After what has been a stuttering start to his title defence, last season’s elite champion HamJam2002 finally returned to the top spot of the podium for round 8 at Baku.
Ham capped off his 2nd pole position of the season with a commanding drive to win by over 20 seconds.
The Williams duo of Jam and BDunk rounded out the podium, the former taking the lead of the championship after another great drive. The latter once again showing his worth round the streets of Baku.
Raceroller came home in P4, despite being pipped to the line by MeRkz47 the Red Bull driver would receive a post race penalty for an incident in qualifying, Raceroller kept out of the trouble to take another top 5 finish.
Crispy continued his excellent start to the season with another large haul of points, despite an incident with Hoopolicious who eventually came home in 6th, Crispy made up for the disappointment of Monaco last week to show his fine form isn’t just a temporary occurance.
Despite an invalidation in Q1, Hoopolicious managed to navigate his way wound the streets of Baku to claim P6 and keep his Ferrari second in the drivers championship.
Merkz had a fantastic drive after qualifying P15 but the aforementioned penalty saw him drop to 7th.
Midzy, ZyDRAD and Freeman app had pace for the top 5 but various incidents and mistakes saw them finish in 8th, 9th and 10th respectively. Midzy is still well and truly in the championship fight while Freeman and ZyDRAD have found themselves in a battle with Ham and Crispy for fourth in the championship, at least for the time being.
Ghost Colt was just beaten on the line by Freeman and came home P11, Rando started and finished 12th in what was a fairly uneventful race for the Red Bull driver.
It was a weekend to forget for Racing Point, despite both drivers qualifying in the top 10 they were both in the pits by the end of the first lap, various incidents saw them finish in 13th and 17th respectively with Bezzas leading Smoke two drivers who certainly haven’t had the run of the green this season.
Niki came home 14th after damage early on, an excellent start had seen the Renault driver climb into the top 10 however a lapse in concentration saw Niki pick up damage effectively ending his race due to the lack of a safety car something which I’m sure 95% of the field were hoping for.
Beast and Southerner came home in 15th and 16th, Beast picking up the fastest lap along the way. Kevin was the final finisher, damage matter a run in with teammate ZyDRAD saw his race become compromised early on.
The two non finishers were Para and VR.
All in all a relatively small amount of retirees compared to the rest of the league in what was arguably the most costly weekend in SLR’s history (don’t quote me on that 😉) with carbon fibre spraying the track all weekend long.
Next week we head to Canada, a track that can offer quality racing and unexpected weather conditions we look forward to seeing you there.
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.36.760
1. HamJam2002
2. ABR Freeman
3. Xx JamHam xX
4. Midzy15
5. bezzas1
6. Crispy2001
7. LP Smoke
8. ZyDRAD
9. gho3t COLT
10. raceroller22
11. BDunk
12. SLR Rando
13. SLR Niki
14. UKBeastAssassin
15. MeRkz47
16. Hoopolicious
17. PaRa Quickz
18. SLR Southerner
19. KevinGT9389
20. I VR 46 I
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.39.841 UKBeastAssassin
1. HamJam2002
2. Xx JamHam xX
3. BDunk
4. raceroller22
5. Crispy2001
6. Hoopolicious
7. MeRkz47 +15 sec
8. Midzy15
9. ZyDRAD
10. ABR Freeman
11. gho3t COLT
12. SLR Rando
13. bezzas1
14. SLR Niki
15. UKBeastAssassin
16. SLR Southerner
17. LP Smoke
18. KevinGT9389
19. PaRa Quickz (DNF)
20. I VR46 I (DNF)
UKBeastAssassin vs Para Quickz
Decision: 3LP to PaRa due to DNF
Reason: Para brake checks beast causing him minor wing damage.
Hoopolicious vs Crispy2001
Decision: Racing incident
Reason: Crispy and hoop are side by side as crispy is just coming out of the pits. With there being changeable conditions and crispy having cold dry tyres on a damp track, crispy can be forgiven for going deep in the braking zone in these tricky conditions and cutting off hoop. Whilst this does impact hoop’s race and loses him a lot of time, we feel we can’t penalise Crispy as he just makes a mistake due to the track conditions.
Hoopolicious vs KevinGT
Outcome: no further action
Reason: hoop catches Kevin at an awkward part of the track. He does lose time lapping him but we feel Kevin could have done no more to let Hoop past.
Hoopolicious vs zydrad
Outcome: no further action
Reason: zydrad has lost his entire wing so takes turn 2 very slowly. The difference of speed of him and hoop due to his wing damage is what causes the collision. Unfortunate for hoop to pick up damage but as zydrad is driving with no wing these things can happen in tight sections of the track.
