Posts by gentlecobra23

redheron12 said:Dennis is the founder and chairman of the entire McLaren group. He owns 25% of the shares. Between him and Ojjeh, they hold 50% plus one extra share. The rest is owned by the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa ali Khalifa. On top of that, Dennis is currently in the middle of buying out 25% from the King and another 12.5% from Ojjeh 😬

So, there isn't even a theoretical chance of anyone ousting Dennis...

Which just means Lewis Hamilton has absolutely nothing left to gain at McLaren, not even a consolation prize. 😒

I'm with you on this. I find it impossible to believe Dennis would swallow his pride and call Lewis Hamilton back. He already took the hit once because of him, and I truly don't believe he'd let himself be burned twice...
And given that reality, it looks like there really is nowhere left for Lewis Hamilton in F1...

William Bennett53 said:I read somewhere that Ron is out and Berger is stepping in. Maybe that’s why things finally started clicking. If someone is already on their way out, they lose that typical influence...

I used to think the same thing—that once you're a lame duck, you lose your grip compared to whoever is coming in next. Turns out I was wrong. Even when people are replaced, they still pull all the strings because they basically run the whole show regardless of their official title.
So, I’m not buying this narrative that Ron is leaving on good terms and handing Lewis Hamilton a golden ticket back to the very team he practically built from scratch.
I mean, Lewis Hamilton will probably end up at McLaren if there aren't any other options left, but even that seems a bit hard to swallow...

graniteharbor502 said:I was reading the latest issue of USA and saw that Lewis Hamilton approached Mercedes wanting a swap with Lewis Hamilton—basically trying to move him to Ferrari and taking his seat at Mercedes instead—but they turned him down. They’re happy with their current lineup and aren't looking to shake things up. Once word got back to Ferrari, they decided Lewis Hamilton just wasn't 100% committed to the team anymore, so they opted to cut ties and sign Sebastian Vettel, who they've had their eye on for a while now.
Just another thing... Vettel is bringing some guys over from Red Bull with him. Might actually give Ferrari some much-needed muscle...

It’s still hard for me to wrap my head around the idea of Ron swallowing his pride just to hire Lewis Hamilton again. I honestly can't see it happening. The idea of an ego that massive bowing down to satisfy another massive ego... 🤷🤷

stormybadger8 said:Not even close to this...
Honestly, he didn't even look this depressed when his father passed away...
Something clearly went down at McLaren, and he almost certainly lost his seat for 2015...

I just hope the folks over at McLaren aren't crazy enough to swap Sebastian Vettel for Lewis Hamilton. Mario Andretti, I think if McLaren doesn't land either Lewis Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel, they should probably just stick with their current lineup...

rowdyrider12 said:Post-race interview: Will Buxton asks him if he’ll be sitting in a car with a Mercedes engine next year, and his answer is a hard no...

So he’s headed to Caterham then...😁

Yeah, you guys are just sitting there waiting on the winners of these two matchups, basically hitting pause on the whole round.

Results from Russia



Overall standings



Congrats to pink and TBF for taking the top spot in their group. Also, congrats to everyone else who managed to move on... Thanks to everyone who took part in this stage of the competition. Better luck next time for those who didn't make it... 😁

pink and stormybadger8 win their groups and head straight to the semifinals

Moving forward into head-to-head matchups

swifttiger75 vs. Terry Carter2

coastaldrifter6 vs. brighthound8

Guys, please get your predictions in on time so we can actually finish this 2014 tournament properly... It would be nice if the winner isn't just the only person who bothered to send in a prediction...

brighthound8 26
1 Lewis Hamilton 5 1
2 Nico Rosberg 5 1
3 Daniel Ricciardo 1
4 Valtteri Bottas 3 1
5 Felipe Massa
6 Fernando Alonso 2 1
7 Sebastian Vettel
8 Jenson Button 1
9 Jean-Éric Vergne 3 1
10 Kevin Magnussen 1

swifttiger75 34
1 Lewis Hamilton 5 1
2 Nico Rosberg 5 1
3 Valtteri Bottas 5 1
4 Felipe Massa
5 Sebastian Vettel
6 Daniel Ricciardo 3 1
7 Fernando Alonso 3 1
8 Jenson Button
9 Kimi Räikkönen 5 1
10 Kevin Magnussen 1

pink 40
1 Lewis Hamilton 5 1
2 Nico Rosberg 5 1
3 Valtteri Bottas 5 1
4 Felipe Massa
5 Kevin Magnussen 3 1
6 Daniel Ricciardo 3 1
7 Jenson Button 1 1
8 Fernando Alonso 5 1
9 Kimi Räikkönen 5 1
10 Sebastian Vettel

