testing. By the summer break if they haven't fixed it by Barcelona I think they'll be out of contention for the WCC and WDC. It is looking that grim for them. We're I Lewis Hamilton I wouldn't be signing that contract any time soon.