Posts by stormybadger8

mellowtiger83 said:Give me a break. Where are all those "top-tier" Mercedes engines hiding? You know, the ones powering Force India and Williams?

So Vettel messed up and lost three tenths on his fast lap today. What’s the big deal?

Somewhere in the backwoods of the FIA's legal department, they're scrambling. After getting hammered over the Williams and Force India situation, they're trying every trick in the book to force manufacturers to hand over identical engines and modes to all their customers. 🙂🙂🙂

The Bear clearly still has a qualifying mode—maybe even better than last year's. The only difference is they aren't willing to share a single scrap of it with their customers anymore, just to avoid some massive headache if anyone actually figures out how their tech works...

mellowtiger83 said:Tibi, I’m worried we’re not seeing eye to eye here! Sure, the Mercedes-Benz is the best car out there during qualifying right now, but it isn't beating everyone by six tenths. If you ask me, we're looking at a slim margin of maybe two or three tenths at most.

Do you even get what I'm saying? It’s simple: Hamilton put down a flawless lap while his competition—looking at you, Vettel—wasn't even close. That's exactly where that six-tenths gap comes from.

Hamilton just pulled a move like that today where he absolutely shredded the field—kind of like how Ayrton Senna used to pull massive gaps back in Monaco, you know?

Sebastian Vettel is absolutely capable of putting together a perfect lap. He just didn't do it today. He made some massive mistakes during his flying lap, and that's all there is to it.

Look, you can give Hamilton those three tenths today without blaming some "magic mode." He just drove a flawless lap. Seriously, what part of that don't you get?

Look, Alonso pulled basically the same stunt as Sebastian Vettel, so now he’s stuck out of the top 10. It sucks, but whatever—on to the next one.

No matter how much math you throw at it...
It’s pretty damn likely that Hamilton put down a killer lap while Vettel just didn't quite find his rhythm.

Look, it doesn't change the fact that The Bear is still faster than anyone else by 0.3 to 0.6 seconds in qualifying. No matter how you slice it, that's a massive advantage.
Look, a 0.3-second gap is such a massive advantage that you could basically mess up your entire qualifying run and still walk away with pole.

Anthony Baker84 said:I wasn't talking about track position, I meant the time gap. If Kimi is lagging by this much and Vettel was at that level, then the issue clearly lies with Vettel, not necessarily Ferrari. Kimi actually drove quite a bit better than last year when you look at the gap to Hamilton. So, this difference is really just regarding Vettel. Based on the gaps, Ferrari improved against Mercedes with Kimi behind the wheel, but regressed with Vettel. Makes me wonder where the real problem is.

The fact is, Kimi was uncharacteristically bad last year, trailing Vettel by nearly 0.6 seconds... which is massive. 😉
Besides that, look at the Vettel vs. Kimi gaps before last season 😉
say, back in 2015, he was only 0.03 seconds behind...

One big thing to point out is that Vettel was 0.268 behind Hamilton last year, so the gap has definitely widened significantly compared to last season...
Even if Vettel's setup was off, or he just had a bad day, or some kid messed up—the gap is still huge...
I’d say Kimi finally put together some solid qualifying laps like he can, while Vettel somehow made some massive mistake and ended up being totally subpar...

Because honestly, I didn't see Vettel (or Kimi) make any glaring error in qualifying. Maybe a few tiny ones, sure, but nothing big enough to lose half a second. 😳
It’s the exact same story with Ricciardo and Max being right there too. It's obvious it was just a great day where Mercedes turned their power unit up to the absolute max—maybe the first time they've truly maxed it out since this hybrid era started...

Anthony Baker84 said:If you apply Kimi's improvement from 2017 to Vettel's qualifying result, Vettel should have been about 0.2 seconds behind Hamilton.

