Posts by stormybadger8

Olivia Martin12 said:Just watched the GP3 session—no crashes yet, but the track is tricky. The racing line is dry, but there’s definitely some moisture hanging around the edges. It's completely overcast out there.

Tibi, this whole penalty situation is a complete joke... Honestly, the Race Director should be getting penalized for that call, but I guess it all depends on whose driver you run off the track. If it were any top-tier team, they would've handed out a penalty without a second thought.🙄

It’s honestly laughable.🙄
If Romain Grosjean had done that to someone from Ferrari, Mercedes, or Red Bull Racing, he almost certainly would've been slapped with at least a 10-place grid penalty.☕

Jason Campbell70 said:No, but that's just Mercedes. 😁

A track that dries quickly. 😵

Common knowledge. 😵

☕. 😵

No, at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, you'll have puddles everywhere after even a weak drizzle, despite all those climbs and drops—especially with water pooling in Eau Rouge.🤣

Of course it dries fast; once the rain stops, there’s practically nowhere for the water to sit on this track.☕

Hopefully he keeps up this magnificent style 🙏👍

😁🤣

graniteharbor502 said:Certain forum members have been quite vocal in their criticism of Sebastian Vettel, casting doubt upon his reputation simply because he made a maneuver on the track during free practice sessions; yet, curiously, when Fernando Alonso performs a similar feat in the heat of qualifying, the conversation immediately shifts to how he manages to extract 150% from his car. If we are to accept that squeezing 150% out of a Ferrari this underwhelming constitutes a triumph, then claiming a ninth-place qualifying result makes me nothing more than Santa Claus.

When the maestro spins out and flips on the track, it’s just magnificent. That was a magnificent turn. 🙏

Rebecca Fox4 said:Rain, grit, Scuderia Ferrari, clouds, sunshine, victory ☕

edit:



Is this even allowed?

I realize Romain Grosjean doesn't carry nearly the same weight as Lewis Hamilton, but how much longer must we tolerate this circus just to ensure Lewis Hamilton in that Mercedes can actually contend with Sebastian Vettel for the title?

And why am I even nitpicking this small detail when they’ve gone and tested thousands of miles illegally and gotten away with it completely unpunished... reminds me of how things work back home in the States.

No big deal, Lotus is back at it again. Got slapped with a penalty for Grosjean. 🤣🤣🤣

Funny enough, that didn't even trigger a penalty. 🍿

Hitting the track after a trip is just nothing short of magnificent. 👍

darkmarlin16 said:You're lying again. That's just not a good look for you. ☕

Do some homework☕

Does Fernando Alonso actually have an F1 win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway? 😵
Be a pal and tell me what year you were dreaming about. 🍿
Not only does he lack a win, he doesn't even have a pole or a fastest lap... plus, it's the track where his average points per race are at their lowest (aside from Austria, where he scored zero). ☕

By the way, he's basically your favorite F1 champion on the grid who hasn't won a single race at this track...
Even Felipe Massa has a win on this legendary driver's circuit, yet "Mr. 150%" and the "Maestro" himself can't claim one. 🤣

shadowstag10 said:Look, they were also absolutely certain during that slow entry lap that the track would dry out and that they needed to stay out as long as possible before hitting that last lap.
Give me a break.
You're forgetting that back then, we all—and I mean everyone, including you, I bet—thought the guy from Indy had done a flawless job and that the track was just getting faster and faster because the pole belonged to him. It was pure luck, honestly.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a track that dries fast; everyone knows that.☕
As soon as the rain stops, boom, you've got a dry track in a lap or two. If Marussia and Caterham could figure that out in Q1, then god willing, even Ferrari can handle it.☕

Raymond Anderson4 said:My take is that he was simply too close to Kimi Raikkonen during that first timed lap. I recall Martin Brundle mentioning something about that, though from where I was sitting, the distance looked fine—maybe about 5 or 6 seconds behind.
Then they messed up by leaving the pits way too late.
It doesn't make sense to me. If it's raining, it doesn't matter if you leave Box 4 or six minutes before the end of qualifying. The intermediate tires are more resilient and hold up better. You get out there, you drive, and you hope the rain lets up or you manage to squeeze out one extra lap.

What do you mean "too late" onto the track???
Alonso spun on track and trashed his qualifying run...

And Massa was the first one out on track right behind Sebastian Vettel. It wasn't that he went out too late, he actually went out too early...

After Sebastian Vettel, it was Massa, then everyone else in a line. The real question is who stayed out and who made it back for that final timed lap, not whether someone exited the pits too late...