William Bennett53 26
1 Lewis Hamilton 5 1
2 Nico Rosberg 5 1
3 Daniel Ricciardo 1
4 Kevin Magnussen 2 1
5 Sebastian Vettel
6 Fernando Alonso 2 1
7 Jenson Button 1 1
8 Kimi Räikkönen 3 1
9 Nico Hülkenberg
10 Daniil Kvyat 1

briskhound76 27
1 Lewis Hamilton 5 1
2 Nico Rosberg 5 1
3 Sebastian Vettel
4 Fernando Alonso 1
5 Daniel Ricciardo 2 1
6 Valtteri Bottas 1 1
7 Kevin Magnussen 3 1
8 Kimi Räikkönen 3 1
9 Felipe Massa
10 Jenson Button 1

Jamie Hall 25
1 Lewis Hamilton 5 1
2 Nico Rosberg 5 1
3 Sebastian Vettel
4 Daniel Ricciardo 1 1
5 Valtteri Bottas 2 1
6 Fernando Alonso 2 1
7 Kimi Räikkönen 2 1
8 Felipe Massa
9 Jenson Button 1
10 Daniil Kvyat 1

Clark 33
1 Lewis Hamilton 5 1
2 Nico Rosberg 5 1
3 Valtteri Bottas 5 1
4 Felipe Massa
5 Jenson Button 3 1
6 Fernando Alonso 2 1
7 Kevin Magnussen 3 1
8 Sebastian Vettel
9 Daniel Ricciardo 2 1
10 Daniil Kvyat 1

gentlecobra23 33
1 Lewis Hamilton 5 1
2 Nico Rosberg 5 1
3 Valtteri Bottas 5 1
4 Felipe Massa
5 Fernando Alonso 1 1
6 Sebastian Vettel
7 Daniel Ricciardo 5 1
8 Jenson Button 1
9 Kevin Magnussen 1 1
10 Kimi Räikkönen 3 1

coastaldrifter6 34
1 Nico Rosberg 3 1
2 Lewis Hamilton 3 1
3 Valtteri Bottas 5 1
4 Jenson Button 5 1
5 Sebastian Vettel
6 Felipe Massa
7 Fernando Alonso 3 1
8 Kevin Magnussen 2 1
9 Daniel Ricciardo 2 1
10 Kimi Räikkönen 3 1

Terry Carter2 38
1 Lewis Hamilton 5 1
2 Nico Rosberg 5 1
3 Kevin Magnussen 1 1
4 Jenson Button 5 1
5 Valtteri Bottas 2 1
6 Felipe Massa
7 Daniel Ricciardo 5 1
8 Sebastian Vettel
9 Kimi Räikkönen 5 1
10 Fernando Alonso 2 1

fortinbras 33
1 Nico Rosberg 3 1
2 Lewis Hamilton 3 1
3 Valtteri Bottas 5 1
4 Felipe Massa
5 Kevin Magnussen 3 1
6 Jenson Button 2 1
7 Fernando Alonso 3 1
8 Sebastian Vettel
9 Kimi Räikkönen 5 1
10 Daniel Ricciardo 1 1

stormybadger8 42
1 Nico Rosberg 3 1
2 Lewis Hamilton 3 1
3 Valtteri Bottas 5 1
4 Jenson Button 5 1
5 Sebastian Vettel
6 Kevin Magnussen 5 1
7 Daniel Ricciardo 5 1
8 Fernando Alonso 5 1
9 Felipe Massa
10 Kimi Räikkönen 3 1

shadowhawk24 36
1 Lewis Hamilton 5 1
2 Nico Rosberg 5 1
3 Kevin Magnussen 1 1
4 Jenson Button 5 1
5 Fernando Alonso 1 1
6 Felipe Massa
7 Daniel Ricciardo 5 1
8 Valtteri Bottas 1
9 Kimi Räikkönen 5 1
10 Daniil Kvyat 1

Results should be out within thirty minutes to an hour after qualifying ends...

Edward Howard2 said:that Lewis really needs to shut his mouth and learn when to back off once in a while...
some people here are out to blame Charlie, but honestly, Lewis is more to blame than Charlie for how things went down at Watkins Glen...
we all know Charlie. He cares about driver safety. He’ll throw a Safety Car on the track for any tiny debris or just a few drops of rain...
but what happened today... we saw the real Charlie at the start, driving under the Safety Car, and then Lewis starts leaning on him. He pressured him repeatedly to keep the Safety Car out, doing it so subtly that the whole world was basically laughing at Charlie because of Lewis's comments... and it led to this. Even with Sutil's accident and that heavy rain toward the end, Charlie didn't deploy the Safety Car. It feels like Lewis got in his head. He was probably thinking... look, Lewis has a massive lead, and if I call the Safety Car now, he's just going to tear into me over the radio again...
obviously, Charlie isn't going to say that publicly, but the Safety Car stayed in the pits because of Lewis...