Given Kimi's improvement over last year, Vettel should have been on pole...
Luckily for him, the brave Lujo is good enough to pull off a dominant Ferrari, and RB did too. 🤣

stormytiger4 said:Same old stories... Every single one of Hamilton's wins gets credited solely to his "god-given talent," conveniently ignoring the fact that he's driving a rocket ship that nobody else can even touch. And the best part? The scapegoat is always Sebastian Vettel. According to Hamilton's blind followers, it's just Vettel messing things up again, which is why he can't compete in a decent car. 🤣

Why is it always Vettel?
Because everyone else on the grid is a total amateur who can't pull a lap together to match what the car is actually capable of... except for Hamilton. 🙂
Even Hamilton himself struggles through Q1, Q2, and most of Q3, only to suddenly nail a blistering flyer in the final moments of Q3 right in front of the biggest crowd ever 🙂—and of course, he pulls this stunt every single weekend. 😁

Meanwhile, guys like Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Räikkönen, Ricciardo, and Max Verstappen are treated like losers who couldn't stay within half a second of Hamilton, even when they're sitting in faster cars according to Mario Wolf. 🤣

mellowtiger83 said:Bottas wouldn't have even been on pole if he hadn't crashed and if Hamilton wasn't there, get it now??

Maybe Bottas wouldn't have, but I'm pretty damn sure almost everyone else on that grid would have...
I'd bet my life even Lance Stroll would've snatched pole in that scenario, let alone the actual top-tier drivers...🤦

Anthony Baker84 said:What else was I supposed to say? Vettel completely blew it (and probably his side of the garage too). He should've been about 0.2 to 0.4 seconds faster than Kimi. Maybe he just couldn't nail the setup, or maybe it's just the driver—someone who only cares about the result, and in this case, that's a massive L for Vettel.

Exactly.😁 That's the thing.
Vettel ended up right behind Hamilton, who definitely lunged toward Kimi's side at the start to shut him down...
If Vettel gets a decent launch, he could easily blow past both of them like a high-speed train.😁

mellowtiger83 said:After sector one, Kimi was trailing Hamilton +250 and Max +200.

You're following bad info here. 🙂
Kimi and Max were down those 250 and 200 against Hamilton's S1 from that opening lap in Q3, not compared to whatever mess he drove during the final qualifying lap. 😉

mellowtiger83 said:Bottas wouldn't have even been on pole if it wasn't for Hamilton!! That 600ms gap in qualifying was totally unrealistic because of Vettel's mistake. It just happened to line up that way, end of story.

Well, yeah, he wouldn't have, considering he hit the wall. 🤣
If he wasn't such a total amateur when things go sideways, he could've easily been right behind Hamilton...

Here’s a list of drivers who would've absolutely locked down P2 if they were sitting in Bottas's Mercedes:

Sebastian Vettel
Kimi Räikkönen
Max
Ricciardo
Sainz Hulk Alonso
Hulk
Alonso
Grosjean Magnussen
Magnussen
Perez
Ocon
☕

mellowtiger83 said:The difference is simple: Hamilton nailed his laps while everyone else choked, especially during S2 and S3.

Yeah, sure, if you say so.🤦
You're selling myths again.😵

Hamilton's lap was a beast in S1, nothing special about S2 or S3...
He pulled over half a second ahead of the pack just in S1. Nobody else even came close to dipping below 27; they were all hovering around 27.2 in the final stint. Those "best times" from S1 were basically just their old Q2 times...
In S2 and S3, he was pretty much on par with Red Bull and Ferrari. Nothing particularly special compared to the rest of the field...


Take a look at the S1 times and see who actually clocked what.🙂

mellowtiger83 said:We saw how fast one Mercedes was when it hit the wall; Hamilton made the difference here!

Making a difference requires knowing how to drive on the track, not through the grass.🤣
Well, yeah, he’s basically an alien, so whatever.😂

The Bear is still freaking dominant...
With a car like that, even a guy like Valtteri Bottas could snag pole without breaking a sweat—hell, maybe even Lance Stroll could. But then you throw a real driver like Lewis Hamilton into the mix? Forget about it.

Though, this might be the first time in the hybrid era we've seen Mercedes actually pushing it to the absolute limit...
And honestly, it’s a good thing Red Bull and Ferrari are finally within a second of them. It means the Bear doesn't have any more breathing room.😁

Anthony Baker84 said:Clearly Vettel was absolute trash today. I mean, if you get outplayed by someone dealing with "stomach issues," all signs point to you being garbage.

