stormybadger8 said:So you’re finally admitting Webber was the one at fault for the collision? 🙏🙏🙏
Time has a way of settling things,
but frankly, making such a heavy-handed claim is a bit absurd. You could have said the exact same thing about Jenson Button just three races ago, and it wouldn't have been inaccurate—it would have been dead on. At one point, Button had nearly double the points of Lewis Hamilton, yet look at the standings now; Hamilton has already clawed his way ahead. 😉
Like I’ve maintained before, Hamilton, Button, Vettel, Webber, and Alonso all share the same mathematical shot at this. But by that same logic, Robert Kubica and Nico Rosberg aren't exactly out of the running either. 😉
Any gap smaller than 50 or 75 points is, quite frankly, laughably insignificant. It can be erased before we even reach the finish line. That’s why it feels like pure hyperbole to talk about someone having a "commanding lead" or being "out of it" due to a single crash; there simply isn't a meaningful advantage to speak of right now.
Don't rule out Kubica; he could realistically find himself leading the championship within just two races. ☕
I didn't say he caused the wreck; I said he wrecked it. My point was about track dominance—and honestly, he probably would have looked much better if they hadn't kept him out on those dead tires while Hamilton and Alonso were breathing down his neck. But yes, I was referring to the collision too, in the most literal sense: Vettel paid the price for his own arrogance by ending up parked in the gravel with a broken car, while Webber cruised onto a new podium. 🤣
If you had asked me before the season started what the points gap would look like after eight races, you probably would have guessed Hamilton would have twice as many as Button. Instead, he's barely sitting six points ahead after a massive struggle to catch up. In my book, Button has more than silenced his critics (and thank God, there are far too many of them). Even you seem to be giving him a break now. 🙏
I agree with the rest of your assessment. 🙏 Let's hope for a little bit of magic so Kubica can lead the standings at least once this season; the others have already made their mark enough. 🙏
I’m inclined to agree. So far, this season has been anything but predictable, and there’s absolutely no reason to assume the chaos is settling down just yet. We've seen Jenson Button defy the odds to go toe-to-toe with Lewis Hamilton, while Mark Webber has consistently outpaced Sebastian Vettel, and Nico Rosberg has clearly moved past Michael Schumacher. Besides, I don't think many people saw this level of dominance from Red Bull during the opening stretch, much like very few anticipated seeing such an underwhelming Ferrari, a struggling Mercedes, or a Renault that's somehow reclaimed its former glory. I’d like to believe we have plenty more upsets and plot twists ahead of us. 🙏
stormybadger8 says: Red Bull completely blew it. 🤦
I honestly have no clue what they were thinking, pitting so early right at the start. 🙄>
Forget that supposed advantage of the hard compounds; they practically threw qualifying away because of it, and then Vettel ended up pulling better times on the softs anyway. He stayed nearly as consistent on them as he was during his first stint on the hards. Vettel - hards for 14 laps, softs for 13 laps 🙄 Mark Webber - hards for 13 laps, then finished with 20 laps on the softs
Christian Horner, 😳 what was the point of any of this? 🤷
The guy is acting irrational; this race was a tactical disaster from start to finish.
McLaren played them like a fiddle. They held all the cards and just managed to throw them all away. 🤦>
>
I’m with you there! 👍>
More importantly, that crew proved today why they aren't championship material. You can have two incredibly fast drivers and the quickest car on the grid, but if you constantly sabotage your own execution, you'll always find yourselves trailing behind the leaders. 🤷 Honestly, they should just rename the team to amater GP. 🤣
Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, and Jenson Button! 🙏 🙏
And then there's Vitantonio Liuzzi. 🙏 🙏 🙏 (Not just because his driving finally silenced the skeptics—myself included—regarding why he landed a seat on the team, but also because he helped me win my betting pool against Maxym! 🙏)
Renault didn't quite hit their expected marks today 😢, but I expect things to look much better next time.
