Rate the race: 2016 European Grand Prix

2016 European Grand Prix

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What did you think of today’s race? Share your verdict on the European Grand Prix.

Since 2008, F1 Fanatic has held polls on every F1 race to find out which fans thought of each round of the season.

Join in the latest poll and give your verdict on the race: 10 being the highest and 1 the lowest. Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.

What were the best and worst moments of the race? What was the main thing you’ll remember about it? Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2016 European Grand Prix out of ten

  • 10 (1%)
  • 9 (1%)
  • 8 (4%)
  • 7 (13%)
  • 6 (18%)
  • 5 (19%)
  • 4 (16%)
  • 3 (13%)
  • 2 (8%)
  • 1 (7%)

Total Voters: 604

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1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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208 comments on “Rate the race: 2016 European Grand Prix”

  1. Well that was pretty boring. 4.

    1. Yeah, boring it was. That straight is to long, DRS all over the place, only a safety car could have saved this race and that’s says it all, I guess.

    2. robert johnson
      19th June 2016, 15:57

      Yes. I turned off at lap 25,did anything happen?

    3. yep…Boring…

    4. I agree, the race was dull. What made it even worse was that there was expectation of an exciting race, making it a complete anti-climax. I fell asleep several times (although this was partially due to a heavy night on Saturday).

    5. Boring indeed. SUCH A LETDOWN, everyone was expecting some first lap carnage, at least one or two safety cars, and a whole lot more excitement. Qualifying was much more exciting than the race itself.

      Also, you’re crazy if you voted this a “10”, whoever you are.

    1. I can’t even muster up as much enthusiasm as ‘meh’.

      I think the fact I was expecting action following Practice/Quali and the GP2 races made the whole thing worse, but given that it was SO easy to overtake the cars sorted themselves out into race pace order very quickly and that was that.

      The radio ban saga made the whole thing that much worse for me… Apparently it’s not ok to tell your driver how to fix a de-rating engine, but it is ok to broadcast the discussion and have F1 make a mockery of itself.

      1. Fully agree. Tell the drivers anything and everything! It’s up to them to use that information but to just sit on that information in the pits knowing that it cannot be told to the driver is so ridiculous.

        Also, do the FIA really think it’s safe for a driver to be scrolling through numerous while driving at 200mph?

        1. I can see the ban on coaching a driver through the race (brake later here, do this in this corner, select this engine mode for this section), but these cars are complicated, and I see no reason why a team should not be allowed to walk a driver through fixing a problem (even if it was caused by the driver selecting the wrong mode).

  2. Wow, truly appalling.
    DRS. DRS. DRS. DRS.
    Cars sounded particularly pathetic as well.

    1/10

    1. I have to disagree with you re: the sound of the cars.

      I was in the Sahil grandstand (about 1/3 along the main straight, opposite turns 5 & 6). The cars sounded pretty bloody good to me! (Not ear-splittingly loud, like they used to be, but still loud enough to sound impressive.)

      I also really appreciate the fact that I no longer have to lug big ear defenders to a race.

  3. Was there a race on? Must have missed it. 3/10

  4. 1.
    DRS ruined race with highway passes.

  5. 3 for me, too much DRS effect, radio ban discussion the most interesting part of the race.

    1. that was ridiculous… at least 2 drivers, ROS & HAM (maybe even Kimi), trying to troubleshoot IT problems at 200mph. I understand that F1 bosses and fans don’t want drivers to be babysitted, allegedly in the name of more intense racing, but this killed all the fun today. On top of nursing tires and saving fuel, drivers now need to have a degree in computer engineering.

      Regarding the race, a solid 3 from me. What i don’t get is why Bernie approved to such a track design, which clearly favours Mercedes, when he’s so adamant on cutting their lead by any means.

      1. The whole idea of the radio ban was to prevent the teams from babysitting the drivers and overly dictating STRATEGY. Telling them to back off and save tires for a couple laps before making a move, which lap to fight for an over take, etc. That was how it was supposed to improve racing. Its not possible for any one person, let alone a driver, to be expected to figure out what combination of settings is needed to fix some unknown problem. A problem that is only being figured out in the pits by a TEAM of engineers, who not only can’t tell the driver the solution they can’t even tell them the problem.

        That’s not preserving the racing between the drivers and preventing team interference; that’s making a joke out of the sport.

      2. What i don’t get is why Bernie approved to such a track design, which clearly favours Mercedes, when he’s so adamant on cutting their lead by any means.

        Because Bernie just wants rich dictators to pay him a bunch of money, and doesn’t care about anything else.

  6. Snoooooooze fest

  7. Not too bad, but not perfect either. I miss a bit of true, natural F1 spirit.

  8. Lol, people were hyping this race up, Di Resta saying how this is the most open race of the season, but the realisation of how awful this circuit is has given them a reality check

    What a joke of a track
    1/10

    1. I don’t think the circuit is bad, it just doesn’t need a DRS on the main straght.

  9. Worst of the year by miles. 4.

  10. 6 for me. The track is brilliant and a welcome addition to the calendar, unfortunately the race lacked wheel to wheel action and I think the drivers were being very cautious.

    On the plus side we had a mixed up order and a lot of interesting strategy fights. Also some amusing team radio.

