391 posts shown.
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.
William Bennett53 said:Toro Rosso, this recent situation isn't even questionable; Kimi himself admitted he struggled during the first tire stint, but everything smoothed out after the pit stop. Therefore, he was simply driving as conservatively as possible to protect his position without compromising it.
jadeseal7 said:Hey Tib, how’s everything going with you? 😁
By the way, looking at those times you posted...
It’s actually pretty fascinating to me how Kimi handled that Formula 1 lap—he just breezed through it without any drama, totally nonchalant, and then just rolled right back into his rhythm for the next lap like it was nothing.
It’s clear he had the pace; it just seems like Ferrari wasn't particularly worried about Red Bull Racing, so they were likely just cruising and being extremely conservative with the engine.
Ashley Ramirez4 said:The only thing that really bugs me was how Sebastian Vettel tried to hunt down Lewis on track—if Lewis had just stayed out for a few more laps, he would've been caught, since he was within less than a second before finally pulling into the pits.
Maybe if he’d just defended his position and slowed both himself and Vettel down enough, they both might have ended up finishing behind Max after the pit stops.
Raymond Anderson4 said:Was that at the Australian Grand Prix or was it with AMuS? It doesn't really matter now, but the Americans behind the wheel have such precise control that it might explain those clean launches. 😁
True, which is pretty funny considering Lewis Hamilton was already complaining about having zero grip in his starting spot during the warm-up lap.
Raymond Anderson4 said:Ferrari and Mercedes look close, but I’m still banking on Mercedes being the frontrunners for the next two races.
That race was a mess. We know Lewis can struggle when things go south right from the start, and he’s never been the best at managing tires. He also tends to get a bit defeatist with his radio calls and what he shares with us.
On the other hand, I think Valtteri Bottas's performance actually proves just how good that car really is. There's no way Bottas would have landed on the podium in his first race if that machine wasn't a winner.
By the way, what did you all think about the Magnussen-Ericsson incident? That was a close one; last year, Kevin Magnussen probably would have walked away with a penalty for that.
graniteharbor502 said:Well, one must consider that Kimi was struggling quite significantly with the UltraSoft, and he did mention—quite clearly, I might add—that they finally pinpointed the root cause at the end of qualifying and intend to rectify it for the upcoming races. If one looks at his pace on the Soft tire, it actually appeared remarkably consistent with Sebastian Vettel's performance (and that of the Mercedes-Benz drivers as well):
http://en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?p...stian%20Vettel
darkmarlin16 said:Give the man a decent car and then we'll talk.
stormybadger8 said:Hamilton was struggling with his US tires (he wasn't even on the SS) during the first stint—or at least that's what he was whining about on the team radio... but the lap times didn't show any of that.
The real question is whether Sky was right about yesterday being a live timing error, or if Hamilton actually set his Q2 time on used rubber from Q1...
According to LT, his Q2 tires—the ones he started the race on—only had 6 laps on them (given the FL in Q1 and FL in Q2). If that's true, it sounds completely insane (I can't imagine why they'd be that stupid), which makes me think it was an LT error. But if he really did start on those old tires, it's no wonder they fell apart in the first stint...
Once they both pitted, Hamilton's pace leveled out, but only after Max cleared out of the way. By then, he was already a massive 6 seconds behind Vettel, so the whole thing was a lost cause.
Even if he had been driving qualifying laps the whole time, there's no way in hell he would've closed that gap without shredding his tires, let alone passing him...
Here are the times, take a look...
http://en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?p...wis%20Hamilton
The gaps are almost non-existent. 😉
When you look at the fastest laps, it's 30 vs 27, so they were incredibly close...
Those weird time anomalies were just him fighting through traffic and weaving around the rest of the pack...
stormybadger8 said:Not quite...
Lewis Hamilton was about 0.5 seconds faster than Sebastian Vettel once he exited the pits, he just completely fell apart once he ended up behind Max...
Honestly, Vettel definitely wouldn't have lost out to him given those pit strategies.
Before the pit stops, they were basically neck and neck—one lap Sebastian Vettel would be 0.100-0.200 ahead, then Lewis Hamilton would take it back by the same margin... essentially, they were both controlling the pace.
The only real silver lining is that Ferrari didn't lose their minds on the pit wall and try to play favorites with Lewis Hamilton...
Even when Sebastian Vettel was stuck behind a slow pack, they didn't panic and dive into the pits immediately; they played it cool. Sebastian just blasted past Lance Stroll and hit the pits the following lap once they had the window to come out ahead of Lewis Hamilton...
Kyle Edwards5 said: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."
mellowtiger83 said:So, unlike last year, did Mercedes actually mess up their strategy this time? Interesting.🙂