Posts by stormybadger8

shadowtinker29 said:Unfair?

If you actually bother reading the FIA rulebook, it clearly states that once cars are under parc fermé conditions, you can't touch them except for safety issues. That includes engine maps loaded via laptop into the ECU—that's part of parc fermé too.

Those aggressive qualifying maps Red Bull was running since mid-last season weren't technically allowed under FIA rules. Why the FIA let a basically semi-illegal car grab the title is a different story (probably because none of the rival teams bothered to file a protest?).

Funny enough, Vettel’s dominance over Webber kicked off right when they started using that aggressive mapping.

As far as I'm concerned, all this electronic crap needs to be kicked out of Formula 1 immediately.

🤣 🤣 🤣

Do you seriously think qualifying engine maps are some new thing they can just start using this year?😁

And besides, what kind of mapping were they even doing back in 2009? 🤷

Seems to me Vettel was still in diapers when that stuff first started.🤣

Joseph Flores15 said:http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92494

There goes Red Bull's qualifying advantage...

For God's sake, they might as well just ban tires altogether and make Red Bull race on wooden wheels at this rate. 🤣

The FIA has officially lost its mind.🙄

Honestly, I’d love to see the look on their faces if all this nonsense actually worked and suddenly Sauber and Williams became the dominant teams 🙏🙏 ,
while Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault, and McLaren all get screwed out of a shot at the title by messing with Red Bull. 😍

darkmarlin16 said:If a mod wants to fix the year, go for it. I accidentally typed 2010. 🙈

Damn, TBF, you absolutely crushed it last year. 🙏🙏🙏 🤣

Just a hunch for this year too—the skies over San Diego are looking pretty red this season. 😬🤣🤣🤣

darkmarlin16 said:So, about those tires... weren't they supposed to have some kind of tougher, more heavy-duty compound this time around?

Sure, it lasts 30% longer and runs twice as slow.🤣

Joshua Doyle11 said:It honestly feels like Alonso is the only one single-handedly keeping the whole Ferrari operation from falling apart right now, and I really have to tip my hat to him for that.
I don't even have the heart or the patience to talk about Massa; he’s a decent enough driver, but what he's putting on display lately is just incredibly hard to watch.🤦
The Ferrari car is exactly what it is—it's hit a wall. Their strategy has been a total disaster for ages, but it's hard to tell if the team leadership is just playing dumb or if they genuinely haven't a clue what they're doing.
Basically, the race at Circuit of the Americas stripped that Ferrari car down to nothing, leaving it completely exposed.

Honestly, it’s starting to worry me. If this keeps up, anyone else could run into the exact same mess. 😳

This isn't even the first time, either. Red Bull completely fell apart in China, too. Honestly, I’m starting to wonder how much life was actually left in Vettel’s tires—or in this entire race for that matter. Give it another two or three laps and it’s game over. Bye-bye.

This season is going to be full of more absolute garbage like this. And don't just pin it on Ferrari—everyone else is dealing with these tire disasters too, they just aren't getting hit quite as hard.

Maybe if they actually get on a track, their tires will just give up on them.

How's the sub compared to how they handle tires? Back in Canada, I used to bet on them taking one or two. 🙏

Amanda Kelly said:You talk about strategy in your intro, but the rest of your post is really just about tire degradation.
Ferrari is completely incompatible with hard tires. On top of that, they haven't made any meaningful progress with their downforce.
That’s why I’d say yesterday's race scenario for Alonso was actually pretty predictable, especially with that massive one-lap deficit. If he was neck-and-neck at lap 20 but a full lap down by lap 40, it means he was consistently losing about 2 seconds per lap. That’s a terrifying stat to face.

So, the final result was pretty much business as usual for him (except for the very end).
Alonso constantly loses ground compared to where he starts. Which basically means for him, starting 5th is already a success because holding onto it until the checkered flag is a struggle.
Still, based on those first 20 laps, I’d go as far as saying Alonso was the third-best driver in this race, right behind Vettel and Hamilton.

"Hard times, my friend..."