Brian Campbell36 said:They clearly don't know how to build a car in Italy that remains so competitive that even when facing a deficit against the Red Bull Racing machine (Vettel), the performance remains virtually untouched, as if nothing had happened (US Grand Prix 2012).☕

One driver possesses a car so superior that they could arrive at the podium on two wheels and two rims, whereas someone like Maestro must exert 150% effort just to earn the opportunity to challenge the most dominant car in the universe.

That is precisely why Maestro earns such respect and admiration for weeks after outperforming Red Bull Racing, while Vettel? Nobody gives him a second thought.

Aha... so it's the Alonso effect... 😢
Too bad Ferrari was the most successful team at Spa-Francorchamps and managed to pull off three straight wins in 2007, 2008, and 2009. Since the "150%" guy showed up, we've seen absolutely nothing.

darkmarlin16 said:Nah, he’s actually better. ☕

Fetl never pulled off a win unless he was sitting right up front in the top two rows on the grid. Honestly, I can't even remember if he ever actually won a race after starting from fourth or lower. 🤔🤷 He might have done it once, maybe, but that's about it. 😂

Well, obviously he didn't. 🤷
He isn't even incompetent enough to mess up his pace during The third quarter and end up starting in row 5. 😁

BTW Sebastian Vettel won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway while your favorite never did... plus, Vettel actually has more podiums in the US than him, even though his F1 career is half as long as Alonso's... ☕

shadowstag10 said:Just try explaining to me how you're supposed to know if you need a 1:55 or a 2:10 for a lap in those final frantic minutes. Even their fancy, high-tech, state-of-the-art weather sensors can't predict that stuff. The fact that the track dried out just enough? Yeah, that's definitely luck.

But hey, if Alonso hadn't been sitting on that +10 second gap with two laps to go, there's a massive chance he could've squeezed into that last timed lap.

Yeah, because that's basically nuclear physics.🤣
That’s exactly why they run four laps in situations like that.☕
1 - an in-lap to get moving.
2 - a fast lap around 2:00.
3 - a slow lap around 2:30.
4 - then they time a fast one to catch those last few seconds...
And that's precisely why they hit the track at a specific time before the end; they're actually pretty good at calculating exactly how much time they need.
During that slow lap before the final one, they can figure out their pace and speed up or slow down depending on the situation to make sure they cross right at the finish.
They've got the tech in the car and they aren't idiots...

For the crew, the real headache is fuel—making sure they don't have too little or way too much.
Timing and pacing isn't even half the battle compared to managing the fuel.

William Bennett53 said:You can say whatever you want, but let’s be honest: Ferrari absolutely botched the strategy here. Reaching one more timed lap isn't some matter of luck; it's pure math. We've seen plenty of instances where someone miscalculates and fails to complete that extra lap, yet I have never once heard anyone claim it was a stroke of bad luck. 🤷

As for how Hamilton is doing (🙏 🙏 🙏), damn, I have to admit—the guy went from being someone I couldn't stand to being incredibly likable. Now, he's actually one of those drivers whose results I genuinely find myself rooting for. 🙏

Turns out it wasn't even Ferrari that screwed up—it was the maestro. 😉
I can’t believe I actually did it. I spun on my First lap, and honestly? It was embarrassing. Just total amateur hour. I thought I had everything under control, but then—boom—right back into the gravel. There's really no way to sugarcoat it; it was a mess.

Alonso says...

in The Final part, I spun on my First lap.I messed up, and it definitely cost me. Even though I managed to claw back three seconds by the time I hit Turn 14 on the following lap, that error still stung.

I bet Massa was too terrified to even try passing the maestro on track. He probably just veered to the side and waited for the maestro to get moving again.🤣

shadowstag10 said:That was likely that lap where the yellow flags popped up—I think Webber was just finishing his flyer. So, I'm betting there was some kind of crash we missed.

But honestly, if Alonso had managed to squeeze in one more timed lap—since he was the first guy behind Lewis Hamilton who didn't make it back—I bet he would've snatched a top 3 spot, maybe even pole position.

So, if you ask me, today was just a lucky break for the top three, and we still have absolutely no clue which car is actually the fastest.🤷

That was straight-up censorship. 😬
It’s obvious that Alonso is the one who went off track.

I mean, seriously? Ferrari was easily the fastest car on track all weekend whenever conditions got messy, only to completely fall off a cliff during Q3—and specifically when the weather was acting up...
FP1, Q1, even Q2...

