Australian Grand Prix (Los Angeles - Central Park) 03.26.2017

look at how these absolute jokers are shaking on the edge

Honestly, Renault is just absolutely stunning to me

We’ve got maybe 24 hours of hope left for this season—though, frankly, things aren't looking great right now. 🤷

darkmarlin16 said:Honestly, Renault is just absolutely stunning to me

Not anymore. 😁

vividlynx68 said:We’ve got maybe 24 hours of hope left for this season—though, frankly, things aren't looking great right now. 🤷

It's basically over...
Right now, it looks like a repeat of 2015. Mercedes is half a second ahead of Ferrari, Ferrari is 0.3-0.5 seconds ahead of Red Bull... everyone else is just stuck in the rearview mirror.

Hamilton would stroll into the title easier than ever...
Seems like Valtteri is so slow that Ferrari might actually give him a run for his money, but they won't touch Hamilton.
If Mercedes stays reliable, Hamilton could easily pull off a perfect 20/20 podium run and clean up wins all season.

And there it is, once again—the brutal reality of it all...🍿
But whatever, let's just sit tight and wait for qualifying.

coastalwolf6 said:Not anymore. 😁

That guy with number 27 is just dreaming, if you ask me 😁

Honestly, I’d much rather see Magnussen paired up with Nico

vividlynx68 said:We’ve got maybe 24 hours of hope left for this season—though, frankly, things aren't looking great right now. 🤷

It looks totally expected—like, it's so predictably predictable that it couldn't possibly be any more expected than this.

darkmarlin16 said:It looks totally expected—like, it's so predictably predictable that it couldn't possibly be any more expected than this.

But now there's one curveball...
The STR looks damn fast, maybe even catching up to the Red Bull...
Actually, Carlos Sainz's race pace was right up there with Ferrari's, maybe even better than Red Bull, which is pretty weird 🤔

If it wasn't some weird fuel load trick, it means Renault has improved drastically. If that's the case, it's bizarre that Red Bull is lagging this much...
And if Renault is actually stepping up, then Red Bull might actually hunt down Mercedes during the season...

The only thing I'm sure of is that Ferrari is screwed again. At this rate, Sergio is probably already in an ambulance on his way to the ER if it's true that they blew another hundred million this season instead of catching Mercedes...

If Renault is actually hitting their stride, then I’m really crossing my fingers that the factory squad steps up too, because honestly, I am dying to see Hulkenberg standing on that podium at some point this season!

Damn, I just pulled a grueling 12-hour shift yesterday and had to sleep through the entire night, only to find myself dreaming about Formula 1 before dawn. Then I wake up, and what do I see? Hamilton absolutely crushing it during the first practice session again. :/

I don't get how Mercedes managed to pull even further ahead...
Logic dictates they had virtually zero room left to squeeze any more performance out of the engine side 🤔
Then you’ve got this total paradox where the Toro Rosso is actually showing better race pace than both Ferrari and Red Bull 🤔

Kyle Edwards5 said:I don't get how Mercedes managed to pull even further ahead...
Logic dictates they had virtually zero room left to squeeze any more performance out of the engine side 🤔
Then you’ve got this total paradox where the Toro Rosso is actually showing better race pace than both Ferrari and Red Bull 🤔

Mercedes has some seriously bizarre pace right now. It honestly feels like they're sandbagging, at least during qualifying...
For some nonsensical reason, they're sitting just 0.5 seconds ahead of Ferrari in qualifying mode, yet they're nearly a full second faster in race trim. 😵

It looks to me like Red Bull is either hiding something or they completely botched their setup. 🤷
It's also incredibly weird that they're this far behind Ferrari while being so close in STR. There’s zero logic in them trailing Ferrari more than STR trails them in qualifying—and there's even less logic in STR having better race pace. 😵

I'm genuinely worried that once Mercedes actually decides to floor it in Q3, we're in for a disaster. Like, Hamilton might end up over a second ahead of everyone else. Sure, maybe Bottas catches up within a second as the season goes on, but the rest? Unlikely. 🙂

As for Ferrari and Red Bull, I don't see why they'd bother hiding their speed. From what I saw, they were both pushing it to the absolute limit. After all, Kimi and Max were flying off the track, which is a pretty clear sign they were going full throttle.

So, they basically held back the throttle at the start/finish line....

Then again, these cars aren't anywhere near the performance levels they should be hitting right now. Anything could still happen...

I see Ferrari announced they ran race simulations, so it’s entirely possible they could be fighting for pole position during qualifying tomorrow. 🙂

They probably expected way more, so they're likely feeling pretty let down, but yeah, they actually could have been in the hunt for pole position

Ferrari will likely be in the mix for Pole tomorrow, though Hamilton looks absolutely terrifying out there—and I don't mean the Mercedes, I mean Hamilton himself. It’s as if Bottas isn't even driving the same car.

Rosberg's true caliber is being proven once again.

Sam Roberts8 said:I see Ferrari announced they ran race simulations, so it’s entirely possible they could be fighting for pole position during qualifying tomorrow. 🙂

As far as I can tell, everyone has done some version of long-run simulations during their practice sessions, except maybe McLaren, who are probably running on some specialized training mode.

mellowtiger83 said:Ferrari will likely be in the mix for Pole tomorrow, though Hamilton looks absolutely terrifying out there—and I don't mean the Mercedes, I mean Hamilton himself. It’s as if Bottas isn't even driving the same car.

Rosberg's true caliber is being proven once again.

Exactly—now everyone is finally going to see what Nico Rosberg was actually about.

And let's be real, Ferrari is sandbagging—and they're doing a damn good job of it. ☕

jadeseal7 said:Exactly—now everyone is finally going to see what Nico Rosberg was actually about.

And let's be real, Ferrari is sandbagging—and they're doing a damn good job of it. ☕

It seems to me that Ferrari is just straight-up faking it. Let's just wait for qualifying tomorrow; there isn't any other way to know. We aren't any smarter than we were after practice.

The only thing that interests me is that Honda has clearly sorted out a massive chunk of their issues. My little Alonso-Perez bet doesn't feel quite as safe as it did before.😁