Posts by stormybadger8

William Bennett53 said:Now, what exactly are we discussing here? Last year, Red Bull managed to catch up to and eventually overtake a mediocre Ferrari. This season, Ferrari seems stuck trailing behind Mercedes, while Red Bull is lagging just about as much as they did last year. Does anyone—aside from neonfox65—actually believe they can develop their car quickly enough to close the gap on the two frontrunners and rejoin the title fight?

They’re definitely going to develop the car way faster than Bear or Ferrari, and with way more progress too. Not really a huge debate there...
When you're running a full lap behind, it's pretty logical that you have way more room to improve. I mean, damn, McLaren could find two seconds in qualifying during the season and they still wouldn't be fighting for pole, even if everyone else stayed frozen in place...

But whether they can even catch them, let alone pass them... that's the question.
And even if they do overtake them in raw speed during the season, it doesn't mean they'll finish ahead in the standings. By then, the points deficit will be massive.

neonfox65 said:The Development race is just getting started 😉

Red Bull Racing is practically living on the podium right now

Honestly, if his brakes hadn't failed, Max Verstappen would've been on that podium in Bahrain.

Not exactly for Red Bull either...
First they need to actually catch up to Ferrari, then maybe they can worry about Mercedes.
And just like that, they enter the development race. Honestly, though? It’s a massive question mark whether they can even finish this first stretch of the season, let alone pull off a second one.
There’s basically zero chance Ferrari and Mercedes are just going to sit there sleeping while Red Bull tries to hunt them down.

neonfox65 said:The Development race is just getting started 😉

Red Bull Racing is practically living on the podium right now

Honestly, if his brakes hadn't failed, Max Verstappen would've been on that podium in Bahrain.

Where exactly are you getting that from, and why are you so damn sure? 🙂
Ricciardo barely scraped into fifth. And let's be real, he wasn't just fifth—he was about 40 seconds behind the winner and roughly 20 seconds behind a totally indifferent Kimi, who wasn't even in the conversation for a podium spot.

Sure, Max might have had a better race than Ricciardo, but I seriously doubt it would have been that much of a difference.
Based on how that whole mess unfolded, it looks like they might have actually been holding Max back with a three-stop strategy just because he pitted so early.
One stint at Homestead—10 laps.
Two stints on softs (he actually pulled it off) — ???
Three stints on softs? Yeah, he’d have to pull that off.
Maybe we're looking at a potential four-stint run at US Grand Prix...

And let’s not forget, unlike Sebastian Vettel, he ended up stuck behind a slow team and had to fight his way through a massive traffic jam.

Ricciardo burned through that first 14-lap stint, so his tires were shot by the end of both stints anyway. He barely had enough rubber left to even make a two-stop strategy work.
I'm not exactly holding my breath thinking Max's tires will hold up. Honestly, he'd probably be stuck out there even longer than Ricciardo was.

neonfox65 said:Wait, where's Max Verstappen in this poll? You guys didn't seriously write off Red Bull, did you?

We didn't write them off. They wrote themselves off with this year's car...

Right now, Red Bull Racing is just dreaming of a podium. A win isn't even on their radar, let alone the championship. They can forget about the title entirely.
Whatever happens in Canada doesn't mean much. Even if they somehow stumble into a podium or pull off a miracle win, they'll still be too far behind in the standings to care. And if they actually do improve enough to fight back, there will be way too many other contenders for those podium spots for them to grab them consistently.
Plus, I highly doubt Christian Horner is going to pick a favorite driver and bend everything to suit him. If anything, they'll just end up stealing points from each other. No chance at the title.

silverviper44 said:I'm going with Vettel.

I also think if Vettel ends up winning the championship, Mercedes-Benz will absolutely crush Hamilton and kick him out of the team regardless of his contract just to bring in Fernando Alonso. I’d honestly bet ten bucks on it.

It's about damn time...
If Ron Dennis had any sense, McLaren would've snatched titles in 2007, 2008, 2010, and 2012. They probably would've been fighting for it in 2011 too, if he hadn't brought Lewis Hamilton into the fold or actually told him how to behave...

Regardless of how much people love or hate Fernando Alonso, it's obvious he would've cruised to those 2007 and 2008 titles if he wasn't staring at Lewis Hamilton in the other garage while stuck with a total nobody like Heikki Kovalainen.
Given how fast the car was, they definitely should have taken the 2010 and 2012 titles. Honestly, Fernando Alonso wouldn't even have been in the title fight during those years if McLaren had actually put some decent drivers in the seats...

mellowtiger83 said:I have never read anything more foolish in my entire life, and I shall refrain from offering any further commentary!!

