Australia vs. USA - March 25, 2018

Nothing new happening out East...

Turned off the stream, I can't watch this anymore. 🤦

Honestly, I'm debating whether it's even worth getting out of bed tomorrow after qualifying like that...

It’s all just a repeat of last year—nothing has changed at all.

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northerncobra31 said:Too bad Valtteri Bottas crashed early on—it would've been pretty cool to see if he could actually close the gap to Lewis Hamilton.

Mercedes-AMG seems way faster than the rest of the field, I guess.

Honestly, Massa is basically Rain Man given how these conditions kept shifting from wet to damp to semi-dry to just dry.

Mercedes-AMG is absolutely crushing it.
I have no clue what happened with the Mercedes' first flying lap in the Third Qualifying Session.

Someone really needs to explain to Blažič that a millisecond is ten times shorter than a centisecond.
Apparently, he doesn't realize that a 34-hundredths gap is massive in Formula 1.

1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:21.164 ------------------- 2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:21.828 +0.664 --------- 3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:21.838 0.674 ----------

4 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:21.879 +0.715 ---- . 5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:22.152 +0.988 6 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:23.187 +2.023 7 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:23.339 +2.175 8 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:23.532 +2.368 9 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:23.577 +2.431 10 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 11 Fernando Alonso Mclaren 1:23.692 12 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:23.853 13 Sergio Perez Force India 1:24.005 14 Lance Stroll Williams 1:24.230 15 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:24.789 16 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1:24.532 17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:24.556 18 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1:24.636 19 Sergei Sirotkin Williams 1:24.922 20 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1:25.295

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It’s pretty obvious Vettel was just rough today. I mean—if you get absolutely wrecked by someone dealing with stomach issues like Kimi, it’s basically a sign you had a bad day.

It looks like Mercedes-Benz really overplayed their hand and completely blew it... 🙂
Now we finally see where things actually stand... 🙂

Man... what difference does it even make if at least the top three stay in the same lap.

Lewis Hamilton's lap was quite something; the car looks like it's practically glued to the track. That sequence through turns 11 and 12 was particularly impressive and fast. I suppose I expected more from Ferrari, but I guess they've at least secured their first shot at the start.

Richard Ross11 said:Mercedes-Benz totally blew it here. They went way too far with this one... 🙂
now we finally see where things actually stand... 🙂

Yeah, Mercedes-Benz is a smart outfit. Usually, they don't let it show this blatantly how much they're crushing the competition—it’s just bad for the sport and bad for their branding. But look, Lewis Hamilton is a beast. When you pair him with a dominant car, you can't really act surprised when he pulls off something like this.

Douglas Roberts49 said:Tralala, everything is exactly the same as last year.

Tapatalk correction...
Last year they were hanging within half a second most of the time—way under that mark. Now? They're struggling to stay within a full second. 🤦

Red Bull Racing might actually start messing with Ferrari's rhythm somewhere around the beginning of the European leg of the season.
Damn, they’re already right on their heels at the very start.

McLaren’s got the best chassis on the grid—period. Just saying.🤦
Good grief, they're lagging way behind Red Bull—it looks more like 1.5 seconds than even a full second... and I definitely didn't see them being 0.6 seconds behind that Renault coming. 😵

I have a feeling Lojzek might just lose his mind and pull a farewell tour in Barcelona...

Sean Barrett35 said:Hamilton is putting in some incredible laps; the car looks like it's glued to the track. That turn 11/12 sequence was especially impressive and fast. I was hoping for more from Ferrari, but I suppose they've already secured their first real shot at the start...

As long as Kimi Räikkönen doesn't start messing around with the settings on his steering wheel... 🙂

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.

mellowtiger83 said:You’re looking at it all wrong. Sure, the Mercedes-Benz is fast, but what you just witnessed was pure Lewis Hamilton. He put together a flawless lap that felt like watching Ayrton Senna back in his prime...

Ferrari is right on their heels this year, much closer than they were last season.

Don't get me wrong, Hamilton is incredible—no one is disputing that...
But honestly, even Hamiltonus wouldn't be able to pull off a lap like that if he were behind the wheel of a Ferrari... 🙂

Kimi always messes up his starts. I’m pulling for him, but honestly, I’m fully expecting him to settle for fourth after the first two turns.

And I'm with Tibi on this one—it's an absolute embarrassment for McLaren to be lagging that far behind the Renault car.

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.

McLaren should keep improving as the season progresses; they just need more seat time to find their rhythm.

Our resident forum prophet is a genius—now I’d love to hear his take on Sauber.

Anthony Baker84 said:Clearly Vettel was absolute trash today. I mean, if you get outplayed by someone dealing with "stomach issues," all signs point to you being garbage.

Not really...
When it comes down to those two, the USA is Kimi's playground.
Vettel just doesn't vibe with this track, while Kimi absolutely nails it...

Plus, Vettel has been a total mess all weekend in sector 1.
Great S2, decent S3, and usually a complete disaster in S1...
The real kicker is that he only had one decent S1 during qualifying (that first round of Q3), and then some kid messed up his S3 and everything went to hell.

You really need to have live timing pulled up. 😉 It looks like Fernando Alonso lost about 0.65 seconds in the first sector during his second Q2 run due to a mistake in T3; I guess he might have been the only one hitting the 1:22 mark otherwise.