Melbourne Grand Prix - March 17, 2019

stormybadger8 said:Red Bull was being stingy even with the small stuff...

What Gasly pulled off was actually a massive recovery—and let's be real, he only got this shot because they needed a quick replacement for Ricciardo...

1. Managing to not mess up in Q1 with a Red Bull is honestly a win...
2. Outperforming Kvyat in a B-spec car—which is definitely slower—especially while stuck on those old, hard, sluggish tires? That's huge...
3. And then finishing outside the points in a race where Max cruises to a podium, and you've only got 15 drivers classified plus those two Williams cars lagging three laps behind...🤦

I bet Mark is already handing out slaps in the pits right now... wouldn't be surprised at all if Gasly gets booted before Barcelona...

You're pushing him too hard, man. I knew this was going to be a mess☕

stormybadger8 said:Man, you've sure been disappointed this season...😁
Listen to Tibi, listen closely to what he just said...

C.) Gasly is gonna grab his first PP and his first win for Red Bull next season—specifically in Monaco.
Max will be throwing a total tantrum, tossing everything in sight around the garage...
Now, what happens after that? We'll see. Maybe Max will settle down and actually drive like the pro he clearly has the talent to be... or maybe he'll just snap completely...

stormybadger8 said:I wonder who was arguing about the races like this last year 😁

Mario - seriously, how did you guys miss that?
Others - man, what part of the start did you actually miss?
Mario - I didn't watch the first 20 minutes.
Others - yeah, but what about an hour in...
Mario - alright fine, I didn't even watch the first hour.
Others - okay, but what about the last five laps?
Mario - look, I haven't even watched the race yet, but I promise I will tomorrow!

It feels like Mario and Henry might be cut from the same cloth.😁🤣

Look, honey, I saw plenty, so keep on rolling your eyes if you want. I saw Vettel's unsportsmanlike move, cutting off his teammate right when he lost his momentum and then having to spend the rest of the race playing catch-up. It’s like if you and I were running a 100m dash and you tried to overtake me right at the start, so I shoulder-check you, you lose all your initial drive, and then you spend the next 80 meters chasing me down just to try and pass me before the finish line, but time runs out.

If Leclerc had made it through in the situation I described, he would have just spent the rest of the race pulling away from Vettel. But instead, this guy—who is famous for being a "top-tier" teammate—once again stabbed his own man in the ankle.

Let's be real here: if Max had done this to his teammate, you would have been talking about it the entire race and spitting venom long after the checkered flag. Cheers.

Max is on cloud nine after his podium finish;

“I’m incredibly happy to have secured third place here. Naturally, my primary joy comes from the team, but I also have to credit Honda. Ever since we began our partnership, the experience has been nothing short of fantastic; I am truly enjoying this journey. They earned this moment.”

Regarding the battle against Ferrari;

“In general terms, I possessed a slight edge in pace over Seb. It is my assessment that we were faster than him, yet overtaking on a circuit like this remains an immense challenge.”

https://www.f1puls.com/38277/verstap...povratka-u-f1/

Does this not simply confirm that Honda possesses a superior engine compared to Ferrari? It seems the Italians can no longer engineer a decent PU to save their lives. 🤣

neonfox65 said:I told you so. I knew this was going to be a total mess.☕

No big deal, nothing's changed...
If Gasly loses his seat before Monaco and Kvyat jumps in to take over, honestly, the odds of that scenario playing out just skyrocket. 😉

Only Bottas, Hamilton, Max, Vettel, Leclerc, and Magnussen managed to stay within the same lap.
Magnussen was trailing the winner by a staggering 90 seconds. 🤦

This represents a massive blow to the entire F1 leadership; if they can't find a way to draw in viewers and sponsors with this level of competition, what hope is there?
Hamilton lied yet again, claiming the midfield was tightly packed and that everyone was fighting for position, when in reality, there were only those six drivers on the same lap.

Not really, depends on how you interpret that statement 😁

The Midfield is incredibly tight right now, and everyone in that pack is basically breathing down each other's necks 🙂
Even if Magnussen was the only one in the same lap as Bottas, everyone else trailing him was still relatively close...
For instance, there was only a 2.9 second gap between Hulkenberg (7) and Gasly (11)...

Look, after Australia, it’s hard to be certain about anything except a few things:

Mercedes is miles ahead of everyone else...
Williams is lagging way behind the rest...
And those are the only two things that are crystal clear ☕

Ferrari and Red Bull Racing look pretty close for now, but they might actually be further behind Mercedes than they are ahead of the field...
All the other teams are so bunched up that it's anyone's guess who finishes fourth and who ends up ninth this season...

Well, the midfield is looking pretty tight right now.

It’s tough to make any big calls based just on what happened in Australia since that track is its own beast, but here's how I see things playing out

Mercedes
...
...
Red Bull Racing, Ferrari
...
...
Haas and the rest of the midfield
...
...
Williams.

https://www.f1puls.com/38240/magnuss...brzi-od-naseg/

😉

stormybadger8 said:Man, you're kidding me—nothing's changed at all...
If Gasly gets the nod before Monaco and Kvyat steps into his seat instead, the odds for that scenario just skyrocket 😉

hehe nothing's changed, except you change your mind every five minutes...🙂

https://twitter.com/F1tutkumuz/statu...52729531711488

If the kid had done that to him, you know there would've been absolute chaos on the radio.