Bezzas1 vs Crispy2001
Decision: racing incident
Reason: Crispy completes a legitimate move on Bezzas in turn 1 and they make slight contact on exit. As he had lost the position due to this move already, bezzas could have quite easily backed out and avoided himself getting damage. Crispy is entitled to the racing line in this position.
MeRkz47 Qualifying incident
Decision: 15s+3LP to MeRkz47
Reason: merkz drives right into a left hander in qualifying causing him to retire. Even though an explanation was provided on why this happened, on the evidence we have been given we feel this crash was intentional. Although nobody was affected the full penalty of retiring on track on purpose has been given because it put others behind who were still on qualifying laps at risk.
SLR lands in Eastern Europe in Azerbaijan for round 8 of the season 6 championship, to a track that has unpredicted and almost unrivalled chaos in real Formula One Racing, it would be a matter of time to see if these traits were echoed in the SLR race
Qualifying had a light drizzle early, but quickly faded out as drivers could afford to wait until the track dried, albeit cool, it would be a slower start to qualifying due to the cooler conditions, but by Q3, the track was back in prime condition, and it would be BrindyBoi67, who topped all 3 sessions, to take a convincing pole position with a 1:37.644, 1tenth quicker than SillyBunny47711 and a further tenth over the other Mercedes of SLR Dylan.
The race start would see a lightning start from JH199 from P5 and into P3 by Turn 2, however, the start wouldn’t go down well for SLR Dylan, who, following a connection issue, had freezing cold tyres and spun at Turn 2 in the background, plummeting down the order and creating a hazard for most off the start. From then, BrindyBoi67 extended the gap at a relative canter as the rest battled through the Baku streets, as the track crosses both the modern touch of the city, as well as the historic and architectural cultures that are also embedded within.
JH199 and JibJab325 made decent starts as Riggsey x and SillyBunny47711 both tried to get in the mix as well for P2, however, the most recognised start by all was by new driver SLR Vandoorne, who served a qualifying ban following an incident from Monaco, saw himself up in P5 by Lap6, cutting his way through the field. Another factor to account everyone with was keeping it out the walls, and mistakes began showing through the cracks early as carbon fibre would be sporadically scattered throughout the streets.
The tight castle section would begin to claim some drivers as BlandSiamang908 locked up one of his tyres and saw himself veering down the escape road as he struggled to slow the car down, and fast starter SLR Vandoorne would later collide with the wall on the incline, leading to his retirement, however, no safety car despite his stricken motor being in a difficult place to recover. Lewisod in the Racing Point would hit the wall, but the wheels would remain in tact and was able to get away with some wing damage, but hindered his race.
A late Safety Car would play perfectly into the hands of CechThisOut and SLR Semm who were on the alternate strategy and dived into the pits for fresh softs as soon as the caution was called and they were massive benefactors of this period. The pack was relatively shook up following the restart, as SotierClock110 and SLR McKeon, who were running quiet, but yet, solid races, found themselves battling for the final podium position. On the second SC restart, this battle was key as this determined the final podium place, but devastation would rise as SillyBunny47711 was also looking to get involved and made it three wide into Turn 7, where the track is just too tight for any real action, and mega contact was made, and the nature of the track at this part meant chaos for everyone behind as they tried to filter through, and with damage as well, it began to get heated in the final laps as everyone wanted the best possible finish
But in the chaos that was unfolding behind, it was BrindyBoi67, who topped all 3 quali sessions, lead almost every lap of the race and on 2 Safety Car restarts, never looked back as he won in dominating fashion and put some serious weight on his name in terms of the Driver’s Championship, CechThisOut, after being eliminated in Q1, fought back and a safety car helped the charge, but take no credit away from him as he made the alternate strategy work and was able to utilise his racing credential, and JibJab325, who may not have had the quickest start to the season, but has began to show true form of late and another podium to add to the tally will mean a successful day at the office as he looks to continue the form.
