Azerbaijan: pre-qualifying 2016

Our first race at Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. It looks like a tedious street circuit, with one surprisingly fast bit and a collection of right angle corners for maximum boredom. But is it dangerous? Mood music suggests it might be a race of red flags and safety cars.

In P1 Hamilton led his team mate by four-tenths, with Bottas a couple of tenths back, followed by Alonso. Vettel, Button and Perez were next, with Massa, Sainz and Hulkenberg rounding out the top 10.

P2 had Hamilton seven-tenths up on Rosberg, with Perez and Bottas behind. Hulkenberg, Sainz, Verstappen, Vettel, Button and Ricciardo complete the top 10 lineup.

At the moment, Ferrari and Red Bull look lacklustre, Perez and Bottas look pretty comfortable. Could be good for McLaren as well.

In final practice a drain cover came loose and damaged Bottas’ Williams. Bit worrying. Ferrari also had reliability issues, notably KERS in P2 and loss of power for Raikkonen in P3. Perez crashed into the wall in final practice.

In P3 Hamilton was a quarter of a second ahead of Rosberg, with Hulkenberg in 3rd (albeit a second off the top slot). Ricciardo, Vettel and Perez were close behind, with Verstappen, Button, Kvyat and Raikkonen rounding out the top 10.

Looks very tight between Red Bull, Williams (Bottas has been quick all weekend but the drain cover meant he didn’t set a P3 lap time), Ferrari and Force India. Perez might’ve finished higher up the order but for his late collision with the wall.

In GP2 only 10/22 cars finished, which tallies with my thinking on betting on a low number to be classified.

I didn’t see any value bets (tempting to repeat the Rosberg pole [each way] bet but I really do think it’s Hamilton’s), so no qualifying tip.

There may be many crashes in the race. If we get some in qualifying, that could mix up the grid a fair bit.


Morris Dancer

Comments

  1. Agree with you, it's Hamilton's pole - assuming there's no inappropriately timed red flags during the session. No bet from me for Qualy either.
    Sandpit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That prediction proved very accurate ;)

      Delete
    2. Should have backed the German as I mentioned yesterday. Grr...

      SP

      Delete
  2. Yesterday, pre-qualifying, I posted on PB.com my single bet for the race, i.e. Vittel to get a Podium at odds of 7/4. I see he's now only 11/10 for this bet, so it looks like I got good value.
    Of course, good value is one thing, delivering a winnin g bet is quite another, but fingers crossed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Always a bit hesitant betting on the race before we know the grid, but it can offer value. Glad your bet came off. 'twas well-judged.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Monaco: pre-race 2023

F1 2014 - Second and Third Tests

Japan: early discussion