On the other hand, Michael Schumacher lived up to all that bitter criticism that's been dogging him for years. After forcing his friend Felipe Massa out of the way, he nearly sent the significantly faster Liuzzi packing too. 😲
I honestly think the penalty was a bit of a reach. They punished him more for the delay in getting back on track rather than the actual act of pulling the steering wheel while the car was still moving. Besides, if you look at it from another angle, this was probably the first genuine, heartfelt gesture we've seen from the kid since he entered Formula 1. It was the kind of move even someone like Valentino Rossi would have made. 🙏
"It's good to see that people are running different tyres in Q3, it's the first time this year. We've got primes and options, our main rivals, which are Red Bull, are running primes. It's going to be an interesting start of the race, seeing if they can overtake.
stormybadger8 said:Witmarsh is predicting an immediate SC in the opening lap😬
I suspect Jenson Button was handed orders similar to what happened with Nelson Piquet🤣
If my eyes aren't deceiving me:
He claims both RB cars and Robert Kubica🙏
That’s exactly my point. If we don't get an early SC, the guys on hard tires are going to run the show. But if the weather turns or we see an early safety car, then Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso have essentially secured their best results of the season.
Does anyone have the data on which tire compounds the Q3 drivers are starting on tomorrow? I know Red Bull's are on hards, while Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso are running softs, but I'm completely in the dark about the rest of the field. 🤷 If those softs only manage to last a few laps, the tire strategy is going to be absolutely critical tomorrow. If an early SC pops up, the guys on softs will be sitting pretty, but if the race stays green, they might find themselves in a massive hole.
Lewis Hamilton 🙏 - he’s an arrogant kid, I'll give him that, but the guy is undeniably fast. He managed to edge out Jenson Button by half a second. Mark Webber is once again outperforming Sebastian Vettel. 🙏 Credit where it's due for Force India, though. 🙏 It’s clear they still have a knack for finding pace on high-speed tracks, even if he did leave Adrian Sutil in the dust by two-tenths.
Robert Kubica and Nico Rosberg were the only ones to actually lose time between the Second Qualifying Round and the Final Qualifying Round. Such a shame. 😢
What a joke. Sports are absolutely ridiculous. 😁 The live stream over at Eplsite is lagging nearly thirty seconds behind the timing screen on the FIA website. It’s an absurd way to watch a race—I see the lap times pop up first, and then I have to sit there in suspense, waiting for the video to actually catch up and show me how they did it. It feels like that movie where Cage gets a glimpse of the future before anyone else. 😁
Grandpa is out, but Robert Kubica looks incredible. There is such a massive gap between teammates in all the top teams right now.
These practice sessions are a complete waste of time. Twenty minutes have ticked by and only Glock has even bothered to set a time. You’ve got mechanics just wandering around looking cool, while Schumacher and Kubica are casually chatting up the press like they aren't even on the clock... Honestly, we should just cut the race short by thirty minutes, scrap Friday testing entirely, and just add a few more races to the calendar instead.
Michael Lee4 said:Prile, you're forgetting that rain is highly likely during qualifying, and we’re expecting more tomorrow too...
It isn't that I'm forgetting; if anything, I'm banking on it. 🙏 If those soft compounds are disintegrating after just four or five laps, and Bridgestone is claiming nobody can make it to the finish line without at least two pit stops, I highly doubt the wet tires will be any more durable. 🤷
Soft tires are just evaporating on everyone... Jenson Button claims people are losing two seconds by trying to nurse them, and even then, they just disintegrate after a handful of laps.
It’ll be interesting to see how the strategies play out tomorrow. Honestly, the tires this season seem way too durable. If we actually wanted a show, it would be much better if the soft compounds only lasted maybe 5-10 laps, with the hards topping out at half the race distance. ☕
silvercobra68 said:you have to admit, this has been one of the more pleasant surprises of the entire season.
Back when he and Senna were teammates at iSport in GP2 back in 2008, Senna was absolutely running circles around him all season long. But now, looking at the last few races, Karun is clearly outperforming Bruno.
It’s strange—strange, to say the least. Even though Bruno Senna is my personal favorite, I think Chandok is handling the transition to F1 much better. And if the rumors are true about him potentially replacing that clown Liuzzi over at Force India, I’d say his future looks incredibly bright.
