Richard Ross11 said:Lewis Hamilton is talented, there’s no debate about that... But even Hamilton wouldn't have pulled off a lap like this driving for Ferrari.. 🙂
We saw how fast a single Mercedes can be when it hits a wall; Hamilton made the difference here.
Richard Ross11 said:Mercedes-Benz really stepped in it this time. They completely overplayed their hand. 🙂 Well, at least we finally know where we stand. 🙂
You're looking at it all wrong. Sure, the Mercedes-Benz is fast, but what you just witnessed was pure Hamilton. He just put together a flawless lap, reminiscent of how Ayrton Senna used to drive.
Ferrari is closing the gap on Mercedes-Benz. They're looking much closer than they did last year.
Sebastian Vettel mentioned that Ferrari has plenty more in store for us this weekend. It struck me as quite a self-assured claim, and Kimi seems to be echoing that same sentiment. The rest of the field, however, appears much more cautious in their assessments. 🙂
It could be a tight one, and I suspect Mercedes won't have an easy stroll, regardless of how the track conditions turn out. I’m genuinely pleased to see McLaren looking this fast; hopefully, they can maintain this momentum.
Even Supersport is offering some bets starting today, and they’ve clearly been doing their homework. They have Kevin Magnussen and Grosjean both sitting in the top 8 at 2.5, while Fernando Alonso is listed at 1.55 for a top 8 finish. Based on pure pace, the teams seem to be ranked roughly like this: Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren, Haas, and Renault.🙂 As for the fastest lap, Alonso is at 35; that might be worth a shot. A win for Max Verstappen at 7 is also on the table.
James Harris34 said:Does anyone have any betting ideas for this weekend? Since it's the season opener, there might be an opportunity to capitalize on something. For instance, could McLaren pull off a surprise this weekend—say, getting Fernando Alonso into the top 3—or will they completely fall flat? Also, looking at the Ferrari-Red Bull matchup, who are you leaning toward?
The books haven't even released their lines yet. Even if they do, it’ll likely just be a carbon copy of last year's offerings. That means the odds for Alonso finishing in the top 8 could actually be quite high. Once practice sessions wrap up, those lines will shift significantly. Honestly, I doubt a place like DraftKings will even post their odds before practice starts, and if they do, the numbers might be pretty interesting🙂, considering how nonsensical the lines were last year. I'm hoping for a similar trend here!
Richard Green73 said:Why speak of him in the past tense? If he lived in my neighborhood, I would have heard about it by now.
And why on earth are you so preoccupied with ruggedhawk20?
Even if Gaius passed away today, I was actually hanging out with him briefly back when we were just kids.
And remember Pilate? He was dead for about a year after getting hit by a streetcar while riding his bike. By some freak accident, he somehow slipped back through time and stopped that streetcar right before it hit him. Because of that, he’s walking around again today.🙂
I’d like to request that the moderators remove Gaius. His sheer lack of aesthetic appeal is becoming a distraction to those of us who prefer more refined beauty. Thank you.
Just drop those ladies in there right now, neonfox65, you absolute international menace!!😒
We might actually see Michael Schumacher’s 2004 lap record fall this year. I believe Kimi clocked a fastest lap around 1.26 last season, while qualifying times were sitting near 1.22.
It is one of those rare tracks where the configuration remains identical to how it was back in 2004.
Last year, Sebastian Vettel actually had a shot—and I mean a real shot. Part of that was his own screw-up, sure, but part of it was the team dropping the ball too... But let's be real, Sebastian put himself in the running, and he was ahead of Lewis Hamilton mostly because Hamilton was struggling during the first half of the season... which is something you’ll probably never admit. 🙂
And yeah, it's much easier to say "Sebastian blew it in Singapore" because that's a quick sentence, whereas saying "Lewis Hamilton blew it" takes way longer. ................................ There are way more races where Hamilton totally tanked it during the early part of last season. It's actually easier to list the ones where he drove like crap—China, Barcelona, Montreal, Silverstone—than it is to list the opposite. 🙂
The fact remains: Sebastian was even in the hunt because of Hamilton's mistakes and Mercedes' own mess—maybe even because Mercedes intended it. If it hadn't been for that whole Singapore disaster, they probably would have cruised to the title without a second thought.
Mercedes has been playing cat and mouse for years now. They have a car that, back in 2014, probably could have been five seconds a lap faster if they’d actually decided to push it to the limit. That’s exactly why they know the FIA would just strip their wings the moment they showed what they could really do. They constantly whine about paint colors or whatever, inventing some fake rivalry while they drive around in conservative mode just to stay under the radar. The big question this season isn't whether Mercedes No1 can win, it's how much life is left in that Power Unit before it gives up the ghost. 🙂
Let's look back at 2016, for instance. Do you really think Rosberg and Hamilton could afford to drive conservatively while they were neck-and-neck? Please. They were fighting for the championship and pushing Mercedes to the absolute limit.
dustyskipper77 said:If Sebastian Vettel hadn't messed up in Singapore, they might have actually stood a chance last year... if the heat stays this intense this season, they aren't winning it regardless of the car...