The end. As far as I am concerned, this debate is over, and frankly, I couldn't care less about the whole Hamilton vs. Vettel nonsense.

I am going to go watch NASCAR, IndyCar, and Supercars, in that specific order.

It will become obvious to you all very soon: Vettel cannot be a world champion if he has an equal car to Hamilton, nor can he be a champion against Hamilton if his car is even slightly faster.

There are only two scenarios where he could potentially win, and that is if Mercedes-Benz becomes unreliable—which simply isn't going to happen.

Therefore, the 2017 world champion is already a foregone conclusion!!

When did you even start watching Formula 1, yesterday?
Hello? Vettel has already secured titles against Hamilton in equal cars, or even when his car was slower than Hamilton's 🙂
. And no, he wasn't even the only one—Kimi Raikkonen has them, Nico Rosberg has them, and Felipe Massa almost had them too, though we all know how Timo Glock "helped" by parking it on the side...🙂
And get this: Vettel was actually ahead of Hamilton in that absolute McLaren mess during that famous Brazil 2008 race while driving an ultra-dominant Red Bull Racing car. And no, that wasn't the only time that season he beat Hamilton in that junk McLaren while in the dominant Red Bull Racing car. 🙂

Damn, if anyone has driven top-tier cars their entire career, it's Hamilton, and he squeezed those titles out with barely any breathing room 🤦
. And he did it even in the most dominant car of all time...
But sure, let's just forget that Nico Rosberg is an alien, and Felipe Massa is too 🙂
. Not to mention those seasons where Jenson Button was basically an alien and took runner-up, while poor Hamilton, in the exact same car, had to use superhuman strength just to finish fifth. 🙂

As for this season's title: if Ferrari keeps staying within striking distance of The Bear and The Bear doesn't pull away by more than half a second, I am absolutely certain it belongs to Vettel—mostly because Hamilton is on the other side. ☕
If it were Fernando Alonso or even Nico Rosberg in that car, I wouldn't be so sure, but right now, there's zero doubt. ☕

Of course, I'm expecting a massive outcry about "unreliable" Mercedes-Benz engines and Ferrari conspiracies regarding Hamilton. Gotta respect tradition, I guess. 😁

mellowtiger83 said:http://www.gptoday.com/full_story/vi...s_good_for_F1/

Here is an analysis regarding Vettel's driving capabilities.

Your previous post was nothing more than pure fanboyism.

And I have no idea where you got the notion that Hamilton was destroying his Power Unit; perhaps it was simply because he was fast.

By the way, Schumacher and those legendary years have absolutely no connection to Vettel or this current Ferrari era.

There is a massive difference: Schumacher could still perform even when the car was failing him.

The British? Please. They have no clue what fanboyism even looks like when it's an Englishman versus a German—or basically any Englishman versus anyone else. 😁
Of course, they're always right, and sure, Red Bull Racing was just this dominant car built solely and exclusively for Vettel.
They probably redesigned the whole thing halfway through the 2007 season just to suit him. 🙂

mellowtiger83 said:🤣, when a test is essentially irrelevant, why on earth would you bother testing tires on an old chassis that's been refurbished just to look new? It's a complete waste of time. That's what test drivers exist for.

Funny how that's supposedly "totally irrelevant"...
Even funnier is that in this Pirelli era, Vettel has gone out to test tires twice whenever he could. He's one of the only drivers who actually spent time at the Pirelli factory back in the early days. 🙂
They called everyone in order, but only Vettel showed up. Everyone else decided it was a waste of time...

And lo and behold, Vettel is one of the best tire managers in the entire Pirelli era. But sure, let's pretend it's all because his car was custom-built just for him. 😁

Also funny how miles ahead of everyone else were those three cars testing the new Pirellis...
Why on earth were Williams Racing and Force India suddenly so far ahead of the rest of the pack? I'm sure you haven't wondered about that...

mellowtiger83 said:Hamilton is also a hard worker and knows every aspect of the car; in fact, the experts constantly praise him for being an incredibly high-quality development driver with excellent feedback.

Set aside Hamilton's private life; just because he is under the media spotlight doesn't mean it signifies anything of substance.

The whole Senna debate has been discussed for ages. Even if he outperformed Alain Prost in the same car, let's move past point-scoring pedantry and such nonsense. Prost could only have stayed ahead if Ayrton Senna had given up, which happened in very few instances. And no, this isn't myth-making, at least not from my perspective, as I was a supporter of Prost.

