Posts by stormybadger8

Greatest Wingman of all time 😳
Maybe Lewis isn't the GOAT, but Valtteri Bottas is definitely the greatest wingman of all time 😁

And some people were acting all smart talking about someone named Russell... Russell who? 🙂

ruggedhawk20 said:Yeah, right... that unforgettable meltdown from Brendon Maylander

Calling it a total disaster is an understatement.😬

Rain...

Anthony Baker84 said:looks like this mess moving through Small-town USA is going to hit the track right during the race.

Then we get total chaos on the track...
Hell, whatever went wrong and blew up wasn't exactly a small deal either...

analogpilot16 said:Yeah, it’s wild how easily people get played. They react without using a single brain cell, totally missing the fact that during that final Q3 attempt, the director is just intentionally showing Lewis Hamilton. In reality, Lewis can't go faster because Valtteri Bottas is blocking him, Bottas can't go faster because Esteban Ocon is ahead, Ocon can't go faster because... yeah, you get the idea.

And then, just like you said, they blame Lujo.

It's not even about whether it has anything to do with Ocon or anyone else...
It's about the fact that Red Bull Racing's timing was a total disaster right from the pit exit. They just didn't have enough time left...
And the director obviously focused on those two because it looked like an overtake attempt was brewing, even if it didn't happen. Of course he followed them—who else was he supposed to follow? 🤷

By the way, Esteban Ocon wasn't getting in Valtteri Bottas's way at all. If anything, he was well ahead. Even if Bottas actually wanted to push—assuming he could, which wouldn't have been enough to get Sergio Pérez back in the loop anyway—it's just a logical question why he would bother. 🤷
Check the driver tracker. The gaps between everyone are more or less the same, with the biggest gap being mostly between Ocon and Bottas, but nothing extreme compared to the rest...
The only outliers during that entire out-lap were the Hamilton-Verstappen gap (insanely close) and the Verstappen-Pérez gap (massive). And that has nothing to do with Lewis, or even much with Pérez; it's almost entirely down to Max...
Because Lewis was maintaining a standard distance from Bottas—not too big, not too small (just like everyone else on track)... so, totally normal.

If someone was acting weird on track, it was Max, riding Lewis's gearbox. Not really a shocker though, considering Mercedes were driving way slower than everyone else during that out-lap and barely squeezed him out just in time behind them...
But what's stupid on Max's part is that he didn't even try to pass Lewis when there was a clear opportunity. Instead, he just sat there hovering behind him, which is idiotic because you can't set a proper fast lap doing that...

Actually, looking at how Red Bull Racing sent him out, I wonder if he would have even made it into that final timed lap at all...

If you don't believe me, here are some shots...






Both Red Bull cars look bizarre...
Max is pushing for no reason at all, while Pérez is lagging behind the pack and just dragging through the circuit...
God knows what kind of kid was running strategy for Red Bull Racing, but it definitely looks like they were taking orders from the crew in Maranello...

Raymond Anderson4 said:Max claims it was because drivers on softs would have threatened them. 😁
Is that really the excuse the pit wall cooked up for the public? 😁
He could have easily cruised into Q3 on his first medium run. Honestly, he probably would've even improved that time on the second attempt with mediums.

They sent him out way too early this time...☕

They put him out on softs (just like Lewis Hamilton), with Pierre Gasly ahead of him, and someone else (pretty sure it was Lando Norris) setting the best times in sector one, followed by a second sector that was noticeably faster than Hamilton's...
A couple of guys ended up sitting right at the top, ahead of the Mercedes and Red Bull crews...

After that, he didn't have much choice but to just cruise the lap to avoid missing Q3...
Lujo was sent out when he was already at the bottom of the pack, so he could afford to abort the lap once he saw that even with those times, he had a safe cushion on mediums...
Red Bull didn't have that luxury. They couldn't afford to gamble; they'd look like total idiots if they got knocked out in Q2 with the fastest car on the track at the time...

Basically, the Red Bull strategists on the pit wall today looked like rookies who just got flown in from Maranello for their first day on the job.

wiredseal7 said:That off-track excursion... I don't get why there isn't a penalty, especially since he was over a second slower on his "fast" lap just to mess with Max's aero.

Someone needs to give him a serious wake-up call and return the favor.

What penalty?
Not even Charles Leclerc or anyone else got penalized for that absolute disaster at Monza 2019...
I guess nobody managed to nail a fast lap in Q3 back then, so no penalties were handed out...

