Valencia Grand Prix - June 26, 2011

Absolute killer day spent crushing BBQ, cold beers, and hanging with the crew

So, what’s the word on the race? Anything new 🤔
But man, they seriously screwed Red Bull with that ban, just totally pissed me off... 🙄

mistybear87 said:Monaco is actually the only track out there that doesn't pay a single cent toward hosting the race☕

Just a quick follow-up on 😁 this

Actually, Monaco brings in quite a significant amount from the advertising rights tied to the track during the Grand Prix weekend itself.

Watching the race, I couldn't help but conclude that even Bernie's magic spray wouldn't have saved anyone on this track...

hollowgull5 said:had an absolutely killer day filled with BBQ, cold beers, and great friends

nothing really new to report regarding the race 🤔
though man, they really did Red Bull dirty with that ban on getting aggressive, didn't they? 🙄

as for me, I ended up wasting my entire Sunday afternoon stuck in front of a pretty dull race.
😢
Honestly, though, Vettel's win was the one thing that made the time spent watching actually worth it.

🙂🙂

It’s actually pretty wild—even if Alonso or Hamilton swept every single race left this season while Vettel just finished second in all of them, Vettel would still take the title.😲

Even if Webber or Button won everything from here on out and Vettel was stuck in second place every time, he’d still end up tied with whoever the potential champ was. Honestly, I really expected him to pull off some championships one of these days, but apparently, I was dreaming.😲

darkmarlin16 said:Did you happen to notice that they didn't penalize the old man for crossing the line while exiting the pits?😁

And let’s not forget that old man's delusion—he seems to think his car is painted bright red just because he wants people to move out of his way. As if anyone else is actually going to budge.😁😁

stormybadger8 said:It’s actually pretty wild when you think about it—you could have someone like Alonso or Hamilton just steamrolling every single race through the end of the season, but if Vettel is sitting there consistently grabbing those other podium spots, he’s still the one walking away with the championship title. It’s just how it works.😲

Look, even if Webber or Button managed to sweep every single race left on the calendar and Vettel just finished running second in all of them, he still wouldn't take the title—he’d just end up tied with whoever actually won it, which is honestly ridiculous. I mean, jeez, I really went into this season expecting him to finally clinch a championship one of these days, but man, reality is hitting me hard right now.😲

People were running those exact same kinds of numbers back when Alonso was tearing it up in 2006, too.😳 I mean, let's be real, once they finally axed those mass dampers, the whole championship became an absolute nail-biter right up until the final lap.😁
I mean, think about it—back in the day, the game only gave us two drivers from two different teams to work with, but now they’ve bumped that up to at least three, which basically means the potential point dispersion is way higher than it used to be.😠

And who exactly was giving Alonso a fighting chance at the title last year? Because if I recall correctly, he actually had his fate entirely in his own hands heading into that final race. 🙂

Honestly, looking at what Alonso is doing this year given how much of a junker that car actually is, it’s nothing short of legendary. Real drivers—the actual elite tier—always find a way to shine when things aren't exactly tip-top, you know? It’s easy to look good when you've got a rocket ship, but pulling magic out of a mediocre machine? That's where the real talent shows up.
I’m honestly just sitting here waiting for the inevitable plot twist, you know? I really want to see how Vettel handles himself once he isn't being carried by the absolute beast of a car he's got right now. It'll be the ultimate litmus test to see if he can actually drive when the machinery isn't doing all the heavy lifting for him.☕

darkmarlin16 Joshua Doyle11 said:So, looking back at the stats, Sebastian Vettel managed to snag 15 wins and 21 pole positions, which honestly just goes to show how much of a beast he was when he actually had the car to match his talent.

The Race Starting Grid

Italy 2007 ------------------------------------ 1
China 2009 -------------------------------------- 1
United Kingdom 2009 ---------------------------- 1
Japan 2009 ------------------------------------ 1
Abu Dhabi 2009 -------------------------------- 2
Malaysia 2010 ---------------------------------- 3
The 2010 European Grand Prix in San Diego... let's get this party started!
Japan 2010 ------------------------------------ 1
Brazil 2010 ------------------------------------- 2
Abu Dhabi 2010 -------------------------------- 1
Australia 2011 --------------------------------- 1
Malaysia 2011 ---------------------------------- 1
Turkey 2011 ------------------------------------ 1
Spain 2011 -------------------------------- 2
Monaco 2011 ----------------------------------- 1

It’s pretty freaking obvious that if you look at his record, he basically snagged every single one of those wins while starting from the front row, with that one outlier in Malaysia where he had to fight his way up from third.

