US Grand Prix (Indianapolis Motor Speedway) Sept 27-29, 2019

George White52 said:It’s not a 1-2 finish, which is honestly hilarious. 🤣

It'll happen right after the first turn, don't sweat it.
Hamilton will make it look easy compared to Vettel.

Bottas has once again completely botched the AMG Pirelli tires. 🤦
The FIA needs to slap them with a massive penalty; he is currently the closest contender for the WDC title, yet they continue to humiliate him in such a pathetic manner.
To top it all off, he actually claims this is his track? What kind of outfit is this? It seems their entire path to success has been paved with nothing but manipulation and deception. 🤦

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?

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.

mellowtiger83 said:If you're trying to figure out if we're on the same page, I'll give you the short version so I don't ramble too much.

Even if Lewis Hamilton sat out three races in a row and Charles Leclerc pulled off three straight wins, he’d still be stuck on shaky ground.

I'm talking about those absolute Ferrari blunders where they completely screwed over Leclerc just to play nice with Vettel.

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.

Charles Leclerc lost control three times during qualifying in Singapore.
He actually lost it three separate times just within S3.

I can't wait to see Vettel's onboard footage; I bet it was quite the ride.

Ferrari is starting on softs, while Hamilton goes with mediums.

It’ll be interesting to see if Ferrari can pull off a third straight race where their pace is actually superior during the run.

mellowtiger83 said:Leclerc is absolutely dominating Vettel, staying about half a second ahead per lap.

I'm sitting here waiting for tomorrow's race just to see how Ferrari plans to slot Vettel in front of him. 🙂

When was the last time anyone saw that kind of qualifying dominance over a multi-time World Champion in general?

Honestly, I can't remember. Even Cake Ric didn't have an advantage quite like this. It was probably more like 0.05 or 0.1.

This isn't just a lead; this is a total demolition. Just pure destruction.

Charles Leclerc 🙏 is driving like a man possessed. Tomorrow’s race is gonna be absolute chaos, though I wouldn't count out Sebastian Vettel just yet. Hamilton is basically giving a masterclass on why he’s one of the GOATs, while Bottas looks completely lost at his "home" Indy Motor Speedway—tough break for him, because honestly, he just can't touch Hamilton during this part of the season. McLaren is looking sharp, too. Nico Hulkenberg has been faster than Ricciardo all weekend; clearly, Daniel hasn't found the right setup yet. As for Max... I don't know. It felt like he had another gear left in him, but then again...

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.

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.

Hamilton would likely enjoy the same points advantage over the field in that Ferrari as he currently does in his Mercedes.

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.

James Harris34 said:Honestly, I really think if Lewis Hamilton moved over to Ferrari right now, he’d walk in and immediately have that same massive points gap over everyone else that he currently enjoys with Mercedes. It just feels like it would happen.

No way, I totally disagree. Just a week ago, Ferrari was losing a full second in those slower sectors.🙂

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it a little suspicious how happy Sebastian Vettel looked after Q3?

I’ve got a feeling this was all a calculated tactical move, and honestly, it’s probably going to pay off big time for him at the start tomorrow.

I mean, trying to go for the pole on this track is a massive gamble. You’re basically asking to be a sitting duck heading into that first corner.

I didn't see it quite that way myself. I mean, just look at him when he climbed out of the car... maybe once he had a chance to cool off, sure, but being half a second off like that? Nine times in a row? While some young rookie on his own team is busy matching a 17-year-old record set by Michael Schumacher at Ferrari? No way. I just can't buy it.

I was just thinking about something: I’ve always been a fan and have a soft spot for Kimi Räikkönen, but if he had actually stayed at Ferrari, they probably would have been pulling solid 2nd or 4th place finishes in qualifying right now. People would be constantly talking about how absolutely dominant Mercedes is and how Sebastian Vettel is just squeezing every bit of potential out of that car.

At the end of the day, the driver really is what makes the difference...

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

It will be particularly fascinating to observe whether Ferrari can manage to maintain a superior race pace for the third consecutive race.

🤦

In those three races, Ferrari hasn't achieved the kind of dominance we saw from Mercedes back in 2014, where they would command a lead of over 30 seconds.

Consider what Toto Wolff had to say regarding your theories, which fall apart quite easily under scrutiny:

"Over the last three races, we haven't been able to secure pole position, yet we were always hunting someone down during the race."

According to his assessment, it appears that Mercedes actually possessed the superior race pace, but Ferrari managed to disrupt them by being faster in a single qualifying lap.

Furthermore, Mercedes demonstrates better tire management than their competitors throughout the entire season.

Richard Ross11 said:I was just thinking about this: look, I’m a huge fan of Kimi, but if he had actually stuck around at Ferrari, they probably would’ve been sitting there pulling decent P2 or P4 finishes in qualifying right now while everyone else would be busy whining about how Mercedes-Benz is basically untouchable and how Sebastian Vettel is somehow squeezing every last bit of juice out of that car.

At the end of the day, the driver is what actually makes the difference...

Facts.

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.

Richard Ross11 said:Something just occurred to me: I’m a fan and I root for Kimi, but if he had stayed at Ferrari, they would be sitting there right now boasting about securing solid 2nd or 4th place qualifying results while everyone else talked about how Mercedes is absolutely dominant and how Sebastian Vettel is squeezing every ounce of potential out of his car.

At the end of the day, the driver is what makes the difference...

Let’s be realistic: Mercedes remains the superior machine under race conditions; Ferrari continues to struggle with tire degradation compared to the Mercedes-Benz. How many times has Lewis Hamilton managed to clock the fastest lap on tires that were already xy laps old? Countless times.

Yet here we see Ferrari being placed on a pedestal, acting as if their season only truly began three races ago. 🤦

Mercedes simply lost momentum after building such a massive lead leading up to the summer break—people grew complacent—whereas on the other hand, Ferrari finally hit the mark with their aerodynamics after xy years of trial and error.

Even Toto Wolff pointed this out, and frankly, he possesses far more insight than we do;

"We haven't made enough progress lately. The issue is that we haven't focused enough on the car's upgrades."