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.37.644
1. BrindyBoi67
2. SillyBunny47711
3. SLR Dylan
4. Riggesy x
5. JH199
6. JibJab327
7. SotierClock110
8. SLR Connor
9. Bennett628
10. Lewisod
11. SLR Liamm
12. SLR Gooner
13. ARL Tooman
14. TazFW
15. BlandSiamang
16. CechThisOut
17. ARL PReDaToRZz
18. SLR McKoen
19. SLR Semm
20. SLR Vandoorne
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.40.889 BrindyBoi67
1. BrindyBoi67
2. CechThisOut
3. SLR Semm
4. ARL PReDaToRZz
5. JibJab325 +10 sec
6. Riggsey x
7. SLR McKeon
8. JH199 +15 sec
9. Bennett628
10. SLR Gooner
11. TazFW
12. SotierClock110
13.BlandSiamang
14. SLR Liamm
15. SLR Dylan +10 sec
16. SillyBunny47711 +30 sec
17. Lewisod (DNF)
18. SLR Vandoorne (DNF)
19. SLR Connor (DNF)
20. ARL Tooman (DSQ)
Tooman vs Bunny
OUTCOME: No further action.
Bunny adapts to losing his wing and therefore has to brake early and defends his position more often, Bunny does nothing wrong throughout this clip, added with the claimants language we are doing no further action
SotierClock110 vs JH199
OUTCOME: 10s 2LP JH199
REASON: Lap blocked during qualifying
CechThisOut vs SLR Dylan
OUTCOME: 10s 2LP SLR Dylan
REASON: Lap blocked during qualifying
Lewisod (pit lane entry)
OUTCOME: 5s 1LP
REASON: Ignoring pit lane guidelines
Tooman vs Bland
outcome: No further action.
This was caused by desync and therefore unfortunate for tooman, Bland didn't get disqualified proving that it was desync. Nothing Bland could do there
After a couple weeks in a row of absolute carnage in div 2, it was finally time to calm down with a nice, easy, open-plan circuit. Only joking, we were at Baku!
JH Pit cut
outcome: +5 sec 2 LPs.
Pit cut on entry and JH retiring in pits means another licence point is added on
However it must be said incidents weren’t as potent as the last couple of weeks at Monaco and Spain, with only 5 being sent in!
Semm Under yellow flag
outcome: No further action.
The incident wasn't clear cut for a violation and the stewards were indecisive on said incident so we are allowing the benefit of the doubt.
Jibjab Pit cut 1
outcome: 5 seconds 1 license point.
Jibjab pit cut 2
outcome: 5 seconds and 1 license point
Liam vs Riggs
outcome: Racing incident.
Coming into the last chicane Liam goes side by side with riggs and due to liams previous wing damage, he understeers into riggs causing the collision. Unfortunate for liam to affected that bad but riggs couldn't do much more
Clock vs McKeon vs Bunny
OUTCOME: 15 seconds and 3 Licence Points.
Bunny squeezes clock into mckeon causing a collision and gives all both parties wing damage. The move was on but bunny's lack of awareness caused that collision in out opinions
Bunny vs TazFW
outcome: 15 seconds and 3 License points
Bunny rejoins the track after a collision and squeezes taz into the wall giving him damage and creating a chain reaction behind him.
JH199 - Removal of 3 second penalty
OUTCOME: This penalty will have to stand as we cannot remove warnings/3 second penalties
Official warning to SillyBunny47711 has reached 9 LP
We started with qualifying as per normal and it was a shock for everyone as title and track favourite SLR FemPest had to bow out early due to equipment issues. With the championship leader out in Q1, the next most likely to take pole was rockamad73 who took pole last week in Monaco. However he bowed out in Q2, as well as another strong qualifier in Coupe a Benz. It was in the end the latter’s teammate and last week’s race winner OwenHowell36 who took his first SLR Pole position by just 0.017s over SLR Panther, who took the front row for the first time this season.
Going into the race the pole man would see himself through turn 1 with a solid start, however a coming together between SLR Panther and 3rd place qualifier SLR Teddy saw the former spun round, and the latter awarded a post-race penalty.
After one VSC it was pit stop time and many of the race leader’s rivals attempted the undercut, and it was almost made redundant as OwenHowell36 had a big crash, losing the back end and receiving heavy wing damage. Fortunately for him he was able to make it back to the pits in time and get back out in a net P2 behind SLR Leah, after many were held up by SLR Teddy’s spin at the castle section.
Once the alter-strategy runners had pit it seemed to be a 2-horse race for the victory and last week’s winner made the move to take the lead, and stretched a 3-second gap to P2 man SLR Leah, however a late safety car caused another twist in the tale. Pretty much all pit, and the battle would be re-ignited for the win with just 3 laps of racing left.