Now you'll have to explain that to Tibia! Honestly, it's going to be a tough climb, so don't even bother trying.😁
I suspect Ferrari is keeping something under wraps from the rest of the grid; they’ve opted for an incredibly conservative testing strategy, likely saving the car's true potential for Melbourne.
Tibija mentioned reliability issues, though, hmm—I certainly didn't observe any signs of unreliability regarding the Fiat engines during these eight days of testing.
stormybadger8 said:Anyone who’s actually bothered to follow Formula 1 should have realized from day one that Mercedes and Red Bull have absolutely nothing to do with a race simulator.
I haven't seen anything like this before. Seriously. I’ve been following this sport for ages, but this is a whole new level of absurdity. It’s almost impressive how they manage to mess things up this consistently. Just pure chaos. I posted this ages ago. It’s not like Sebastian Vettel should have been the one to say it...
What are these journalists even talking about? Just pure nonsense meant to farm clicks. It's got absolutely nothing to do with reality.
So, what exactly have they been doing over at Red Bull and Mercedes? Are they actually faster than Ferrari or not? Who knows. And let's be real—that "famous" race simulator of theirs has absolutely nothing to do with a real race sim. You can see that from a mile away. ☕
Of course it doesn't line up. The data makes it clear: in this supposed race simulation, Ferrari switched to the Medium tire at lap 14, whereas Mercedes stayed on their initial set until around lap 24. Between laps 14 and 24, Mercedes is pulling lap times that are 0.5 to 1 second faster per lap, despite running tires that are 14 laps older than Ferrari's.
Even a blind man could see something is wrong there.
I'm not sure if anyone else caught this, but Mercedes opted for the hard compound for Australia, despite having barely touched them during the sessions in Barcelona. Mercedes seems to be gunning for an aggressive strategy, likely aiming for one fewer pit stop than Ferrari. It looks as though Ferrari is managing their tires more effectively, which aligns with those photos from Barcelona showing pieces of Mercedes's Mexican compounds flaking off.
It would certainly be interesting to see if Ferrari has managed to improve their qualifying pace relative to Mercedes, potentially allowing them to jump ahead at the start.
It is clear and loud: NO, not even close. In fact, Adrian Newey has roughly 50% more wins than Rory 🤦...
Please, why would we just credit all those McLaren and Williams wins to Adrian Newey alone? Did Patrick Head have nothing to do with Williams? Was Neal Oatley not involved with McLaren? Let’s just dump everything onto Newey simply because he was an aerodynamicist and designer! No, that won't fly. He was only truly the undisputed boss during his time at Red Bull.
Furthermore, you only attribute Ferrari successes to Rory? Come on, what about Benetton? Generally speaking, it is unfair to heap everything onto Newey just because he gets the most media exposure and pops up everywhere like Kamala Harris jumping out of a deli container. Give me a break.
Everyone I mentioned is a more complete individual in F1—Murray, Chapman, Roary, and so on. For heaven's sake, Neal Oatley was the Chef Designer at McLaren until 2003, not Newey, yet you've credited all those achievements to Newey quite conveniently.
How many more unfairly overlooked designers must I list? And it isn't accurate to say Newey has 150 wins; if we used that logic, plenty of others would have them too, if you understand my point.
Good grief, what kind of top designer just copy-pasted Simone Rest and now acts like a superstar?
What I am getting at is this: if you tell Newey that he needs to turn his sketches into tangible physical parts integrated with other components, he'd probably lose his mind. That is exactly what Murray and Chapman did, to a certain extent, as did Roary.
neonfox65 said:Just because Sebastian Vettel said 😂
Who exactly was supposed to speak up? You, perhaps? Sebastian Vettel is a four-time world champion who has been in Formula 1 since 2007. Do you honestly think he's an idiot?
Vettel stated that those testing sessions focused on race pace are completely irrelevant! In other words, anyone here obsessing over race pace reports and comparisons can take those virtual spreadsheets and shove them.🙂
There is a distinction here between a constructor and a designer that some of you seem to be missing entirely. Murray, for instance, mastered both roles. On the other hand, Newey couldn't build a chair to sit on, let alone an F1 car; he can design a chassis and pass his concepts off to a constructor, if you follow my drift. I have no idea why everyone is bowing down to this Newey fellow, considering the man hasn't actually invented anything of substance in his entire career.