Posts by stormybadger8

Jason Campbell70 said:Regarding that first Ferrari driver....

The last three were—Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso.
Does someone like Nico Rosberg or Hulkenberg even fit those profiles?

It’s either Lewis Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel.
Right now, there isn't a third option.
And I mean *right now*.

Between those two, Vettel is definitely the more realistic pick.

Look, I'm not saying joining Ferrari is a bad move. I'm saying joining Red Bull Racing would be stupid. 😁
So, seeing Vettel at Ferrari seems plausible, but the idea of Alonso heading to Red Bull Racing? Yeah, that's impossible...

If LT isn't lying, then today's top speeds in S2 during Free Practice 2 were...
Williams 195 miles/h
McLaren 191 miles/h
Ferrari 189 miles/h
Red Bull Racing 184 miles/h
Honda might not be the absolute best, but I doubt they're any worse than Renault...

I mean, who in their right mind would trade Ferrari for Red Bull Racing?

Plus, you've got engineers and all those key big shots behind the scenes jumping ship from Red Bull Racing day after day, while Ferrari keeps pulling in all these flashy new names...
Red Bull Racing is basically a winning team that's slowly falling apart, whereas Ferrari and McLaren are building momentum and climbing toward the top.
It’s just how things go. When you have a powerhouse team for years, everyone starts getting massive offers from direct competitors. Of course people leave for better pay and bigger opportunities...
Honestly, for Fernando Alonso, Red Bull Racing is a worse bet than Ferrari or McLaren (a couple of years ago, sure, it was a great move, but definitely not anymore),
and there's no way Red Bull Racing would spit on their own homegrown talent just to pick someone from the outside, even if that someone is Fernando Alonso...

gentlecobra23 said:Look, honestly, the dissatisfaction went both ways. They didn't part ways because everyone was happy about it; now they suddenly want to work together again. Why? Because they have no one else left.
Out of five championship winners on the grid, only two are even available. Vettel doesn't look like a McLaren candidate, and they clearly think Button is washed up (which I think is a mistake). As for the young guns, McLaren tried Perez and Magnussen, and neither delivered what they wanted. So, logically, they want Fernando Alonso—especially since it looks like Ron is heading out.
And Alonso wants them just as much. He hasn't won anything at Ferrari, so maybe McLaren offers a better car and more $$ .

This isn't some necessary "you screwed up by leaving" shoutout; it's just a reality check where you try to play your strongest cards.

It doesn't matter who did what or why, but going back to the old way is proof someone totally blew it...
Take Ferrari and Kimi Raikkonen as an example. You're left wondering: did Kimi mess up and cause the split, or is Ferrari the problem? Either way, someone's at fault. 😉
And in marriages like that, it’s never a good idea to point fingers publicly...

gentlecobra23 said:Anyway, what happened to that Vettel - Hamilton swap? Why is everyone so sure he's heading to McLaren when there's potentially a spot at Red Bull too...

I think that's a total non-starter...
RB is all about pushing young talent and they basically always pull from their own ranks; their whole program has been built on that since day one...
They passed on Kimi even though Vettel was clearly gunning for him, opting for Ricc instead (mostly because he's their guy and they want to protect the academy/young driver pipeline...),
and considering Ricc is looking way better than Kimi right now—who would suddenly need this kid to jump ahead of Kvyat, Verstappen, Costa, Sainz, etc., just to bring in some veteran on the decline? 🤷

I get why Ferrari might want someone younger like Vettel, but I don't see a single reason why RB would want someone like Hamilton, regardless of how good he is...
Maybe Hamilton, though I don't buy that either, but Hamilton isn't ending up at RB. Not in my book.

steelmaker83 said:The fact he’s actually going back there proves the public perception of his exit was totally off. Even back when withmarsh was running the show, he admitted he regretted how things went down with Hamilton and would've loved to have him back on the team.

So, looking back, his departure was really just about personal friction with Dennis and landing that Ferrari deal. It makes sense why he left given the circumstances at the time.

If McLaren has any lingering grudges, they need to bury them. They're getting one of the best drivers on the grid—Hamilton still has a season or two at this level in him. He's the perfect bridge for those next couple of years while they hunt for the next big thing.

Doesn't matter who did what to whom... heading back to the team you walked out on is 👎
Even if you left on great terms, going back is basically admitting you screwed up by leaving. If you left because of beef on either side? Then it's even worse.

Seriously, the FIA is losing its mind with how much they're coddling Ferrari 😵 🤦 🤣




That’s the sixth electronics issue this season and still zero penalties 😍
The FIA basically says... some things just can't be bought, and if you want everything else, just look at the red car 😍 🤣

1 Lewis Hamilton
2 Rosberg
3 Vettel

4 Ricciardo
5 Bottas
6 Alonso
7 Button
8 Räikkönen
9 Massa
10 Magnussen

JEV is basically getting screwed in every possible way...
Either his junior driver is snatching his seat for next year, or he’s actually driving well only to have the engine die on him like a total joke... honestly, expecting him to waste practically the entire FP2 was just being optimistic.

It's a total scorcher out there today🤣

vividlynx68 said:It’s funny how everyone claims Fernando is getting old and running out of time. They seem to forget that Alain Prost grabbed two more titles after his 33rd birthday and finished runner-up in two more seasons right after that...

Times change...
Back in Prost's era, you didn't have 16-year-old kids signing contracts for next season's seat before they could even vote 😉

By today's standards, even someone like Sebastian Vettel looks relatively old 🤣
Good grief, look at the lineup—he's the oldest one on the Red Bull roster... and compared to Fernando, he's practically a toddler 🤣

steelmaker83 said:Total nonsense. Ferrari should have been the peak of Alonso's career. Sure, they couldn't build a competitive car (except maybe back in 2010), but saying it's a good thing he's leaving because he's being pushed out is just stupid. Ferrari is an institution, period. Every time someone leaves, they're stepping down.