It was very close until a slight mistake by SLR Leah meant that he lost DRS to OwenHowell36, meaning the latter took his second win in a row at the street circuits, whilst positions 2, 3 & 4 were split by under half a second to the line! SLR Leah would retain P2 in a good drive, whilst ZachIsBeast25 made it P3 for the 3rd time in 3 races ahead of Coupe a Benz in P4 with a great alternate strategy move from P14. rockamad73 mirrored the latters strategy and took home a solid P5, and reserve driver Xx Allen xX7679 took his best finish yet in P6. SLR Panther avenged his Lap 1 tangle and finished P7, whilst Cal M Smith took fastest lap as well as P8. LSW L3G3ND44 scored points for Red Bull on his full time debut in P9, and rounding off the points was second place man in the championship craigfk, closing the gap to non-finisher SLR FemPest ever so slightly as the latter vows to repair his pedals in time for next week!
Qualifying
Pole Time: 1:38.552
1. OwenHowell36
2. SLR Panther
3. SLR Teddy
4. SLR Leah
5. SPhh
6. SLR Barlow
7. ZachIsBeast25
8. craigfk
9. SSR Halo
10. LSW L3G3ND44
11. rockamad73
12. Cal M Smith
13. Xx Allen xX7679
14. Coupe a Benz
15. FZR IGOR
16. SLR Scopezz
17. SLR Kiara
18. SLR FemPest
19. J Lee Menz (DNF)
20. SLR b33n (QB)
Race
Fastest Lap: 1:41.973
1. OwenHowell36
2. SLR Leah
3. ZachIsBeast25
4. Coupe a Benz
5. rockamad73
6. Xx Allen xX7679
7. SLR Panther
8. Cal M Smith (FL)
9. LSW L3G3ND44
10. craigfk
11. J Lee Menz
12. SSR Halo
13. SLR b33n
14. SPhh (DNF)
15. FZR IGOR (DNF) (+10s) (+1LP due to DNF)
16. SLR Scopezz (DNF)
17. SLR Teddy (DNF) (+15s) (qualifying ban next race due to DNF)
18. SLR FemPest (DNF)
19. SLR Barlow (DNF)
20. SLR Kiara (DNF)
SLR Panther vs SLR Teddy
Outcome: 15s + 3LP to SLR Teddy (qualifying ban due to DNF)
Reason: Panther is alongside teddy and teddy turns into him into turn 1, spinning him against the inside wall causing him to drop all the way down to last position.
J Lee Menz vs SLR B33n
Outcome: 2LP to SLR B33n
Reason: SLR B33n serves his qualifying ban multiple minutes into Q1. His Disqualified car is sat on the racing line as people are starting laps.
J Lee Menz hits this car and retires from the session as a result. However a more lenient penalty of 2 licence points is issued due to the admins not notifying SLR B33n of his qualifying ban until Q1 had already started and the ban coming from an incident 3 races ago in Netherlands. A small penalty has been given rather than none at all because we feel that even though the admins are there to remind drivers of their qualifying bans, it is also down to the driver to know whether they have one too, so B33n should take some responsibility for going out of the pits to serve it at a dangerous time and causing Menz to retire.
Rockamad73 vs Cal M Smith
Outcome: No further action
Rockamad and Cal are alongside each other when contact happens on the formation lap. We don’t feel that one party is more responsible for this than another as even though Cal M Smith gets close to rockamad, the contact is initiated by rockamad weaving. It’s also so close to the end of the formation lap and Cal isn’t sent to the grid either, suggesting that there’s no contact on his screen. Hence we feel we can’t really penalise cal for this.
Rockamad vs 5 second penalty removal
Outcome: No Further Action.
Reason: Rockamad 1) does not provide a race director for his penalty appeal and 2) serves his 5 second penalty in the pit lane. Both reasons in their own right are enough to prevent the stewards from overturning the penalty.
SLR Fempest vs IGOR
Outcome: 10s + 2LP to IGOR (converted to 3LP due to DNF)
Reason: IGOR stops dead on the formation lap causing a chain reaction which disqualifies multiple drivers from the formation lap. As it is Igor who initiates this, he is issued with the standard formation lap collision penalty.
