2013 Canadian GP - Montreal (June 9)

This Ferrari is a total disaster; I’m honestly reaching a point where I can't tell if the car is an absolute dumpster fire or if the drivers are simply failing it!
If we’re stuck starting third on the grid every single race, we aren't seeing any real progress. As I’ve maintained before, Sebastian Vettel is going to pull away with an insurmountable lead after just a few rounds, and frankly, Fernando Alonso is the one to blame here. He spends all his time complaining about finger-pointing, only to be blindsided by his critics when he least expects it. 🤣

It’s pretty obvious at this point that Ferrari just can't seem to get those tires up to temperature... if you watch qualifying closely, you'll see how often Fernando Alonso has to sacrifice a lap just to try and get some heat into the rubber. That means he's usually hitting his peak on the third lap, which is a huge disadvantage since he's already losing at least a tenth of a second by then. And that's with air temperatures sitting around 68°F; I can't even imagine how much worse it gets when the rain starts coming down.

stormybadger8 said:P.S. what do you think, will they extend the grid just so Romain Grosjean actually starts 29th😬 or will they just stick him in 24th?🤷
It would honestly be hilarious if they just drew out the grid to 30 spots and put him in 29th.🤣

Tell me you're joking.😁
First of all, there are only 22 drivers on the grid.😛
The rule is simple: if the penalty exceeds the number of positions gained during qualifying, the driver is relegated to the very last spot—meaning Grosjean starts 22nd.
Stop shaking in your boots.😬

Otherwise, I’m expecting a damn wild race with two Safety Cars, endless overtaking, and Grosjean somehow fighting his way into the top five.☕

shadowhawk24 said:You've got to be kidding me. 😁
I was actually hoping for a real race—maybe two Safety Cars, plenty of overtakes, and Romain Grosjean finishing in the top five. ☕

Top five in the wall, or top five after getting penalized? 😁

Raymond Anderson4 said:It's obvious that Ferrari struggles to get those tires up to temperature... just watch qualifying and you'll see how often Alonso has to sacrifice his flying lap just to warm them up. That means he's hitting his peak in lap three, which is useless since he's already lost at least a tenth by then. And that’s with air temps around 70°F—imagine the nightmare when it actually starts raining...

True, but damn, that's exactly why they manage their tires so much better during the race.😁

I actually spent this morning pulling all the data from every race on F1LT, and it's crystal clear: certain cars just perform differently depending on track temperature...
Take Ferrari and Lotus, for example. They love it when it's around 95°F, give or take a few degrees...
But at 68°F? They're totally screwed because they simply can't get the rubber into the working window.

Interestingly enough, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-Benz hit their stride right when it hits that 95°F mark.😁
On the flip side, they kill it in low temperatures, and even when it gets scorching over 104°F, because once it gets that hot, the advantage Lotus and Ferrari have disappears... then everyone is equally miserable, so it doesn't really matter.🤣

shadowhawk24 said:Stop kidding me.😁

Oh, I'm definitely kidding.🤣
I just can't figure out if the people spreading rumors about Kimi joining Red Bull Racing are also joking, because if they replace him with Pastor Maldonado, 🙏 🤣

God, what a duo, Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado. 🙏
They should probably go ahead and buy another five semi-trucks full of spare parts and hire fifty more mechanics just to handle the constant repairs.😬

If they’re actually looking at bringing in Pastor Maldonado, then they must be in serious trouble with their current red car setup.
Plus, I can't see Romain Grosjean sticking around either, unless he suddenly produces proof of some massive
wire transfer to the Lotus bank account. Or whatever they decide to call themselves next season.

Jason Campbell70 said:Is he in the top five for making the podium, or just in the top five for getting penalized? 😁

🤣🤣
Go to hell.

Seriously. If you ask me... He won't be playing the role of the heavy bowling ball right at the start. If we end up with a bone-dry track, I honestly think he could secure a high finish. But hey, we'll just have to wait and see how it plays out. 😁

stormybadger8 said:Oh, please. I was obviously joking.🤣
I just can't wrap my head around it. Are they actually kidding me with these rumors about Kimi moving to Red Bull? As if that wouldn't be an absolute disaster. I mean, imagine him having to deal with Pastor Maldonado as his teammate. What a complete joke. 🙏🤣

God, I absolutely despise the way Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado drive. Honestly, what a complete disaster of a duo. 🙏
They really ought to go out and grab another four or five semi-trucks full of spare parts right this second. And while they're at it, why not just hire another fifty mechanics to actually turn the wrenches on these cars?😬

Look, here’s my take: if Lotus can actually prove they have the financial backing to stay afloat—and more importantly, if they can show they actually have the cash to cover his salary—then Kimi Räikkönen stays at Lotus. It's that simple. It all comes down to whether they can guarantee they won't go belly up mid-season.
Look, if they can't swing the massive paycheck and he ends up making the move to Red Bull Racing—which, let’s be honest, is a very real possibility when you look at it from a different angle—it could trigger a massive domino effect. We're talking about a significant number of driver seats opening up across the grid.
I’m not sure exactly how many ways this can play out, but I have to say—I’d love to see a scenario where things shift around and we end up seeing Felipe Massa driving for Lotus.