And I honestly can't wrap my head around how they were sitting nearly 10 seconds behind Fernando Alonso in that first timed lap of Q3.😕
Did someone pull the plug on them, did they spin out, were the timers broken, or did some kid mess with the gear?

Brian Campbell36 said:You and your nonsense; if things were actually playing out the way you claim, Fernando Alonso would currently hold a 40-point lead over Sebastian Vettel.

At the start of the season, you were right there with the rest of them, writing extensively about those "magical" Ferrari engineers and their supposedly unrivaled machinery.

In modern Formula 1, Ferrari is little more than a legacy brand—a name they cling to while focusing their actual resources on road car development for the mass market.

Frankly, I cannot view Ferrari as a serious contender when Talijancic realizes, after countless years dominated by aerodynamics, that their wind tunnel setup was fundamentally flawed—only to finally begin reconstructing it at the start of this year.

Furthermore, I would afford you much more respect as a contributor if you would simply admit that Red Bull Racing has possessed the superior package for years; quite simply, they possess the ability to engineer the most effective package at any given moment, guided by the finest engineer in modern Formula 1. ☕

It’s not even a debate: Red Bull has the best overall package.🤷
They’ve got the best drivers, the best pit crew, the best engineers, a beast in qualifying, and a very solid race car...

Sure, Ferrari was incredibly fast in qualifying recently, and they've shown enough pace this season that Alonso might actually be leading the standings if it weren't for the absolute nonsense and stupidity they keep pulling.
Joe, I swear, Ferrari and Alonso have completely botched four races plus these qualifying sessions in Belgium already this season.😳

Malaysia—Alonso makes a brainless mistake, followed by the idiocy of not pitting for a new wing.
Bahrain—DRS failure, topped off by the sheer stupidity of pitting, coming out, and then having to pit again immediately.
Monaco—an utterly pathetic performance from Alonso, letting himself get stuck on a track where overtaking is basically impossible... what a waste of prestige.
Germany—that moronic tactic of running Q3 on hard tires even though the car was fast enough to lock in a front-row start, only to pit right alongside the guys on softs...
And now these qualifying sessions in Belgium are nowhere near what that Ferrari could have achieved. And knowing them, the final race result will probably be even worse than what the car's qualifying position deserved.

Bottom line? The car has plenty of potential. It's just that they've been so sloppy lately that it looks like Alonso might be losing his edge.

When asked about his goals for Sunday said:"Winning the race. I really think we have a shot.

"Anything is possible at this track. [Sebastian] Vettel came from 11th on the grid last year and fought his way to second.

He’s just not on Vettel's level, and apparently, he still hasn't figured that out.😬

🤣🤣🤣

It’s obvious Ferrari has the fastest car on track right now, and honestly, Lotus is the only one even remotely close to them...
Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz and Red Bull perfectly capitalized on those guys' sloppy pit strategy, timing their final lap in Q3 absolutely flawlessly...

Who knows what kind of chaos we'll see during the race🤷
Given these insane weather conditions, I wouldn't even be shocked if Jenson Button or Resta ended up leading after the first round of pit stops.🤣

Anyway, this race is bound to be absolute madness. If the Ferrari and Lotus drivers don't wreck each other out in the first lap, I fully expect them to be fighting for the win.
Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-Benz don't look particularly fast to me.🤷

darkmarlin16 said:honestly, this is starting to look like an even bigger scam than before😂

Joe landing in 9th place when he clearly has the fastest car on both wet and dry tracks is just ridiculous.🤣

FAralica = God Hermes....

steelmaker83 said:Hardly likely the "best" wins when they're driving absolute junk, but sure, let's all hope for that fairy tale ending.

Let's go, Jules Bianchi!👋👍

cosmichawk12 said:Honestly, I feel like everything should just fall apart—let the cows die off and let everyone deal with the fallout... it’s all just too much anyway...

Not everyone, though.🤣
Let Marcus and Caterham hang on somehow, just so we have someone to actually see on the podium.🤣

stormybadger8 said:Keep dreaming. You’re all going to be breaking out in a cold sweat just like back in 2010 during that final race of the season.
And let's not forget that Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean are a hell of a lot harder to overtake than Vitaly Petrov, plus General Motors probably owes us a favor after what happened in Valencia 😬

stormybadger8 said:Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if things went sideways in that Senna-Schumacher-Prost mix... and besides, neither Lewis Hamilton nor Romain Grosjean have messed up like that in ages.😬

So, does General Motors owe us another favor or what?🤔