Now that is actually pretty interesting. 🙂

Here’s a little something to help you compare Fernando's stats. 🙂

Fernando Canadian 24 Aug 2003 Renault 1
Malaysia 20 Mar 2005 Renault 1
Bahrain 03 Apr 2005 Renault 1
San Marino 24 Apr 2005 Renault 2
European 29 May 2005 Renault 6
French 03 Jul 2005 Renault 1
German 24 Jul 2005 Renault 3
China 16 Oct 2005 Renault 1
Bahrain 12 Mar 2006 Renault 4
Australia 02 Apr 2006 Renault 3
Spain 14 May 2006 Renault 1
Monaco 28 May 2006 Renault 1
United Kingdom 11 Jun 2006 Renault 1
Canadian 25 Jun 2006 Renault 1
Japan 08 Oct 2006 Renault 5
Malaysia 08 Apr 2007 McLaren 2
Monaco 27 May 2007 McLaren 1
European 22 Jul 2007 McLaren 2
Italy 09 Sep 2007 McLaren 1
Singapore 28 Sep 2008 Renault 15
Japan 12 Oct 2008 Renault 4
Bahrain 14 Mar 2010 Ferrari 3
German 25 Jul 2010 Ferrari 2
Italy 12 Sep 2010 Ferrari 1
Singapore 26 Sep 2010 Ferrari 1
Korea 24 Oct 2010 Ferrari 3

F1 Race History
I can see this race has sparked an absolutely massive amount of interest when it comes to everyone jumping in to comment 😬

I'm not quite sure I follow what you're getting at here.

What exactly is Vettel's fault for being the fastest man on the grid and consistently locking out pole position?
How is it his fault that nobody can catch him once the lights go out?

Besides, Vettel is about to turn 24.
I honestly find it exhausting when people fixate on one tiny slice of a driver's career and then try to use it as some kind of definitive proof for their entire argument.

Raymond Anderson4 said:I honestly have no clue what you're even trying to get at here.

What’s Vettel supposed to do about being the fastest guy on the grid and bagging pole position every single time?
And what's his fault if nobody can even touch him once the lights go out?

Look, I'm saying he's got the fastest car on the planet right now.😛

I'm not sitting here bashing his driving, because let's be real, his performance is absolutely insane. I'm just saying I want to see him actually dominate when he isn't sitting in the best damn car on the track.😉

Real class shows up when you're struggling in a subpar machine—think about how Fernando squeezed every ounce of potential out of those cars back in the 2008 and 2009 seasons. To me, seeing a driver pull miracles out of a non-winner is where the real legends are made, which is why I value that so much (and hey, Vettel did a killer job back in the Toro Rosso days too).

Just so we're clear, I'm not trying to take away from any of Vettel's wins by saying this. ☕
Every winning streak eventually hits a wall; it's just the Law of large numbers. Look at Schumacher in 2004, he absolutely crushed everyone, but then 2005 hit and everything changed completely.

You're going to see plenty of drivers winning races in inferior cars eventually.
Sometimes they'll even grab a first-place finish, but usually, it’s just a fluke of circumstance—maybe the guy ahead breaks down, the weather turns, or a safety car comes out.

Every single champion out there won because they managed to pair elite driving talent with an elite machine.

Even back in 2004, Fernando Alonso was already an incredible driver, but he couldn't secure a title because his car simply wasn't competitive enough.
Then in 2005, he finally got his hands on a top-tier car, and suddenly, there it was—Alonso becomes a world champion.

So, why wasn't Mark Webber performing at that same level five, six, seven, or eight years ago?

Sebastian really proved what he was capable of back in 2008, when he put in those standout performances driving for Toro Rosso.

