Hamilton to banish his Baku nightmares? Can McLaren get their first points? Palmer to finally deliver? All the reasons to tune into this weekend's Azerbaijan GP
Wednesday 21 June 2017 15:16, UK
Can Hamilton banish last year's nightmares?
Lewis Hamilton arrives in Azerbaijan looking to close the 12-point gap to championship leader Sebastian Vettel and atone for his disastrous weekend in Baku a year ago.
The Briton had appeared in control after topping the three practice sessions but his weekend unravelled after one of the scruffiest qualifying sessions of his career. After three lock-ups on fast laps, Hamilton's qualifying culminated in him crashing into the barriers in Q3 to leave him starting 10th.
His race was then hindered by a power deployment issue, with Hamilton threatening to "try and change everything" before his car eventually corrected itself and he finished fifth.
But could his race once again be compromised by his "diva" W08? Baku's street circuit presents the teams with one of the most tricky car set-ups of the season with the track featuring a combination of tight and twisty turns, fast corners and the longest straight on the F1 calendar.
Already this season Mercedes have struggled with tyre temperatures on the street circuits of Sochi and Monaco, with Hamilton appearing to suffer more than team-mate Valtteri Bottas and finishing off the podium on both occasions.
With hot weather forecast, the three-time world champion is expecting another tough weekend but believes Mercedes have learnt from their issues earlier in the season.
"Baku is very smooth like Russia," Hamilton said. "I wasn't quick in Russia so for us firstly getting the car where we need it in the weekend is definitely going to be a challenge. But we learned a lot from Monaco and we learned a lot from Canada."
Can McLaren get off the mark?
If McLaren's hierarchy are still in any way pondering whether splitting from Honda is in their long-term, title-winning interests, then a glance at the Constructors' Championship between Montreal and Baku might have served to settle any second thoughts.
It will show that McLaren remain without a point after 2017's opening seven races. That's zero, zilch, nada for F1's second-most successful team in history - and that certainly wasn't the dream when they reunited with Honda two years ago.
Had Honda's troubled power unit proved just a little more reliable then it wouldn't quite be this bad, but the cold, hard facts of the season make sobering reading: from 14 races across two cars, McLaren have failed to reach the chequered flag 10 times - and, even when they have done, it has been in no higher position than 12th.
So, against the backdrop of what are the most delicate days in the seemingly doomed McLaren-Honda partnership, a trip to the venue which contains F1's longest full-throttle stretch on the calendar is hardly timely. Neither is the likelihood of grid penalties for Fernando Alonso, whose Montreal engine blow-up is set to push him further beyond his penalty-free power unit limit for the season.
"Tough times" was how the Spaniard described McLaren and Honda's predicament after dropping out of 10th in Canada with two laps to go. Baku looks unlikely to change that narrative.
Will Force India and Perez surprise again?
Sergio Perez was the star of the weekend 12 months ago and will again be one to watch given Force India's impressive displays this season.
The Mexican qualified second, although a five-place grid podium saw him lining up seventh. However, he wasn't to be denied as he worked his way through the field to secure a podium finish.
"The memories from last year's race in Baku are still very strong," he said. "It was definitely one of my best weekends in Formula One. If we can find the sweet spot again this year I think we can fight for some big points."
Perez will also hope he can make headlines for the right reasons again after two tough Grand Prix in Monaco and Canada. Despite a fifth-place finish in Montreal, much of the fall-out has surrounded Force India's team orders following discussions over whether Perez should have allowed team-mate Esteban Ocon by to try and pass Daniel Ricciardo.
Force India said they would review their policy on instructions but should the Mercedes engine once again be the dominant power unit in Baku, another podium finish could well be on the cards.
Can Palmer kick-start his season?
Round eight of the season and Jolyon Palmer finds himself fighting to save his F1 career. The Briton has yet to score a point this season and has only escaped Q1 twice with team-mate Nico Hulkenberg constantly outperforming him and collecting 18 points.
The pressure on Palmer, who is only under contract until the end of the season, increased further after Canada when Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul told Autosport that the 26-year-old "has to deliver", "has to enter the points. Full stop" as there is an "almost unfair" dependence on Hulkenberg.
But there are signs that Palmer is beginning to turn his season around. He has recorded consecutive 11th-place finishes and a points-finish may be what he needs to spark a similar run of form to what he enjoyed in the second half of last season.
Palmer believes Renault can "at least be in the top 10, maybe top eight" in Baku but should he miss out, the scrutiny will only get bigger.
Will Baku serve up exciting racing?
For all the pre-race expectation that Baku would deliver plenty of drama, last year's race had very little incident as Nico Rosberg led from start to finish and 18 of the 22 cars came home unscathed.
The widely-held belief was that F1's drivers had seen the chaos of the preceding GP2 races which resulted in numerous Safety Car periods and decided they would tread carefully come race day.
But F1 2017 has closed the performance gap between teams in different areas of the grid with a titanic title fight at the front between Mercedes and Ferrari and a much tighter midfield battle.
Furthermore, with DRS having less of an impact on actual overtakes under the sport's new regulations, the drivers may have to take more risks in order to pass cars in front.
Don't miss the Azerbaijan GP live on Sky Sports F1 on Sunday - lights out for the race is at 2pm. Check out all the ways to watch F1 on Sky Sports for subscribers and non-subscribers - including a NOW TV day pass for £6.99!
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