Posts by graniteharbor502

crimsonstag84 said:If you take a look at 2 or 3 laps of Hamilton’s onboard during his second stint on the hard compound, things might start making a bit more sense. 🙂

By the way, he cleared Perez by half a lap, and managed to jump three drivers from 5th to 2nd in just one single lap.

I guess those four laps on the fresh hard tires are still actually slower than the mediums.

Hamilton was probably better on tires than Button for most of 2012, too.

I vividly remember both the opening and the closing races of that season, and in both instances, Button was clearly the better performer.

Drew Bennett68 said:Formula E is happening this weekend, and we're heading to Long Beach—essentially the West Coast's very own version of Monaco!
I'm fairly certain the race is scheduled for late tonight—we're looking at that first window after midnight on Sunday morning. Is anyone else keeping track of the timing, or am I just losing sleep over this?

Does anyone happen to have a link where I can watch the race?

stormybadger8 said:They’re being objective to the point of insanity...🤦
Did they use the Stars and Stripes as a napkin before scribbling these scores down?🤣

Give me a break. Rosberg actually had a better race than Hamilton...
First off, his team absolutely screwed him over with the Safety Car timing. They pulled him into the pits way earlier than Hamilton—way more chaotic traffic than what Lewis dealt with, if I recall correctly. He had to clear Massa, Ricciardo, and whoever else was in front, yet he still managed to close the gap to Hamilton just as fast, if not faster.
And more importantly, he started behind Vettel and finished right on Hamilton's tail. So he didn't lose ground from the grid, whereas Hamilton...
Plus, I honestly feel like if the race went another 3 or 4 laps, he probably would've overtaken him. Even without the pit lane disaster, I wouldn't be surprised if he caught Lewis...

As for Kimi and all the nonsense he dealt with? Not even worth discussing. Honestly, after the restart, he might have actually driven the best race out of everyone behind the Safety Car...
Sure, it makes sense that Vettel stayed ahead because his qualifying and start were miles better than Kimi's, but it wouldn't be a stretch if they'd given them the same rating...
But there is absolutely no way in hell Kimi belongs in the same group as those other 7s...

Please, don't shoot the messenger.
I am merely passing along their specific evaluations, nothing more. 🙂

Autosport’s latest driver ratings:
Rosberg 7
Hamilton 9
Sainz 8
Verstappen 9
Ricciardo 6
Kvyat 7
Grosjean 7
Maldonado 5
Massa 7
Bottas 8
Vettel 10
Raikkonen 7
Alonso 7
Button 7
Ericsson 6
Nasr 2
Perez 6
Hulkenberg 6
Merhi 5

stormybadger8 said:http://www1.skysports.com/watch/vide...eport-malaysia

21... So, did Watson really just call Horner an idiot out loud on live TV? 🤷🤣

He uses the phrase "is not clever," yet I find myself wondering if you might try to draw a slightly more definitive conclusion from that, wouldn't you?

Drew Bennett68 said:Honestly, if you ask me, Ferrari really needs to find a way to force Mercedes into burning through their tires during qualifying. If they can goad them into shredding those rubber sets now, it might just give us a much better shot at things come race day—at least, that’s how I’m reading the whole situation.

That is certainly my own impression of the situation as well.

stormybadger8 said:I'm not buying this idea that Merhi had anything to do with Kimi being stuck behind him. 🤷
Just click the link and look at the data. 😉
Merhi was actually a headache for Jenson Button, who couldn't even get past him before the restart (lap 6), so he was just stuck right on his tail and wiped him out immediately when they went again. Pretty sure Button said something to that effect too. 🤔
Meanwhile, Kimi needed an entire extra lap just to reach Merhi. 😉
At the restart, he was 5 seconds back, so Kimi was actually trailing more than Merhi was.