Tyler Bennett5 said:If they actually need Pastor Maldonado, then they are clearly in deep trouble.
And honestly, I doubt Grosjean stays either, unless he suddenly produces some massive
wire transfer to the Lotus bank account. Or whatever they decide to call themselves next year.

Grosjean is completely washed up.
And all this chatter about those Honda engines coming in 2015 and the possibility of powering Lotus? That’s basically just a farewell letter for Grosjean if it actually happens.

Kimi Räikkönen and Daniel Ricciardo both getting hit with 2-place grid penalties...

🤣

Jason Campbell70 said:What kind of geniuses have we got wandering off track here? 🍿

ruggedfox28 said:Kimi Räikkönen and Daniel Ricciardo are getting hit with 2-place grid penalties.

🤣

We'll find out soon enough. 😂

Tyler Bennett5 said:If they’re actually looking at hiring Pastor Maldonado, then they must be in some serious trouble.
And honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Romain Grosjean ends up out the door too, unless he suddenly finds a way to make a massive
deposit into the Lotus bank account. Or whatever on earth they decide to call themselves next season.

I mean, let's be real—Lotus has managed to pull off the biggest financial sinkhole in the history of Formula 1.

ruggedfox28 said:Kimi Räikkönen and Daniel Ricciardo have been handed two-place grid penalties

🤣

Good grief... what a ridiculous call. A warning should have been enough for this. Throwing them back like that just seems unnecessary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNvFOzBUZro

Speaking from my little corner of the McLaren camp—and I mean this with total conviction—we’re going to be the ones laughing when we finally pull this off http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNvFOzBUZro

But honestly? It's probably all for nothing. Total waste of breath. ☕

stormybadger8 said:Sure, you can think whatever you want🤣

Anyway, looking at that first lap on fresh tires—Sebastian Vettel actually clocked the best time through sectors one and two...
Mark Webber had an excellent first sector, but his second was a bit weaker...
Lewis Hamilton put down a solid first and an outstanding second...

The three of them were basically grouped within about 0.200s of each other, with Sebastian Vettel leading, Webber in second, and Lewis Hamilton in third..
And just to add a little detail—through Qualifying 1, Qualifying 2, and Qualifying 3, Vettel was consistently pulling ahead by roughly 0.5-0.8s in the third sector, which happened to be where Webber struggled most among the trio...

They still had another two laps left—maybe even three, I don't feel like digging through the footage right now

Please, just don't try to tell me it was impossible or that they couldn't have caught him—seriously, please don't😁😁


ps. By the way, thanks a ton for all those numbers you laid out; they’re actually great to look at, honestly—it's a total data dump, damn☕

😎 & 😎

pps. And it just hit me—Coulthard mentioned maybe three or four minutes before the end of qualifying that the grid was set, the weather wasn't going to shift much more, and the third sector was a complete mess

stormybadger8 said:If you look at the numbers—Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, Valtteri Bottas, and Nico Rosberg were all hitting S1 times around 24.7-25.0 and S2 in the 27.9-28.2 range.
Then you have the crew with Jean-Éric Vergne and Adrian Sutil sitting at 25.0-25.5 for S1 and 28.3-28.8 for S2.
And then there's the Kimi Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso group, dragging behind with S1 in the 26.x range and S2 somewhere in the 29.x territory.

So, honestly, shouldn't we just expect the faster drivers to actually finish ahead? It’s basic math at this point...
Though, who knows—maybe our "maestro" was just playing around, warming up for some mythical final sector where he magically pulls two or three seconds on everyone else...

🤣🤣😂

shadowhawk24 said:Not sure how many options we've got here, but I’m really just sitting around hoping things take an unexpected turn. Imagine if Felipe Massa actually ends up at Lotus.

🤣🤣🤣
I mean, come on. Who in their right mind would pair Felipe Massa with anyone? Any combination involving him is just a bad call.😂
Maybe this works if Ferrari Lotus drops $300 million to grab Felipe Massa... provided Kimi Räikkönen coughs up another $200 million just to stay at Lotus instead of driving for Ferrari. Then they could just slot Romain Grosjean or Vitantonio Liuzzi into that Ferrari seat instead of Massa.😬🤣

shadowhawk24 said:Not happening—though I wouldn't mind seeing some crazy twist where Felipe Massa ends up at Lotus.

If Massa doesn't lock down a seat at Ferrari for next year, his Formula 1 career is basically over. Honestly, I’d be shocked if he even landed a spot at Caterham—even if he actually had the cash to back it up...

The 2008 Canadian Grand Prix... I was just watching the replay on ESPN+ a little bit ago.

Robert Kubica 😢

It’s like this lingering idea stuck in my head from back when Robert Kubica was being linked to Ferrari right after his stellar debut season with Renault. To be fair, Felipe Massa was in much better shape back then, too, but even at that time, I wasn't exactly sold on the idea of Massa driving for Renault.

@Nathan Jones98—I don't know, maybe there’s a spot out there somewhere, similar to what Barichel found, where he could grind out a few more seasons in Formula 1. But honestly, with this massive influx of "pay drivers" lately, landing a seat is getting harder by the second unless you're walking in with a mountain of cash.