Australia vs. USA - March 25, 2018

swifttiger75 said:That’s actually part of the reason—amongst everything else we've talked about. It’s just that after seeing how things went during FP and grabbing pole, everyone figured once they closed the gap and headed to the pits after Kimi, it was basically a done deal. Well, think again! It's just like that rabbit in the old fable!

Yeah, you could pretty much assume the folks over at Haas might pull a double blunder—like having Grosjean park it in a way that triggers a VSC followed by a full deployment... it's just one of those wild sequences of events, and man, that German driver barely scraped the win. Honestly, I'm looking forward to some serious Mercedes dominance this year—I can't wait to see it unfold.

Roger Wright94 said:I honestly think this is a fireable offense for someone over at Mercedes.
Those wheel issues at Haas and stuff like that? Nothing compared to this. To mess up something they literally just got on Friday! Seriously?! 😵
Where did Hamilton's arrogance go?
How is he even going to face the press now with those half-baked jokes of his?
ha ha: ha ha:

I just hope you guys don't start whining again like you did after the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Well, at least we got to see a few overtakes, even if the race was pretty dull in that department...

Magnusen Max
Rick Hulk
Awesome Max
Ricc Max
Hulk Max
...

anything else I missed? 🤔

Man, Ric started out dealing with a penalty, but he still managed to pull ahead of Nanda and ended up breathing down Kimi's neck and putting massive pressure on Ferrari.

I gotta say, I was thinking to myself when they kept pushing Max—expecting The Dutchman to make a mistake—that it just looked impossible to even get close, let alone pass. So, seeing him spin out didn't really shock me... honestly, I thought it would be even worse, like he’d wreck the car completely and DNF. It actually turned out okayish since he finished 6th, only 10 points behind Hamilton, who I'm pretty sure is going to be his main title rival. Still, I think Red Bull is faster than Ferrari. And another thing—I knew that after the SC, nobody was going to overtake anyone in the top six because these cars are just too fast... they rely way too much on aerodynamics, and there's zero chance of getting close even with three DRS zones, especially on a track like this. The FIA really needs to do something about these cars. If it wasn't for Haas messing things up, the race would have been nothing more than a glorified parade showing how fast the cars can go without any actual overtaking... just a procession.

Roger Wright94 said:What happened to Hamilton's arrogance?
How's he going to play nice with the media now with those half-baked jokes of his?
kme: kme:

Don't sweat it, he'll be back before you know it...
The Bear is just freaking fast... way faster than Ferrari, and let's face it, Lewis basically has the title locked up already...
Ferrari and Red Bull are noticeably slower than The Bear, plus Bottas is a joke and he's already staring down some major penalties...
You get three power units, but only two sets of electronics and two battery components, and Bottas is already on his last set by the second race...
So even if Bottas actually showed up, he’s hardly a threat—he basically blew his own season during qualifying...

It would be a massive shock if they managed to screw Hamilton over that badly or if he somehow messes up enough to lose the championship. Seems impossible to me...

There's no way Ferrari outdevelops The Bear this season, so just forget about it...

If The Bear gets sloppy, maybe Red Bull has a shot, since they're definitely getting better as the season goes on...
And honestly, even now, FL Ricco's pace is surprising. 🤔
That would mean Red Bull might actually be faster than not just Ferrari, but maybe even The Bear during the race phase...

Lewis was chasing Vettel, but he wasn't anywhere near Ricco's FL...
And Kimi couldn't shake Ricco at all...

Basically, if Max hadn't been playing dummy again, Red Bull would've had a driver on the podium. Max had everything he needed today, maybe even a shot at winning...
With a decent start, he could have easily jumped Vettel, who didn't have the best launch, and then he'd be fighting off Kimi instead of slowing down...
Even without that, he could have comfortably sat right behind Vettel until the VSC, which would've gained him at least two or three spots if he'd followed Vettel's strategy—especially since the Red Bulls were on SS...
I'm pretty sure if Ricco had started behind the Ferraris, he would've been on the podium, if not winning, given how he drove today. He would've either gained positions at the start or at least held them, rather than letting Haas pass him like Max did...

So, Rick actually managed to get ahead of Nando at the start.

It’s Prestigel for Max Magnussen, Ric Hulkenberg (which is honestly the best nickname of the day...), then terrible Max, Ric Max, Hulk Max, and little Charles Leclerc following up Lance Stroll’s nonsense 👍

Max really messed up back on Saturday—made that little mistake during qualifying that cost him pole position. If he’d just started second instead, the whole race would've played out differently...