Kimi's issue wasn't getting blocked; it was just that his pit stop timing meant he couldn't catch the back of the pack in time. Just compare Kimi's times under the SC to everyone else's and you'll see. 😁

If Merhi was really the bottleneck, how do you explain this?
Lap 5: Merhi 2:24.906, Kimi 1:49.747
Lap 6 (restart at end of lap): Merhi 2:23.195, Kimi 1:57.757... Kimi was about 5.7 seconds behind Merhi at the end of that lap. 🤔
Lap 7: Merhi 1:52.666, Kimi 1:46.534—Kimi's already 0.400 ahead of Merhi...

It appears Kimi was indeed being held up while attempting to close the gap to the field behind the Safety Car. In fact, during the live broadcast, he even went as far as to ask his race engineer whether he was permitted to overtake a car that was essentially crawling along the track. Furthermore, following the conclusion of the race, he explicitly stated that he had been stuck behind a Sauber while under the Safety Car:
http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-..._Malaysia.html

By the way, lest I forget to mention it, I would rate today's race an 8/10.

It might perhaps be a bit premature to say so, but I find myself expecting truly monumental things from young Max Verstappen.
Is it not true that Kimi Räikkönen acts as a sort of magnetic force for rookies and their inevitable mistakes? 👎

It is quite unfortunate that we were only granted three laps, as it simply wasn't enough time to reach any definitive conclusions, yet even within those brief initial three laps, it was clear that Lewis couldn't manage to pull away from Sebastian Vettel.

Amanda Kelly said:Car + driver + pit wall = Success.

At Mercedes, neither the driver nor the pit crew really mattered last year.
Now, we've finally reached the point where all three have to actually sweat and sync up if they want to win a race.
At least, that's how it looks to me after this turning point of a race (because it really is one).
After Malaysia 2015, things look drastically different than they did before.

As for what happens next? Who knows. We'll just have to wait and see.

Amanda Kelly in the center 👍

Gentlemen, let us extend our utmost respect and give it up for Sebastian 🙏
for he is now just one victory away from matching the legendary legacy of Senna 👍shall we not celebrate this monumental achievement?

Honestly, Rosberg’s behavior was absolutely disgraceful. What business does he have occupying space on the track if he has already decided to abandon his lap? A penalty would be entirely justified in this situation, wouldn't it?

steelmaker83 said:Sebastian will sort this out...

I truly hope you're mistaken on this one.

steelmaker83 said:Is it Kimi Räikkönen's front end failing him again, or is it just the crew?

It’s the team. Instead of putting him right at the front of the pack like they did with Vettel, wouldn't it have been better?

Sebastian Vettel was absolutely brilliant today. It truly is a shame he didn't manage to secure pole position; however, if the clouds break and we see some rain tomorrow, who knows? He might just have a real shot at taking the win.

darkmarlin16 said:but what about the Mercedes crew?

Well, I suppose we shall simply have to wait and see, won't we? It is entirely possible that I might decide to withdraw my support, or perhaps one of them will just suffer through a particularly lackluster race, wouldn't you agree?

darkmarlin16 said:Do you seriously believe he can actually outdrive Vettel?

Not necessarily, though; if Vettel manages to finish ahead of him on the podium, then I suppose the argument is settled, isn't it?

Jack Kelly5 said:I wouldn't say he got played, I mean, he basically pulled off a miracle finishing 18th while running on like 15% capacity... it was actually pretty wild how he managed to outmaneuver Manore like that.
🙏

quite possibly the finest driver we've seen today 🙂
but seriously😂

nimblesurfer17 said:Seriously, how much of a tactically inept mess does a strategist have to be to not send Kimi out five minutes before Q2 starts just to grab a better spot on the grid? 🙏 🙏 🙏

And you know perfectly well he’s only got one shot at it. 🙏 🙏
But no—you somehow manage to slot him right behind the Sauber. 🙏 🙏

I mean, I can live with a messy qualifying session, provided they don't absolutely ruin the race strategy later on. If the track stays dry tomorrow, Kimi is definitely going to be fighting for a podium.

It appears Alonso has been quite thoroughly outmaneuvered, wouldn't you agree? :check: