Posts by mellowtiger83

Hamilton seemed to be operating on an entirely different plane of existence today, even compared to his own teammate. It’s going to be incredibly difficult for him to lose tomorrow; something truly catastrophic would have to occur—heavy rain, a Safety Car, or some other chaos.

I anticipate seeing Vettel battling with Rosberg's car. I also expect Kimi to be right there in the mix with them.

I placed a little wager myself: Hamilton to win, a gap of over six seconds, and Alonso finishing the race. 🙂 Hopefully, it brings in enough extra cash for a decent cup of coffee or something.

Why on earth is some Vettel fanboy handling the F1 broadcast as a commentator?

And here I am, an absolute walking encyclopedia of F1, yet I’m not the one calling the race. Me, being perfectly impartial,🙂

@Bright, Schumacher celebrated at Imola—it isn't some Photoshop job. Back then, Schumacher didn't know anything; he wasn't even aware of the consequences of the crash. To be fair, he shouldn't have been. From the outside, it didn't look nearly as grim.

Lewis is once again setting the pace on a WET track; I find myself somewhat surprised.🙂

jadeseal7 said:He hasn't actually started yet.

Not yet, but he will. My PC is all set up. Even though I’m clearly wasted right now, I'll be able to follow along just fine. Man, I really went overboard on the drinks tonight.

Where on earth am I? First practice starts in two hours, unless I’ve just had a bit too much to drink—maybe five or six domestic beers.

stormybadger8 said:STR might be the surprise of the 2016 season, though perhaps not the biggest one... Manor actually bringing in Pascal Wehrlein specifically☕

The rest of the analysis could very well be accurate.

Why Pascal? I don't see anything particularly special about that guy. He’s fast, sure, but NASCAR is an entirely different beast.

I suspect Haas and McLaren will end up being the two biggest surprises, while if you're looking for winners, keep an eye on Ricciardo. He is just crazy enough, and fast enough, to threaten Mercedes and Ferrari the moment they make even the slightest mistake.

stormybadger8 said:The choice is strange, to say the least...
If I’ve understood this correctly, you're talking about the entire GP weekend 🤔
Well, if that's the case, then the purpose of running just one set of medium tires is completely unclear. 😕
It’s frustrating. They really ought to test them in a race simulation during FP so they can determine their longevity and see if they even make sense for the actual race..
But if you burn through that single set during FP, you don't have them for the race. Yet, if you don't test them during FP, you have no idea how long they'll last or what the pace will be, which leaves you guessing on the optimal strategy...
All in all, an unusual selection. 🤔

Mecka, Red Bull, Haas, and Sauber all employ a No2 driver whose job is to run tests to provide data for the No1 driver, who then utilizes that intel to execute a more aggressive strategy...
It is odd that Mecka has implemented this policy starting from the very first race; it seems they are genuinely intimidated by Ferrari and the rest of the field. 😲

What do you mean "strategy"? The drivers are the ones choosing the tires.

graniteharbor502 said:Which sportsbook is offering those kind of odds on Vettel? 🍿
I was just looking at the lines from one place (not trying to promote them or anything):
Hamilton 1.6
Rosberg 4
Vettel 4.5
Kimi Raikkonen 41
Alonso 51 and so on.

And the odds for the Constructors' Championship:
Mercedes 1.15
Ferrari 5
Red Bull 23
While this Toro Rosso you're praising so much is sitting at 501.

Just tell me which bookie that is so I can make a killing. If they're predicting things this accurately all season, I'll be retired on a beach by October.

The gap between Hamilton and Rosberg is a bit too wide, and the gap between Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen belongs strictly to Ferrari.

stormybadger8 said:And why on earth would that be so strange?
STR has a damn good car, and frankly, the drivers too... it's just that last year their engine was absolute garbage.

