Posts by nimblesurfer17

Kimi Räikkönen. 🎉🎉

Why go with Scuderia Ferrari?

stormytiger4 said:Or maybe Nico Rosberg. He isn't tied down by a contract, and we all remember how much blood he drew from Lewis Hamilton during their time together—plus, he actually managed to snag a title while sharing that car.

There is another interesting pattern here—Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were close friends back in the junior categories, yet they don't even speak now. Then you look at Sebastian Vettel in Red Bull, who ended up paired with Mark Webber once the latter refused to play second fiddle. Even Fernando Alonso practically sprinted out of McLaren to escape Lewis Hamilton, and later did the same thing at Ferrari once word got out that Sebastian Vettel was coming in . In a very similar pursuit of a fresh start, we're seeing Daniel Ricciardo jump ship to Renault just to get away from Max Verstappen.

It seems none of the heavy hitters can stomach genuine intra-team rivalry. Not one of them.

Daniel Ricciardo made the move to Renault because it is crystal clear he wouldn't have had—and frankly doesn't have—the same treatment at Red Bull as Max Verstappen. The team clearly favors Max, who is essentially the undisputed number one for reasons beyond just raw speed.
If he had known he’d be treated as an equal with the same status, I'm sure he would have stayed put.
As it stands, there simply wasn't a logical reason for him to stick around.

stormytiger4 said:Are you just thinking out loud here, or do you actually believe Haas conspired to throw away a top-tier result—that they somehow timed everything perfectly to mess with Hamilton during that VSC window, that the FIA pulled a stunt by switching from VSC to an SC, and that someone sabotaged the Mercedes software just to hand Ferrari the win at their very first race of the season?

Wait, where exactly did I say or imply any of that? 🤔
To help you out—nowhere.
I am simply questioning Grosjean's decision regarding where he chose to park the car.
There are no conspiracies or wild theories involved here.

Jack Kelly5 said:I believe the regulations state that in these kinds of situations, the car needs to pull over immediately—otherwise, both the driver and the team are looking at a penalty.
I’m not entirely certain, though—someone feel free to set me straight if I've got that wrong.

But what does "immediately" actually mean here?
Who gets to decide when that moment is, and is it really necessary to stop right there if it's just going to trigger a SC?
Could they not just limp the car toward a more logical, safer spot along the track?
🤔

I mean, it's one thing if a tire is practically disintegrating and bouncing everywhere, but from what I saw at first glance, that wasn't quite the case here. 🤔

Drew Bennett68 said:There's really no way to know for sure—he probably just sparked there because it was convenient. If he had actually lost a wheel, they would have handed him a massive penalty.

I mean, he could have just left him right in the middle of the track—that would have been even more "convenient," wouldn't it? 😁
The wheel hadn't even started wobbling yet. He should have slowed down first and then cruised along. If the wheel had actually started vibrating then, he could have pulled over immediately without any drama.
Instead, the guy just pulled over in such an awkward spot—it was honestly just frustrating to watch.

Drew Bennett68 said:He pulled over because they didn't set his wheel correctly—the crew was struggling to sort out the car, so they had to call in the heavy machinery, and just like that, we have a SC.

Look, I know there was an issue with the wheel, but I don't quite get why he had to park it right there. Couldn't he have just limped it a little further down the track? It wasn't like the wheel actually fell off or was about to fly away mid-corner.

As for the VSC/SC situation—it seemed pretty obvious from the jump that a full SC would be needed on track; honestly, I was actually surprised they even tried a VSC first.

And I'm still sitting here trying to wrap my head around the math regarding that lap under VSC—how on earth did Sebastian Vettel manage to pull ahead of Lewis Hamilton when he had something like a 10-second lead? 🤔

mellowtiger83 said:Are you seriously trying to spin a conspiracy theory that he intentionally triggered the VSC?

I’m just asking a perfectly logical question—why did they call for the spark intervention right there?
The wheel looked totally secure to me. Looking back at the footage, it honestly feels like they could have let him drive a bit further down the track before pulling him out of the race.

Man, Sebastian Vettel really is one lucky guy.

Anyway, does anyone have the math worked out for that lap? I'm trying to wrap my head around what actually went down there.

Also, can someone explain why Romain Grosjean pulled over where he did? And why did we see a Virtual Safety Car first before they switched it to a full Safety Car?

I was wondering if someone could walk me through how Sebastian Vettel managed to pull ahead of Lewis Hamilton like that? If I recall correctly—and I might be misremembering the gap here—didn't he only have about a 10-second cushion over Lewis before the pit stops? Plus, wasn't the VSC called right as he was heading into the pits?

Question: why did Grosjean end up sparking all over the track at those random spots?
If Magnussen was able to just ease his way off the racing line to avoid it, why didn't Grosjean do the same? Especially since the tire wasn't even moving much—it clearly wasn't like it was about to fly off anytime soon...🤔

A quick look from the driver's seat in a car equipped with the halo system:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=mdH_-KKP7JE

It really changes the aesthetic—to be honest, it makes the cars look a bit clunky.

I was wondering if any of our local sportsbooks have already opened up bets on who’s going to take home the championship this year—whether it's for the drivers or the constructors—or if those markets aren't live just yet?

coastalwolf6 said:It’s honestly funny—he was already slow enough to clear the corner without any drama.

But no, he just has to brake like he's navigating a tight street in Monaco, barely hitting 31 miles/h, when he's actually on a track where you can easily cruise at 218 miles/h right after that turn!

Check out these two videos:

.

Did he have the right to take that corner at 31 miles/h? Absolutely.
And did he drive through that corner the exact same way during the SC earlier? He did.
The fact that Seb is buzzing around is really just Seb's own mistake here. Like someone else pointed out, nobody else ended up crashing into anyone except Seb.