    1. I would agree that the track has plenty of potential. We saw it in qualifying and in the GPx races.

      The F1 race itself failed to deliver. I would agree with others that DRS was way too powerful, and probably not even needed on such a long straight, let alone 2 of them. Just the slipstream would have been enough to make overtaking possible, even for a slower car.

      I also agree that the drivers were being careful. They all knew they had the potential to over-achieve if there were a few cars crashing in front of them, so they all took the “first you must finish” approach.

  11. 6/7, went with 6, not as bad as people are saying, we got high hopes expecting an incident packed race, why are we surprised F1 drivers aren’t anything like GP2, plus we got a lot of overtaking and before you say oh it was all fake, 90% of those would’ve been done without DRS and what do you expect when the only two places you can overtake have a DRS zone, the track was fine, the race was fine, but yeah no fight for first again why would you be surprised we knew Merc were dominant here

    1. Well if “90% of those [overtakes] would’ve been done without DRS” and there’s “only two places you can overtake”, then the track clearly isn’t “fine”, and neither was the race.

    2. +1, although I went with 7/10.

      My reason being, although it was a bit boring, it had close racing, unpredictability, overtaking. Not the best race but one of the better of the season in my opinion.

  12. awfully boring

  13. Formula 1 is officially the Coldplay of motorsport.

    1. Alex McFarlane
      19th June 2016, 15:39

      Ouch!

    2. F1 has room for improvement, Coldplay hasn’t.

      1. Ha! Coldplay haven’t done anything decent since A Rush of Blood to the Head.

    3. Am I the only one here who likes Coldplay?

      1. Nope, though I’m less of a fan of their new stuff than their early albums/EPs

    4. What is coldplay?

      1. The highest class of single-seat auto racing.

      2. No. Don’t trouble yourself with such trivial matters.

    5. Comments rarely make me laugh but this one sure did.

      1. I saw Coldplay in concert last night. They are brilliant live. I admit that some of the their recent stuff is not as good as their early albums.

        As for the race, I recorded it and watched it when I came home this evening. After about 14 laps I think it was I considered fast forwarding it because I was bored. This is not good. Nearly the only action was DRS overtakes. Not a good advert for F1 on the a new track. This should be a showcase for the sport.

        1. By the way I gave it a 5 although I considered 4.

    6. You know it was a boring race when you see music discussion under Rate the race article. Gave it only 4.

  14. Haven’t ever voted below 5. This gets a 3.

    DRS was utterly destructive, and then a second DRS zone. Pathetic.

    Good, flawless drive from Rosberg, again no pressure but that’s what he needs…

    1. @psynrg

      Agreed. I also have never voted below a 5 before, 3 as well.

      And the DRS was, just… Completely not needed on the bits they had it, where as, the rest of the track was single file. Worst of both worlds.

      On the plus side, for the championship battle I think extending the lead is a good thing. I was worried Lewis might walk away with it.

  15. if anyone gives this race above a 3 I think they need a visit to a mental institution

    1. Superficial fans I guess. Vettel said u needed some balls for those proper fast speed corners here. No mention of a small underdog like Force India getting a poduim for most. The circuit in some ways reminds me of Long Beach. For me it was great.

  16. What a joke of a race. Instead of clean racing we witnessed the effects of idiotic regulations, two drivers struggling because of wrong engine settings. Raikkonen even lost the podium because of it.

    1. Raikkonen lost the podium because of his time penalty.

      1. Perez overtook Kimi before the chequered flag dropped because engine mode.

    2. Rik lost podium because he cut across the pit lane entry line.

  17. Gave it a 3: when the commentators discussing the city’s architecture is more interesting than discussing what’s happening on it’s streets, we have a problem.

  18. I think the track itself is really good but the DRS ruined the race as there was no real racing/overtaking.

    I also think how far off the pace there driving managing tyres/fuel resulted in drivers pushing less & making less mistakes which also didn’t help.

    1. @stefmeister
      Sans DRS, this would be a superb track. Imagine the drivers pushing each other on the narrow section to ensure they would have slipstream at the straight. Or a driver, noticing he is very close, but unable to overtake at turn one, proceed to overtake in a less obvious spot.

  19. It reminded me a lot of the races in Russia, wich is not a very good thing…
    Some good moments, a very solid drive from Perez and Vettel. I didnt hope for anything better from this track, so its an Ok race.

  20. boring, expected so much more action, the Q was so much more fun then this….

  21. DRS again. Someone else please run F1.

  22. If I want to look at cars overtaking each other on a straight with some historic scenery in the background, I can just go over to the highway bridge two blocks away.

    1. Ahah, great comment:DDD

  23. Trash. 4

  24. Worst race of the season

    1. I’d say Russia has been the worst of this season so far.

  25. 5. The layout is really problematic. Uneventful drs race.

  26. Still I Rise
    19th June 2016, 15:42

    That track is pathetic. Won’t be watching another Baku race, it was that bad.

    1. Still I Rise
      19th June 2016, 15:45

      Maybe the first lady of Azerbaijan can enter her Bentley car dealership next year.

  27. After Barcelona and Monaco i was loving this season. After two DRS invested races at Canada and Baku i couldn’t care less. Take away the challenge of overtaking and this is what you get. I despair for this sport, i really do. This neverending nightmare that is DRS needs to stop.

