Posts by Amanda Kelly

Honestly, man, you’re just killing it with the productivity.
Take my hat off to you for hitting 9,000 posts. 🙏

I see how it is—it’s tough going up against the combined might of the McLaren crew. They're a force to be reckoned with.

It’s about time someone snapped Red Bull's qualifying streak,
so congrats to McLaren and their fans on pulling this off!
That said, Lewis Hamilton got exactly what he was aiming for, and we'll just have to wait until tomorrow to see if it actually matters when the race starts.

Michael Lee4 said:... and then maybe someone better than McLaren wins.

There aren't even many high-speed corners here. McLaren might actually have the edge.

Frank Collins85 said:Alright, so now you want me to channel all that inspiration and give you my take on the '90s too?

silvercobra68 is feeling especially inspired on a Monday morning (if you want to use the terminology some people here prefer). 👍
Don't go rushing him. You can't have fancy whipped cream every single day.

silvercobra68 said:Here we go again. The usual crowd is all worked up over nothing. What is it this time? Did someone lose their footing down south or something?🤣😠

To silvercobra68! 👍 I appreciate that level of clarity.

stormybadger8 said:Yeah, I agree, Jenson Button has a shot. With a Red Bull, he’d be consistently picking up points, grabbing third, fourth, or fifth places, and maybe even snagging a win here and there if the competition messes up. He might even end up with a title. He’s probably one of the most consistent drivers out there. Sure, he won't win every week unless the car is in a league of its own, but he'll always be scoring. It's rare to see him outside the top ten or dropping out of a race. He's the perfect number two, but also pretty dangerous for a lead driver. If someone drives like Lewis Hamilton and keeps making silly mistakes, Button will be right there to exploit it.👍

I'd say he's sitting right on that line between the elite tier and the rest of the pack. He just waits for the guys at the top to trip up, and then he strikes.

There's a lot of philosophy and guesswork going on here.
How can you lump a guy into that specific category and still think he actually has a shot at being champion? Of course anyone has a chance, but how much of one?

stormybadger8 said:Yeah, I agree, Jenson Button has a shot. With a Red Bull, he’d be consistently picking up points, grabbing third, fourth, or fifth places, and maybe even snagging a win here and there if the competition messes up. He might even end up with a title,he's definitely maybe the most consistent driver,not that he'll win constantly unless the car is a class above everyone else,but he'll grab points regularly and it's hard to find him outside the top 10 or seeing him retire,perfect as a number two driver...

Fernando Alonso is the most consistent. Besides, in a boring race with inferior equipment, he'd beat Button any day.

stormyviper11 said:... That doesn't mean I think he'll actually defend the title, but if the rest of the pack keeps tripping over themselves and knocking each other out, he could potentially coast his way to it just by being consistent.

Not gonna happen. There are way more sharks in the water this season. Last year, he basically only had to worry about Red Bull Racing.
Now you've got Alonso in the mix (and Hamilton too, obviously).

It’s totally unfair to blame Sebastian Vettel for losing out to Mark Webber in Barcelona.
Webber was on another level—just untouchable. He didn't just win a race; he owned the entire weekend.
Props to him, but let's not get carried away and generalize. If he pulls this off again in the next three, four, or five races, then maybe I'll reconsider how his pace stacks up against Sebastian Vettel.

Speaking of Red Bull Racing in Barcelona, it’s honestly sad—and pretty telling—that everyone is obsessing over Sebastian Vettel’s "defeat" (if you even want to call it that) instead of talking about Mark Webber’s flawless drive and victory.
I'm telling you, it's unfair to both Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

silvercobra68 said:Sebastian Vettel: Pros and Cons

Alright, it’s been about three seasons since Sebastian Vettel joined the Formula 1 grid, so there’s enough data now to actually form an opinion.

