stormybadger8 said:why on earth would you think the folks over at Mercedes actually have any real inside intel on this kind of thing?🤷 I mean, we're talking about Brawn—basically the old Honda crew and their people—so I find it hard to believe the corporate suits at Mercedes were just wandering through McLaren's garage taking notes on how the KERS works.🤷
KERS belongs to Mercedes, it’s not exactly rocket science.🤷
Mercedes built the KERS system specifically to match their own engines...☕
I'm not really convinced Mercedes will see much of a payoff from this; McLaren definitely will, but for Mercedes, it feels like a stretch. If I’m reading the situation right, developing a KERS system isn't actually the hard part—it's trying to cram that tech into the car without adding massive weight, and finding space in a chassis is never as easy as it looks on paper, especially when you barely get any testing time to figure it out.
Mercedes...☕
When it comes to packaging, both McLaren and Mercedes have a bit of an edge since they were running similar setups all last season...☕
The real question is whether they’ll stick to the old blueprint or try to reinvent the wheel. If they go with the existing design, both teams basically walk away with all the data from 2009. Plus, you have to consider that Fry, the guy behind the MP4/24, moved over to Ferrari, likely carrying those KERS secrets right along with him in that gray matter of his. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a total KERS renaissance next year.🤣 🤣 ....
mistybear87 said:as far as I can tell, no; there’s nothing particularly complicated about it you just have an electric motor/generator on the shaft, some wiring going to a flywheel that also houses an electric motor/generator
it’s pretty much identical to any other KERS setup, except instead of batteries, you're dealing with a flywheel
the headache with a flywheel is that, unlike batteries, you can't just tuck them away wherever they happen to fit best🙂
It doesn't need to be some exotic foreign tech for things to get complicated😁
Anything spinning at those speeds demands incredibly precise, high-quality design and manufacturing... not to mention the safety protocols, because let's face it, they aren't building a kiddie ride at a carnival🤣🤣( though, if you look at it from another angle🤣)
I have a feeling next year is going to be absolute chaos once they start messing with the KERS 🤣🤣 (not necessarily in a good way for him or the 😁 crew), especially since Mercedes was clearly the one who mastered that system last season...
I’m still just sitting here waiting for a moment where we actually see a Williams resurgence in F1...☕
Back in Max's day, even after the race finished and you were staring down a potential penalty, you still felt obligated to show some 🤣 Otherwise, the sanctions would have been absolutely brutal 😁 Now, this guy just screams at everyone while nobody cares, and Todt acts like he can't hear a thing; honestly, the whole situation is just a joke 😂😂
It’s just like when Whiting pulled that stunt back in 2008, acting like everything was fine just to dodge a penalty after the race🤣🤣is pure insanity, and now the guys at Ferrari are actually complaining about the ruling; honestly, they've just gotten way too soft over the years under the old regime😂😂
mistybear87 said:Look, they’re pinching pennies just to grab a coffee, let alone anything else... (I'll get into why in a few posts down the line) 🤣🤣🤣🤣
There you have it, exactly what I was getting at 🤣🤣
stormybadger8 said:Go check the news sites for once; nobody besides the McLaren drivers is even making a big deal out of this drama.🤣
Everyone else seems fine with it, even Webber, but Witmarsh and his crew definitely have something to say about it.😂
There you go again, proving my point, haha.🤣 🤣It’s just more proof of my theory...
Most news outlets—aside from a few reliable sources that aren't mentioning anything except how Webber was being politically serious during the press conference—🤣 are basically nothing more than glorified toilet paper if they were printed on paper.😁
stormybadger8 said:so why even root for Ferrari if you're going to be just as insecure as they are😬
Honestly, I don't get why they feel this constant need to pick apart the Red Bull crew🤷
I mean, why should they care? If those guys end up tearing each other apart, that's on them, but the endless chatter is just exhausting😕
There he goes again, popping up out of nowhere😉
What kind of conversation is this?🤣 🤣, I ask about the weird wing setups during qualifying, and then somehow you pivot back to your own theories... It’s like if I asked what flavor of ice cream you liked, you'd somehow find a way to bring up Button and everyone else involved in the whole mess😂 😂 So much for being so complex 😉 ☕
All I can tell from reading this is that you’ve been hitting the bourbon a little too hard again, rambling about nonsense and talking out of your neck.🤣🤣
If Red Bull put even half the effort into fixing their brand identity that McLaren did when they restructured the team to give two world champions identical gear and the exact same upgrade pace, 🤣 🤣 we wouldn't be sitting here waiting for them to actually get their act together...☕
Anyway, I'm heading out for a bit. 👋 I honestly don't get why I have to walk you through the basics before every single race. 😬 😉
stormybadger8 said:It’s just more of the same, really—another day of watching the drama unfold while everyone pretends to be surprised by how things actually work behind the scenes. I remember sitting in a diner outside of Indianapolis back in the day, listening to guys talk about how much they hated the politics of the sport, and honestly, it feels like nothing has changed since then. It’s all just noise and predictable patterns.