    5/10.

    1. At most circuits DRS is pretty ineffective these days. I’d say only Montreal, Spa, Baku are places where it can be a little too powerful at times.

      1. I agree some what. What is frustrating is that it ruins the circuits were we have had great racing in the past (without DRS). China earlier in the season wasn’t great for similar reasons. What needs to happen is for circuits to be declared as a DRS or non-DRS circuit. Baku is a non-DRS circuit if ever i saw one. Barcelona is a slam dunk DRS circuit etc..

        Thankfully Austria doesn’t have DRS on the longest straight so normal service will be resumed and we can enjoy proper battles for positions.

        1. @Jonny Edwards What they could/should try at least once is this: Allow the DRS to be activated on both straights in FP and QLF sessions, but only on the shorter straight in the race, for example at Spa-Francorchamps it could be activatable on both straights (S/F and Kemmel) in the Friday and Saturday sessions, but only on the S/F straight in the race, and the same should be experimented in Baku next year as well.

    2. @racectrl I agreeeeeeee!!!!!!+1000!!!

  28. I want to thank Flavio Briatore for make these 2 boring hours of my weekend possible.

    I vote minus 1

  29. Sviatoslav (@)
    19th June 2016, 15:44

    DRS is killing racing.
    When Ricciardo loses two places before the first corner due to DRS, this means F1 is not a pinnacle of sport anymore.
    2 points for the race.

  30. DRS.

    Nothing more to say.

  31. Boring, and the sky commentators kept griping about the radio restrictions cos their boy Lewis couldn’t deal with it.

    1. I think it was more a case of there being nothing else to talk about due to a lack of any actual racing.

    2. Maybe he should spend more time studying the systems on the car instead of pumping beatz in the club..

  32. It was actually like watching a motorway. 2

    1. Now, this right here is the comment. It actually felt like that.
      I was so looking forward to seeing this race after watching two very exciting GP2 races and Lewis’ qualifying shamble yesterday but my hopes were crushed. What’s the purpose of those tight walls if every F1 driver is tiptoeing around it?
      And Baku does not need DRS. Is anyone listening?

  33. What a dull race. So much hype before it and what we got was a DRS party and push the button to overtake… Aparently F1 would be aa great mining company, since it is able to achieve deeper and deeper depths of boringness and predictibility….Sad. Whole race worth only 2 points for me. Shame.

  34. Certainly not a glowing review for this race for me, for all obvious reasons I hope.

  35. I’m not sure whether it was the fact that I watched one of the most tense 24 hour races I have ever seen (Daytona this year as well was a cracker) or whether it was the completely ridiculous implementation of an unfair overtaking device at this circuit, but it is impossible to sugar-coat just how dire that event was. I gave it a somewhat generous 2/10.

    1. What’s worse is leaving the 24 hours an hour early to get back to the campsite to watch the end of the race and the start of the F1.

  36. dreadful. just fun listening to kimi and lewis trying to find out what to do and frustrated pretty much throughout the race.

  37. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    19th June 2016, 15:47

    I am super pleased that Sergio Perez got third! Deserved a podium after such a great qualifying performance!

    … But that was probably the only good bit. It was pretty dull to be honest, not much happened and most passes were comfortable with DRS. The irony is without it, I think it would have been much worse.

    Where was the ‘carnage’ that was predicted? It was beige.

    I really miss not being totally sure which car was going to win.

    1. @rocketpanda “The irony is without it, I think it would have been much worse.”

      Without DRS I think it would have been much better because the tow they were getting down the long straight would have resulted in a lot of side by side battling down to turn 1. As it was cars got alongside but then got to the DRS zone & got the extra shove that drove them easily past well before the braking zone.

      1. There wouldn’t have been tow, because the curvy section next to the old town did nothing but string the cars out, and the 90 degree onto the main straight really separated the cars out. There’s not much benefit in tow when the car in front of you is 10 car lengths ahead.

        But for the anti-DRS brigade, facts are irrelevant.

        I do think having two large DRS zones with one detection zone was baffling– Car 2 passes car 1 on the straight with DRS, rounds turn 1 and 2, and then gets a free DRS and clean air to blast away from car 1.

        I consider DRS to be an artificial crutch that makes the F1 races a bit less processional– but the DRS zones at Baku need some serious rework.

        Also, in spite of “DRS Ruins Everything!!!”, I didn’t see that much passing, DRS or otherwise.

    2. I agree with @stefmeister, @rocketpanda. On your other point, i don’t know. It isn’t much to my liking when the excitability of a race depends on the mistakes of the best drivers in the world.

  38. Jeez, did I really stay up until 1am my time to watch that? I was more excited when I was offered a snack halfway through!

  39. Should have been a showpiece, but left me feeling pretty sick of F1. Promising track, was looking forward to a race between drivers on a proper street circuit. But it was all strategy – early stops, then over an hour of cars going at different speeds on different tyres.
    I didn’t give the race weekend the attention it deserved because of a certain 24-hour event taking place in Europe. The calendar clash was so unnecessary, and the best people weren’t available to compete in and cover both races. And it sounds like there’s controversy about F1 being in Azerbaijan at all.

  40. *i meant 361 km/h.

