Posts by Jack Kelly5

Thanks so much, guys!
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Anyone happen to know a decent stream for the upcoming games?

Poor Mladen is stepping on the gas and taking over FOM from the Americans...

Linda Peterson43 said:Regarding point number one, Vettel is the one at fault. It isn't because he intended to leave space for Kimi, but rather because Max found himself in that position by rushing to get ahead of his teammate at any cost... he had half the track to choose his line... 🙂

Edit: The real issue within Ferrari is what happens if Kimi starts consistently beating his own teammate; I mean, why on earth did they even bring Vettel along then... 🙂 that explains those overly cautious, lukewarm statements regarding their collision...🙂
It was the same in China, and honestly, it still is... both times, Vettel was the one to blame... (Tibi, don't even bother replying to this 🙂 )

As for everything else, Max does things he simply shouldn't—changing his line during braking, driving way too aggressively and dangerously... it feels like watching a teenager playing on a PlayStation, thinking if he "dies," he can just hit reset and try again... he really should have been penalized, but hey, it's Heineken, so I guess that's just how it goes... 🙂

I mean, I'm totally with you on that first corner—it was 100% a Vettel mistake, no question there. But honestly, the way Max tried to dive into those turns was... well, maybe a little bit overoptimistic, if you ask me.

Look, I’ll give Mladen his due—he definitely knows his stuff more than I do—but there are just a few things about Spa that aren't sitting right with me.
1. Max dove into that first corner just desperate to reclaim his spot, which is fine, I guess, but he drove it like there wasn't a single soul in front of him. He took a line that basically guaranteed he'd have a disastrous exit from the turn and probably end up flying completely off the track. somewhere around 55 sec
2. Then, during that first overtake attempt, Kimi was holding the line, Max braked way too late and ended up with all four wheels off the track, and somehow he's the one who has to give the position back?!
3. On the next attempt, he was using DRS to defend the inside line, which is alright, I suppose, but trying to compare that move to how drivers used to handle things back in the days before the DRS system existed is just wild. At the moment of the pass, the driver behind has an open DRS, which combined with the slipstream gives them a massive speed advantage over the guy in front, so waiting until the last second to react defensively is basically playing Russian roulette for whoever is trailing behind.

Honestly, the FIA and their stewards are just a mess. I actually find myself rooting for young Max and I think he's a stellar driver, but then why on earth are they penalizing other drivers for reacting in the exact same or even similar ways?

coastalwolf6 said:The man who lives for the race...

“Five or six years ago, while Mladen and I were running Formula 1, I sat down for a major interview with Bernie Ecclestone at the Esplanade. Out of pure politeness, I mentioned
– 'Mladen sends his regards.'
Bernie just stared at me, confused
– 'Mladen?'
– 'Jergović, he used to work for you.'
– 'Oh, that Mladen. What is that clown up to these days?'
– 'He’s with us now, on TV, acting as a special Formula 1 analyst.'
– 'An F1 analyst??? You guys must be getting desperate.'

He just waved me off and muttered, 'It's always nothing but trouble with Mladen.'

🤣

Not that I’m one to judge or anything, but if you look at this whole exchange through the lens of that dry British humor Bernie is supposedly full of, you might actually find that Bernie knows Mladen pretty well. I kind of fear that by trying to discredit Jergović, Blažičko might have just ended up shooting himself in the foot, I guess.

stormybadger8 said:Why 🤷
I mean, it’s not like he had zero chance, right? He was leading on the intermediates and Ferrari clearly had the pace...
If he’d actually managed to shake off Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg, and those other slowpokes, I guess he would've been right on Lewis Hamilton's tail and even ahead of Ricc once he finally exited the pits on fresh intermediates.
Just look at how fast Ricc—who wasn't held up by Massa—was closing in on Hamilton when he was on those fresh intermediates...
http://en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?p...el Ricciardo

All this "if this, if that" stuff... we're talking about Monaco, where racing means someone who's two seconds faster per lap can't even pass the guy in front of them. Honestly, I think Sebastian Vettel's chances of winning basically evaporated on Saturday around 3:20 PM... maybe like 99% of them did.

stormybadger8 said:From what I can gather, it’s not just that he blew his chance at third place, but maybe he even threw away a real shot at actually winning the whole thing.🤔

You really have the potential to outdo yourself.
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jadeseal7 said:Today was just a perfect example of that. He didn't have any issues with the car at all, really.

Well, I guess Toto Wolff isn't buying that, though. He’s out there saying Nico had an incredible pace, even with that obvious mechanical glitch messing things up.
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Come on, guys, let’s not act like kids here. It feels like Nico Rosberg is just destined to deal with "mechanical failures" and some questionable strategic calls for the rest of the season. I mean, unless someone actually manages to be faster than the Justin Bieber of racing, I guess we already know how this plays out.
🙂

Richard Ross11 said:Anyway, Lewis Hamilton just sliced right through that chicane and nobody even blinked...🙂
If this had happened during qualifying, they probably wouldn't have even bothered checking his time...

