Posts by stormybadger8

swiftmaker12 said:Just to refresh everyone's memory here

Back in 2017 and 2018, Ferrari had a championship-caliber car, and Sebastian Vettel was arguably the best driver on the grid
But they managed to mess it up during those two years through sheer incompetence
Sebastian went through the exact same thing Alonso did in 2010 and 2012
Between the Ferrari team decisions on the pit wall and their overall strategy, they were basically built to lose
When you finally get a real shot at winning after years of nothing, decades of losing become a massive weight—you end up choking right when it's a layup
It was pretty much the same story for Alonso in those two years
And don't even get me started on the Yankees
If the Yankees started a season with a 15-point lead, they'd find a way to screw it up for the manager and the whole front office
That's exactly how Ferrari will play it this year

They'll end up right back where they started. After four or five races, once Mercedes and Red Bull pass them, they'll just sit there looking completely baffled by their own failure

Everything checks out...
But honestly, the last time Ferrari had a season opener this good was 2004, before that 2000, and before that 1953. That's about it.😳
It doesn't happen often for a team to sweep the first race with a 1-2 finish, Pole Position, and FL...
Even if Mercedes-AMG got us used to seeing that kind of dominance.

This smells like a massive year for Ferrari. They had the car for pole and the win, grabbed the FL, were lightning fast in the pits, and didn't mess up the tactics—in fact, they actually reacted when they needed to.

To be honest, it’s weird as hell. It’s like they haven't even changed their tactical crew or their pit crew.🤔
Yet, somehow, everything is suddenly running flawlessly at every single level.

Raymond Anderson4 said:Ferrari looked solid yesterday, though nothing to write home about. Charles Leclerc definitely benefited from starting on pole; he was able to control the pace without having to push his limits too hard. The tires just weren't durable enough. It was a similar story for Sergio Perez—he had the raw speed to keep pressure on Carlos Sainz, but the tire degradation made it impossible to stay glued to his gearbox.

Red Bull built a great car, but it looks a bit sluggish to me. I think there’s still plenty of room for them to find more pace.

The last time Ferrari kicked off a season with a pole, an FL, and a race win was back in 2007... and their last 1-2 finish to start a season was way back in 2010.

Nah, it wasn't spectacular at all. Actually, scratch that—it's huge for them. They haven't seen a season opener or a car this competitive right out of the gate in over a decade.☕

Timothy Castillo6 said:I'm just catching up on this thread because I didn't have a chance to watch.
If the Haas F1 Team and Alfa Romeo are hanging around those positions, then Ferrari basically built a moped.
(And now the keyboard warriors are gonna start digging for excuses, obviously...)
But hey, if that's the case, at least we'll actually see the Prancing Horse fighting for podiums this season.
Then again, how much of a disaster did these guys make of the Mercedes engines to end up stuck at the very back of the grid?
For some teams (like AM, for example), they might be better off just sitting this season out so they don't embarrass themselves.
McLaren, seriously, WTF???

I wouldn't say it's just the engine...
McLaren and Aston Martin clearly have massive bouncing issues, so they probably went with a super conservative setup to compensate. That likely killed their downforce, and everything just went to hell.
It looks like Mercedes is dealing with something similar, just not quite as extreme.
Could be the suspension too; from what I know, Aston Martin uses the gearbox and rear suspension from Mercedes, so it’s not impossible that the issue lies there...

Though it is weird because McLaren usually builds their own gearboxes, so they should have their own suspension too...
Either way, it's bizarre how bad they are. Honestly, it feels like McLaren is the biggest mess right now, followed by Aston Martin, while Williams actually seems miles ahead of both of them...