Look, I get it, but that's exactly my point. I think he would've lost way less time if he'd run soft stints of maybe 15-16 laps.😉

Then he could have done 20 on the hards. Instead, he ran about 40 on the hards, and clearly, these tires are garbage on every car—but on the Ferrari, they're absolute trash.
If he'd gone that route, I doubt Webber would have caught him, and who knows, maybe even Button wouldn't have either.🤷

That's why I said before the race: it looks smarter to run crappy softs, even if they drop off, rather than using these hards that are a complete disaster.🤦

With how bad these hard tires are, they're just making a mess of things even more.🤦

What kind of idiots think it makes sense for a tire to last 5-10 laps longer if it's 1-2 seconds slower per lap than the old hard compounds?🤦

In those 20 laps (if I can even stomach watching them), you'd easily give up a pit stop or even a lap and a half.😂

I'm genuinely curious about what happens in Canada. Half the grid won't have enough rubber left. There's no way they can stretch six sets through a full race if the tires stay this bad.😂

Honestly, the best move would be for everyone to just boycott qualifying.🙏

darkmarlin16 said:Look, you hit on some solid points there, but you totally glossed over the elephant in the room: Red Bull basically mastered the art of the pivot when those radical regulation changes dropped. While everyone else was spinning their wheels, they just leaned into the chaos and found that sweet spot faster than anyone else on the grid. They didn't just adapt to the new aero rules; they practically rewrote the playbook on how to handle a massive technical shift.😉

So, what’s that supposed to mean? 🤷

What if Alonso had actually spent some time testing for Red Bull? Just a thought.🤣

cosmicridge5 said:I don't know, I was listening to Baby after the race yesterday, and he was saying the issue is definitely the hard tires. Apparently, they're a total disaster—just zero grip.

We'll see what happens in Monaco. If we've actually learned anything from all this, maybe we'll get to watch Ferrari absolutely fall apart during qualifying. 😁 Honestly, Fernando doesn't even need that P5 qualifying spot. I guess it might actually be better to just start 10th and fight our way through the pack, rather than grabbing pole only to deal with all that inevitable drama once those hard tires start falling apart. 😁

Nah, Alonso just completely wrecked Red Bull's strategy, and that's what dictated the whole race.😳

Since Red Bull couldn't pass him on track, they went into the pits early. Everyone, including Alonso, ended up following them into the pits to cover the move. That happened twice within the first 30% of the race!

Around lap 20-25, everyone was running on their last set of softs (one from the start, set two around lap 10, set three around lap 20). Naturally, those hard tires had to last about 40-45 laps (two sets of 20+), so everyone's tires just gave up at the end. That’s why Button did so well—he was the only one not busy covering those early pit stops. It's also why Alonso was screwed, because his final set of softs were used ones (he trashed his softs in qualifying). Same for Webber, who put on new ones during the first stop, while Vettel and Hamilton went on new softs during their second stops. That's where the massive gap came from.

When you think about it, if he hadn't been overtaken at the start, he might have finished better. Or, if he’d just stayed out on track and ignored the Red Bulls, would Hamilton have passed him? Hamilton had to pit, and his tires were garbage in the first stint, so getting rid of them worked perfectly for him. Plus, the pace was relatively slow. 😉 But Button definitely wouldn't have caught him.

hollowdriver18 said:Honestly, it looked like he just didn't have the grip yesterday.
I'm not looking for excuses or anything, it just seemed weird that he couldn't grab the apex.
If I remember correctly, even Michael Lee4 seemed surprised by how much he was struggling.

He was fast for a split second, then nothing.

Though... I didn't catch him being particularly angry afterward, which is odd when you know how he gets when things go wrong (😍). He just claimed he didn't clear the debris early enough and it built up. So what?🤷

It'll happen again.☕😁😁

Even Vettel couldn't have passed him, yet he casually cleared Massa, Button, and Rosberg all in a few corners before the DRS zone.😳

Seriously, Hamilton wasn't even visibly faster than Vettel; it was like DRS didn't even exist in that Spanish GP.😕

And I'm pretty sure the KERS on both Red Bulls was acting up.😳

Most importantly, McLaren and Ferrari were absolutely killing them on the straights.😉

Gary Palmer8 said:I honestly think it’ll be tough to top the claim that Red Bull is only this good because of Vettel rather than Newey.

Super tough.