And just because you're stepping down doesn't mean that lower level isn't still faster and better than where you're going next....

Exactly. Plus, the absolute worst move anyone can make is trying to crawl back to a team you left on bad terms...

neonfox65 said:Can you blame me for being hyped? Lewis Hamilton is finally leaving that dumpster fire!🎉

If Ferrari is a dumpster fire, then McLaren is just the sludge sitting underneath it.
Good grief, just imagine what kind of disaster we’re heading toward next. 🤦🤣🤣🤣

That’s a pretty interesting take...

However, when asked if he could say he would not be a McLaren or Red Bull driver in 2015 or 2016, Lewis Hamilton replied: “This is a very difficult question to answer. I will repeat the answer: I will do the best for Ferrari.”

🤔

Sounds more like the decision is up to Ferrari than him...
Either he's holding out for a massive payday to mess with them, or they just don't want him anymore. 🤷

Power unit components used up to the Grand Prix of Japan:
ICE / TC / MGU-K / MGU-H / ES / CE

Red Bull Racing / Sebastian Vettel (5 5 4 5 3 4)
Red Bull Racing / Daniel Ricciardo (4 4 4 4 4 4)
Mercedes-AMG / Lewis Hamilton (4 4 4 4 3 4)
Mercedes-AMG / Nico Rosberg (4 4 4 4 3 4)
Ferrari / Fernando Alonso (5 5 4 5 4 5)
Ferrari / Kimi Räikkönen (5 4 4 5 4 5)
Lotus F1 Team / Romain Grosjean (4 5 4 4 4 4)
Lotus F1 Team / Pastor Maldonado (5 5 5 5 4 4)
McLaren / Jenson Button (4 4 4 4 3 3)
McLaren / Kevin Magnussen (4 4 4 4 4 4)
Force India / Nico Hülkenberg (4 4 4 4 3 3)
Force India / Sergio Perez (4 4 4 4 3 3)
Sauber / Adrian Sutil (5 5 5 5 4 5)
Sauber / Esteban Gutierrez (4 5 5 5 3 5)
Scuderia Toro Rosso / Jean-Éric Vergne (4 4 5 4 4 4)
Scuderia Toro Rosso / Daniil Kvyat (6 4 5 5 4 4)
Williams / Felipe Massa (4 4 4 4 3 4)
Williams / Valtteri Bottas (4 4 4 4 4 4)
Marussia / Jules Bianchi (5 5 5 5 4 5)
Marussia / Max Chilton (5 5 5 5 3 4)
Caterham / Kamui Kobayashi (4 4 5 4 3 4)
Caterham / Marcus Ericsson (4 4 4 4 3 4)

It'll be interesting to see if anyone gets hit with a penalty in Japan, or if we have to wait until Russia for a massive pile of penalties...

1 Vettel
2 Hamilton
3 Rosberg

4 Ricciardo
5 Alonso
6 Bottas
7 Räikkönen
8 Massa
9 Button
10 Magnussen

🤣🤣🤣

Anyway, stormybadger8 gave Vettel the nickname Vettel long ago 😬.
That was back when I actually had a spark of creativity left in me, so I cooked up Zalons and Vettel 😁.

But honestly, this Button guy is even better than Zalons 🙏. 🤣

Someone leaked what Hamilton's car is going to look like next season 🤣🤣🤣

neonfox65 said:He’s just attacking Lewis Hamilton, who squeezes every last drop out of a mediocre car while his teammate whines about how the new ride doesn't suit him. In that scenario, Lewis Hamilton wins every time. 😂

Well, you actually managed to hit the nail on the head there. 🙏 🤣 🤣 🤣
If someone spends seven straight seasons complaining about their car, it's Lewis Hamilton—and his fans complain even more. 😍
At the end of the day, leaving Ferrari was all about the car. It wasn't because the grass looked greener in England. 😁

P. S. Kaj, what even defines a "mediocre" car? 😉

The whole thing is just pure smoke and mirrors from Lewis Hamilton and his manager...
Basically, this entire drama is going to end in a farce where he signs a new deal with Ferrari that’s even beefier than the last one. All this talk about transfers? It'll likely just result in Lewis Hamilton signing a fresh contract with Ferkan for another 2-3-4 years, worth well over $25-30 million a season...

And let's be real, Ferrari has one of the best cars, but Lewis Hamilton isn't exactly the complete package or even the best driver out there. He constantly screws up qualifying, and then during the race, his lap times are all over the place—never consistent...
But they’ll just wrap it all up in this myth that he starts at the back in 7th, 8th, or 10th place in some junk car, then pulls some legendary move by pushing the car to 120% through sheer willpower,
so he ends up driving laps that are occasionally a full second faster than physically possible, eventually clawing his way up to a 3rd, 4th, or 5th place finish...
I don't see how McLaren could possibly be a better car or a better option, let alone Lotus... especially when it's blindingly obvious that there are zero seats available at Red Bull or Mercedes.

So, a lot of noise for absolutely nothing, or maybe you just didn't get anything out of this mess either.☕

neonfox65 said:

That opening image is actually pretty hilarious if you look closely.🤔

1. Regardless of who's wearing it, everyone's rocking a Santander cap, even though Santander doesn't sponsor half these teams...

2. It’s also funny how his neck is totally snapped in the Red Bull suit... looks like he took a massive slap to the face and his head just flew off to the side.🤷
Same deal with the Mercedes suit, just the opposite direction, while in the McLaren and Lotus ones, he’s standing perfectly straight...

Is the person who made this montage trying to send us some kind of secret message?🤷