Williams didn't look *that* bad to me; they just literally don't have a driver capable of handling that car and putting it where it belongs.
Once Alexander Albon gets used to being back in a Formula 1 car after a few races, I expect Williams to be fighting for points regularly. As for Nicholas Latifi, he's an absolute disaster... compared to him, even Nikita Mazepin would look like Mr. Saturday.🙂

cosmicmoose2 said:Aside from the car itself, everything at Ferrari seemed to be clicking into place perfectly.
I’m really hoping this means the car doesn't have to be an absolute monster just for Ferrari to actually contend for the title (which is what everyone keeps saying, anyway)...

Honestly, this is pretty wild...
I can’t even remember the last time I watched a Ferrari race where both drivers had seamless pit stops, the strategy was spot on, and the crew wasn't just fast, but lightning fast...

It looks like they’ve been drilling those pit stops hard. Taking a full second off Red Bull Racing with stop times is basically 😲
For years, Red Bull has been the gold standard for pit work—their in-laps, out-laps, and stops were how they clawed back positions. This time, Ferrari beat them at their own game. It looked like Red Bull couldn't touch them, even though I didn't get the feeling Ferrari had a massive advantage in pure race pace...
They absolutely crushed them with strategy and pit speed. For Ferrari to pull that off for one driver is rare enough, but doing it for both? That’s genuinely shocking...

Usually, they lose their minds the second the second driver gets involved, running weird experiments just to get data for the lead driver—whom they usually screw over just as efficiently...
At this point, Red Bull used to look like the organized team while Ferrari's pit wall felt like a chaotic mess...

wiredseal7 said:So they’re probably just lying at this point
https://twitter.com/redbullracing/st...QWKLsXPIJtMIrw

They only drop statements so it doesn't look like they said nothing at all, or like they have zero clue what happened...

I don't see how a busted fuel pump or running out of gas would cause these issues:
- Total blackout if the steering wheel loses power.
- Rear wheels locking up and sending the car spinning off track.
- Steering or power steering failures...

Can you not remember that back in the day, Newey used to mess around with the size of the KERS motor?
I'm talking about something like that...

mellowtiger83 said:A fuel pump doesn't lock up the rear wheels in Turn 1.

And it definitely doesn't kill the entire electrical system and fry the steering wheel display, too.🙂

stormytiger4 said:I’m dying to know what actually went down with the Red Bull Racing crew. First, they told Max Verstappen that the battery was fine, but then the commentators started claiming Checo Perez stalled the engine. Is it even possible for both of them to have engine issues at practically the exact same time?

My money is on the engine, or at least not the ICE...
I'd bet it's an electrical issue—either the generator/motor unit or the battery itself.

Look, Pierre Gasly's car caught fire, but it was obvious the battery or the wiring went, not the engine or fuel...
If it were Max Verstappen's engine, we would've seen smoke. Same goes for Perez...

This whole thing reeks of electrical problems. I have a feeling Red Bull Racing was trying to get cute again, maybe cutting corners on the electrical components just to shave off some weight...

fadedwalker18 said:Checo, oh Checo... 🤦🤦

Who's actually to blame for Perez?

Perez actually drove an incredible race—honestly even better than that absolute wrecking ball Max Verstappen.
The geniuses over at Red Bull Racing absolutely botched his race strategy right out of the gate. They put him on mediums—as if they didn't have all the data on Max Verstappen—and then had the brilliant idea to call him into the pits in the exact same lap as Max just to make sure he stayed ahead of the golden boy. To top off that stupidity, they slapped him on softs with 30 laps left to go. Pure genius. 🙄

I mean, seriously? What kind of logic is that? You take the fastest guy on the track, sitting there on fresh rubber, and you call him in just to slap on tires that degrade like crazy. They don't stand a chance of making it to the finish, and let's be real—they weren't even faster than the mediums on his car. Absolute nonsense.

If his engine blew up at the end or whatever happened, you can't blame Perez for that spin. It was clearly just a massive mechanical failure on the car.

The broadcast and director are a total disaster 👎😵
If the cars and the actual racing are anything to go by, this could be an incredible season for title fights and track battles...