Vettel as a tactician? Vettel being exceptionally clever? I could provide twenty or thirty examples to debunk that. Vettel is just as raw as Hamilton and isn't even slightly more calculating than him, nor is he any calmer.

Hamilton is basically most similar to Kimi Raikkonen, but "sort of" similar... extremely talented and fast, but he couldn't care less about anything else.
The big difference is that Hamilton isn't out there partying nearly as much as we know he does, though I wouldn't be surprised if he starts...

Forget all that talk about praising technical expertise and giving "feedback." That’s just PR fluff every driver uses...
The truth is what you see in the results, how they show up for testing, and stuff like that.
They're trying to claim that the real worker at Mercedes-Benz was actually Rosberg and that he was the one providing the feedback...
It’s pretty weird that Mercedes-Benz has started sliding since Rosberg left, especially when Hamilton is supposedly giving great feedback...

mellowtiger83 said:Well, whether Vettel is a genius or an alien, it doesn't change the reality of the situation.

In certain aspects, he's better than Hamilton; in others, he's worse. It's all quite close, really.

When you look at raw pace on track—when there's no need to baby the tires or conserve fuel—he might be slightly behind.

I think you've misread the situation. It would be wise to watch those final 20 laps Hamilton drives. Just because Vettel didn't have to manage things on a particular day doesn't mean he hasn't done it before or won't do it again.

If you look closely enough, the two of them are actually quite similar. Both are immense talents, and both possess massive egos.

You claim Vettel hasn't performed miracles. Go check the history at Spa-Francorchamps and try to guess which year I'm talking about. He didn't win that one, yet he put on one of the most impressive drives out there during a day where he didn't beat Hamilton.

I never claimed Hamilton was a genius simply because he saved his engine and tires. If anything, he used to be rather tedious. He seems to have lost that edge, almost as if he's matured, which isn't necessarily an improvement.

"Slightly behind," you say...

When it comes to pure raw pace, Vettel is a once-in-a-generation talent on this entire grid, even compared to Hamilton...
The difference is he doesn't just do it for nothing; he does it when it actually matters and makes sense. 😉

Go watch being Singapore 2013 and then come talk to me...
http://en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?p...nando%20Alonso
The SC completely screwed Vettel right after his Pit stop, and everyone was convinced the win had vanished into thin air...
Then BOOM—he goes on this insane tear from laps 31 to 44, leaving the entire field that benefited from the tire changes under the SC (including his own teammate in the exact same car) dead in the dust. He even gained an extra pit stop over them...
That furious pace where he built a 25-second lead over everyone else in just 13 laps... 😳
He was 2 damn seconds faster than anyone else on track during every single one of those 13 laps, and he was doing it on mediums, not Softs or Supersoft tires...
And this wasn't some easy Sunday drive; it was a street circuit that demands absolute concentration and physical grit...

And what do the British media have to say about it?
They immediately jump straight into conspiracy theories about how Vettel must have had traction control or whatever nonsense...
All based on basically hearing some rumor from someone who heard it from a guy in a bathroom on the third floor of some building... they heard some guy mention that Vettel had TC on his car 🤣

mellowtiger83 said:The reason is simple: Ham was stuck in traffic during the lap you're referencing. He backed off early because he saw there was no point. If this race had gone five laps longer, we could have looked at comparable split times, and I wouldn't be surprised if he left Vettel sitting right in his diffuser.

Someone mentioned that Ham had fresher tires. Sure, but they weren't significantly newer by lap count. The man carved twenty seconds out of Vettel and Bottas in a single stint. If we set aside Vettel—who likely wasn't even pushing to the limit—we're looking at Bottas, whom Hamilton didn't just beat by ten seconds, but pulled fourteen seconds ahead of by the finish.

Aside from the rubber, someone brought up clear track conditions. He had just as much open air as the two drivers ahead of him.

You all want to watch a spectacle, a full-tilt sprint without worrying about tire degradation or fuel loads. I am telling you, when Hamilton doesn't have to manage his resources, he is the premier driver in Formula 1. In those raw, uncalculated conditions, he is peerless.

Then there is the mention of Rosberg. Of course he’s in a different league compared to Bottas or that erratic Raikkonen. At the very least, he would have secured Pole position without compromising his race setup. I have said this repeatedly: Rosberg was a qualifying alien throughout his entire career. That is precisely where his dominance over Bottas lies, even if they did possess equal race pace—which, let's be honest, they don't.