But don't you see? They basically sidelined Webber from the jump this year just to avoid a repeat of last season's drama.

It really says a lot about that supposed "Vettel superiority" thing. 🤣

Oh, sure. So I guess Alonso and Hamilton didn't contribute anything to their cars' pace during their careers?🍿

So, in your world, is Hamilton just some lucky passenger who won titles solely because of the car and engineers? Did he build his own McLaren in his garage or something?

And Alonso is such an elite mechanic that he could basically assemble those 2005 and 2006 Renaults with one hand. Too bad his hand was acting up before the season, or maybe he was just too busy waving at Petrov in Abu Dhabi to build a decent car this year.

Get real. Every driver in a team plays a massive role in developing the car. We saw how good the RB was when Webber and Coulthard were driving it, and the crew was identical.☕

You can also see the massive drop-off in the STR ever since Vettel left:

STR 2007 (Liuzzi & Speed/Vettel) - 7 total (8 points - 0 wins)
STR 2008 (Vettel 35 & Buemi 4) - 6 total (39 points - 1 win)🙏
STR 2009 (Buemi & Buemi/Alguersuari) 10 (8 points - 0 wins)
STR 2010 (Buemi & Alguersuari) 9 total (13 points - 0 wins)
STR 2011 (Buemi & Alguersuari) 7 total (6 points - 0 wins)

RB 2007 (Webber & Coulthard) - 5 (24 points - 0 wins)
RB 2008 (Webber & Coulthard) - 7 (29 points - 0 wins)
RB 2009 (Webber & Vettel) - 2 (153.5 points - 6 wins (4 for Vettel))
RB 2010 (Webber & Vettel) - 1 (498 points - 9 wins (5 for Vettel))
RB 2011 (Webber & Vettel) - 1 (185 points - 4 wins (4 for Vettel))

The fact is, Webber had a phenomenal 2010 while Vettel had his worst year ever in 2010—and nothing else. But that doesn't change the reality: the STR with Vettel was actually a solid outfit, whereas before and after him, it was a complete joke. And the RB with Webber before Vettel arrived was a total underdog that the STR used to kick around.☕

Newey has been at RB since 2006 and struggled with Webber and Coulthard; the car finally clicked once Vettel showed up.

Being fast isn't enough. You have to know how to develop the car and give feedback, sure, but you also need the brains to pick the right team where you can actually make something happen with the car and the engineers you've got.

Gary Palmer8 said:I honestly think it’ll be tough to top the claim that Red Bull is only this good because of Vettel rather than Newey.

Super tough.

But don't you see? They basically sidelined Webber from the jump this year just to avoid a repeat of last season's drama.

It really says a lot about that supposed "Vettel superiority" thing. 🤣

Of course he's talking☕

Even if we assume Webber is trash, here's the reality:

- Button is trash
- Massa is trash

Why?
Because their teammate is way better than they are☕

Use some logic. Fine, trash Massa. Fine, trash Button. But don't you dare call Webber trash🤣

Go sell your fairy tales to someone else🤣

Bottom line: Webber is his own worst enemy. Or maybe you actually think Red Bull is to blame for those terrible starts?🙄

cosmicridge5 said:If you ask me, the real headache and the actual culprit behind all this chaos isn't DRS—it’s Pirelli. 😁 Tires. You could really see that playing out yesterday.

As for Ferrari, we’re basically sliding around on ice whenever we're on the hard compounds. We also took a hit yesterday because we burned through too many sets during qualifying. I guess if they could just stop obsessing over front-row starts and actually save some rubber for the race, things might look a little better. At least until they finally figure out how to fix this car, maybe then we won't be getting lapped by everyone else. 🙏 😁

I wouldn't say the hard tires specifically are the issue. It looks more like any tire struggles when the car is running light or empty.😕

RB and Ferrari are total opposites.😕

RB—fast when light, slow when heavy.
Ferrari—fast when heavy, slow when light.