Plus, those two videos you keep posting actually favor Lewis Hamilton.

coastalwolf6 said:You be the judge:

I honestly don't see what the issue is here. 🤔
Hamilton just braked early before the turn, released the brake, and that was that.
That red "brake" light you saw popping up later? That was actually caused by Seb's impact—it wasn't because of how Lewis handled his braking.

On a side note, the timing of Seb's penalty couldn't have been better for him; they called Lewis in for his pit stop first, and only *then* did they penalize Seb. It basically gave Seb a chance to squeeze out an extra lap on a clear track while Lewis was stuck dealing with the traffic.

And, btw, regarding Ricci 🙏 🙏
He had a really solid race—especially during that restart where he managed to sort out two cars in one single move. 🙏

Roger Wright94 said:Totally agree. There was no intention there—you could see it from the cockpit view.
But that second hit is actually the dealbreaker. That’s what forced Lewis into the pits and cost him precious time.
I'm assuming Vettel gets penalized for the first contact, the one from behind.

Like they say, karma is a bitch.
Lewis basically handed over his chance at winning today—it was entirely down to his own driving antics. If he played it smarter, he might have actually learned something from this mess.

From what I gathered, Finger was waving both hands immediately after clipping Lewis, even before he was fully behind him. Then he put his right hand back on the wheel, pulled away, and moved to Hamilton's left side, where he kept waving his left hand while keeping his right on the wheel—which tells me he definitely had the car under control.

Check it out around the 7-second mark.

Dirty move.

And honestly, Seb really needs to watch his spacing when he's trailing someone—just basic racing etiquette, you know? 😬

Timothy Castillo6 said:Here’s how the betting lines are looking right now for the 2017 Drivers' Championship:
Lewis Hamilton 5/4
Max Verstappen 11/4
Valtteri Bottas 4/1
Daniel Ricciardo 4/1
Sebastian Vettel 16/1
Fernando Alonso 16/1
Kimi Raikkonen 50/1
Stoffel Vandoorne 100/1

Does any of our local sportsbooks actually offer these specific lines? And honestly—is there even an option to bet on the championship winner this early in the season?

It would be such a wild scenario if Daniel Ricciardo somehow landed at McLaren Honda next year and snatched a title—or at least managed to outshine Fernando Alonso over at Mercedes. 🤣
Setting aside how incredibly unlikely that actually is, just imagine the drama! 🤣 Honestly, I think Alonso might actually lose his cool entirely. 😬

That said, if a seat at Mercedes truly does open up, my money is on seeing either Kimi Räikkönen or Daniel Ricciardo step into it.

Oh, and I did catch a headline somewhere claiming that Honda is sticking exclusively with McLaren next season.

Amanda Kelly said:a) Kimi is fine. This year's car suits his style. Doesn't mean someone else wouldn't have been faster, though.

b) Ferrari's pit wall basically handed Vettel the win on a silver platter. Once Daniel Ricciardo fell out of contention due to that late pit stop—losing a couple seconds per lap—Vettel was already hunting him down. He was even closing in on Max Verstappen at half a second a lap before they called him in again. He had the pace. Honestly, I think he would've cruised to a victory.

And what was the deal with those soft tires? Did they run out or something?

And how exactly do you know that? 🤔
It honestly feels like Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen might actually be squeezing every bit of potential out of this year's Ferrari car.
Honestly, if we were just taking wild guesses, any other driver could probably be sitting right there in the middle of the pack—it’s all so unpredictable sometimes!

stormybadger8 said:Funny how Kimi Räikkönen was allowed to squeeze people in China, but now suddenly Nico Rosberg isn't.😁

Yeah, those situations really are identical—it's almost uncanny how much they line up.

Amanda Kelly said:Three seconds on the first lap.
Then about 1.2 to 1.5 seconds per lap after that.
In my opinion, he would've caught him in about 12 or 13 laps.
And then he would've passed him. Easy.

Back to the same question again: how exactly do you know that?
How can you ever truly know what might have happened if the story had taken a different turn? It’s one of those deep questions that keeps me up sometimes—you know, staring at the ceiling and wondering about all those "what if" moments. It's like looking back at a pivotal game for the Dallas Cowboys; if one single play had gone differently, the entire season would be a completely different memory. We try to map out the possibilities, but life doesn't really work in straight lines, does it?
How can you really tell if Sebastian Vettel wouldn't just burn through his tires before he even gets a chance to catch Max Verstappen?

I get that you and TBF1D Seb might prefer one driver over Kimi Räikkönen, but honestly—it feels like everyone is going a bit overboard just to try and tear Kimi down.

Honestly, Max Verstappen really kept his cool out there—he drove a phenomenal race and stayed incredibly composed even while feeling the heat from Kimi Räikkönen.

People who underestimate Kimi—it's honestly laughable. 🕺

stormybadger8 said:So I guess I need to find the replay. 🤣
This was an NBC race, so I was watching on NBC 🙏🙏🙏

They're way more realistic and objective. When the pit wall sent those messages to Hamilton about catching and passing Vettel in the last five laps, the commentary was basically, "What is wrong with these people? Are they drunk?" 🤣

Usually, nobody ever comments on the officiating...
But today, it was clearly some absolute amateurs and morons calling the shots. 🤦
The Penalties for Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez were straight-up insane, but it gets worse—they actually slapped them with extra points loss too. 🤦
David Coulthard was right to say they aren't sane. He called them standard racing incidents and said this kind of officiating makes zero sense because it just discourages drivers from making actual overtakes...

Japan, I'm with you—those were nothing but pure racing incidents.