Congrats to everyone who made the podium! Big props to redjackal for taking second—you actually racked up the highest point total in the tournament too.👍 Correction: second best.👍
1. Hamilton 2. Vettel 3. Bottas 4. Kimi Räikkönen 5. Max Verstappen 6. Daniel Ricciardo 7. Carlos Sainz 8. Sergio Pérez 9. Felipe Massa 10. Romain Grosjean 11. Nico Hülkenberg 12. Esteban Ocon 13. Fernando Alonso 14. Kevin Magnussen 15. Lance Stroll 16. Stoffel Vandoorne 17. Jolyon Palmer 18. Marcus Ericsson 19. Antonio Giovinazzi 20. Daniil Kvyat Netherlands
Kimi: "Look, we already knew how this was going to play out right after qualifying. We saw the writing on the wall, but by then, there just wasn't enough time to overhaul the setup before the race started. Things actually felt much more stable once we switched over to the soft tires. It’s clear to us—once we finally dial in the setup, we'll have a serious package on our hands. Still, a solid result for the team overall."
Alright, let’s talk about Kimi. Yeah, he was slow, and being 30 seconds off is a massive gap, but look—he still managed to claw his way up to 4th instead of sliding down to 7th or 8th. So, it’s really not that catastrophic. It’s just the first race of the season...
For the entire race, Ferrari looked just as fast as the Mercedes. I have to admit, I started questioning Sebastian Vettel a few times last season, but this was an incredible showing from him—absolutely flawless, reminiscent of his old days at Red Bull Racing... Kimi Räikkönen struggled today; it’s not that he lacked pace, considering he clocked the fastest lap at the end, but his sector times felt incredibly inconsistent. As for Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton, it was painfully obvious they weren't used to being in a position where they were actually fighting against an equal car. It’s easy to pull off a perfect strategy when you have a superior machine...My favorite part was when they started talking about "Plan B"😁. They were almost cute with that little setup... On the flip side, I can't remember the last time I watched such a pathetic display of overtaking maneuvers...
Ferrari definitely has some serious potential here. I was being a total pessimist about McLaren last year, but I honestly can't believe how much Honda managed to screw everything up...
I don't get how Mercedes managed to pull even further ahead... Logic dictates they had virtually zero room left to squeeze any more performance out of the engine side 🤔 Then you’ve got this total paradox where the Toro Rosso is actually showing better race pace than both Ferrari and Red Bull 🤔
1. Lewis Hamilton 2. Sebastian Vettel 3. Kimi Raikkonen 4. Valtteri Bottas 5. Daniel Ricciardo 6. Max Verstappen 7. Carlos Sainz 8. Nico Hulkenberg 9. Felipe Massa. 10. Romain Grosjean 11. Sergio Perez 12. Kevin Magnussen 13. Marcus Ericsson 14. Esteban Ocon 15. Pascal Wehrlein NOP Jervis Palmer NOP Lance Stroll NOP Daniil Kvyat NOP Fernando Alonso NOP Stoffel Vandoorne
I think I mentioned somewhere before that I was planning on keeping things moving with redjackal 👍 So, redjackal and I are officially sticking together at Taz Dubrava 👍
My prediction wasn't exactly terrible, but Terry Carter2's was definitely on another level... He nailed the order for Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez better than I did, plain and simple. If my math is right, WayOut 45 got 45 and I managed 41.
Big WayOut greeting to Terry Carter2, since this basically means he probably crushed the fantasy league too. 👍👍 I guess I'll just hold onto some hope for next year...
Thanks, that was a close one. 👍 I think your Felipe Massa made the call here. I’m putting it at 35-32 in my favor. TBF1D and Terry Carter2 are deadlocked at 36-36.
William Bennett53, I think we’re neck and neck here, but if I recall correctly, I nailed three exact positions while you only managed two... Plus, you dropped a point on Kimi Raikkonen.
Then again, maybe we should just wait to see what graniteharbor502 has to say. 🍿
1. Lewis Hamilton 2. Nico Rosberg 3. Max Verstappen 4. Sebastian Vettel 5. Daniel Ricciardo 6. Kimi Raikkonen 7. Valtteri Bottas 8. Felipe Massa 9. Sergio Perez 10. Nico Hulkenberg