  41. For the organization a 6, for the racing a 7 for the weekend an 8 for the spectacle a 9, great character has this track, memorable.

    1. U must be joking right?

    2. But where were the people? It seemed deserted.

      1. @john-h Although it probably was, with the barriers as they are and the poor camera work, we’d never know anyway.

        I’d say wait to see attendances, but such a country isn’t liable to being honest about that anyway.

      2. @john-h At a certain race in France.

      3. Certainly not deserted. I was at Khazar grandstand and the place was packed. Lots of Russian folks. Many didn’t bother to stay for free Pharrell aftershow, so they seemed to be there for the race. But the race itself was so dull, I almost fell asleep by lap 25, under all that scorching sun.

        1. Nice to hear from someone who was there, shame it was so dull! I have to admit my impression of Baku was that there are lots of shiny buildings but no one using them. Perhaps that’s unfair as it was the weekend, I’m not sure. They are very shiny though.

        2. We were in Sahil grandstand – maybe 5% empty seats during the race.

          We didn’t stay for the Pharrell concert. We waited for him, but when he hadn’t shown up after 30 minutes, went to a bar instead!

  42. 1/10, Worst race in 15 years (apart U.S GP 2005..). For the first time in a decade I left to go do something else. Nothing at all happening in Top 10 (although I see Perez passed Raikonnen :) ).

    Who cars about the radios….that was the only thing being talked about.

    One word: Dire

    1. I preferred 2005 as i was excited to see if a Minardi could get a podium….

  43. John Toad (@)
    19th June 2016, 15:49

    What an anti-climax. After all the hype about the combination of high-speed straights and twisty bits the race turned out to be the dullest of this season and perhaps several seasons previous as well.
    Felt generous so I gave it a four.

  44. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    19th June 2016, 15:50

    3/10.

    Before the race started, I predicted that it would be chaotic as the GP2 weekend was.

  45. ColdFly F1 (@)
    19th June 2016, 15:50

    mediocre race killed by DRS.
    5/10 for me.

    great races by the top 3.

    1. 5 for me too, same opinion as yours.

  46. Awful. If you take the DRS zones from the race, then no action at all. Even worse than Valencia.

  47. 2/10. Only redeeming grace is that Nico extended his lead on Lewis.

  48. 1.
    Perhaps it’s a case of expectations being too high, but this was boring. I left feeling like I could have better used the time doing yard work.

  49. Absolutely rebarbative

  50. 10. I can’t handle excitement having been awake for 30 hours and witnessing Le Mans or The Craziest Finish to a Race I’ve Ever Seen

  51. Meh.

    Because of all the energy and tyre-saving, drivers are just not pushing enough to force any of them into making an error. Therefore: boring.

  52. DRS galore.
    If you want a nice race on a high speed track, get rid of DRS on that circuit.

    1. @mosquito
      Exactly. And without DRS teams would have to set up their cars to shed more drag, to overtake and defend. Less drag/downforce for the straight -> more nervous cars on the rest of the circuit.

      1. I’m sorry, were we watching the same race? The teams stripped all the drag possible off the cars– they were running wings that made Monza-spec wings look like brick walls!

  53. Very conservative, similar to the first race in Sochi to me except that faster cars could get by on the motorway bit. Safety cars or rain could have made it a good race but with passing so easy there wasn’t much point in drivers pushing round the rest of the lap and just using what performance their car had whilst looking after the tyres. Softer tyres might’ve helped but the S/SS were too close in lap time and durability to make more stops an attractive alternative to the 1 stop.

  54. A boring track, might as well be in a casino car park. The pit entry killed what should have been an exciting race for third, this is frustrating because I think it’s down to poor track design rather than any maliciousness on Kimi’s side.

    For the radio ban, I thought the whole point was to make the drivers drive the car themselves. So, while it was a joke listening to them not be able to fix problems and actually race, that’s exactly what the rule was designed to do as far as I’m aware.

    I hope they lift it, as much as I want the drivers to not need instruction, that was ridiculous. Having Lewis’ neutered like that killed much of my excitement.

    I’m also amazed at how dull the camera work managed to make it all look. Which is impressive when you have a damn castle next to the track. And the radio messages seem to have been pick to highlight everything bad about the race.

    I often say I’d love to just watch F1 cars drive around a track, but somehow they made a race even less inspiring than that.

    I think the practice of potentially having positions altered at the end is very poor. (I know, didn’t happen, but it loomed over the battle for third even so).

    Anyway, still enjoyed it, it’s F1. But it was a poor, poor example of the sport.

    1. On the camera work, @mike, it seems they couldn’t find better spots for the cameras. Too much buildings, perhaps? And the aerial views were really bad, the helicopter seemed to be unstable because of the wind and showed more of the trees than of the cars.

      1. @daniel-chico Mmm, well said.

        There are probably many reasons they can’t get better angles, safety being a main one I suspect. It’s no ones fault specifically I think but the end result was poor.

  55. I hope many think before they vote, or more think before they comment. DRS is what ruined this race, not the track. The circuit in itself is a true challenge and requires skill. That being said the race was indeed not that spectacular (surely as good as Monaco few weeks back) as the GP2 ones. Circuit is a great addidtion to the calender though.