But if they keep up this pathetic broadcast style, we aren't going to see much of anything useful. 🤦
And don't get me started on this new helmet cam or whatever that kid calls it—it's just a mess of bright colors where you can practically see the grime on the visor.

As long as the graphics look like a coloring book, right? Apparently, following the actual fight for position is totally optional. 🤦

It gets even stupider when they try to track the battle between Valtteri Bottas and that little Chinese guy who I don't even know...
He actually surprised me, though. 🙏 He definitely belongs in Formula 1. 👍

Sam Clark75 said:If they had a battery, it wouldn't be from Tesla. If it were Tesla, they would've already announced a date for when the battery would be ready. 😁

Well, he basically built them a battery that lasted an entire season, except the race was only 45 laps. 😬

What if maybe Rimac isn't actually making the batteries for RB?
Seems like their batteries died on 3 out of 4 cars... basically smells like some major electrical issues to me.

What the hell is this 😵

Leclerc didn't mess up, Ferrari’s strategy wasn't garbage, Ferrari got the 1-2, and let's be real—Ferrari's pit crew is way faster than anyone else out there 😲
RB managed to screw up absolutely everything they possibly could 🙏

How much luck does Hamilton and Mečka have? It's actually insane 😁
They're nowhere to be seen for the entire race and then suddenly they snag a podium and 4th place 🤣

gentlecobra23 said:Sebastian Vettel probably caught a fever just thinking about having to drive that thing 😁

vjerojatno no🤣
Alright fine, at least now he can immediately start hunting for a new ride or just contemplate retirement.
Joining AM was clearly a massive screw-up...

It’s a shame because I actually liked FI; they were a solid crew and always knew how to overperform given their size and budget. Now that they finally have the cash, they're worse than ever.🤦
From what I've seen so far, I have a feeling we won't be seeing an AM podium this season....
It's obvious that old man Stroll is an idiot who meddles in everything, basically wrecking the team beyond repair...
Such a waste, because back during the VJ days, they practically functioned flawlessly...

And honestly, looking at these driver transfers, it turns out they did Sergio Perez a huge favor by kicking him to the curb, and it’s looking more and more like Bottas is next up on the chopping block...
Kevin Magnussen absolutely nailed it, while the old man and his boy Nikita Mazepin are probably sitting at home biting their nails seeing how good Haas suddenly became.🤣

Jack Kelly5 said:Talk all you want, but I’m just not buying this whole idea that Mercedes is actually bad right now. There’s no way in hell they’re sitting a second or two behind everyone else; the other teams are basically right there in the mix, we just aren't seeing it yet.
I mean, we’ll have to see how tomorrow's race plays out, and probably the next couple after that too, while they're still trying to get everything dialed in properly. If you look back at those last four races from last season, the rest of the grid looked like they were moving in slow motion compared to Mercedes. And now, suddenly, they're supposedly on the same level as Alfe!?
Give me a break.

They aren't...
https://www.formula1.com/en/results....ualifying.html

It’s weird, but for some reason, both Mercedes cars were slower in the Third Qualifying Session than in the Second Qualifying Session. Russell was actually a full second slower than his Second Qualifying Session time. 😵
And he isn't the only one. Hamilton wasn't quite as dramatic, but it's still strange that he was about 0.2 seconds slower in Third Qualifying Session than in Second Qualifying Session...
Fernando Alonso, Pierre Gasly, Kevin Magnussen—it's the same story...

Red Bull Racing is barely faster, and Charles Leclerc made the biggest jump...
The only logical explanation for me is the tires and how they're warming up. 🤔

On another note, it's interesting to watch Valtteri Bottas; all his times are hovering right around the same mark from First Qualifying Session through Third Qualifying Session...
Alpine seems fast, and consistently fast at that, though I think they have even more potential.
Because it's honestly bizarre how tiny the gaps are between their First Qualifying Session, Second Qualifying Session, and Third Qualifying Session...

rapidstag2 said:Did they mess something up during today's broadcast, or have they actually gone and changed the fundamental meaning of the color coding?