official warning to SLR Teddy for reaching 6 LP
Division 3 hit the streets of sunny Baku in Azerbaijan for race 8 of the season and it was SLR Hyperz in the Renault that took pole position with Lofty4794 in the Haas joining him on the front row. SLR Dodgy in the Alfa Romeo took P3 with SLR Gareth in the Williams making up the second row in P4. The race started with immediate drama as Lofty4794 took the inside of T1 but out braked himself forcing himself wide which in turn pushed SLR Hyperz and SLR Dodgy wide as Baggiefan1995 in the Ferrari snatched P2. T2 then brought even more problems as the top 4 managed to get round without issue but a late lunge up the inside by SLR J3st3r caused what can only be called the M25 in rush hour with a 12 car pileup that surprisingly only brought out a VSC and six driver penalties. Despite the carnage the top 3 of Lofty4794, SLR Hyperz and SLR Dodgy managed to pull out a lead over the rest of the field. The top 3 were as you like for 4 laps until SLR Hyperz came into pits to repair some wing damage leaving Lofty4794 and SLR Dodgy out front as baggiefan1995 moved back up into P3 with the 2 Mclaren drivers of SLR Stevooo and I21I Maxwell up into P4 and P5. Into lap 5 and Race leader Lofty4794 took some damage to his wing giving SLR Dodgy a chance to close the gap. Lofy4794 then chose to pit at the end of lap 6 giving SLR dodgy the race lead with the Mclarens of SLR Stevooo and I21I Maxwell into the top 3.
SLR Spr1tely in the Racing Point was the first race casualty on lap 7 as he crashed at the castle section which surprisingly only brought out a VSC which was then followed by a retirement for SLR Russell in the Ferrari. Lap 9 and the race turned as race leader SLR Dodgy with a 17s lead suffered a rear right puncture and wasn’t able to nurse the car back to the pits before crashing on the final turn before the main straight causing huge wing damage. This promoted SLR J3st3r into the lead with I21I Maxwell into P2 and SLR Hyperz into P3 and it was SLR Dodgy`s chance of a podium over. With the VSC SLR J3st3r opted to pit giving I21I Maxwell the lead of the race. Lap 11 then brought some quality racing as I21I Maxwell and SLR Hyperz battled tooth and nail for P1 with I21I Maxwell showing some fantastic defensive driving. SLR Hyperz however did finally manage to take the lead on T14 into S3. The race then calmed down for a number of laps as gaps formed between the positions and it was lap 17 before changes at the top as I21I Maxwell pitted for soft tyres promoting Baggiefan1995 into P3 as SLR Hyperz continued to lead the way. SLR Hyperz then came into the pits on lap 18 for the soft tyre moving Lofty4794 into P1 for the final 8 laps. Heading into the final 3 laps and SLR Hyperz had closed the gap to Lofty4794 down to 2 seconds with I21I Maxwell in P3 now opening a gap to Baggiefan1995 in P4.
On the penultimate lap SLR Hyperz contacted the wall before the final straight and lost an end plate giving Lofty4794 a slight advantage on the final lap. But it was Lofty4794 that hung on for the race win coming home in P1, SLR Hyperz was half a second back in P”, I21I Maxwell made the podium in P3, Baggiefan1995 was P4, SLR Stevooo P5, SLR Dodgy P6, GrumpyOrange P7, SLR Colden P8, SLR J3st3r P9 and SLR Nealix took the final point in P10.
Qualifying
Pole Lap: 01.38.960
1. SLR Hyperz
2. Lofty4794
3. SLR Dodgy
4. SLR Gareth
5. SLR Nealix
6. Baggiefan 1995
7. SLR St2oH
8. SLR COLDEN
9. SLR Stevooo
10. SLR Charlie
11. SLR J3st3r
12. SLR C0w3n
13. SLR Spr1tley
14. I21I Maxwell
15. SLR DOLPHIN
16. Grumpy Orange
17. SLR Russell
18. AFlyinglemon318
19. x J Geddes x
20. Scott85Laney
Race
Fastest Lap: 01.42.417 SLR St2oH
1. Lofty4794
2. SLR Hyperz
3. I21I Maxwell
4. Baggiefan 1995
5. SLR Stevooo
6. SLR Dodgy
7. GrumpyOrange
8. SLR COLDEN
9. SLR J3st3r +20 sec
10. SLR Nealix
11. SLR St2oH
12. SLR Gareth
13. SLR C0w3n
14. x J Geddes x
15. SLR DOLPHIN
16. SLR Charlie (DNF)
17. Aflyinglemon318 (DNF)
18. Scott85Laney (DNF)
19. SLR Russell (DNF)
20. SLR Spr1tley (DNF)
SLR J3st3r Lap 1 incident
OUTCOME: 20s 6LP
REASON: J3st3r causes a major incident at turn 2 by going late on the breaks compared to everyone else around. 20s and 4LP for dangerous driving with an additional 2 LP due to how many drivers this effected.
SLR Hyperz vs Lofty
OUTCOME: No further action
REASON: Both drivers outbreak themselves into turn 1 and make minor contact. Hyperz does loose the position but stewards feel there is no need to penalise this.
SLR Nealix
OUTCOME: Qualifying ban 5LP
REASON: Ready up early on the grid.
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