I snapped this back when Vettel was still too young for me to even order a beer at the bar for him. Mark thought buying the kid a drink was a solid investment at the time. Looking back, he clearly miscalculated.
What’s the problem with using big pictures and bold fonts? We’re all getting to an age where our eyesight isn't exactly what it used to be, so at least with these smaller images, we aren't straining our eyes too much. Of course, if there were some pin-up girls included, that might actually help improve our vision.
Personally, I find it way more engaging to set our predictions before the third practice session starts. Usually, teams stick to their own private testing programs during those first two sessions and don't really show their hand. By the time Saturday's practice rolls around, the cards are mostly on the table, and you get a much clearer picture of how fast each car actually is for the upcoming race. Trying to call it based on the current rules feels unnecessarily difficult if you ask me. If we had a deadline just 10 minutes before qualifying begins, I’m convinced our accuracy rate would jump to at least 80%. And for those predicting the top 10? It would probably be even higher than that.
I’m really hoping this specific wheel nut design doesn't end up giving them headaches during tire changes. It’s probably one of the main reasons they spent an entire day during the last round of testing just focusing on perfecting their pit stop drills.
The Williams crew spent the entire day today just drilling pit stops. I’m really hoping all that practice pays off on race day. Hopefully, they also took some time to walk Maldonado through the basics regarding what those pit lane lights actually mean—and specifically, explaining that if someone starts waving him off aggressively right next to those signals, they definitely aren't trying to help him pass along any friendly greetings from Pastor to Chavez.
It looks like they’ve finally sorted out that hub hole issue on the FW35 to make sure everything is strictly by the book. Now the big question is just how much of an advantage that actually nets them. As for the exhaust, I suppose they'll be scrambling to get that legalized before we hit Australia.
For teams like Haas or Williams, the real game-changer is going to be resource management. It all boils down to how they kick off the season and whether they have the bandwidth to keep pace with the technical evolution of the rest of the field. There’s also the massive question of whether they can secure enough funding. And ultimately, we have to look at when they decide to pull the plug on current upgrades and pivot entirely toward developing the 2014 car.
Nathan Jones98 said:Don't sleep on Maldonado. ☕ I'm calling it now—Perez is gonna be a total wrecking ball this year.
Look, I’m playing this whole Formula 1 game a little differently, if I'm being honest. As a die-hard Williams fan, my biggest hope is just to see less total wreckage coming from their side of the garage. At the same time, I'm really rooting for Bottas to tap into that signature calm composure and find his pace again, rather than repeating what we saw from pastorov last season.
Drew Bennett68 said:It’s still way too early to start making any definitive predictions.
The new Williams passed its crash test and should be ready for its debut in Barcelona. Honestly, I find it quite surprising that more teams haven't followed suit by now. Don't you think?
Was _ylv = 3 jel Maldonado actually sitting in the car during the crash test? With an attitude like that, they ought to run a crash test on him too. Just to see if he's actually ready for the upcoming season.
Has anyone taken a close look at the data from these recent tests? Based on the lap times during specific stints, I’m curious to know how much tire degradation we're actually seeing from each car. I have a feeling this season might show even more drastic differences in tire wear than last year, depending on how sensitive each chassis is to the rubber. At least until the summer break, anyway—after that, things should start to stabilize a bit.
So, this is how the Williams team officially said goodbye to last year's machine today:
goodbye fw34 ...where the car was better than the drivers !
I’m really holding out hope that the FW35 can at least match last year's performance—and hopefully, our drivers will actually step up and show what they're capable of.
Since we’re on the subject of tires, is it actually true that this year's compounds are heavier by about 2 kg compared to last season? Is that why they bumped up the minimum car weight to 642 kg?
steelmaker83 said:Sure, because they clearly slimmed down the rear end... you can tell just by looking at how aerodynamic the car is now.
Honestly, Williams has been struggling to keep up for three seasons now, so they definitely deserved a little reality check. The only thing else they could have stuffed in there was a six-pack of Bud Light between the gearbox and the rear axle.
They absolutely deserved this win, and I want to send a huge congratulations to all the players! We need to be a bit more realistic when evaluating that game against Denmark. Looking at some of these comments, you'd almost think we were reading a bunch of Danish fans instead of Americans. Some of these leftists somehow managed to stumble their way into the World Cup. I mean, they can't exactly deny it—they are the reigning European champions, after all, and have been holding that title for a while now. They’ve been sitting at the top for ten years straight. Honestly, we absolutely dismantled them during the World Cup. Sometimes you just have those games where you completely overpower the opposition. Everything goes in, but nothing else follows. We’ve managed to take down every single team on our schedule except for Denmark, so honestly, I don't think anyone can really complain about how we finished. We might have been able to push further during the World Cup or the Olympics, but looking at things objectively, we did everything we could with the hand we were dealt. We really maximized our potential based on what our opponents allowed us to do.