1) When he's stuck in a subpar car, he handles it incredibly well and squeezes out every ounce of performance. That much is certain. But when he gets a dominant machine? He just can't find his rhythm. In that regard, he reminds me of Giancarlo Fisichella. Think back to those Italian drives in inferior cars at Spa 1997, Spa 2009, Interlagos 1999, or Interlagos 2003—absolutely brilliant stuff. Yet, in a dominant car at those same tracks, he wasn't nearly as impressive—take Spa 2005 or Interlagos 2006, for instance. So it isn't a track issue, and it definitely isn't the car, because let's be real, that 2006 Renault was lightyears ahead of the 1999 Benetton.

2) He started losing ground to some shady Australian veteran. On paper, the guy was born in '74, but there’s evidence he was actually born in '69 and the documents were doctored so he could hang around the junior categories longer. The FIA knows, but they've decided to look the other way. Honestly, even FIFA looked the other way for Cirota. They know what's up, and besides, it doesn't really hurt anyone. Well, except maybe Fetlu—but in a different way. If he were officially 41, losing to a driver like that would feel even more bitter.

3) On track, he loses head-to-head battles against more aggressive drivers in inferior cars (like how Lewis Hamilton passed him in Barcelona), which is a trait you see in drivers like Jarno Trulli, Timo Glock, or Heikki Kovalainen. Hmmmmm.

4) When he needs to overtake a slower car in front of him, he lacks the grit and just gives up on the move (Bahrain 2009, Barcelona 2009).

The verdict? Sebastian Vettel sits somewhere around Nico Rosberg (who was more or less on par with Mark Webber during their Williams days)—a solid driver, certainly. A future champion? Hard to say.

Anyway, discuss.

Biased. Basically, poorly constructed.
You're just cherry-picking the details that fit your narrative or satisfy your subconscious bias.

There's too much noise here, so I'll just pull out one specific point: "On track, he loses head-to-head battles against more aggressive drivers in inferior cars..."
It makes it sound like it happens constantly, rather than just once. When that same aggressive driver's chaotic pit lane maneuver was rejected last time, people attacked him for being a safety risk. Then the pressure shifts onto him instead of the other way around.

And the reason for opening this thread is ridiculous. Momčić dominates everyone for four races, cleans up in qualifying, and after a single race where he qualifies second (second, mind you, not eighth) and pulls one move during the race, you come here to dissect him. How interesting.

And you—if you're going to be consistent with your takes, why aren't you still writing panegyrics about how the current champion drove his race?
I predicted he wouldn't even crack the top five, and man, did I get that wrong. Meanwhile, the rest of you were too scared he might finish 8th to even bother making a prediction.

Michael Lee4 said:So, you're saying it's better to crash out than stay in the race and wait for a real opening?

If I'm being honest, maybe it actually is. (And not just for the sake of the competition 😁)

Lewis Hamilton went in without any hesitation, and the other guy just let him through. It’s like he gave him the green light to set a precedent for next time.

The real question is what the constant factor is here.
If you know certain drivers will never back down—always pushing hard and expecting everyone else to yield—then showing some teeth is probably the smarter move, regardless of the cost. Purely strategic, if you think about the long game.

Both Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel played it safe in that first turn.

wiredtiger8 said:And yeah, Button had to get past Schumacher. It didn't matter how the track was laid out; he had a car that was a full second faster, even if Schumacher was pulling an extra 10 km/h on the straights... and still, nothing happened.

It wasn't enough. He needed another 200 or 300 meters of straightaway before the finish line.

Rough day for McLaren. Really rough.
In a season like this, where we've seen four different winners in five races, plenty of people (including us) are feeling pretty lucky just to get this much generosity.
Lewis has already been paying the price for other people's mistakes; he’s going to need a serious amount of composure to sit through this one without losing his cool.

Mark Webber drove a flawless race. I don't know what the secret is, but there's definitely a reason for it. Indianapolis Motor Speedway really suited him.

Jaime Alguersuari 👍.

Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber both had subpar starts compared to their rivals. They only got lucky because they were right near that first turn and everyone else was playing it safe.

Michael Schumacher was averaging a full second per lap slower than the winner!

