1. Lewis Hamilton 2. Charles Leclerc 3. Sebastian Vettel 4. Valtteri Bottas 5. Max Verstappen 6. Pierre Gasly 7. Nico Hulkenberg 8. Kevin Magnussen 9. Kimi Raikkonen 10. Daniel Ricciardo 11. Lando Norris 12. Carlos Sainz 13. Alexander Albon 14. Daniil Kvyat 15. Sergio Perez 16. Lance Stroll 17. Antonio Giovinazzi
George Russell No Points Robert Kubica No Points Romain Grosjean No Points
The first post in this thread is nothing but pure manipulation. Every single post after that is just more of the same garbage. Anyway, there's my two cents.
Look, I just reread your stuff and honestly? You clearly have way too much free time on your hands. Just a heads-up: if you’re still being this boring, I might actually file an official complaint for blatant prediction plagiarism. Then you can try defending yourself. 🙂
I’m honestly not sure how to approach this one... I used to be a huge critic of team orders. To be fair, I still think they’re unnecessary when you have a perfectly balanced lineup, or when a team isn't even fighting for the driver's title and is just focused on winning the Constructors' Championship. But look at Mercedes—they are gunning for the driver's championship, and they've got one driver who is clearly miles ahead of the other. Why would they ruin their own season just to insist on "fairness"? It’s the same deal with Red Bull Racing if they find themselves in a title fight. Ferrari is a different story though; it's complicated because Charles Leclerc is their future, and they really need to be careful not to mess with his head. For everyone else on the grid? I say let them race.
He actually called me out! First he rips off my prediction, then he has the nerve to complain when it doesn't pan out. Honestly, what higher power is going to be happy with that kind of logic? And then I just end up getting caught in the crossfire. 🤣
Since more than half the drivers (everyone from 1st to 9th place, plus those two identical retirements) ended up in the exact same spots as mine, I’ve gotta say, I'm feeling pretty good about this one. 😁
I don't think Australia is really the benchmark we should use to judge this whole season. Even if Mercedes absolutely dominates tomorrow, it doesn't mean they're going to stay untouchable. The same logic applies if they end up losing, too.
neonfox65 said:Look, no offense, but I haven't read anything stupider. So now we're implying Mercedes is going to start losing on purpose? Please. If Ferrari could have dominated, they would've done it for ten years, not just five. But rule changes stopped them.
And besides, do you even realize how massive the Mercedes budget is? Think about how much of that comes straight from sponsors and FIA prize money.
Since there isn't anyone else here who's an expert at posting garbage, I guess something about my post really rubbed you the wrong way. 😉
Let me try explaining this one more time. Everyone wants to dominate. It's human nature and it's competitive nature. No team out there wouldn't kill for a long streak of dominance. The question is what happens if this four-year run stretches into a seven-year run once the new rules hit. I’m telling you plainly: sports with massive, lopsided dominance lose their marketing juice. They get predictable, and then the fans just stop watching and move on. We've seen this happen plenty of times in Rally, Dakar, WEC, and other series—after a long period of one team ruling the roost, people just stop caring. That's why. For the Mercedes F1 project to actually stay successful, they need a strong Ferrari chasing them. And honestly, if there was a strong Red Bull or Renault in the mix too, even better. Otherwise, even they'll lose their drive. Don't even get me started on the rest of the grid.
Nicholas Newman2 said:I’ve asked this before, and I’ll ask it again. What does it matter what any individual thinks if Mercedes stays the top dog even after massive rule changes? Look, no rule change is ever completely harmless, but so far, Mercedes has handled everything they've thrown at them perfectly.
When I talk about people jumping to conclusions, I'm not talking about you—even though you definitely love to overthink things—I'm talking about the drama queens flooding the last few pages. People jump in right after the first FP-oves of the season acting like it's a crisis. First it's "should I even bother watching?" then it's "help, they're dominating," and suddenly it's "I'm done with F1 for the next two years." Honestly, it's just 🤦 nonsense.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. 🤷
The issue with long-term dominance (and trust me, Mercedes knows this all too well, which is why they're always careful to praise Ferrari) is that the marketing value eventually dries up. If they just kept steamrolling the field year after year with a car that's clearly in a different league, F1 would stop being profitable for them. Eventually, they'd either have to scale back their investment or just walk away from the sport entirely. Either way, the dominance ends.
I didn't catch where Kubica mentioned Sainz getting knocked out. If that’s actually what happened, maybe things aren't looking as bad as they seem right now.
Pila, you, Gill, and Testing must be some hardcore NASCAR fanatics then.
Hulk absolutely ate Sainz alive. If little Lando Norris pulls the same stunt on him this year, he might just cruise straight into the USA for freedom. Let’s be real, I actually like Sainz quite a bit, but unless you're playing defense like Valtteri Bottas or one of those guys who basically buys their seat with bags of cash, there’s really no room in NASCAR for anyone who can't maintain a certain level.
Just wanted to drop a quick hello to the mods while they work on setting the criteria. The season is just getting started, so now is the perfect time. 👍
New season is here. Aside from a few driver swaps, it’s basically more of the same.
Maybe the mods could run a poll on what the biggest letdown was during the first qualifying session. For me, it's definitely Sainz. He was brought into McLaren to fill Alonso's shoes, but right now he just looks like a cheap knockoff. Then again, others might think the real disappointment is how competitive Ferrari is looking against Mercedes—who is proving to be way better than everyone predicted. Or maybe it's Williams being even worse than last year, or Kubica looking like he's nowhere near ready.
Let's just hope the actual race gives us a bit more drama.