Vettel: "I had to fight so much. I knew he was faster. Under normal conditions, I couldn't have stopped him because I didn't have the speed."

"Normal conditions"? Please. If you were sitting right behind him and the team told you to back off, you would've smoked him instantly and blown right past.

Richard Walker38 said:https://twitter.com/F1tutkumuz/statu...52729531711488

If a junior driver had done that to him, you'd be hearing a massive meltdown over the team radio.

Normal conditions? If you were sitting right behind him and the team told you to back off, you’d probably just ignore them and dive right past him instantly.

Ferrari officially has one driver, and that's Vettel. There's zero proof yet that Leclerc is actually Ferrari's best shot at a title, so it makes sense they're protecting Vettel's points.

@Tibi "accidentally" neglected to mention that Leclerc had that little excursion onto the grass. Right after that mishap, Vettel's lead ballooned to 17 seconds, whereas prior to that, he held a very comfortable, secure gap.

That was the actual turning point where Leclerc lost ground, rather than Vettel being significantly faster during that first stint.

Looking at the total race pace, Leclerc actually outpaced Vettel; had they actually let him through, he would have finished easily about 5 or 6 seconds ahead of Vettel.

Tibi also "accidentally" overlooks certain details—like how the team protected Vettel to prevent him from losing his position, or how Vettel, for goodness knows what time, aggressively shut the door on his own teammate at the start. He nearly forced Leclerc into a terrible spot because Leclerc actually had a much better launch and knew exactly where Vettel was by Turn 1.

It will be quite interesting to watch Vettel's performance fall apart as the season progresses.

Look, I’m not even talking about Ferrari here—I’m talking about Vettel as a driver. He’s just a dirty racer. He constantly cuts off his own teammates and colleagues on the track, drives incredibly aggressively, and pulls these shady moves every single race. Then, once he finally gets a taste of his own medicine, he starts whining over the radio.

By forcing that kid out of the way, he basically secured himself an advantage. Even though we're discussing Ferrari later, if the team radio had told Leclerc to slow down, they still would have let Vettel through anyway, so...

Richard Walker38 said:https://twitter.com/F1tutkumuz/statu...52729531711488

If a junior driver did this to him, there would be absolute chaos on the radio.

Normal conditions? If you were sitting behind him and the team told you to back off, you’d probably just floor it and overtake him instantly.

What "normal conditions" are we even talking about when it's Vettel's race?...
Good grief, Vettel's fastest lap was on lap 16. Yeah, obviously something was wrong with the car, the engine, or the tires...
Whether we actually find out why is one thing, but calling this "normal" is definitely not.

So, you're just seeing it now? Whether we’re talking about Ferrari or Red Bull, there was a time when everything revolved entirely around him—there was no such thing as a "teammate" in his eyes. To him, they were just ghosts in the garage.

We didn't see team orders this restrictive back when Rubens Barrichello and Eddie Irvine were running the show in the season opener!

And then there's the constant noise about how Lewis Hamilton gets all the perks while Valtteri Bottas just gets pushed aside. Look, Mercedes at least allows some racing until a certain point in the championship, and Red Bull does the same. But pulling a stunt like this during the very first race? That’s a bold move, to say the least.

Well, everything comes full circle eventually. Karma will catch up with Vettel just like it did before.

I expect things to fall apart for him around the Barcelona race. Honestly, I'm not even sure he'll make it to the end of the season with Ferrari.

Looking back, Vettel's stint at Ferrari feels a lot like Alonso's did. Big promises, massive hype, looking great during testing... but then the actual results just completely tanked.
The thing is, much like Alonso, Vettel doesn't really have a realistic shot at jumping from Ferrari to a team that can actually win—unless Hamilton decides to call it quits after one more championship.

bluepuma9 said:Looking back, Vettel's stint at Ferrari feels quite similar to Alonso's. Huge promises, great potential, impressive testing numbers... yet the actual results were lackluster.
The issue for Vettel is that, much like Alonso, he realistically has zero chance of leaving Ferrari for a competitive seat—unless, perhaps, Lewis Hamilton retires after one more championship.

What do you mean, Alonso? Alonso is light years ahead of him! His drives for Ferrari against Red Bull remain some of the finest displays of driving from the last two decades.

Alonso is easily the best driver of this generation. It’s just a shame he’s such a headache; he causes friction within teams and constantly runs his head into a wall. Basically, his mouth moves faster than his brain, and he’s essentially sabotaged his own career.

But strictly speaking on pure driving talent, he and Vettel aren't even in the same league.

I wasn't trying to weigh their driving skills against one another; I was just looking at the results and the general state of Ferrari as a whole.

bluepuma9 said:I wasn't making any claims about their individual driving talent; I was strictly looking at the overall results and the general form of Ferrari.

That comparison doesn't even hold water. The Ferrari 2017 was a significantly superior car compared to the era when Alonso was behind the wheel. Just look at Kimi Räikkönen's results in that Alonso-era Ferrari versus what we saw during Vettel's tenure. Besides, Alonso beat Kimi Räikkönen far more convincingly than Vettel ever did, and Kimi Räikkönen was never truly a threat to him, whereas Vettel was just inconsistent.