It wouldn't surprise me one bit if the STR duo regularly beats even Kimi in races, and pulls off a decent number of wins... too.
After all, the last time STR had an old Ferrari engine like that, Vettel was literally slapping Hamilton and Alonso in the same ☕
And I expect the same from young Verstappen; besides, STR's car and crew are significantly better today than they were back then.😉

No conspiracy theories here, just stating what I see.😉
For the record, the main difference between me and those dedicated red fans (now consisting of Vettel's new crowd) is that I don't get swept up in preseason euphoria by some headline about the greatest car ever built.
But then again, I won't be hit by depression or the urge to go on a massive tirade against their rivals around the second or third race either.
If Vettel had a car capable of fighting Hamilton, he’d surely take the title, but the problem is that he likely won't have such a thing for a long time—at least not at Ferrari.

Unfortunately, Ferrari is in a tough spot these days, and there's no magic wand to fix it.
You're expecting something that has zero theoretical chance of happening unless a miracle occurs.
After a constant decline from 2005 until now, coupled with ten years of total disorganization and a sloppy approach, the team suddenly thinks they can just become the No. 1 team on the grid.
And they think that just because they picked up Alonso and Alonso... that's not going to happen on its own.😉
It wouldn't work even if they had recruited Adrian Newey and all the top mechanics and engineers from Red Bull + Brawn, let alone this current setup.

What nonsense are you talking about, sand? That simply isn't true. First off, Toro Rosso won't even come close to Ferrari, ever—not even if the late Ayrton Senna or Jim Clark rose from the grave to drive that car.

Secondly, you wrote that if Vettel had a car capable of a title, he'd definitely win it!! I took that to mean he would be faster than Hamilton in the same car, and you stated that as a certainty!

Thirdly, saying Sky Sports spreads lies!! Ferrari's competitiveness is a fiction created by the owner, plain and simple.

It's elementary, kid. I already told you: it's elementary. That is the key to everything, you understand?

I honestly don't follow your logic. Ferrari is incredibly fast; this isn't some performance for sponsors or anything of the sort. In truth, Ferrari is actually masking just how much raw speed they possess. You'll see that myself and fortinbras are correct quite soon.
All this talk about Mercedes, this and that... what is wrong with you people? The only thing I find interesting regarding Mercedes is that Lewis Hamilton's race pace was faster than Rosberg's on Rosberg's own track!

Everyone keeps claiming Ferrari was running on soft tires while Mercedes wasn't. Am I really the only one who realized there aren't significant speed gaps between the different tire compounds anymore?

Once Sebastian Vettel is breathing down Lewis Hamilton's neck as early as Melbourne, everyone is going to have to eat their words—Goofy, Presvetl, and the rest of you.

I laid out the situation for you all right after those initial tests.

Ferrari is sitting about 0.3 seconds behind in race trim, and trailing by 0.5 seconds during qualifying.

With Melbourne approaching—a very specific type of circuit—that gap should shrink to a tenth or maybe two. That puts them right back in the fight.

I might actually know a thing or two!

stormybadger8 said:Williams is clearly hiding their true pace, or they’re dealing with some incredibly bizarre and extreme issue regarding the Pirelli tires. 🤔

Williams' fastest times:
Bottas - Ultra Soft - 1:23.229
Bottas - Super Soft - 1:23.261
Bottas - Soft - 1:23.572

It looks quite strange that the gaps are this minuscule and specifically only happening with them; for everyone else, the differences are substantial...

It seems to me that the performance gap between the different tire compounds—the actual speed delta—is extremely small. It isn't even close to that half-second per compound that some people claim; it's much less than that.

I'm not even certain the difference between the Medium and the Ultra Soft is greater than 1.5 seconds. This is clearly what's confusing so many people. We are all accustomed to much larger gaps between compounds, but it appears the differences are far smaller than what we've grown used to from Pirelli over the last few years.

Mind you, they actually have three different compounds using the "soft" prefix 🙂. Three separate blends. I suspect the gap between the Soft and the Ultra Soft is one second at most, and that's being generous.

Having five different dry tire compounds is just madness and completely nonsensical.

ruggedhawk20 said:Exactly.

If you don't take my word for it, just ask Goofy. He's pretty much the only living witness to the 1987 season left on this board.

And don't forget about me. I was just a kid back then, but I was watching. I was obsessed. Imagine an eight or nine-year-old kid, basically the same way kids are glued to their phones today.

He he he he he he 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂, I haven't laughed that hard in quite some time. Jason Campbell70, I might just have to build you a monument 🙂

Good grief, I was drinking my coffee and ended up inhaling it through my nose. These things aren't even true 🙂 🙂 🙂

ruggedhawk20 said:How exactly is Gerhard Berger better than Rubens Barrichello?

Both men were viewed as future world champions right up until they ran into a truly dominant driver on the track.

They are essentially two nearly identical drivers with nearly identical careers.

The only distinction is that Berger was perhaps a bit luckier; he ended up at Ferrari alongside a struggling Gerhard Alboreto, which made him look significantly better by comparison.

The 1987 Ferrari was a championship-caliber car. Unfortunately, they simply didn't have a championship-caliber driver.

Precisely. Neither of them are the same anymore. Both had their fates sealed by the exact same circuit. They both spent their entire careers fighting an uphill battle because of Imola. Imola decided it for them—once, then again later.

Both of them can only credit a miracle or some higher power that they even survived those races.

ruggedhawk20 said:If Gilles Villeneuve had lived, he would have easily secured the 1987 title with that Ferrari. And especially if you consider Ayrton Senna.

Besides, if you compare Berger's results from 1990 and 1991—when he was actually driving a proven championship-winning car—those results are arguably even weaker than what happened in 1987.

True. The only question is how much Fercan could have endured from Ayrton's brutal driving style. He certainly would have walked away with about 15 pole positions that season.

stormybadger8 said:Well, there it is. There's your answer as to why this whole McLaren-Mercedes reincarnation is such a disaster. 🤔

Once upon a time, we had the "McLaren-Honda Philip Morris" era. Now? It’s just "McLaren-Honda."
Naturally, they're missing Philip Morris as a partner whose entire job was promoting smoking. I suppose these new guys are just trying to compensate by smoking during the races instead. 🤣

Therefore, McLaren-Mercedes simply needs to find a sponsor or partner whose sole purpose is promoting tobacco, rather than having to smoke on their own. 😬🤣

👍😁

jadeseal7 said:Old news. When he’s actually given the green light, Nico Rosberg can outpace Lewis Hamilton.

Hardly. It's more like when Lewis Hamilton's car isn't performing perfectly, giving him a little ego boost.

And when exactly was this "seen"? Once Lewis Hamilton had already locked down the championship?

swiftmaker12 said:Allow me to clarify things for the uninitiated:

The car possesses inherent physical limits, whereas the drivers are the ones who seem to lack them entirely...
A car isn't going to take a corner at 235 mph instead of 200, nor will it brake 100 meters early instead of 150 meters before the turn....
When robots eventually take over, the conversation will change, but for now, the drivers are the ones pushing those boundaries...

As for the machine itself, a car can technically navigate a curve without even braking....
What does a car know about brakes or centrifugal force anyway...

Lewis Hamilton is an obvious example of a driver who operates below the car's physical limits; he doesn't take risks, he’s just been coasting toward retirement for the last decade.....

Sebastian Vettel is the one driving beyond the car's physical limits. This means he—and truly the only one of this generation—could take any car beyond its natural capacity and achieve results others can only dream of....

In any potential duel or three-way battle between today's best NASCAR drivers within the same team, Vettel would walk away with the most wins and championships.....

Is that so?

If I were to consult a NASCAR encyclopedia, how would you explain the anomaly known as Daniel Ricciardo? It is merely a rhetorical question, much like how a colleague, or a friend, might ask someone at Boeing.

William Bennett53 said:In my view, mellowtiger83 provides an excellent assessment of the sport from a technical and competitive standpoint. This holds true, however, until he begins discussing Lewis Hamilton, at which point he morphs into a certain version of tibija. 😁
sorry Mario, I had to. 😁

No problem, friend. I am aware of it. I admit it. Perhaps half of it is forgiven simply because I am being a total fanboy. 😁