God, the lying is unreal. 🤣
Man, you were born in the wrong era. Back thirty years ago, when data wasn't exactly easy to find, people might have actually swallowed those myths. But today? Not a chance. You can't pull that stuff anymore.🙂
Look, this isn't some "maybe" scenario where we sit around debating things that might or might not actually happen. Let's get real. 🤦

Poor old Hamilton was stuck in traffic. 🙂 And Vettel wasn't even doing that just a moment ago. 🙂
Lewis Hamilton vs. Sebastian Vettel. It’s the matchup that defined an entire era of Formula 1. One was a master of precision and tire management, the other a relentless force who could bully a car into submission. Watching them go head-to-head was like watching two different philosophies of speed collide on the asphalt.
Take a look at those last few laps...
Hamilton hadn't even hit traffic around laps 53-54 yet, so his pace wasn't actually that much faster than Vettel's in lap 55. He probably could have chipped away at him by maybe 2 or 4 tenths per lap, but as far as my math skills go, over five laps? That difference wouldn't have meant jack shit.
Maybe I could squeeze out 20, but 5? Yeah, not happening.

Look, Mario, let's get one thing straight: Hamilton and Vettel weren't even in the same league there. Hamilton didn't quite pull off that overtake like Vettel did.
Some people didn't even bother waiting for Hamilton to reach them—look at Alonso and Marcus Ericsson, they just gave up early. 😉

Not exactly many laps on those fresh tires...
Only 8 laps ahead of Sebastian Vettel and... Only 11 laps ahead of Bottas.Whatever, it’s just a minor detail. 😁

You might have been watching, but I’ve got a feeling you didn't actually see a thing...
Mercedes went with a totally different strategy for Bottas and Hamilton, and that was basically it.
Bottas was flying during that short stint in the middle, then totally fell off a cliff during the long stretch at the end...
Meanwhile, Hamilton was dragging his feet during that long middle stint while he was stuck shuffling behind Bottas, only to suddenly find insane pace during that short burst at the end...

jadeseal7 said:Miracles? What miracles?

He had fresher tires and a completely clear track ahead of him.

Vettel wasn't even pushing hard, he just ran straight into traffic. Once Hamilton closed the gap to six seconds, Vettel stepped on it, and they were either matching times or Hamilton was marginally faster.

It's all smoke and mirrors, really. If it had been Rosberg behind the wheel instead of Bottas, Hamilton would've ended up in third place.

Actually, once he hit that 6-second gap and Vettel stepped on it, Vettel was half a second faster. They definitely didn't have matching times.😉

Drew Bennett68 said:If you ask me, race engineers aren't actually calling the strategy; that's someone else's job. Their focus is on the car's condition and what's happening out on the track.

Doesn't sound all that logical to me...

Strategy is definitely set before the race starts—you’ve got Plan A, Plan B, target laps, all that stuff.
But obviously, making mid-race adjustments based on what's happening on the asphalt is up to the driver and the race engineer. Anything else would be way too slow to react in real time.

neonfox65 said:Has he still not managed to pull off a win after starting from 3rd or worse? 🙂

Nope. And honestly, I'm not even sure he ever will...
If he actually pulls that off, he’ll probably just retire on the spot.

Think about why I said what I said. Once it clicks, let me know. 😉
But don't bother reaching out before then. ☕

jadeseal7 said:Ever since 2014, Mercedes-Benz hasn't really had to sweat the small stuff when it comes to race strategy—I mean, their car was just in a league of its own back then.

But lately? It feels like the cracks are finally starting to show. They’re absolutely shredding through their tires, and when things get intense, their tactical decisions seem to crumble under the pressure.

On the flip side, what’s truly caught me off guard is Ferrari. They've been looking absolutely flawless.

I wouldn't say that, especially since Vettel's race engineer is Riccardo Adami. 😁
Everyone's known since his days at Red Bull Racing who his engineer was, and back then they already had solid tactics and ran a tight ship. 👍

Plus, I'm sure Jock Clear has settled in by now too, so none of this is really a surprise...

The only weak link is Kimi and his race engineer, David Greenwood. I don't get that kid, honestly...
The two of them are bickering more and more on the team radio, and clearly, he’s just running some copy-paste strategy and nothing else. 🤦

Sebastian Vettel pulls off his best opening stretch for Ferrari since 2004

Honestly, that’s not even the biggest shocker here. 😁
What’s actually wild is this...
This is officially Vettel's best start to a season in years. Aside from back in 2011 when he grabbed two wins and a second place in the first three races, everything else has been pretty mediocre. 😁

😬🤣

Drew Bennett68 said:Hmm, you could say that McLaren has a longer history of signing drivers than they actually have available seats.😵

There’s a good chance there's some truth to that. 🤔
😬🤣🤣🤣

William Bennett53 said:The race was actually great when you look at the final standings. For once, we saw a non-Mercedes victory achieved through pure grit, rather than relying on rain gambles, safety cars, mechanical failures, or Mercedes crashing out. Even if we account for Hamilton's botched pit stop, the result offers some hope, as Vettel was clearly faster than the Mercedes drivers.