This really just reminded me that you have to sweep your own doorstep before you start worrying about what everyone else is doing. ☕
There’s this one little thing people always forget, though—you could argue that even if someone went absolutely all out, a driver like: Whether you've got Kovalainen, Webber, Rubens, or Massa behind the wheel, it doesn't really matter. Even if the team designates one of them as the No. 1 driver or has the No. 2 guys pulling over to let them through and playing bodyguard on the track, none of them are ever going to touch a championship. They'll always find some way to mess it up themselves, and that’s just how it goes.
That's just how I see things, honestly. Lewis Hamilton's just playing the water carrier for Kovalainen again, basically nothing but a placeholder. Kimi was always just a bit of a lightweight compared to guys like Massa—nothing more than a footnote in the grand scheme of things. If that had been Button instead of Rubens, he wouldn't have stood a chance. If Mark Webber actually had a 19-point lead heading into those final two races—assuming he wasn't trailing Sebastian Vettel—Red Bull would have probably just found a way to screw them both over anyway.🤣Honestly, if he hadn't been dealing with those blackouts, he probably would have just smoked everyone and cruised through both races, making sure those two crucial points didn't slip through his fingers like they did.🤣
If Red Bull actually figured things out, I’d give them credit, but let's be real—they don't have a prayer this season. They're just too incompetent for that kind of consistency; they basically handed the championship to Jenson Button on a silver platter last year by tripping over their own feet, and I can already see them making the exact same mess of it this time around. At this point, the only real question is whether Lewis Hamilton or Fernando Alonso is going to be the one to swoop in and snatch it from under them.🤷
This season, both Vettel and Webber could realistically walk away with the title because the car is fast enough to do it, but the team is just too incompetent. They let all this internal drama play out without stepping in to fix their priorities, which is a far cry from how McLaren handles things—they’ve made it crystal clear that Hamilton is No. 1 and Button is strictly behind him. Because they can't get their act together, they’re probably going to end up walking away with absolutely nothing at the end of the day.
And where exactly did McLaren say any of that? 🤷 Look, just don't start talking nonsense, please. 🤣If anyone actually thinks there’s some kind of internal drama going on, they’re clearly missing the point—it’s just those geniuses over at Red Bull pulling a move where they strip a wing off one car just to hand it to the other driver. It isn't like they're scrambling because they're desperate; it's their car, their rules, and they'll do whatever they want with it. Just one second. Faster than anyone else on the grid.
Another thing—you nailed it in your post, and Kovalainen actually touched on that whole concept of team orders, where they decide which driver gets priority based on who’s having the better race. From what I can tell, both Red Bull drivers are sitting right on equal footing at the moment. 🤷
mistybear87 said:building even a single part for one of these cars isn't exactly a quick afternoon project...
Sure, that's true, but if the crew decides to rip a fresh front wing off Mark Webber's car right before qualifying just to slap it onto Sebastian Vettel's car—leaving him to deal with whatever scraps are left—that’s a pretty wild move 😁 , regardless of how many wings they're pumping out in the factory.... Then again, if you're actually one of the main players fighting for the championship and the team can't seem to pull enough front wings out of thin air, then things are getting...😁 What's next, begging other teams in the pits to lend them a spare part because apparently their aero budget blew up, Adrian Newey is spending like there's no tomorrow, and they have to get a little creative just to stay in the race...😂
stormybadger8 said:I honestly haven't a clue, though I suppose the whole mess stems from the fact that Webber absolutely wrecked his car, which left Red Bull Racing bone-dry on spares since everyone was too busy trying to fix that wreck to actually manufacture anything new; plus, the car Webber is running now is actually Vettel's, which was already a total disaster after what happened in Turkey, and now they've slapped on this new wing but there are just no spare parts left in the shop, and heaven forbid they even have a backup chassis ready to go.🤣
No matter how you slice it, Webber is largely responsible for this headache, and since Vettel is leading him in the championship, it’s perfectly logical—even standard practice—that the leader gets priority on any new updates if the inventory is running thin, so I really don't see what the big deal is.🤷
So Webber is stuck driving Vettel's car (you know, that finicky one that constantly breaks down, the one Lewis Hamilton and Zalonso breeze past whenever it starts acting up 😬), while what exactly is Vettel driving? 🤷 Is he in Webber's spare or something? 🤣
Since the new wing "fell off" 🤣 during practice, they ended up swapping it for Webber's old one, which meant he got the old front wing without the update, so honestly, they might as well have just flipped a coin 🤣🤣.
Look, it’s obviously not just down to pure driving talent, but I honestly can't wrap my head around how that wing just snapped off like that; it makes zero sense 🤷
I guess they can settle their little drama on the track, since that's clearly how they prefer to handle things 👍 😁
Honestly, those losers actually have a decent shot at taking first or second tomorrow 😉, though I can't help but laugh at how much Mark Webber is whining about his wings being taken away 🤷; it’s basically their whole brand, yet somehow they're the ones losing out on them 😕