To be honest, I find modern Formula 1 a bit frustrating sometimes. Take the final sector in Miami, for example, where Red Bull is absolutely flying—they're literally half a second faster than anyone else.
It doesn't matter how much raw talent you have or how phenomenal your skills are; in a situation like that, Red Bull is just going to pull away. You can sit there and watch them go, but that's about it. There's no talking your way out of it... the car is just untouchable.

man, this kid is just talking nonsense and trying to make excuses for Fernando... blah blah blah 👎
the topic is the Miami race, not some deep dive into who did what and why 😉

hollowgull5 said:man, what a joke, just making excuses for Alonso and all that nonsense blah blah blah 👎
the whole point here is the race in Miami, not some endless debate about who did what and when or why 😉

I’m not out here trying to defend him or anything☕😉🙂

darkmarlin16 said:I've got absolutely no excuse for him☕😉🙂

nah, I definitely do 🙄
man, it feels like every other second someone’s whining about this or that or whatever bullshit they're pulling
if you can't just take it on the chin like an adult, then you're just being a total wimp... 🤮

Honestly, there’s barely any interest in chatting about this one, which pretty much tells you just how much of a snooze-fest the race was.

By the time we wrapped up the VN Canada, we hit 92 pages and over 1,800 posts...
It’s like everything just went quiet once we hit sixteen...

Even Lewis Hamilton didn't give us much to actually talk about here...

Both Jaime Alguersuari and Adrian Sutil managed to snag some points, which is honestly a pretty solid result for them.🙂
I'm not exactly sure how thrilled the folks over at Renault are about Nick Heidfeld just scraping by in tenth place.🤷

Kamui ended up sitting in 15th.😢
As for Williams, they're basically a walking disaster right now.

I guess I’m just having another one of those late-night deep dives, just me and my thoughts in the middle of the night.☕😁

Driver standings following the VN Europe race

Sebastian Vettel leads the pack with 186 points, followed by Mark Webber and Jenson Button both sitting at 109. Then you've got Lewis Hamilton right behind them with 97, and Fernando Alonso with 87... and then way down in the rearview mirror, there's Felipe Massa trailing behind with only 42 points.

Joshua Doyle11 said:Just continuing my little late-night monologue here... talking to myself in the middle of the night...☕😁

What is there even to discuss about this...?

Man, what a snooze fest of a race... Honestly, it feels like we’re seeing more and more of these technical loopholes—these "Tilkedromas," if you will—and I suspect they'll only become more common in the future (well, at least as long as Bernie is still calling the shots)... It’s a bit disheartening when you realize the championship fight is basically a foregone conclusion. I mean, Sebastian Vettel is a world champion, plain and simple, and Red Bull is clearly the class of the field for the constructors' title right now... Since the winner seems to be a settled matter, I can only hope that the upcoming races offer something actually worth watching—you know, some real substance? I’m craving that kind of intensity we saw back in Barcelona and Canada, where the battle for the top spot went right down to the wire, full of aggressive overtakes and actual wheel-to-wheel drama on the track... And, of course, I'm still holding out hope for those maiden victories from Kobayashi and Sauber in the Mercedes... 😍)

darkmarlin16 said:I'm saying he has the fastest car😛

Look, I’m not bashing his performance—it’s undeniably fantastic. I just want to see him win when he isn't sitting in the best car on the grid.😉

Real talent shows up when the car is mediocre, like how Fernando handled things back in '08 and '09. Seeing someone squeeze every drop of potential out of a non-winning car is what I value most. To me, those wins are basically mini-titles. (Even Sebastian Vettel did a killer job in the Toro Rosso.)

Just to be clear, I'm not trying to downplay any of Vettel's wins here.☕
Every winning streak eventually hits a wall. Law of large numbers. Michael Schumacher absolutely crushed everyone in 2004, then 2005 was a totally different story.

Hey darkmarlin16, let's be real: Vettel can't win anything unless he's in a PP. He wins them in such a massive streak that I honestly can't even remember the last time he didn't start from pole.🤣

And honestly, it's not just about the car. Look at Mark Webber—he was incredible in qualifying his whole career, yet he always ended up trailing way behind Vettel.☕

Vettel has a great car, sure, but he also drives like a beast.☕

As for Fernando, I'm not entirely sold. Sure, he has those otherworldly races—that one in Miami was easily his best this season in my eyes—but Vettel just looks more consistent than him right now.🙂

Can someone give me a quick rundown of what happened with my grandpa? 🙂