Last year, I couldn't wrap my head around why Toro Rosso gave Alguersuar an extension for this season, but the kid has since proven he isn't just some filler. This year, however, I'm baffled by why the hell FI is sticking with Liuzzi. Then again, who knows? If they swap him out, maybe I'll have to eat my words.
As for young Senna, I didn't expect much from him, and honestly, that's exactly what he's delivered so far. ☕
stormybadger8 said:Almost every qualifying session this season has outpaced last year's fastest laps, yet look at this: http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2008/793/6517/ Comparing it to the fastest lap from the last race, this is 2.5 seconds slower. I’m expecting qualifying times to hover somewhere around 1:15.500.☕
Those were clearly testing sessions conducted with full-spec cars.
Of course, you're right; my apologies, I miscalculated: these 2008 qualifying practice sessions trail by 2.3 seconds, not 1.3. There wasn't actually a race held in Canada last year, and since it isn't a purpose-built circuit anyway, speeds will climb significantly once the rubber starts laying down on the asphalt.
What I can't be bothered to go look up—and frankly, I have no desire to verify it—is whether qualifying was faster last year or the year before. Given how strange those cars were last year, perhaps they were lagging behind or at least plateauing compared to the 2008 models, which would explain why we're seeing such a consistent beat of last year's times this season.🤷
I suspect the best qualifying time will settle somewhere in the 1:15.400 to 1:15.500 range.☕
As expected, McLaren looks strong, but Mercedes is showing some unexpectedly encouraging pace. Kubica spent most of the session sitting at the top, though Rosberg and Vettel managed to snatch it away in those final minutes. Vettel looked like he was flirting with the wall during that last flying lap—if he wasn't actually inches from disaster, then he certainly had a close call. Ferrari is trailing the leaders (Alonso), with Massa falling significantly behind. Webber is also struggling to keep pace.
The fastest time is roughly a second and three-tenths slower than the 2008 qualifying speeds, so we should see things pick up significantly tonight and tomorrow.
Well, I don't have a satellite feed to check, so I'm just relying on some local stream, but it doesn't look particularly overcast to me. There's one darker cloud drifting by, but the rest of the sky—as far as I can tell through the screen—looks pretty clear. 🤷
I always find it fascinating to look back at the survey results I’ve been part of. 👍
To me, the current situation in the States makes perfect sense. In the USA, Formula 1 isn't exactly a mainstream phenomenon; it's mostly followed by a dedicated niche. Contrast that with a place like Brazil, where sports fans are passionate about everything, including Formula 1. Because of that, racing enthusiasts in those regions tend to be incredibly loyal—that core > demographic, much like our own community here on the forum. If the percentage of racing fans in the USA were significantly higher relative to the total population, we would likely see a much larger group of casual observers who only tune in occasionally.
Personally, I don't see much of a dilemma at Renault. There is a massive gap in caliber between Robert Kubica and Vitali Petrov. While I hope to see Petrov evolve into an elite driver eventually, right now he’s just playing second fiddle to Kubica, who is firmly established among the absolute best in the business.
Over at Ferrari, the talent gap might be narrower, but it's still there. If Fernando Alonso wasn't going through this bizarre slump filled with unforced errors, there wouldn't even be a debate. As things stand, Felipe Massa actually has a fighting chance.
In the Mercedes camp, the difference in current form is shrinking; I suspect Michael Schumacher will pull ahead slightly, though not by much.
McLaren has a lineup with very different driving styles, yet they yield remarkably similar results, which makes them hard to call. That said, even if Lewis Hamilton is the more exciting spectacle on track, I think he’ll lose this particular duel. The US Grand Prix 2010 requires a level of composure that isn't his strongest suit right now.
Red Bull remains the wildcard because we have no idea what kind of internal arrangements the drivers have made with the team—though I suspect Mark Webber is the one most likely to be sidelined if the team decides to tighten the reins. Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel is under immense pressure and heavy expectations, and this isn't exactly the venue you want to be acting out your nerves.
Edit:
Fair point; you're right that there is a class difference at Ferrari, but when it comes to being temperamental, Alonso and Massa are practically on the same level. 😁