When it comes to the Safety Car and driver safety, Lewis should just stay quiet and let the officials do their jobs without being pressured...

Spot on.

Now you see people acting like Charlie is weak or incompetent, but he’s actually got the hardest job in the sport—trying to manage people and deal with everyone's constant demands and requests...

1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Nico Rosberg
3. Valtteri Bottas
4. Felipe Massa
5. Fernando Alonso
6. Sebastian Vettel
7. Daniel Ricciardo
8. Jenson Button
9. Kevin Magnussen
10. Kimi Raikkonen

It was really just a matter of time before he finally spoke up...

Jacob White49 said:If Fernando Alonso moves to Mercedes, we’re looking at the most predictable season ever. He'll probably sweep the first 15 races to take the title, while Nico Rosberg just trails by 30 seconds every single time.

You really think Alonso stays 30 seconds behind Rosberg...

The closed cockpit changes the entire essence of Formula 1, and honestly, I’m not convinced the concept is actually any good. It just makes everything more complicated. Getting a driver out of the car becomes much harder, and if there’s a fire—which, let’s face it, happens way too often in this sport—trying to scramble out of that thing could be a nightmare. At the end of the day, you have to wonder if this design is actually helping anyone or if it’s just creating a whole new set of problems...

Pato, are you actually a doctor or just some wannabe trying too hard to act like one...

ruggedhawk20 said:gentlecobra23, I have absolutely no clue what you're talking about. It’s like you landed here from another planet... just totally out of sync with the rest of us.

If you don't get it, I'll make sure everything is explained to you clearly enough...😁

ruggedhawk20 said:it's just tradition

And I’m the one who wrote it, not some random person

Lovely traditions... then people act surprised when everything falls apart because we were waving the wrong flags. If they actually waved them, I wouldn't even bother arguing

Personally, I have zero motivation to work if I can't see a clear benefit in the moment or down the road... unless it's something absolutely essential to my life

ruggedhawk20 said:besides, what kind of "saving" is that if you end up paying out millions in damages in the end?

Is this how airlines handle their budget too, maybe?

I am genuinely dying to know which college you attend—this way of thinking is such a rarity, I'm truly curious where this logic is taught

Was it political science?

Well, everywhere you look, people cut corners assuming nothing will ever go wrong. And when it does, they just head to court to dodge the bill. It's as simple as that. Or they settle out of court. Someone, somewhere, figured out the math makes sense that way...

It wasn't political science

I don't know what's bothering you, but they teach me to forecast outcomes based on specific variables. If you're cutting costs, you do it for a reason. If you make an investment, you know when it pays off. When you have employees making stupid mistakes, you prevent them from doing so so the government doesn't penalize you for safety violations... It's about forecasting. Predicting what happens over a certain timeframe. What happened with Bianchi wasn't forecasted, and even if the odds of a crash like that were minimal, they were still there...

Airlines... I'll just mention one former manufacturer, McDonnell Douglas
Where did they cut corners? On the doors. Those damn doors. What does a plane need doors for? So much for saving money

ruggedhawk20 said:but you're studying at one of those esoteric colleges

Except that "cheap" and "NASCAR" don't exactly belong in the same sentence...

saving money touches every single part of life

Didn't someone here mention how they pay judges? That’s just another form of cutting costs...

And who do you think are the biggest cheapskates? The ones who actually have the money...

ruggedhawk20 said:The official waved it exactly

with a yellow flag right in front of the crash site, then the green one immediately after.

That green flag marks where the accident zone ends—it was like 20-25 feet past the wreck.

Standard procedure. The official isn't even at fault here. He used the right flags.

It’s on the race organizers for not having cranes stationed along the track, and Charlie who didn't mandate them—instead, they just let them drag the cars out with construction equipment.

If they had called the SC because of Sutilov's car, we’d probably all be whining about how they call the SC for every little thing and why they're protecting racing... No one would have predicted an outcome like this.
Secondly, using an excavator is just cheaper than a crane or a lift, and they're easier to move around. We live in a world ruled by the bottom line... the only logical solution is the cheapest one.
Thirdly, there was heavy rain and the track was wet. The car was sliding, but it was moving, and as spectators, we want to see movement... you always wonder what happens to those rain tires when they switch to intermediates almost immediately anyway (which is what happened here).

When you add it all up, you get what happened today. Generally speaking, nobody is really to blame... you can't point a finger at anyone with 100% certainty. Because you can't.

Man, I honestly thought he was just going to bounce off the fence into a tractor, but he went straight for it... 😢

darkmarlin16 said:He won't end up at McLaren because they—well, Honda wants a longer deal out of it.

The only option left is Lotus Mercedes...

A seat at Lotus comes with a price tag, regardless of whether you're Fernando Alonso or not. If he actually walks away from Santander's sponsorship, then he's truly lost his mind...