Honestly, they’ve messed up everything they possibly could. If you actually stop to think about it, there is zero logic behind these color changes—absolutely none. 🤦
George Russell's purple sector isn't even a thing; it wasn't the fastest sector at that moment, nor was it his personal best...
In fact, the only thing it could realistically be is his absolute worst sector of the qualifying session...😵

But hey, it’s nothing new. Ever since Liberty Media took over, this kind of nonsense has been the norm. They take things that actually work and tweak them just for the sake of changing them,
and then we get hit with total stupidity and massive screw-ups. Then comes years of "fixing" it, yet we never actually get back to where we were before their big overhaul, let alone make it better. 🤦

What really worries me is this famous ROC system of theirs (basically their version of VAR in soccer), which, if history with rule changes under Liberty tells us anything, is going to be a massive, embarrassing disaster...
I'm genuinely curious how long it'll take them to catastrophically fail with this new system of theirs...
I have this nagging feeling we're all going to end up missing that clown Masija, realizing that even as incompetent as he was, he was still five times better than this new "super-duper" solution. 🙂

stormybadger8 said:One. 😳
Bottas thinks Mercedes is in deep trouble and claims his Alfa Romeo is actually faster than them. 😁

stormybadger8 said:Now we just wait for George Russell to start crying to the media about how much better Valtteri Bottas had it compared to him when they swapped seats. 🙂
Just picture Toto Wolff wiping away his tears while some pathetic little voice whimpers in his ear, "It’ll be okay, George..."

Are you kidding me? 🤣😂
Way to go, Bottas. 🙏

stormybadger8 said:Based on everything we've seen so far—though who knows how much these cars will actually look like the ones hitting the grid for race one—the Mercedes looks completely different from the rest of the field.
It’s now or never. Either they completely whiffed on this entire strategy, or AM pulled off a miracle move like Brawn GP hitting the diffuser. 😬

We'll see. Like they said, those idiots...

Dammit, it’s a total disaster. 😢

cosmicmoose2 said:Yeah, seriously, you can't trust their Graphics for anything.
I’m dying to know where I can actually find the deep-dive stats... you know, like seeing Charles Leclerc's sector times during his first run in the Third Qualifying Session versus his second run and all that stuff.
But honestly? I'm convinced Red Bull Racing has the fastest car on the grid right now.
This is Max Verstappen's championship to lose, even if Mercedes manages to step it up a bit as the season goes on...

Check the Live Timing app while you're watching live, or just hit up the FIA website later...
There's also this other site—it's way easier to read and actually lets you compare data and whatever.
https://en.mclarenf-1.com/
Though since it's a Russian site, we've obviously got sanctions in place, so you probably need a Russian VPN to even load it.😳

That info isn't on the official site yet, though. It'll likely pop up late tonight or maybe tomorrow...

EDIT:
Well, damn.🤣
Turns out mclarenf-1.com works perfectly fine with a Russian VPN, but with an American IP address, it's a total dead end...

Jason Newman said:Max Verstappen squeezed out everything he could, while Charles Leclerc snatched pole with those yellow sectors. That gap in favor of Ferrari might actually be even wider.

Give me a break...
Max's lap wasn't even close to his limit.
Yellow, green, purple sectors don't mean squat anymore because they completely trashed the Graphics. 🤦

If you want to follow along, just watch the times and remember them...

For crying out loud, Leclerc clocks a 27.xxx and gets a yellow sector (even though he’s not just fastest in the Third Qualifying Session, but the fastest in the whole qualifying session), Max hits a 28.1xx and gets a purple sector,
then Hamilton at about 28.4 and Russell at 28.7xx both have purple sectors all the way through at the same time—except Russell has three purple sectors. 🙏🤣
By those standards, Russell absolutely maxed it out. 🙂

I actually put Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen on the podium yesterday just for the hell of it...😁
I had about three bucks sitting in my account doing nothing, so I figured, why not blow it?