Williams is set to unveil the FW35 on February 19th, kicking off the second day of testing out in Austin.
The Williams F1 Team is scheduled to reveal their 2013 machine, the Williams Renault FW35, this Tuesday, February 19th, at the circuit in Austin. We can expect a quick photo op with drivers Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas in the garage between 8:30 and 8:40 AM.
For the initial testing sessions starting on February 5th, they'll actually be running the old FW34, though it should be sporting the updated livery for the new season.
stormybadger8 said:Nathan Jones98's Ferrari used to be relevant, but their last truly elite car was ages ago.🤷 If my memory serves me right, back when they were running under some different leadership...🤔 It basically means this current crew hasn't built a single legitimately great car. Ever.
And honestly, they’ve had an insane amount of luck just to stay in any kind of title fight... and then they somehow managed to blow it—not once, but multiple times (and I'm talking about the team, not the drivers).
Ever since this "new era" team took over at Ferrari: Running cars based on the "old foundation"... 2007 - More luck than brains. That title belonged more to the Hamilton/Alonso/Dennis trio than to Ferrari. 2008 - Singapore > Mechanics > Fuel hose > Massa = total disaster.
New regulations, a completely new car designed by this specific group, and where are they? 2009 - Literally nowhere. 2010 - They weren't even fighting for the title because of the car; it was mostly because everyone else choked and made massive mistakes, plus Alonso having a hell of a season. But that tactic of covering for Webber > Petrov > sitting around waiting for a miracle without doing anything? Total joke. 2011 - Basically non-existent again. 2012 - Once again, the title fight wasn't due to the car being a beast. It was thanks to competitors tripping over themselves (mostly McLaren, but also Red Bull wandering early on, and missed opportunities from Lotus, Mercedes, Williams, and Sauber) combined with Alonso’s best year ever. In my book, the team is still to blame for losing that title, specifically because of Monza. If Alonso had just nailed a fast lap in qualifying there, he would've started in the front two, because they actually had the best pace that weekend... instead, the geniuses decided to have him "hold up" Massa in qualifying. Don't even get me started on the car's development toward the end of the season.
Looking at everything from 2009 to now, Ferrari hasn't actually built a proper, championship-contending car. They just had incredible luck and world-class drivers. And they only got that driver because he happened to end up at McLaren, which is why he moved to them in the first place. Honestly, who's to say Kimi wouldn't have grabbed another title if he'd stayed put?🤷
Plus, from what I hear, they've formed a "parallel team" to work on the 2014 design. If 2013 turns out to be another train wreck while the 2014 car looks decent, you can bet the crew responsible for the 2013 car will be heading straight to the unemployment line.😳 The only real question left is figuring out which people are on the "2013 car" team and which ones are on the "2014 car" team. 🤷
Martin Bester just made the jump over from Williams.
I find myself at the helm of an incredible group of experts—aerodynamicists, CFD specialists, and model designers—as we navigate the entire lifecycle of high-performance aero systems. We tackle everything from those initial, wide-eyed concept designs to rigorous wind tunnel testing and deep-dive data analysis, all leading up to the moment we actually introduce a new aero package to the race car. It’s a massive undertaking, and honestly, I’m just lucky to be steering such a talented crew through the madness.
This is what they were doing over at Williams. I honestly can't tell which Ferrari squad he joined—the one running the "2013 car" or the one stuck with the "2014 car."
William Bennett53 said:cosmicridge5, you should definitely vote for the option that imposes financial penalties for dropping out mid-season. That way, you might actually force redheron12 to stick with the championship even after he hits that first inevitable slump once the season kicks off. Of course, there’s no guarantee it would work and he could still bail, but at least then—in the spirit of gender equality—we could view his penalty payments as a form of forum alimony. 😁 🤣
Ethan Jones5, are you planning to vote for yourself, or are you waiting until the other players and candidates have made their moves?
The idea is that every player would need to put down a deposit of $XX before joining the championship. This amount would be forfeited if they drop out of the competition with fewer than two races left in the season. Naturally, the deposit wouldn't be returned to anyone else either. 🤣 That money would then be used during the XX round to fund prizes for the top three individuals and the first three pairs in the team championship.
I completely agree with you—the only thing that would actually help us right now is getting a look at the telemetry from Kimi's car so we can finally put this whole incident to bed.