Drew Bennett68 said:There were overtakes

Yeah, about two of them.

Over 50 laps with three DRS zones each.

Yikes.

Pure agony mixed with pure ecstasy... (edit: Sky)

Look, it’s not like Mercedes screwed Hamilton over; Bottas was the one who actually messed things up.
If Bottas had managed to grab at least fourth, Vettel would've been forced into the pits just to avoid slipping down to fourth himself, and he wouldn't have been stuck circling the track indefinitely just praying for a SC.

Then again, I don't really get all this talk about Kimi being sacrificed. If the VSC hadn't happened, Vettel would've ended up sitting 6 or 7 seconds behind Kimi anyway, and honestly, the odds of seeing a VSC were pretty slim.
So, calling the faster driver in to prevent the guy behind him from pulling off an undercut? That's just solid strategy. If things had gone the other way and Haas hadn't totally blown it again, everyone would be complaining about how they let Vettel through even though he was in third.

Magnussen jumped Max right at the start. It was a total mess—terrible Max and Ric both blew past him because he spun out... I can't quite remember how clean Hulkenberg's race actually ended up being, though. Could someone refresh my memory? I'm a bit lost here...

stormybadger8 said:She’d bounce back quickly without any trouble...
The Bear is a damn fast car... way faster than Ferrari, and the reality is that Lujo has practically secured the title already...
Ferrari and RB are noticeably slower than the Bear, and Valtteri Bottas is just struggling, plus he's already facing serious penalties...
They're allowed 3 PUs, but only 2x (CE) electronics and 2x (ES) batteries, and Bottas is already on his last set of electronics and batteries by the second race...
So even if Bottas actually shows some talent, it's hard to see him being any kind of threat; he basically blew his season during qualifying...

It would be incredibly strange if they managed to screw Hamilton over that much, or if he messes up so badly that he loses the championship—it feels like an impossible mission to me...

Ferrari definitely won't have better development throughout the season than the Bear, so you can forget about that...

If the Bear gets sloppy, maybe RB will have a shot, because RB will surely keep getting better and better as the season progresses...
And even now, that FL from Ricco was surprising 🤔
That would imply RB might be significantly faster, not just than Ferrari, but perhaps even than the Bear during the race phase...

Lujo was chasing Vettel, but he wasn't anywhere near that Riccov FL...
And Kimi just couldn't shake Ricco...

Basically, if Max hadn't been acting like an idiot again, RB would have absolutely had a driver on the podium. Max had all the conditions today, maybe even for a win...
Because with a decent start, he could have easily jumped Vettel, who didn't start great, and then he ended up with Kimi breathing down his neck, which slowed him down...
Even without that, he could have easily stayed right behind Vettel until the VSC, which would have gained him at least 2 or 3 positions if he'd followed Vettel's tactic—which looked totally doable since the RBs were on SS...
I'm pretty sure that if Ricc had started behind Ferrari, he likely would have been on the podium, if not won outright, given how he drove today. He would have certainly gained positions at the start or at least held them, rather than losing them to Haas like Max did...

Come on, don't talk nonsense. Max didn't stand a chance against Ferrari, and don't even get me started on Mercedes...
The combination of Mercedes-Hamilton + party mode is currently the absolute peak, and only Ferrari has the knowledge and resources to challenge them...

neonfox65 said:Magnussen totally jumped Max at the start. Terrible Max and Ric both blew past him because he just spun right out of it. Honestly, I can't even remember if Hulkenberg had a clean race or what, my brain was totally fried—can someone refresh my memory?

And who’s actually to blame for Verstappen spinning out like that?

stormybadger8 said:And what kind of brainless strategy was that to screw him over? 🤣🤣🤣
Kimi's strategy actually beat Vettel's; they would have messed him up if Vettel had pitted first, because then Vettel would have almost certainly undercut him. ☕

Here is what Kimi thinks about that "brilliant" strategy the Ferrari masterminds pulled on him:

It just blew up entirely on its own without any outside help. Pure pressure failure, plain and simple. No excuses needed here. 👍

darkmarlin16 said:And who's actually responsible for the ferstapti move?

Well, he is—but honestly, what does it matter? The guys who did the hard work and got boxed out didn't get the win, so you gotta agree...

If you look at the logic, there were about twenty overtakes happening just on the Haas cars.

Absolute geniuses.

stormytiger4 said:He just spun out on his own—no excuses, no weird circumstances. Just pure pressure. No one was pushing him... it was all him. 👍

Max was really the only one out there testing the limits and taking those risks. Maybe he shouldn't have, maybe he should have... it is what it is, we move on.