    1. You can’t compare this to Monaco this year….there was NOTHING happening in this race (well Kudos Perez!).

      Only ‘excitement’ in this GP was the visual spectacle of that great sector through the old town.

    2. Not only DRS, I think its more down to bhp deficit between cars. If everyone had (approximately) the same bhp, than DRS could create lots of passing (although still German highway stile). However when one car passes another 300 meters before the breaking zone, than obviously something else is wrong. (It was like switching lanes on the highway, only no turning signals on these cars).
      Also this circuit won’t really produce a good race. 1/2 is straights with 90degree turns the other 1/2 is so tight that you will never see wheel to wheel action on it.

  56. 8/10. Speed, lots of overtakes.

    1. @regs where was the overtaking?

      i saw a lot of boring drs highway passing but not a lot of actual overtaking.

      1. Doesn’t matter how. Be it 1980’s race would look similar interesting.

        1. @regs I disagree, i’d rather see real battling & real overtaking i find all this drs crap to be utterly devoid of any interest or excitement… its all super boring & all you need do is look at other comments & polling to see the vast majority of fans feel the same.

          drs highway passing isn’t overtaking, it isn’t real racing & it isn’t exciting #BanDRS!

          1. But everyone has the same DRS what they should do is give everyone the same engine Mercedes has in thier car.

          2. “But everyone has the same DRS”

            They may all have DRS but only the car behind gets to the use the DRS & that is why it creates the sort of uncontested, boring & unexciting highway passes that we saw today which a vast majority of F1 fans have complained about.

          3. U do understand how Aerodynamics works. Without that horrible DRS you can forget about having more overtakes cuz a lot of these cars are very close in performance. I have seen the Mercedes overtake without DRS and to do that u need lots of horsepower to overcome drag. NO surprise there the dominant car does not need DRS to get the job done.

        2. I agree with regs 8/10 it reminds me of Long Beach and the difficulty is very high a real challenge. Shame how most fans overlook that. Having stated that what a job by Perez impressive and he has no simulator so they say.

    2. ColdFly F1 (@)
      19th June 2016, 16:17

      Sorry @regs, no voting for LeMans 24 on this site ;-)

  57. With the pre-race expectation of drama, this was a big disappointment, my main gripes:
    – Single DRS activation point was wrong as it meant cars passed couldn’t come back.
    – One stop strategy winning again because of tyres that were too hard/durable.
    – With the current engine woes, a high speed track like Baku is not what F1 needs.
    – The twisty middle section was ultimately pointless, as there was no incidents and cars passed on turns 1-3.

  58. Wow such negative comments, I really can’t understand. I was a little sleepy but above all that’s because I watched quite a chunk of the 24 hours show.

  59. Alex McFarlane
    19th June 2016, 15:59

    More disappointing than a #5 Toyota.

    -10/10

  60. love the track but drs was way too powerful.

    #BanDRS

  61. Rated 5/10 due to Perez podium on merit. Race was killed by drs.

  62. Compared to the rest of this season this wasn’t exactly thrilling..

    Still there was some genuinely good racing from RBR and Force India. It’s also disappointing to see Ferrari’s lack of pace. I’m hoping that a 2017 revisit to Baku will see some faster lap times and a bit more action.

  63. I rated it a 3…..the by far the lowest ever score I have ever given a event( race was too strong a word)……take the tarmac off the track and never relay it again….a truly shocking track….

  64. Freaking terrible race…..

  65. A dull and boring procession with no on-track battles, and rubbish DRS passes. 1/10.

    1. And this is now officially the lowest rating that I have ever given on F1 Fanatic.

  66. i gave it a 5, but it was mostly boring because f1 drivers are very good at their job. Unlike GP2 drivers.

  67. To be honest, nothing could probably have topped those final couple of laps at Le Mans and I could not concentrate on F1 immediately after that. Still, this was a disappointing race. There were no interesting strategic battles, no good overtaking manouvres and no safety car periods.

    The broadcast radio conversations sounded rather silly. The podium room was once again full of people, who had nothing to do there (at least cameras did not show them much) and the interviews on the podium were more artificial than the DRS on Baku’s main straight.

    We saw a clean race, the outcome was good for the championship and it was nice to see an underdog on the podium but that is about it. 5/10.

    1. I agree entirely with you, @girts.
      But reading your comment again, I think your score if 5/10 is far too generous; 2 or 3 out of 10 is sufficient. This was not good entertainment.

      1. @nickwyatt You are right, 3/10 would probably have been a more appropriate rating. My Saturday was spoiled by a 7-hour long power cut and I also had a lot to do before the race so I think I was just happy to be able to watch something on TV, which probably explains my generosity ;)

  68. Do the f1 rules state that there is a mandatory DRS zone on every circuit? At some circuits it is just not needed at all (like here or Monza). The circuit has some potential, but there was no atmosphere at all (there was very little audience on the straight after the race). The race itself was not eventfull, and I didn’t feel any excitement during the race (that’s pretty rare when I am watching a f1 race).

  69. So excited about this race. I was hoping for a great morning to start my father’s day here in the USA.

    Absolute bleeping snooze fest.

    3.