Webber and Alonso are sitting right on Vettel's level with their points combined.🤣

Jack Kelly5 said:It’s kind of funny, isn't it? Like, how everyone suddenly decides that if Alonso pulls off a killer start, it’s entirely his own genius at work, but the second he finishes down the order because the car is basically a glorified lawnmower, then it’s somehow just the machine's fault. I guess that's just how people wrap their heads around things, maybe.
So, wait, how are we supposed to believe that the balloon doesn't get any credit for how fast Red Bull actually is? I mean, I guess it’s easy to just point at the driver or the aero package, but maybe we're overlooking the whole setup... it's kind of wild if you think about it.
Back in the day, those die-hard Schumacher fans would swear up and down that he was the only reason Ferrari stayed at the top for so long, you know? They acted like the car didn't matter, just him. Then you had the folks claiming Alonso basically performed actual sorcery to pull off those two titles while driving that Renault, which was more of a scrappy underdog than anything else. And now, I guess we're all watching Vettel just sit there collecting wins because, well, it turns out having a lightning-fast car makes things a whole lot easier, doesn't it? Maybe it's just luck, maybe not, but it sure looks that way from where I'm sitting.

🤷

Meanwhile, Newey just handed it to him while poor Hamilton stays home in the garage making crafts out of cardboard boxes. 🤣

Little trolls and tiny Hamiltons, one, two, three 😁

Honestly, sounds like a decent name for a rock band. 🤣

Let him sit wherever he wants. I really couldn't care less. 😂

Rebecca Fox4 said:Can someone explain what on earth happened with Kobon during the first round—why was he late to the starting line again 🤦?

Someone probably found him and slashed his tire.😢

Pretty sure he had to limp back to the pits on the rim, too.😢

Honestly, I can't believe how well he actually did. Scoring a point after all that? Pure luck. 🙏

Sauber actually pulled off a decent surprise there. 👍

dustyskipper77 said:-Vettel is clearly loving life in a machine built by a genius like Newey, and you can't argue with that perfection... though I have to wonder how much of this success is actually due to his own skill...
-I used to really dislike Hamilton because he felt like a silver-spoon kid, but man, the talent he shows every single race is undeniable. He's incredibly aggressive, fiercely competitive, and completely obsessed with winning...
-No sugarcoating here, Alonso is my favorite when it comes to pure driving ability. His talent seems virtually limitless... just a flawless driver with extraordinary traits...
-Webber finally let me down. I truly believed he was more than just a supporting act at Red Bull, but despite what the bosses try to say, he's clearly stuck in second gear. He's just too soft and frankly, too slow...
-Button drove a stellar race today, making the most of that McLaren power to grab some solid points, but compared to a perfect Hamilton, he’s still just playing second fiddle...
-Massa is a disappointment, and he simply doesn't have what it takes to drive for Ferrari...

Can we get some objectivity in here?🙄

If Webber wasn't playing second fiddle at Red Bull, Alonso and Hamilton wouldn't even be in the same zip code as Vettel.😳

It was actually Webber who screwed Vettel at the start with that killer launch and by shutting his teammate out.🤦
It wasn't Alonso overtaking him; Alonso was probably just as shocked to find himself up there.🤣

And Hamilton benefited big time from that too. Don't forget, Alonso was pulling the pack along, which is why Hamilton's first set of qualifying tires got trashed. It barely mattered for the race itself, but if they had been fighting for position, it would have made a huge difference.

Everyone dove into the pits early just to try and get around Alonso.

Joshua Doyle11, I swear, as a massive Vettel fan and someone who can't stand Alonso, you're honestly starting to get old😳

Take a chill pill☕

dustyskipper77 said:Just more proof that Alonso is pure class, even without a top-tier car... a brilliant start, but you can only do so much when the machine just isn't there. Hats off to Hamilton, though; he’s fighting tooth and nail to catch a guy driving a rocket ship, but let's be real, that's not his doing...😕

So, whose is it anyway? 🍿

Since when have we actually been watching F1? Like, since 2010 or what? 🙄

Since when exactly was Newey at Red Bull? And what kind of team was that Red Bull outfit before Vettel showed up? 🍿

Elizabeth Hughes said:How'd it go? I ended up passing out right after the third lap. 😍

Massa finished first. 🙏

cosmicridge5 said:Maybe try actually watching the races instead of just skimming the results if you want to make comments like that, buddy. 🙂

Just let him troll.🤣

If my memory serves me right, I was busy trashing Vettel and rooting for Alonso the last time I checked in.😂