Posts by mellowtiger83

cosmiccyclist8 said:

You missed the mark🙂

At least I differentiate between driving a car and actually racing one.

Dammit, you can't do everything my way.

It appears everyone has suddenly decided to start debating whether Lewis Hamilton actually possesses driving genius 🙂, even though he effectively tore through the Ferrari field today. His own teammate—the guy who should technically be right at home on this track—is trailing Charles Leclerc by a full second and sitting 0.6 seconds behind Lewis.

Good grief, these forum users... absolute self-proclaimed experts, the lot of them.

wiredfalcon2 said:And isn't there anyone left behind Vettel to give him a slipstream?

Then there's Bottas, who unfortunately seems to be stuck with a Mercedes that has been significantly lagging behind the Ferrari on the straights for the last four races.

For instance, even with DRS, Lewis Hamilton couldn't even catch up to Charles Leclerc at Monza.

James Harris34 said:But Hamilton wasn't a multi-time champion back in 2014.

That isn't how I meant it. It doesn't matter if he was a one-time or multi-time champ; I was referring to things like a 9:0 run or similar stretches.

Furthermore, regarding the point about having different setups—which is what I was getting at—it seems likely that Sebastian Vettel was running a more aggressive race setup compared to Charles Leclerc.

I’d bet anything he would have taken P1 right after the start tomorrow, simply due to the slipstream from the two cars ahead combined with superior straight-line speed.

Robert Cox46 said:The last time? I’m thinking of Nico Rosberg beating Lewis Hamilton a few times back in 2016.

Both right and wrong at once. Rosberg used to edge out Hamilton in qualifying quite often, but he wasn't even close to the level of dominance Charles Leclerc shows now.

So why is the answer considered correct? You nailed the Rosberg part, but you compared him to the wrong teammate. The last time someone pulled that off was Rosberg against Schumacher, and before that, nobody managed it until we look all the way back to 1988.

Since it seems everyone's memory is failing them here, let's be clear: it was Fernando Alonso and Vettel and Raikkonen who did it.

ruggedhawk20 said:Oh, really?

Robert Kubica has outscored George Russell. That is a matter of fact. On the standings, Kubica sits above Russell. At the end of this season, if things continue as they are, Kubica will be the more successful driver compared to Russell.

Speed doesn't count; points do.

That is simply how the sport works.

That logic might hold water for some amateurs at a local dive bar, but anyone actually following F1 knows the truth: Kubica was getting absolutely demolished.

It is quite significant that we finally received a fresh nickname for the driver from our esteemed, dark-haired colleague.

Charles Presvetli Leclerc is now officially fair game for public use.

The Catholic, Presvetli, The Finger, El Maestro, and so on...

ruggedhawk20 said:Let's not get carried away. Ayrton Senna was consistently faster than Alain Prost during qualifying, yet nobody complained about bullying because Prost was the one pulling in more points per race on average—about 21% more, actually. At the end of the day, it's the points that count.

It's true; Charles Leclerc dominated Sebastian Vettel in qualifying, but so far, he's only pulled in about 3% more points per race than Vettel.

Robert Kubica did the same thing to George Russell, and Tarso Marques once did it to Fernando Alonso; there are plenty of examples.

I am frankly exhausted by these statistics. I'd rather just get on with it.

Jules Bianchi is up there laughing at us right now, just like he is in my avatar.

The guy was practically an alien.

Richard Ross11 said:Everything else is fine, I am strictly discussing the drivers...

By the way, I ran a poll before the season kicked off—Vettel vs Leclerc...
And now it looks like the kid is absolutely going to be running circles around Sebastian Vettel...

You set up the poll, but on that very same day, as soon as I heard he was headed to Ferrari, I made this prediction:
"Leclerc will surpass Vettel once he settles into the new team and gets used to the car, probably around race five."

Unknown.

Jules Bianchi is likely looking down from somewhere right now, feeling immense pride in Charles Leclerc. They were friends since they were kids, and Jules was basically the mentor who introduced him to the racing world when they were both just starting out.

Jules, thank you for giving us a driver like this.

Sebastian Vettel will be on the front row tomorrow despite taking P3. It’s simple logic: he’s sitting in the fastest car on the straights, and he’ll likely just reel in those two cars ahead of him.
It would actually be quite a shock if he isn't sitting in P1 after the opening lap.

Yesterday, Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel were both mentioning the need to strike a balance between qualifying pace and race trim. In my estimation, Sebastian leaned much harder toward his race setup, which explains the gap we saw.

To put it bluntly, Sebastian is the heavy favorite for the win. If he manages to get into clean air, we all know exactly what he can do when he's dictating the tempo of a race.

You all wrote him off far too early.

Is it just me, or did Vettel look suspiciously happy after Q3??

It feels like a calculated tactical move on their part, designed to pay off during the start tomorrow.

Let’s be honest, taking pole at this track isn't exactly a golden ticket since you're basically a sitting duck heading into that first corner.

copperdrifter26 said:I don't recall it being quite like this. Even Cake Ric didn't hold an advantage quite this massive. It was likely closer to 0.05-0.1.

This is pure destruction. Total domination.

I wasn't specifically referring to Vettel, but rather anyone who has dominated qualifying to this degree against a reigning World Champion in the exact same car—unless we're talking about the absolute demolition seen during the Lauda-Prost or Senna-Prost eras.

Jason Campbell70 said:Ferrari is starting on softs, while Hamilton is on mediums.

It will be quite interesting to see if Ferrari can manage to pull off a faster race pace for the third consecutive race.

Starting on Medium is only a viable move for Hamilton if he manages to snatch P1 right at the lights; otherwise, it’s a failure.

The way things look, Leclerc and Vettel will pit earlier for fresh rubber and will find it easy to outpace Hamilton. Once he finally hits the pits, he'll have a difficult task trying to overtake both Ferraris on a track dominated by long straights. 🙂

no fucking way, the only hope here is a perfectly timed safety car, a virtual safety car, or perhaps some rain. I am concerned that tomorrow I won't be able to catch Ferrari at all—neither Leclerc nor Vettel.

I am fairly certain Vettel will blow past Hamilton at the start, which might also drag Leclerc along due to the slipstream.

In any case, the battle between the Ferraris during the race could get intense.

Tomorrow, Vettel stands a legitimate chance at securing the top spot right out of the gate, provided he can successfully latch onto Hamilton's slipstream and hunt down Leclerc before they hit the first turn.

darkmarlin16 said:what's the points gap between Hamilton - Leclerc?

If you're hinting at what I'm thinking, I'll be brief.

Even if Hamilton dropped out of three races in a row and Leclerc pulled off three straight wins, he'd still be on shaky ground.

Brian Campbell36 said:Pirelli screwed Bottas again. 🤦
The FIA needs to hand them a massive penalty; he’s right on the edge of the WDC hunt and they’re just humiliating him out there.
Then he goes on about how this is his track—what a joke of a team, built entirely on manipulation and fraud. 🤦

What are you even rambling about?

Leclerc is absolutely running circles around Vettel, maintaining a half-second gap per lap.

I’ll be watching tomorrow's race just to see how Ferrari decides to play games and slot Vettel ahead of him. 🙂

When was the last time anyone saw such total qualifying dominance over a multi-time world champion?

darkmarlin16 said:the director is a bit dimwitted

He was just following Jergović’s directions🎉