  70. What a drag created by DRS!

  71. 8/10

    Same as Canada last week only a bit better. Really enjoyed watching Perez and Hamilton slicing thru the field at mid-stint, sadly Hamilton got a problem and no one there to push Perez and see what he can do. Potentially could be a great 3rd/4th/5th battle because Hamilton’s Mercedes can’t overtake Perez’s Force India that easily with DRS and maybe they can caught Vettel too at the end of the race.

  72. Michael Brown (@)
    19th June 2016, 16:27

    By this season’s standards, it was an average race. Not the worst race.

    I love the FIA’s logic on DRS. Put it on the longest straight which would have seen overtaking without DRS, and then give it one activation point so the car that did the overtaking in the first zone can pull away in the second zone.

    Because giving that kind of an advantage to the leading car is fair.

  73. 3. The race was about (D)estroying (R)acing (S)pirit.

  74. The race had close racing, overtaking, and a little bit variation in strategies to some extent, so overall a relatively decent race despite many of the passes being DRS-assisted and completed before the braking zone, but even without it the only realistic places to overtake are the long full throttle stretch to turn 1, and turn 3.

  75. 8/10. Awesome difficult track. Amazing job by Perez from 7 to 3 in a Force India Wow!!

  76. The first 3 laps everyone looked like they were on VSC. Was very disappointed with the race and started playing Motorsport Manager half way through instead. None of the drama we were built up to pre race!

    Brilliant job by Perez again mind! He really needs to start getting more credit vs Hulkenberg.

  77. Ended up a very dull race. Perez did very well, both holding off Hamilton and claiming third, though disappointed Hamilton suffered yet another issue. Rosberg did as would have been expected of him in that car.

    It was never a well thought out track, though. A series of straights that are easy to overtake on with DRS and a twisty section you can’t do anything but follow in doesn’t generate much but procession from the most professional drivers. With less professional drivers, you just get chaos as we saw in GP2 (and Matsushita deserves that ban).

  78. To Do for 2017:
    – Make it only one DRS zone after turn 2, the first one was way to powerful!
    – Find a better solution for the pit entry!
    – Bring Maldonado back!

  79. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
    19th June 2016, 16:47

    It was an average race when compared with the rest of this season. Not that much happening but still enough to make it interesting enough. Perez did a great job again. I certainly wouldn’t give it less than 5. If people give it 1 out of 10 then they must not have been enjoying it at all even to start with. If they really think it is that bad, they may as well turn it off instead of waisting time viewing something that they don’t have to that they are not enjoying.

    I also don’t get how these people voteing for 1/10 don’t think there have been any races below that score. Russia 2014 was a huge amount more uneventful. Does that mean that should be -5/10 or something?

  80. Like everybody expected a lot more crashes and entertainment. But it was not a bad race. Quit dull for a long period of time and no drama within the first 5 places. The constant risc of a crash and quit a lot of over-takings brought me to a very small 7.

  81. Great track…. boring race… again… this year has been the rule – lets hope for some exceptions!

    Grand Prix of Europe Driver of the Day: Sergio Perez

  82. Really loving this great season so far, but this one was pretty boring. I would rate it with a 4.

  83. A very weak two. Normal fighting between the smaller teams, but no wheel to wheel action between top teams. Tires and engine modes dominated the race making drivers be conservative. Boring more than Monaco. This is NOT a formula one track!

  84. I was immensely disappointed by the race. But then I realised, context was needed. There was quite some close running. There was quite some overtaking. I remember the races at Bahrain or Magny Cours or certain other tracks during certain seasons that were absolutely less eventful and even more boring. In the current expectations pattern this was a bad race, a 2/10. But in the last, say, ten years of F1, it’s barely below average, so say, a 4.5/10.

  85. Granted that it isn’t as exciting as the recent races but I’m sure not as negative as many people suggested here. I personally think there are bright spots in the race: Vettel not following Ferrari’s strategy directions, Kimi making the tyres work way more than expected, Perez aggressively fought for 3rd even though he had it in his hands, Hamilton’s charge from 10th. There were also the some strategic talking points: Red Bull bolted on the Medium, did they know something others didn’t; the question of Safety Car and who would it benefit if it appeared; Hamilton’s braking and engine issue and whether if Rosberg will slow down to minimize the risk, etc.

    Had some of my friends over and we had fun, so 7/10.

  86. Far from a great race. I was hoping for something much more calamitous but to no avail. I gave a 6 largely based on Perez’s performance alone. He delivered what his position from qualifying promised, plus he didn’t need to overtake Raikkonen but did anyway.

  87. Beautiful scenery doesn’t equate to a good race track. But this is the only thing F1 can sell anymore. The formula is broken, the passionate are slowly becoming replaced by the wealthy.

  88. 4/10
    Nothing happened. GP2 might have set entertainment-expectations high, or driving-expectations low, but the drivers were too perfect today. Apart from that, strategies were unimaginative, overtakes were DRS-aided and that’s it. Excluding, relatively speaking, Hamilton and Perez, the result was predictable, i.e. the usual suspects ended ahead. I was hoping and actually thought this was going to be the most unpredictable race ever… but it wasn’t.

