Posts by mellowtiger83

Nico Rosberg possesses one distinct advantage: he is terrifyingly fast during qualifying. That was the area where Lewis Hamilton really struggled to keep up. He even managed to outpace Michael Schumacher in qualifying sessions because while their race paces were often comparable, Nico Rosberg was simply a beast when it came to single laps.

The guy had an incredible knack for dialing in the car's setup. It’s practically an open secret that there was a period when Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg weren't even allowed to look at each other's telemetry.
Hamilton ultimately beat him, but it was incredibly close, and he did so strictly because his race pace was slightly superior.

A lot of people claim that Lewis Hamilton lost the title due to engine issues in Malaysia, conveniently forgetting that a couple of years prior, Nico had that incident with the steering wheel resetting in the pits and things like that.

It is my own opinion that Hamilton would have pushed Sebastian Vettel just as hard, and likely wouldn't have faced significantly fewer problems than he did with Nico.

stormybadger8 said:Nico Rosberg isn't a top-tier driver. No matter how much you try to convince yourself otherwise, he didn't reach the summit because of talent...
Rosberg is a very solid mid-tier driver, sitting right at the upper edge of that group, but he lacks elite status.
He’s barely an incremental step above Valtteri Bottas, certainly not a fraction weaker than Lewis Hamilton.

As for Lewis Hamilton himself, his performance throughout the turbo era in Germany was actually quite subpar, particularly during the Rosberg years, which makes him look far more impressive than he truly is...
Perhaps "subpar" is the wrong term. It would be more accurate to say Hamilton was essentially driving in some sort of sleep mode—doing just enough to get by, rather than pushing anywhere near his actual potential...

It isn't really surprising. Hamilton is the type of driver who prefers to go full throttle and live on the absolute limit...
Consequently, he likely found it incredibly tedious sitting in a car that Toto Wolff meticulously tunes before every race just to mask how dominant they actually are...
And he would have been bored if he had pushed to the absolute limit either, simply because he wouldn't have seen a single competitor on track unless he was lapping them...

Essentially, the man simply lost his motivation.
He only found it again once Ferrari and Red Bull Racing became competitive enough to pose even a slight threat at certain tracks... prior to that, he was quite literally in a deep winter slumber.

That isn't true either! Hamilton was pushed to his absolute limit against Nico Rosberg, and he had to be, otherwise he would have handed over two world titles!

stormyviper2 said:Nico Rosberg sits firmly in the upper mid-class tier, nothing more. He might snag a title once if the stars align perfectly, but certainly not twice. 😉

I’d have to disagree. You people are vastly underestimating Nico Rosberg.

The man secured wins in that Mercedes-Benz before they even established total dominance, and he took pole positions well before they became untouchable.

The data regarding Nico Rosberg is completely inaccurate, and I have no idea why anyone would place him in a different league than the other drivers listed.

No, it isn't that Lewis Hamilton is significantly better than Nico Rosberg; he's just slightly better, and even then, by a very slim margin.

Those are the facts.

Aside from Hamilton, he secured roughly 20 wins and about 30 pole positions.

If that leads you to believe Hamilton lacks true class, then to me, it proves that Rosberg possesses it.

In my view, nobody besides Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, or perhaps Sebastian Vettel would have managed to take the title against Nico Rosberg. Nobody.
I simply don't understand why there is such an intense tendency to undervalue the guy.

Inaccurate data regarding Nico Rosberg. I have no idea why anyone would place him in a completely different tier from the rest of the drivers listed here.

No, it isn't that Lewis Hamilton is vastly superior to Nico Rosberg; he’s just slightly better. And we are talking about a very slim margin.

Those are simply the facts.

Perhaps it escapes you that Nico Rosberg would have been lapping Sebastian Vettel regularly. Or let me clarify: if Nico Rosberg had faced Sebastian Vettel while driving for Mercedes-Benz, he would have secured all three championships with absolute dominance.
Next to Lewis Hamilton, he barely managed to scrape one title away.

This is where the mathematical portion of the equation that you fail to perceive comes into play.

As usual, you have missed the crucial piece of the puzzle.

And naturally, it slipped past you that Nico Rosberg is a top-tier driver. In essence, Ferrari made a massive blunder by not signing him immediately after his departure from Mercedes-Benz; had they done so, they would be sitting on a championship right now.
Who knows? Perhaps they made him an offer and he declined. It is merely speculation.

stormybadger8 said:Because of 🙂
Is that perhaps why Lewis Hamilton gets a free pass for everything...
The guy had the most dominant car in history back in 2016 and still managed to blow his title chances without anyone saying a word...

In the end, he starts on pole in Australia and barely scrapes by in second place behind Red Bull Racing, though I suppose you could call it a miracle he stayed on the same lap as Valtteri Bottas given that supposed floor damage on his car...
Sure, the folks at Mercedes-Benz probably needed a microscope to even find that legendary damage, but it doesn't really matter...

Just a little reminder of how one overtakes in a slower car using the outside line

stormybadger8 said:Some drivers have actually pronounced Max's name as "idiot," so I haven't seen you write it that way before. 😁

Dickhead🎉ead🙏The Dickhead fan club.

Strange things are happening in Formula 1!

Listen to this: Lewis Hamilton insisted on testing the car at the US Grand Prix! You can't believe it.