In the US, an official would've slapped him with a stop-and-go penalty, tacked on ten seconds for the next race, and thrown a massive hundred-thousand dollar fine at him too.
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Justin Bieber and Lewis, basically BFFs now
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Sergio Perez, absolute man of the match
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Charles Lewis2 said:Hey
Been gone for a while. Seems like time just stands still in this place, like we're stuck in some waiting room.
Just one thing. Kimi. He’s sitting at second in the standings right now. Last season he finished fourth, right behind two McLarens—totally expected, nothing anyone could really do about it—and ahead of Vettel. Where did he fail? If we're playing that game, Vettel actually had the worse run. Okay, if the excuse is "he's too old" or whatever, then what's the standard today? Are we judging strictly by the final standings? He’s second now, but when he was fifth, a bunch of self-proclaimed experts were trying to kick him out of NASCAR. Now there are plenty of guys behind him, but nobody mentions them.
Is it just about the total points? When he had fewer points, he was called a fraud, a washed-up drunk, or totally dominated. Why isn't anyone bringing that up now?
Or is it just that second-place finish from the last race? Some people get treated like rookies even when they pull off a brilliant 6th or 7th.
Everyone else seems to have an excuse, and they don't get roasted nearly as hard for mediocre results. It's funny how everyone's quiet all of a sudden.
And let's be real, everything just fell into place for Max today. I'm not taking away his win, but that's just how it went down. I won't pretend the media would be writing the same headlines if Kimi had won like that.
That's it. Someone had to say it.

Kimi is a phenomenon. Honestly, driving at this level at his age is pretty impressive. If he were ten years younger, I guess even Sebastian Vettel or anyone else would have looked like Juan Pablo Montoya in a McLaren driving this Ferrari.

ruggedhawk20 said:A loser!?

That's interesting. I guess when Ayrton Senna rams into Alain Prost, he isn't some kind of loser.

Or when Sebastian Vettel crashes into Mark Webber, that’s just fine too.

But the second the most exciting driver on the grid today hits his own teammate—then suddenly, he's a loser.

Real great. If we followed your logic, we'd have about 22 Jenson Buttons on the starting grid.

But wait a sec. Even Jenson Button almost took out Sergio Perez once, right? No, he didn't. He just came close. So, I guess he's not a loser either.

Nothing surprising here, you basically just hit the nail on the head regarding soccer; those comparisons don't really hold water, I suppose. For young Max to even be mentioned in the same breath as those guys, he'll probably need to eat a whole lot more cornmeal first.
We've seen plenty of bigger talents mess up in Formula 1 before.

rowdyrider12 said:The pit crew absolutely blew it for Verstappen... they totally forgot the tires, or maybe someone just can't count to four...
If they’d actually nailed that pit stop, I guess Sainz might have had a chance to fly past, maybe picking off Palmer within half a lap, and then who knows, maybe even Bottas too..
But honestly, at this rate, they're lucky to scrape even a single point..

Hold on. Honestly, you'd have to be a total loser to blame his teammate for this. It's definitely not Sainz's fault the pit stop was such a mess.

Jerry Moore61 said:...we're all just getting worked up over here ...

🤣

I mean, honestly, maybe it's just my take, but I think Fernando Alonso might actually be the most overrated driver to ever step foot in Formula 1.

Haas
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Felipe Massa still managed to snag fifth, I guess
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it probably would've been even better if Jevon Palmer had actually grabbed a point instead of that pathetic showing from Max Verstappen...

it’s kind of like if the second Prophet mare had actually held her ground, but I guess they just decided to shift things up a bit instead...
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It wasn't even just about McLaren being faster, I mean, they were practically flying out there.
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Jerry Moore61 said:That’s all well and good, I guess, but the real issue is that nothing actually seems to be getting better. If we don't see some pretty radical rule changes soon, Mercedes-Benz is just going to keep dominating forever.

I mean, if you look at it from this angle...

Mercedes basically got a massive head start compared to everyone else. They spent three whole years developing and testing while nobody else was even close. Then, once the rules changed, no one else was allowed to develop anything for two full seasons. So, when you do the math, Mercedes is effectively five years ahead of the rest of the field.

I remember how McLaren was dominant back in the late 80s and early 90s, but they were only truly untouchable for maybe one season at that level.

And sure, Red Bull took four titles in a row, but those weren't exactly easy wins. Red Bull never had a situation where they were pulling a 1.5-second advantage per lap. That’s because the regulations actually let other teams develop their cars enough to catch up to Red Bull.

But since 2014, development has been basically frozen. I mean, honestly, it’s kind of hard to expect anyone to actually catch or pass Mercedes at this point. And then you have these weird qualifying formats being floated around. This current setup just plays right into Mercedes' hands. You get down to five minutes left in Q3, there are only three cars on track, and suddenly there’s all this empty space on the circuit to set an ultra-fast lap.

It’s probably why Mercedes asked to be placed in the last garage in the pits, just so they could be the first ones out of the pit box.

Don't get me wrong, I love motorsports; I've been following Formula 1 for as long as I can remember. I’ve actually made it to over 50 races in the last decade or so, mostly thanks to my brother who’s been deep into F1 for 15 years now.

I don't really root for any specific team, but I think most people—myself included—would love to see a bit more actual competition. It doesn't mean we need twenty different winners in twenty different races, but what we have right now is just a disaster for those of us watching.

Though, if I'm looking at it from a family standpoint, I probably should be rooting for Mercedes. But I’d rather root for Formula 1 to actually feel like racing again, though I highly doubt that’s happening anytime soon. Maybe one day, when someone else finally takes over the whole machine and Bernie Ecclestone finally moves on.

But yeah, I'm afraid we might be waiting a long time.

Bernie Ecclestone’s freedom comes at a price. And it costs even more if things were compromised about ten years ago over in Germany.
So, if the idea is that Formula 1 equals Bernie Ecclestone, and there are hidden variables involving millions of dollars and German business interests, you eventually realize the wolf is well-fed while the sheep are just being counted.
Let's just relax and try to enjoy the uncertainty of this new season.
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