2019 Bahrain Grand Prix (March 29-31)

Look, these aren't just excuses. You can't blame the car forever. This time around, he straight-up messed up on the track. If he hadn't spun out, he would've been standing on that podium right now.

The guy peaked way too early and now he’s in a total freefall. Plus, that stretch where Red Bull Racing had such a massive advantage with the most dominant car in modern Formula 1 history definitely casts some doubt on his actual driving talent.

mellowtiger83 said:Guys, I don't know about you, but I'm starting to feel my age. Watching this new era of Formula 1, maybe it’s just a generational thing, or my mindset, or how I was raised, or just old habits. Who knows!

Lewis Hamilton winning isn't even a thrill for me anymore—there's zero excitement there. I'm actually finding myself rooting for Sebastian Vettel more and more. I even threw Charles Leclerc on my avatar just because, though honestly, that clown can still surprise me despite being an idiot by nature. That's just how it is.

Man, the energy is gone. No more passion, no more heated debates on the forum! Suddenly, I’m finding other racing series way more interesting.
Am I losing it? I feel like I'm missing something from the past, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is. It's hard to define.

I mostly hang out here for the colorful characters like Pilatus (that clown), ruggedhawk20 (Bistranski), Tbf (the badger), darkmarlin16 (the maniac), Ale (the kid), neonfox65 (the one who fell on their head at birth), and stuff like that.

Who actually cares about these Formula 1 drivers anyway? These top five guys are so good now that arguing about who's better is pointless. Any one of them could beat anyone else, or lose to anyone.
So go ahead, keep wasting your breath on nonsense.

Damn, you finally grew up.😲

For me, it started back around 2012...🤣
Hell, 2013 was boring as hell. Honestly, even 2011 was getting on my nerves, but at least 2012 happened, and that was 🙏

And truth be told, I don't miss the "good old days" of Formula 1 all that much, damn it...
What I miss are Pat, Ferrari, Paški, Rain, Joz@, the FIA, Maxyim, the old crew, techno, Rover, Starks, Minnie, Zlica, and Sukky, who I used to fight with like cats and dogs.🤣
And a whole bunch of others... that's what I miss, and I miss it big time.😢

God, those were the days.🙏
Now, unfortunately, things have gone downhill. Remember when we'd hang out in that legendary "Let them spam" thread and drop hundreds of posts in a single night?😁

And screw celebrating Vettel's titles; that's garbage. It was way cooler being the crazy fan rooting for Vettel back in 2007 through 2010.😁
By 2011, it was already stupid and boring, constantly shouting "I told you so!" 😁 "I told you so!!!"
It's just not fun anymore. It really isn't.
The first time is the first time; everything else is just a pale imitation.

Richard Walker38 said:It wasn't just bad luck. You can't blame the team forever. This time he straight up messed up on track; if he hadn't spun, he would've been on the podium.

It’s more than just a minor slip-up...
If these mistakes were rare, I wouldn't care. But they aren't. They pull this kind of nonsense constantly—sometimes small, sometimes big, but always in a cluster during a single race.

With Ferrari, their "normal" strategy is basically going an entire weekend without making a massive, spectacular blunder. It should be the other way around.
Just like how things work at Mercedes. ☕

Sure, Mercedes messes up occasionally, but generally, they get the job done right...
Meanwhile, Ferrari consistently screws up, and only every once in a while do they actually perform properly.

Plus, lately, Sebastian Vettel has clearly lost his edge and seems frustrated by everything. Instead of being careful about how they handle him, the team keeps pushing his buttons and getting on his nerves even though they know he's already wound tight. Real genius move there... sounds like a recipe for success.
If everyone was on Toto Wolff's payroll instead of being direct competition, maybe things would be different.

There's zero doubt that the spin was a huge mistake by Vettel himself.
But there's also zero doubt that Ferrari keeps pushing him into these situations, and they certainly aren't doing anything to help him stay cool, calm, and collected.

Who was that just absolutely scraping the floor, someone from Red Bull Racing ??

And Williams didn't even leave a single spark behind, looks like they were barely running just so they wouldn't wreck the track surface 😁 🤦

But hey, having two cars die in the exact same lap has happened before. I'm pretty sure those Red Bull Racing cars bit the dust in the same lap last year 🤔

EDIT:

Yeah, Hartley and Pierre Gasly both went out in the same lap during the Russian Grand Prix
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Russian_Grand_Prix

It’s plain as day that the battle between Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton wouldn't have even happened if Ferrari had actually executed a coherent strategy, in my opinion.