So why would Lewis Hamilton get one now?

Brian Perez79 said:Max, just pop that Brit's rear tire in turn one tomorrow and you're my champion regardless of what the standings say at the end of the season.

Toto would probably tell Walter during turn three of the first lap...😬
That's exactly why Mercedes-Benz is winning and Red Bull Racing isn't.
Because Horner is a total pushover, not a real team principal.

Red Bull Racing is entirely to blame here; there's zero fault on Mercedes-Benz or Hamilton...
Who's to blame if they didn't nail a faster lap on the first try, hit the track too early, or just got overtaken by Mercedes-Benz on the out-lap? ☕

Jacob Castillo70 said:...people who only started watching Formula 1 back in 2014.

A picture is worth a thousand words...😁

1. Hamilton
2. Max Verstappen
3. Valtteri Bottas
4. Perez 3rd, Leclerc
5. Perez 3rd, Leclerc
6. Norris 5th, Sainz
7. Norris 5th, Sainz
8. Gasly 7th, Vettel
9. Gasly 7th, Vettel
10. Stroll 12th
11. Fernando Alonso
12. Daniel Ricciardo
13. Esteban Ocon
14. Russ
15. RAI
16. GIO
17. LAT

NOP Yuki Tsunoda
NOP Monaco GP NOP
NOP Mazepin NOP

Kimi, Max, Hamilton, Bottas
Hamilton

Sam Clark75 said:but Max's guys are still more annoying ☕

True ☕
Not that anyone’s surprised, given how everything actually turned out...
Just imagine if the result had been the exact opposite....
The fans trackside would have been screaming so loud you could hear them all the way in San Francisco...
Horner would be strutting around the paddock bragging about Max's masterclass driving, provided Brundle and the rest of the crew didn't tear him apart on live TV...
And Wolff and Hamilton would be whining so much that even Bezos could hear them from outer space.🤣

Give me a break with this blind fanboying 😬

Slow down and actually watch the clip. Stop staring at Hamilton through rose-colored glasses and just look at the footage...


Max didn't squeeze Hamilton against the wall. Hamilton forced his way into the gap between Max and the wall...
Max left him an opening on the outside, and he just shoved himself into the inside line...

And right after that, as soon as Max saw him, he backed off to give him space...

Say whatever you want, but as far as I'm concerned, this debate is over...
Not that there's any point in arguing anyway...
The refs are clueless, half the people can't see straight, and yeah, it's like that...
Honestly, if it were Vettel, I’d probably even 😬

But when it comes to Max and Hamilton—and I honestly can't decide which one I dislike more—I just don't care 🤣
So save the fairy tales for someone else 👋

gentlemoose57 said:Hamilton was approaching the corner from a completely different angle.

And check this out

At 0:28, look where Hamilton was, then watch how he suddenly jerks the wheel to the right.

And when he hits that turn, is that half a mile before the apex or what? 🙂

Give me a break. 🤣
What a load of excuses...
Max had already moved way out of the way long before the corner...
This is a good few hundred yards before the turn...
And even there, Max moves over and leaves him plenty of room...

Which is well before the actual entry...

A fair comparison between Max / Leclerc would actually be at the same spot...
Not using Leclerc here:


While Max is about 100m ahead of where you put him...
This image is roughly at the same point...


The camera angle isn't identical, so it's hard to be exact, but it's somewhere around there...
You can tell by the grandstand... which is right next to Leclerc, whereas in your photo, it's far ahead of Max...

gentlemoose57 said:Basically, he could have seen Hamilton without the rearview mirror, but the sivonja went for the close call just like so many times before.

Good grief... have you ever driven a car in your life? 🤔

The sivonja enters a sharp turn by wobbling the steering wheel—give me a break. 🤦
What was he supposed to do, just drive straight through the corner without turning the wheel? Because apparently, Hamilton thinks Max should just vanish off the track if he drives into the corner without swerving...

EDIT:
Thanks for the video 🙂
Look at that, there's Hamilton's onboard too...


So, interestingly, Max is the sivonja because he turns the wheel right for a right-hand corner...
But Hamilton, who turns left toward Max before entering the turn, isn't a sivonja?
It’s perfectly normal to enter a right-hander by swinging wide to the left first, and then you just continue straight because, obviously, you've got understeer after that, and then you act surprised like an idiot...
Because he basically just cut the corner in true reckless fashion...
And honestly, that's totally fine on American roads... as long as you don't hit a semi coming the other way or someone driving next to you.🙂

Yeah, sure, like it’s somehow all Hamilton's fault...
It's clearly just the refs being biased and picking on him...

gentlemoose57 said:Yeah, because Max squeezed him against the wall right before that—Leclerc wasn't even close.

