Posts by Kyle Edwards5

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

4. Daniel Ricciardo
5. Valtteri Bottas
6. Max Verstappen
7. Fernando Alonso
8. Nico Hulkenberg
9. Carlos Sainz
10. Romain Grosjean

11. Kevin Magnussen
12. Stoffel Vandoorne
13. Esteban Ocon
14. Charles Leclerc
15. Sergio Perez
16. Sergei Sirotkin
17. Marcus Ericsson
18. Brendon Hartley
NOP Pierre Gasly
NOP Lance Stroll

PP Sebastian Vettel
FL Lewis Hamilton

Congrats to the winner and the rest of the podium finishers. 👍
Taz is still finding his rhythm, though honestly, at this stage, every single point counts.

Average rating - 2.27(barely tolerable)

1. Vettel
2. Hamilton
3. Raikkonen
4. Bottas
5. Verstappen
6. Ricciardo
7. Grosjean
8. Alonso
9. Magnussen
10. Hulkenberg

11. Ocon
12. Perez
13. Stroll
14. Leclerc
15. Sirotkin
16. Ericsson

17. Hartley

NOP Vandoorne
NOP Gasly
NOP Sainz

PP Hamilton
FL Hamilton

brighthound8 is the backup manager for the championships and tournaments. 👍

swifttiger75 said:Yeah. It would’ve been nice. And maybe my guy too. This whole thing between these two is going to be a total circus. But hey... Mr. Moderator, I noticed you didn't cast a vote in the poll. Probably can't decide which way to lean, huh? 😁

I've only watched the highlights, so that's not enough info to actually vote. Besides, the moderators on this sub have the highest moral standards. 😁

TAZ Dubrava always starts the year off on the wrong foot. I wouldn't be surprised if we finally find our rhythm once we get closer to the end of the season. 👍

Honestly, I think Kimi Räikkönen would be perfectly content just grabbing a single win at some point during the season.
For me, that would feel just as massive as him clinching the whole championship. 😁

swifttiger75 said:Unbelievable. What happened to this community? A moderator on a Formula 1 forum who didn't even watch the season opener. I bet Joe doesn't even watch the races. 😁

So, I’m taking this post as a total provocation. 🧐

stormybadger8 said:Honestly, 🤦
I just blew everything off and decided to make some 622 miles I just want to be able to watch the first race of the season in peace at home (screw Max TV to Go🤣), I'll be back in a few minutes 😬🤣

Someone needs to ask WayOut to start handing out cards for these kinds of moderator posts! 😁
It would be better if things were different in Bahrain.

I didn't catch the race, but from what I've been reading, Mercedes-Benz still has the edge in pure pace. Even so, it’s not a bad start to the season.

1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Sebastian Vettel
3. Max Verstappen

4. Valtteri Bottas
5. Kimi Raikkonen
6. Daniel Ricciardo
7. Romain Grosjean
8. Fernando Alonso
9. Carlos Sainz Jr.
10. Nico Hulkenberg

11. Kevin Magnussen
12. Esteban Ocon
13. Sergio Perez
14. Lance Stroll
15. Charles Leclerc
16. Pierre Gasly

17. Marcus Ericsson

Nicholas Latifi
Brendon Hartley
Stoffel Vandoorne

Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton

I’m really hoping that third DRS zone actually injects some life into the race.
If my memory serves me right, trying to make a move around here was a total nightmare last year...

We'll see how things shake out during Sunday's race. Honestly, the gap between the top three teams is negligible right now.
Word is we’re looking at heavy rain tomorrow. That basically puts Hamilton and Max in line for PP 🤔...

Daniel Ricciardo is getting a 3-place grid penalty for failing to slow down sufficiently under the red flag, plus he's picking up 2 penalty points.

Watching this FP2 session and I have to say, the most impressive thing right now is how much Red Bull Racing has stepped up compared to last season. If Renault can actually squeeze a bit more performance out of that engine, they might just be able to challenge Mercedes for the title—honestly, they might already be in the conversation.

Mercedes is fast, but man, I thought they’d be even more dominant... They’re lightyears ahead in the first sector, but the rest of the lap is pretty underwhelming.

Ferrari is struggling. It’s obvious Vettel is having a rough time during these practice runs.
Haas is easily the "best of the rest" here. They aren't even that far off from Ferrari, which really highlights just how much Ferrari is hurting right now.

edit
Long run pace.
Mercedes is king (Valtteri Bottas was absolutely flying on the softs), even if Ferrari isn't trailing by too much. Red Bull Racing is looking like the worst of the bunch here...
Ferrari is just painfully slow in the first sector.

Honestly, I’d be shocked if even a single McLaren managed to actually finish the race without dropping out.

brighthound8 said:Negotiations for next season are still ongoing. Please send all offers to my inbox. Thanks in advance!

I think this still stands.

It’s going to be a solid season with 15 drivers already locked in. 👍
Just waiting on Ivić to make his move.

Alright, I'll go back and polish up the opening post in a bit.

Edit. There, done. Hope that works for you, neonfox65. 👍

stormybadger8 said: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? 🙂

Look, I’m not saying they messed up. I’m just saying I’m not buying all this speculation following the test. If anything, I’m expecting a very competitive Ferrari once we hit Australia.

Based on this article, it looks like the car's philosophy is a total pivot from last year. It seems like they're trying to beat Mercedes by actually using the Mercedes approach. 🤔
That probably means Ferrari won't have that edge on slower tracks anymore. My gut tells me Red Bull might just dominate at Monaco, Hungaroring, and Singapore instead.

By the way, why does Motorsport publish different versions of their articles depending on the language setting? Just realized that now...