Setting that aside, I found absolutely nothing engaging about the race, save for that aggressive double-move on Alonso and the solid driving from that little brat. In terms of actual content and trackside drama, this was a far below-average Australian Grand Prix.

Whatever...
Personally, I actually found the race pretty engaging for a US GP...
Look, I don't give a damn about 168 chaotic DRS overtakes or cars behaving like someone threw a 200lb weight on their rear end the second the tires give up.

For me, watching that tactical battle for the win was genuinely cool. Not just that, but the whole first stint where Vettel was hounding Lewis Hamilton,
and then later seeing Bottas's pursuit of Lewis Hamilton, plus Max's chase of Kimi and all that tension wondering what would happen next...
And even the drama of whether Alonso could hold onto his points or if Esteban Ocon and Nico Hülkenberg would take him down—and then potentially Hülkenberg and Ocon taking each other out—and who ends up being the last man standing. 😁

I have no idea why, but I've always found those races much more interesting—where overtaking is a struggle and the fight lasts a long time—than those mindless ones where you just click a button and everyone zips past.

darkmarlin16 said:I mean, any mediocre driver could’ve pulled that off if they had half the luck, let's be real.

Kimi Räikkönen is basically the textbook definition of a number two driver, it's just that he costs way too much to actually hire.

And how exactly would your golden boy have done better?
In qualifying, he probably wouldn't have—he might have actually been worse...
In the race, there’s no way he would've overtaken anyone; his best bet would be keeping Max behind him, and he definitely wouldn't have done a thing against Valtteri Bottas...

By the way, saying you couldn't overtake is just wrong...
Formula 1 wasn't even that easy.😳
Esteban Ocon took the scalp off Alonso. All this talk about suspension is a total fairy tale because there was zero sign of suspension issues—it was likely tires, power, or maybe even fuel...

Perez getting past Sainz was a masterstroke, executed with millimeter precision...
Red Bull didn't have any issues, and Sainz didn't make a single mistake...

neonfox65 said:Honestly, Tib, I’m just done arguing with you... fine, you win.

Not "if" I am, but "that" I am...
Anyway, looks like we actually learned something here...

Moving on to the next lesson:
https://www.formula1.com/en/video/20...Australia.html

Watch the video above and tell me what you think the driver means from 0:55 to 1:04 when he says, "OK, I guess we didn't save it." 🤔

What exactly didn't they save, and what was even supposed to be saved in the first place?

coastalwolf6 said:If it weren't for Vitaly Petrov, neonfox65 would still be rooting for Alonso. ☕

🤣

If it wasn't for Felipe Massa, they wouldn't even know who Petrov or Alonso are...

Massa explained it all...

And this Sunday proved Massa wasn't lying...

neonfox65 said:I don't really see the point in arguing about something everyone saw with their own eyes and already reached a conclusion on. People love taking all the credit—they won't say, "Hey, Max actually helped me out," instead they'll claim, "Yeah, I deserved to get ahead of him," which is technically true... but let's be real—if Max hadn't cut Hamilton off, he never would have pulled ahead of Lewis in the first place.

Get out there and actually talk to people for once...
Christian Horner and Marko aren't the center of the universe, and they definitely aren't the only people on this planet...

Who are they all supposed to be? 🙂
The Mercedes team is basically just repeating my exact words—they're trying to blame their own screw-up on tire wear after being slower than Ferrari.
Even if Max staying on track was just another stroke of bad luck for them, they were losing that race regardless of him.

Angry Wolf said:We honestly thought we had it figured out. We were banking on Max pitting early to get him into clean air, but everything just hit the fan at once. It was a perfect storm of bad timing and variables working against us.
It wasn't even all about Verstappen. Even if Max Verstappen had just pulled into the pits or slowed down to wave Lewis Hamilton past, it wouldn't have changed anything.
Kimi Räikkönen was pulling ahead just a bit. And Ferrari basically forced him to stay in the back just to make sure Vettel stayed clear ahead.

Look at that... even the Angry Wolf isn't part of that group.

Look, Max isn't some supernatural entity that the genius Christian Horner pulled out of a hat at a preschool recital, thinking he’d found the smartest kid on the planet along with Marko. 🤣