  89. I logged in specially to give this a 1. This is about as boring as races get.

  90. My rating for the inaugural race at Baku is 5. The location is nice. The race track is good to look at and is challenging for the drivers and tough on the machinery, especially brakes. There could be areas to improve the track, and since this is a first race, it could be considered for later races.
    Having said that, was it a good race? I felt the race was a case of what could have been. There were hardly anyone who was pushing 100 per cent. Scruffy qualifying from Lewis Hamilton meant the race for the lead was never going to happen and unless Nico Rosberg made any error, which he didn’t, Mercedes strategists never really had to sweat with the lead car. Ferrari took a calculated risk with Vettel and it paid off. But they did not have the pace of Mercedes. Kimi Raikonnen did some fast laps, but the error was costly. Good race from Sergio Perez today. Had it not been for the grid penalty, he may have had the second place. Red Bull decided experiment was their best option as they were down on race pace. Pirelli tyres are so evenly matched in terms of durability.

  91. I gave this race a 5! Only because it’s father’s day, otherwise 1/2. These tracks along with DRS and other gimmicks will be the end of F1, F1 needs to go back to basics and top tracks.

    1. Lol, @canadianjoe can I ask how father’s day increases your score?

  92. 4 . GP2 was much better than F1 today. This circuit is good for junior categories.
    Also on a day when I saw the Le Mans 24 hours , it was not up to the mark.

  93. I’d say the lack of a safety car was the reason this race was so boring, there was never completion for first and second place.The track is overall , very unique, merciless and unforgiving on mistakes and setup for huge crashes. Commendations for all F1 drivers for avoiding the near corners and walls.
    Nico just bossed this track, Vettel had no competition after dispatching off Riccardo, and the farce that was the third place competition was decided by the 5 second penalty.
    I’d say the track is promising but the team need to be much closer on performance. If lh was second it might have been a classic.

  94. Better than Canada one weak ago.

  95. Was on the road, so only watched extended sky highlights (1h long)

    Judging from cuts in time, often nothing happend for laps…

    Also yesterday quali lol Hamilton first bearly Q3 then crashed.

    Mr. Partylife mr. Wontdogridwalk… Then not tweaking some setting right.

    I would feel sorry for him if he was doing his entire homework. But as it is I can only wonder how epic he would be if he did everything he could.

    So there comes Rosberg. As easy win as he was gonna get. Quali was flawless, race start was good enough and pace was high enough.

    Booring win so to say.

    So I gave it a 6. Stop n go track, with long straight. DRS overtakes..

  96. Baku made a lovely background to a boring race. Would like to visit there someday.

  97. I was upset that Le Mans and Baku were scheduled for the same weekend; I’m still a bit upset about that since we didn’t get to see current F1 drivers take a shot at Le Mans, but much less than before since I got my fill of racing before the race even started in Baku.

  98. After following the vast majority of the LeMans race this year I watched the F1 thinking it would complete a nice day of motorsport… I got very bored very quickly with the track, just a follow my leader round the vast majority of it until the DRS zones appeared – all in all a terrible race on a very poor track. Lots of 90 degree corners then a pointless narrow section where none of the camera angles seemed to have been thought out to give any excitement killed it for me. LeMans kept me enthralled for 24 hours… this GP kept me vaguely interested for 20 minutes at most then I gave up and watched on fast forward.

  99. Not a good race by 2016 standards. I would argue that it wasn’t terrible, there was a lot of action from third place onwards, but obviously most of it was ruined by DRS.
    Hopefully we won’t have the DRS zone on the main straight next year, otherwise it’s a joke.

  100. 5/10 Better than expected is as kind as I can be. Some drivers did more than just sit back, but straight line passes are dull even if they did work out DRS fairly well that it happened by the corner.

  101. This race clearly lacked some Pastor.

    Joking aside, I think everybody expected madness like in GP2, myself included. Just goes to show how high the driving standard in F1 is, when there is not a Single Safety Car (virtual or the real one) over the course of 51 laps when GP2 has six or maybe more (at some point I stopped counting) in 50 laps combined.

    We should also take into account that we’ve been spoiled by the start in Canada. I expected something similar and thus a proper fight for the lead but that never materialized once the red lights got out. As soon as Rosberg was into the lead after lap one, this race was done and dusted.

  102. Bernie, remember karma is a b@@ch.Stop putting your ego and money ahead of the Sport.Mere minutes after probably one of the most memorable races in motorsports history, the pinnacle of racing comes up with an absolute shambles event.Credibility damage is very serious.

  103. Average race but love the trackUchida nicer than Silverstone.

  104. I feel like not a single driver was truly pushing. The fact not a single driver actually missed a corner and used an escape road…not once in a 51 Lap Race with 22 Cars on the Grid…that says it all…I am guessing the fear of GP2 was placed in the minds of the F1 Drivers and as a result were unbearably cautious, I was watching every corner and I just felt they could have been pushing more. As a result there was not upset, nor drama, not safety care, no issues.
    The DRS was idiotic, why was there only 1 detection point and why did it need a DRS Zone on the main straight, could they not just have one between Turns 2 and 3 and thats it!? Or at most drastically shorted the Main Straight Zone. I am very dissapointed, so so so much hype and it never delivered. What Scares me is this is a power hungry circuit, its going to be just as bad in Silverstone when it comes to Mercede’s dominance.