Keith Rodriguez27 said:Not only are Red Bull's convincingly faster than everyone else on track (during qualifying), but what makes it worse is that their massive gap isn't just because the rest of the field is mediocre or bad. Luckily, Formula 1 is decided by races, not just qualifying sessions. And of course, assuming Red Bull's "lucky" unreliability during races (for whatever reason) is the only thing that might actually keep this season uncertain after 10-15 rounds. Besides, since Red Bull's race pace doesn't quite match their qualifying pace, I don't think we'll see dominance like Brawn's last year, mainly due to a "weaker" driver lineup compared to Brawn's. To me, Sebastian Vettel is still too inexperienced and prone to mistakes compared to other elite drivers. Plus, Mark Webber isn't exactly top-tier either.

Basically, it feels like compared to Brawn's dominance this time last year, there's a better chance Red Bull will blow their speed advantage during the race, allowing one of the other title contenders to capitalize. But for now, Vettel and Webber look like the clear favorites to win, provided it doesn't rain (or some other weather nonsense happens).

Yeah, this post is basically a summary of everything I've written before. Please, God, let it rain or let the Red Bull cars break down. Let them show some mercy to the others. It's pathetic.
I'm sick of it.
As far as I'm concerned, I don't care about how "exciting" the championship is. I like seeing the strongest and the best win.
So, I'd actually prefer if Red Bull just crushed everyone in their path (since Ferrari isn't even in the hunt right now) and took the championship the way Michael Schumacher did in 2002 or 2004.

If they are this brutally powerful (like they were today in qualifying), they should be winning the race by at least half a minute.
That's the only outcome that would give me any reason to compare them to Ferrari in the early 2000s (or McLaren from a decade ago).

Bottom line: I'm expecting an execution. Anything less would leave me feeling a little disappointed.

mistybear87 said:every single Ferrari should probably be modified
If I'm reading this right, they aren't swapping out the whole engine block—just some valves or whatever part of the valve train is acting up...

👍
I'm holding out hope for Torro Rosso to grab some points.

Arthur Doyle70 said:I don't get it. General Motors has been begging NASCAR to let them tweak their engine for two years straight, yet it only took Ferrari fifteen minutes to get the green light for the exact same thing. 🤣🤣 Honestly, it’s funny how the Sicilian mafia always seemed to have things figured out...😂

😂
You don't mess with Don Vito Corleone and his crew. 🙏🙏🙏
The folks from the South always look out for their own up North. It’s one big, messy family.

rustystag7 said:+my girlfriend is in Los Angeles right now, and she mentioned hearing some rumor that tomorrow's free practice might be free to watch...

I actually bugged her to pick up some stuff from Target since she's already out there, figured she could kill two birds with one stone...

I don't think there's any such thing as free entry.
But even if you have to pay, the merch stands are right in front of the stadium anyway. Besides, the engines are loud enough that you can hear them from a mile away, if that’s any consolation.

mistybear87 said:Ferrari got the green light to change their engine specs to help with reliability (so they should actually have reliable engines this weekend)
Ferrari is going to run the full version of their f-duct system this weekend...

Oh great, thank God we might finally see an extra 15 or 20 horsepower. 🙏
And don't even get me started on the reliability issues.

Any word on whether the new spec engines are going into the Toro Rosso or Sauber cars too?

Are we actually looking at a win in Barcelona? I promised myself I'd grab a drink if we did. "The FIA really did us a favor so we could have Alonso acting as a marshal..." 😂

Joshua Newman2 said:No luck with the rain... Red Bull will probably just show everyone else how much better they are.
If it stays dry, qualifying might actually be the highlight of this whole weekend.

A lot of teams are showing up with upgrades.
They'll test them out on Friday, and then we can see if anything actually worked during Saturday's qualifying.
I wouldn't be surprised if we see some pretty dramatic shifts in the standings.

Joshua Newman2 said:If it rains, expect Vettel and Hamilton to spend their Friday press conferences complaining about bad strategy, shitty weather forecasts, and untimely safety cars. Alonso will probably join the club too. 😁

Meanwhile, Kubica and Rosberg will be on Friday acting like they’ve got all the luck in the world regarding those exact same things. Probably Button, too. 😁

Yeah, right. It’s not like every day is Christmas.

And then suddenly Vettel becomes arrogant, a bad guy?