Not really...
When it comes down to those two, the USA is Kimi's playground.
Vettel just doesn't vibe with this track, while Kimi absolutely nails it...

Plus, Vettel has been a total mess all weekend in sector 1.
Great S2, decent S3, and usually a complete disaster in S1...
The real kicker is that he only had one decent S1 during qualifying (that first round of Q3), and then some kid messed up his S3 and everything went to hell.

Douglas Roberts49 said:Tralala, everything is exactly the same as last year.

Tapatalk correction...
Last year they were hanging within half a second most of the time—way under that mark. Now? They're struggling to stay within a full second. 🤦

Red Bull Racing might actually start messing with Ferrari's rhythm somewhere around the beginning of the European leg of the season.
Damn, they’re already right on their heels at the very start.

McLaren’s got the best chassis on the grid—period. Just saying.🤦
Good grief, they're lagging way behind Red Bull—it looks more like 1.5 seconds than even a full second... and I definitely didn't see them being 0.6 seconds behind that Renault coming. 😵

I have a feeling Lojzek might just lose his mind and pull a farewell tour in Barcelona...

1. Sebastian Vettel
2. Kimi Raikkonen
3. Lewis Hamilton

4. Valtteri Bottas
5. Daniel Ricciardo
6. Carlos Sainz
7. Nico Hulkenberg
8. Romain Grosjean
9. Kevin Magnussen
10. Brendon Hartley

11. Sergio Perez
12. Esteban Ocon
13. Charles Leclerc
14. Pierre Gasly

NOP: Sergei Sirotkin
NOP: Marcus Ericsson
NOP: Stoffel Vandoorne
NOP: Fernando Alonso
NOP: Max Verstappen
NOP: Lance Stroll

PP: Lewis Hamilton
FL: Kimi Raikkonen

Lucas di Grassi Got a fin and some Penalty points for Wearing The Wrong pants wtf

WTF 🤣
This is even more ridiculous than that penalty Button got last year after Monaco 🤣

copperdrifter26 said:Toto mentioned to AMUS today that Ferrari actually has more horsepower with their new engine than they do.🍿

Yet, the folks watching from the track are saying Mercedes looks surprisingly sharp in the corners, looking even better than both Ferrari and Red Bull.

Don't sweat it. Toto was just bluffing about being terrified of McLaren and Renault. He acted like Haas is some massive threat to them, and honestly, they’re clearly sweating over Honda, too. 🙂
Honestly, I don't buy a single word of this nonsense from team principals regarding who actually has the pace or the power. And when it comes to Toto Wolff? He’s the last person on Earth I’d ever believe. ☕

mellowtiger83 said:Let's look back at 2016, for instance. Do you really think Rosberg and Hamilton could afford to drive conservatively while they were neck-and-neck? Please. They were fighting for the championship and pushing Mercedes to the absolute limit.

And why would they even need to push to the max in your little scenario? 🤔
Why couldn't they just stay in conservative mode? 🤷

If Mercedes decided beforehand that everyone runs in conservative mode at 85% power, then they’re just racing to hit that pre-set 85% ceiling...
That becomes their "maximum." In their head-to-head battle, it doesn't matter because both guys have that same 85% available...
For them, that's plenty of juice to crush the competition without wrecking each other...

But obviously, that isn't the actual maximum the car is capable of. 😉

Oh, absolutely...

Last year, Sebastian Vettel actually had a shot—and I mean a real shot. Part of that was his own screw-up, sure, but part of it was the team dropping the ball too...
But let's be real, Sebastian put himself in the running, and he was ahead of Lewis Hamilton mostly because Hamilton was struggling during the first half of the season... which is something you’ll probably never admit. 🙂

And yeah, it's much easier to say "Sebastian blew it in Singapore" because that's a quick sentence, whereas saying "Lewis Hamilton blew it" takes way longer. ................................
There are way more races where Hamilton totally tanked it during the early part of last season. It's actually easier to list the ones where he drove like crap—China, Barcelona, Montreal, Silverstone—than it is to list the opposite. 🙂

The fact remains: Sebastian was even in the hunt because of Hamilton's mistakes and Mercedes' own mess—maybe even because Mercedes intended it. If it hadn't been for that whole Singapore disaster, they probably would have cruised to the title without a second thought.