It’s plain as day that the battle between Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton wouldn't have even happened if Ferrari had actually executed a coherent strategy, in my opinion.

Just how much time did Hamilton gain on Sebastian Vettel during that undercut?
I suspect the folks at Ferrari didn't quite grasp the time delta they were looking at, despite having both FP1 and FP2 to figure those numbers out.

Guys, I don't know about you, but I’ve reached a point where I just don't care anymore. Watching this modern era of F1... maybe it's just a generational shift, a change in mindset, upbringing, or habits. Who knows!

Lewis Hamilton winning isn't even a thrill for me anymore; the excitement just isn't there. I find myself sympathizing more and more with Sebastian Vettel. I put Charles Leclerc on my avatar just for the sake of it; that ridiculous guy can actually impress me, even if he is a bit of an idiot by nature, I suppose.

God, there's no drive left! No passion for the arguments on this forum! Suddenly, I'm finding myself drawn to other types of racing sessions instead.
Am I losing it? I feel like I'm missing something from the past, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is. It's hard to define.

The only reason I enjoy being here is because of the unique characters, like Pilatus, The Bright One, Tbf, Maminjo, cosmiccyclist8, and neonfox65. That sort of thing.

Who actually gives a damn about these F1 drivers anyway? Take these top five, for instance—they are so talented that arguing over who is better feels pointless. Any one of them could beat anyone else, or lose to anyone else.
So go ahead, keep spouting your nonsense.

Kevin Cox said:When one car is trailing directly behind another, you lose about 50% of your downforce. Since Seb was impatient, he tried to reclaim the position immediately, pinning the throttle while still mid-corner. And well... there it is.

Exactly that. He was impatient. You have an immense amount of force acting on those rear tires, plus he likely hit that specific speed and RPM range where the engine delivers Max Verstappen's full power, and just like that, everything goes sideways.
He probably had too much steering input and lost grip in the rear, and that was that.

But Lewis Hamilton fascinates me again; honestly, he was pushing that Mercedes to the absolute limit, yet he overextended himself. At one point, right near the safety car, he left his teammate over 25 seconds behind, if I recall correctly.

Regardless, credit to both Seb and him for that duel. I am convinced that if Seb hadn't spun, he would have reclaimed the spot.

Seb has been struggling with the car all weekend. Clearly, something isn't clicking; the setup isn't working for him. He’s going to need a lot of mental grit to get through this race and come back stronger, though I am certain he will.

Declaring Charles Leclerc the champion and Seb the second driver is pure nonsense from the Vettel haters—of which there seem to be far too many lately. I can only hope Vettel gives them a reality check soon.

But damn, he really needs to work on his patience. This isn't the Lewis Hamilton from 2008 or 2009; this is a driving machine now that hardly makes mistakes.

Seb has the pace and he has everything else, but sometimes his head just isn't cool.

neonfox65 said:I honestly don't even grasp how F1 managed to wiggle out of that one. At first, I assumed there had to be some sort of mechanical failure because what happened is just unbelievable.

It is quite simply staggering to think about: a turbocharged engine pushing 1,000 horsepower in a 1,500-pound car, rear-wheel drive, and zero traction control, spinning itself out like that.

I find it truly remarkable that anyone could actually type this out!

Every tiny tap on the throttle sends over 400nm of torque straight to the wheels, yet you're acting like this is somehow surprising?

swifttiger75 said:Great race. A shame for Charles Leclerc, though. It reminded me a bit of Prost and Senna at Monaco when they stopped the race because of those heavy rains. Still, he proved he’s top-tier material. Just keep going like that.

Norris was excellent; I'm happy for McLaren.
In my view, Max Verstappen - Carlos Sainz was a racing incident. Max claimed Sainz braked late, but then again, so did he. Given the cockpit configuration, it's practically impossible to see the angle he was at relative to Carlos Sainz.

Renault 🤣

But it was wonderful to finally see some actual duels on track. Lewis Hamilton handled Sebastian brilliantly—as mellowtiger83 noted, it was incredibly close and high-stakes, yet clean. Brilliant.

All we were missing was a restart two or three laps after the SC to really top it all off, but oh well... 😁

It's a good thing Scuderia Ferrari didn't move, otherwise they would have just been lining up behind Charles Leclerc and potentially dropped significantly in the standings during that single lap.
And that would have been a pity.

I found the duels between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel quite impressive on a few occasions—extremely aggressive, yet perfectly clean.
Both of Hamilton's lunges were incredibly bold. Honestly, I’m surprised there wasn't any contact between those two during the race, given how many close calls they had.

This is going to be a pure showdown between Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton for the title. Good grief, what a driver Charles Leclerc is... truly incredible.

What a driver, truly what a driver🙂

The wind is blowing quite aggressively at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. There is a legitimate risk of sand accumulating on the track surface, and given the current gusts, we could see some significant buffeting of the cars mid-corner.

vividlynx68 said:We'll see once the rain starts coming down.😬

🤣

darkmarlin16 said:What Jules Bianchi never had the chance to achieve, he was clearly needed for even more intensely 😢

That's why I hold him in such high regard; I was always a massive fan of Jules Bianchi.

If you’re truly a fan of Jules Bianchi, you should realize that Charles Leclerc and Jules Bianchi were incredibly close. They essentially grew up together; Jules acted as a mentor to him since their families were always spending time together.