It’s actually pretty wild how far back he was behind Max. On Max's onboard, you can literally see Hamilton's front wing in the frame.

Thank God we have video footage so nobody has to make up fairy tales...
But hey, keep believing those stories if it helps you sleep...

Of course, Hamilton fans are going to claim there's some massive gap between Leclerc and Max. 🙂
Everyone else could clearly see the actual gap between Hamilton...

gentlemoose57 said:Max is playing a dangerous game. He’s cut people off constantly—especially Lewis this season—and now he's feeling the consequences of his own tactics.

He pinned Lewis against the wall, so obviously he couldn't hit the apex from there, unlike Charles Leclerc.

And yeah, that Red Flag was totally justified.

One thing I didn't get about the Red Flag: did they seriously just slap some duct tape on Lewis's race car?

Have you checked the analysis?
Max and Charles take the exact same line entering the corner...
The only difference is Lewis's line.

Look, 🤣

https://www.racefans.net/2021/07/19/...n-grand-prix/?

Max actually became the first driver in Formula 1 history to walk away with points without even completing a single lap. 🙏🤣
And we're talking three whole points, too...

All thanks to those greedy bastards at Liberty Media. 🤣

ruggedscout76 said:They could have just stopped crying about it and avoided the Red Flag. The whole thing would've sorted itself out because Lewis would've been stuck dealing with his damaged car. That’s what you call a fair fight if we're calling this a racing incident. Both guys took the risk, both guys pay the price. No penalty needed. ☕

https://www.racefans.net/2021/07/19/...om-retirement/

A Safety Car or VSC wasn't even a realistic option, not in a million years.
Anything other than a Red Flag would have been pure insanity. 😳
A Red Flag exists for exactly these scenarios. There’s zero debate here, no question mark over why they pulled the Red Flag...

1. The race car was sitting in a pretty dangerous spot.
2. Nobody could get near the car for a while because it was still live with high voltage. They had to wait for the Red Bull mechanics to kill the power before anyone could even touch the car to move it...
Basically, you had a crowd of people right by the track, totally exposed to getting hit...
3. The barriers—the tire walls—were scattered everywhere, and you can't fix that without a loader, which isn't exactly hanging around the track while cars are flying by at full tilt... let's not forget that situation with the late Jules Bianchi.

Sure, the Red Flag worked out perfectly for Louis and Mercedes, almost too good to be true, but if Mass hadn't called the Red Flag, he would've been an absolute idiot and deserved to be fired for it.

Well, turns out I actually have the option to edit the poll 😵
I had no clue Nice enabled this for me, hmmm wonder what else I can mess with 🤣
Time to go exploring...

Walter Anderson43 said:It feels pretty hypocritical for Max—who everyone knows as Crashstappen—to be asking for apologies after acting all remorseful about his moves before. 🤣

Thank God he's okay. Honestly, the crash was just a pure racing incident. Like every other driver is saying, both guys were just going for it.

Sure, they both went for it, but there's one massive difference: Max was way ahead...
Max had zero visibility on what was happening, so he chose to go wide and let Lewis Hamilton through. His logic? "Screw it, I'll just head off track so Louis doesn't smash into me." Pretty much. 🤣
On the flip side, Hamilton had a crystal clear view of the situation, and his choice was simply to lift off the gas. If he had, nothing would have happened at all.

At the end of the day, only the British media and Hamilton fans can claim nobody's at fault or that it was a 50-50 split. Nobody's actually going to say Max is to blame, but everyone is more than happy to point the finger at Hamilton...
In fact, you could probably bet that if the stewards in the United Kingdom were officiating at his home track, they would've slapped Hamilton with a penalty if it wasn't so blindingly obvious he was at fault. If there's even a 5% chance Max is to blame, forget it—if it's a 50-50 call, Hamilton is definitely getting penalized.

What the drivers are saying is totally predictable. But of course, they're talking to the British media, who will conveniently "forget" to report half the quotes or just lose them entirely. Then, magically, it ends up being labeled a racing incident, which is what it always turns out to be anyway...
And every single one of those statements starts with "it's a racing incident," but... and then the British journalists just "forget" to mention the rest. 🙂