Mercedes has been playing cat and mouse for years now. They have a car that, back in 2014, probably could have been five seconds a lap faster if they’d actually decided to push it to the limit. That’s exactly why they know the FIA would just strip their wings the moment they showed what they could really do. They constantly whine about paint colors or whatever, inventing some fake rivalry while they drive around in conservative mode just to stay under the radar.
The big question this season isn't whether Mercedes No1 can win, it's how much life is left in that Power Unit before it gives up the ghost. 🙂

By their own standards, they aren't even 😬
For them, this is totally business as usual. Honestly, I’d have been more surprised if they actually closed the gap to Mercedes instead of just letting Red Bull pull away...

At the end of the day, by the close of last season, they were already at a point where Red Bull was closer to them than Mercedes was...
Last season was basically an anomaly. It's obvious Mercedes got absolutely hammered by that suspension ban during the first half of the year,
and maybe Red Bull caught a break too, considering they basically rolled into the season with what felt like a glorified test car...

If something like that happens two years in a row, I doubt it. So, I'm not expecting Ferrari to be able to go toe-to-toe with Mercedes. Maybe they can hold their own against Red Bull in the early stages of the season, but honestly, I wouldn't bet the house on that either...
Unless a serious Team Principal shows up to actually fix things, there isn't going to be any real shot at the title, no matter how much money they throw at it...

Why do you think Ferrari made such a massive blunder? 🤷

From day one, Mercedes has been miles ahead when it comes to the Power Unit... plus they’re elite with aerodynamics and chassis, their organization is top-tier, and their driver lineup is solid—especially when you look at Lewis Hamilton...

Honestly, it would be a total miracle if Ferrari suddenly didn't just catch up to Mercedes, but actually overtook them. Realistically, the only actual edge they had last year was when the FIA banned the Mercedes suspension, which completely trashed their car concept....
Everything else is just "sorry, tough luck." They didn't have a more powerful Power Unit, nor was it any more reliable. It's questionable whether the car was even better to begin with, or if it just looked that way because the suspension trick sent Mercedes crashing backward while Ferrari ended up with some weird hybrid design that wasn't even meant to work with that kind of setup...

Red Bull, on the other hand, almost certainly has the best aero and chassis out of the top three teams. There's a much higher chance that Renault catches up or at least gets close to Ferrari, which automatically puts Red Bull ahead of Ferrari—maybe even right up there with Mercedes...

Even back when Red Bull was absolutely dominating, Renault didn't exactly have the strongest or best engine, but they were close enough that the Red Bull chassis and aero could carry the whole team past everyone else...

I don't think Ferrari fundamentally screwed everything up. It's more that Mercedes is so far ahead on the Power Unit side (specifically regarding reliability) that they can easily afford to focus on performance. Meanwhile, everyone else is sweating, wondering if their three Power Units will even survive the entire season. Even now, before the season kicks off, manufacturers are already planning how their engines will die and how they'll intentionally take penalties by using four Power Units (Renault and Honda are already hinting at it, and who knows, maybe Ferrari is planning the same thing too)...
Does anyone on this planet actually expect Mercedes to go out of their way to take a penalty and limp through the season on four or five engines? 🙂

James Harris34 said:You shouldn't take everything Lewis Hamilton and the rest of the crew say at face value. I remember last year how he was claiming before Australia that Ferrari looked pretty solid, maybe even better than them—and it turned out he was right. Now he's saying the same thing about Red Bull, which might also be spot on. But regarding Ferrari, last year you could really feel after testing and heading into Australia that they had done an amazing job, whereas this year, based on what people are saying, I'm just not feeling it. I'm honestly worried they might end up being the third-best team in Melbourne...

The reality is probably that Mercedes has taken another massive leap forward. Honestly, this season feels like a repeat of 2016...
Because Red Bull could very well be just as fast as Ferrari right from the jump, if not noticeably faster by mid-season...
Still, it's a stretch to think anyone will pose a real threat to Mercedes, except maybe for two or three races. Of course, Toto Wolff will spend the whole year whining about how everyone is out to get him, and occasionally Lewis Hamilton might shed a tear too...