  105. 5/10. Probably a bit generous but I enjoyed watching the whole race I think because I had the constant feeling that maybe someone would smash into a wall. In the end, an incredibly clean race everything considered. Also, I like the circuit, it is probably the best street circuit in motorsport now, much better than Monaco and Singapore.

  106. i feel asleep during the race…

  107. Total snore-fest. I was having a terrible time even paying attention as I found it more interesting to clean up the kitchen with the race going in the background.

  108. Good to see that the new European Grand Prix is living up to the legacy left by the last one…

  109. It deserves 4, because it was very boring.

  110. A 6.5 race. Does not deserve the grades it received from most here but each to his own

  111. Should move this race next year….totally boring and not an F1 calibre circuit imo. Closer battles for a win would’ve been good but still shouldn’t be on the calender. 3 out of 10 cuz the track is shyte.

  112. Of course it’s a Herman Tilke design that’s why the race track is boring.
    Time for F1 to find some on else to design tracks for them.
    I’ll give it a 6 would have been an 8 if some one else designed the race track.
    Most of Herman Tilke race track designs are boring.

  113. Wow that race was terrible. Why did i even get up in the middle of the night to watch it. Always get sucked in. 1

  114. Deliberate tight shots of the grandstands avoided showing the lack of any fans that could have stayed awake until the all too predictable finish. Bernie’s ability to woo the politicians to sign up for the circus never fails to impress. 3/10 (who knew Baku was so “European”)

  115. The most tense moment of that Grand Prix was when Eddie Jordan stepped up to conduct the podium interviews.

  116. 3/10, terrible race, should be scrapped alongside Sochi.

  117. After watching the GP 2 races on Saturday and Sunday, I really thought we were going to have a classic racecourse our hands, but the drivers obviously knew just how easy it was to go from hero to zero in the space of 1 corner and I also think they were all expectingo otherst o come a cropper so they could benefit and all kept there noses clean and just stepped back from the limit hoping others would make the mistakes. But they didn’t, so with no safety cars, they were all fairly marginal on fuel too, so the race pace wasn’t as rapid as expected, hence less/no carnage during the race.
    Shame really, as qually was quite a show, let’s hope with the faster cars next year it might turn up the heat a little, or a wet race, that would be interesting……

  118. The excessive length of the DRS zones and only one DRS detection point made this race more boring and hence gave the quality of the track no justice.

    1. Exactly, i don’t know how on earth did they decide that 1 detection point was appropriate…
      I hope they get rid of that main straight DRS zone for next year (they won’t)

      Also, podium was very dead

  119. I think it’s just another example that a track doesn’t significantly contribute to a good racing. It’s the cars and its aero effects that dictate a good or a bad race.

    eg. Valencia 2012 – A boring track in the eyes of many yet produced a fascinating race. Abu Dhabi 2012 – Similar.

    In the last decade, we’d good circuits however the racing is either ruined by a dominant car, DRS or some other factors. Some of the good tracks in the last decade in my opinion include Korea, Turkey, Austin, Bahrain, China and India. I only felt that Russia, Valencia and Yas Marina are average tracks.

    Just a personal opinion.

  120. I only gave the race a 3.5.

    I found the race dull and from early on I was just looking forward to the end. None of the elements that can make a race entertaining were there.

    Apart from safety car starts the opening lap must be one of the most uneventful for a long time, there were a few changes of position but nothing major and all the leaders seemed to make similar good starts.

    Once Rosberg made a good getaway it was obvious who the winner would be so there was no tension in that respect, for a while I wondered if we would see much variation in strategy when some of the drivers stopped early but apart from the Red Bulls there wasn’t much happening there.

    Most of the overtakes were just straight forward DRS moves and so there was no entertainment from that area either.

    Finally before the race like a few others I thought with the nature of the track that there would certainly be a safety car at some point, but even that didn’t happen with all the drivers keeping their cars out of the walls and the only retirements due to reliability problems.

    After only one race it is too early to blame the circuit for the low rating though, for example if Hamilton hadn’t crashed in qualifying and started at the front with Rosberg we may have been treated to a decent battle between the two team mates, or if there had been a safety car at some point it may have shook things up. My impressions of the circuit on the whole are that overall it is alright, not great but not the worst either.

  121. Arguably in the top ten of the most boring races in F1 history……2.

  122. Correct me if I’m wrong
    But did I see a Ferrari being passed by a Manor on the straight
    And a Honda actually passing another car on the straight -Drs or not
    ?
    I gave a 5 and would like at least half of that back please

  123. Andy (@andybantam)
    21st June 2016, 0:31

    I gave it a 1.

    Stupid radio rules, same DRS overtake lap after lap, silly tyre saving/fuel saving strategies out of necessity…

    No safety car? I don’t know the odds of that happening before the race, but I think it’s a subtle hint to the fact that the drivers are having to manage their cars for two hours rather than racing hard.

    I know ‘the formula’ is dynamic and subject to evolution, but for me, this Grand Prix is a manifestation of everything that is wrong with F1 today.

    I’m not going to bash Azerbaijan – that’s been done already – the circuit looked fantastic, Baku looks like a great and historically rich city, but I think, given the recent history of that region, the money to stage the GP could be better spent on other things.

  124. The Universe DOES have a sense of humour after all! :) How ironic that such an accident-ready circuit would end up serving up such a snoozefest. Very disappointing.

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