Hadjar’s Mega Run
After three races out of action and still carrying some concerns about his left wrist, Hadjar put in a mega performance in qualifying today.
Looking carefully at his laps, it was obvious how much he was trying to stay away from the walls. In some corners, he was leaving as much as a metre of margin. His main priority was clearly not to go as fast as possible, but to avoid any contact with the wall.
Another very interesting point was the much bigger difference in front-tyre temperatures. After his first flying lap in Q3, his front right was overheating while the left was below its operating window.
The team therefore asked him to charge the battery as quickly as possible on the cool-down lap, then turn regeneration off, so that only the hydraulic/conventional brakes were working, eliminating variations in braking energy and helping stabilise the temperatures.
The fact that Hadjar was consistently faster than team leader Max Verstappen was initially brushed off by Max as being down to different engine performance.
That explanation still has to be proven tomorrow — the initial data does not support the claim.
Regardless of all the additional circumstances, Hadjar’s performance today was much stronger than expected. 🏎️🔥
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Kimi Meets the Wall
Was there something more behind Kimi’s uncharacteristic mistake today? Perhaps.
Since the beginning of the weekend, he has been playing catch-up to George. Psychological pressure might be the reason behind what happened. Apparently, Kimi tried too hard, too soon today — and paid a heavy price.
His onboard shows a very disciplined preparation and methodical progress through qualifying. The contact happened at the beginning of his second flying lap in Q2, after Kimi had very carefully brought the tyres up to temperature throughout the preparation lap, almost all the way to the finish line.
According to Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi may have been surprised by the higher-than-expected front grip in Turn 1, which caused the accident.
Whether that is the main reason, we will never know for sure, but tomorrow’s race promises to be another Baku classic.
With arguably the fastest car, Kimi will have to try to pull another Monza out of the bag — this time in Baku. It definitely won’t be easy, but it is far from impossible. 🔥
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Mercedes Dominance at Baku
George Russell’s pole lap was almost 0.85 seconds faster than Leclerc’s Ferrari.
How does such an unusually large gap to P2 compare with the other qualifying sessions so far this season?
Race | Difference |
|---|---|
AUS 🇦🇺 | +0.293 s |
CHI 🇨🇳 | +0.222 s |
JPN 🇯🇵 | +0.298 s |
MIA 🇺🇸 | +0.166 s |
CAN 🇨🇦 | +0.068 s |
MON 🇲🇨 | +0.043 s |
BAR 🇪🇸 | +0.064 s |
AUT 🇦🇹 | +0.236 s |
GBR 🇬🇧 | +0.175 s |
BEL 🇧🇪 | +0.317 s |
HUN 🇭🇺 | +0.012 s |
NED 🇳🇱 | +0.102 s |
ITA 🇮🇹 | +0.060 s |
SPA 🇪🇸 | +0.011 s |
AZE 🇦🇿 | +0.837 s |
As the saying goes:
No comment… 😏 🏎️
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🏎️ The Fastest Lap Team
All images and videos used in The Fastest Lap Newsletter are our own or have been provided by our partners, including https://www.spasgp.com/
The Fastest Lap Newsletter is an independent project and is not affiliated with Formula 1 or any F1 team.
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That’s a chequered flag 🏁 for today.
Tomorrow, best. 🏎️