Just how much time did Hamilton gain on Sebastian Vettel during that undercut?
I suspect the folks at Ferrari didn't quite grasp the time delta they were looking at, despite having both FP1 and FP2 to figure those numbers out.

mellowtiger83 said:It’s blindingly obvious that if they had actually pulled off some halfway decent tactics at Ferrari, we wouldn't have even seen a battle between Vettel and Hamilton in the first place!

I mean, seriously, how much time did Hamilton actually claw back from Vettel during that undercut?
I honestly suspect Ferrari didn't have a clue how much time they were gaining because they basically ignored everything they learned during FP1 and FP2.

You pretty much answered your own question right there.

fadedpanther51 said:@Tibi Just a layman's question here: is it actually possible to design a car or engine components so they can stay in high mode for longer? Sure, it's very likely the driver pushed too hard, but would everything be fine if he had just dialed back the power mode 2 or 3 laps before the issue even popped up?

Only at Ferrari would they use telemetry to claim exactly how hard he was pushing.
If that's the case, what are we supposed to say about Valtteri Bottas winning by such a massive margin in Australia? What was that then—just running the engine at absolute maximum capacity the whole time?

mellowtiger83 said:It's blindingly obvious that if Ferrari had actually pulled off some decent tactics, we wouldn't have even seen a fight between Vettel and Hamilton!

How much time did Hamilton actually gain on Vettel during that undercut?
I honestly suspect the Ferrari crew didn't realize just how much time they were gaining, especially since they had both FP1 and FP2 to figure those numbers out.

It really comes down to whether he would've ended up stuck behind someone if he had been the first one to pit.

mellowtiger83 said:It’s blindingly obvious—if Ferrari hadn't run such nonsensical tactics, there wouldn't have even been a fight between Vettel and Hamilton!

How much time did Hamilton actually gain on Vettel during the undercut?
I seriously doubt Ferrari had any clue how much time they were giving up, considering they had FP1 and FP2 to figure that out.

Doesn't matter how much he gained; the strategy was basically executed by a bunch of drunk morons.🤦

http://en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?p...wis%20Hamilton

One pit stop to undercut Hamilton nets you 4.032 seconds (3.160 + 0.872)... honestly, even a blind person could see that.
Two stops? And boom, there goes the undercut on Hamilton again, bringing in another 4.109 seconds (4.681 - 0.572).😵
So, both times it's almost identical down to the millisecond. Seriously, twice 😵come on.

The "mastermind" strategist on the Ferrari pit wall is a complete idiot. I mean, how thick do you have to be to miss the fact that the undercut in Bahrain was insanely effective?

And the worst part? It was freaking obvious even before Hamilton's first pit stop...
Because if Mercedes had to use Bottas just to cover Max in the Red Bull Racing, which clearly wasn't performing well and barely covered him, then it was dead obvious Mercedes was going to go all-out and attack them with an undercut.☕

The second Max pitted and started ripping through purple sectors—clocking in over 2 seconds faster than Vettel/Charles—it was clear as day that the undercut was going to be their weapon.
But no, the idiots wait for the Mercedes cars to pit so they can get absolutely wrecked, while they leave Vettel out on track, making him sitting duck for that exact danger.🤦

Kevin Cox said:Depends on whether he gets stuck behind someone if he's the first one in for a pit stop.

And who would he even get stuck behind?
If Vettel or Charles Leclerc had pitted on lap 11 like Max did, they would've come out in clear air right in front of Kvijat, maybe about 5-8 seconds behind Romain Grosjean (with nothing but Ricciardo from the B-tier ahead of him)...
If they went in on lap 12, they’d be roughly 7-10 seconds behind Ricciardo...

Either way, plenty of room. No stress.
Besides, overtaking Romain Grosjean or Ricciardo isn't exactly rocket science. It's not like Renault was some absolute beast on the straights where you couldn't just breeze past them in any of the three DRS zones.

stormybadger8 said:Who is even to blame for Max this time? 🤷

At best, this could be called a racing incident, but honestly, Sainz is the one at fault here.
If it had been Max Sainz in that duel instead, you can bet he would've taken a penalty—and deserved it, too.

In the end, any smart person can see the journalists jumped on Sainz immediately to ask if Max was at fault, and all he did was dodge it, saying he didn't want to comment because he hadn't seen the replay or whatever...
Look, it's obvious—if a driver truly believes the other guy is in the wrong, they speak up right then and there. If they stay quiet and play the diplomat, it's because they know they messed up. ☕

Remember when I used to beg for let them raca? Well, looks like it finally happened... 😁

Quote : Sainc: “Let them race, that’s the rule nowadays,” he said. “So I’m not here to complain about ‘Max should have got a penalty’. He shouldn’t.

https://www.gptoday.net/en/news/f1/2...rstappen-crash

stormybadger8 said:I mean, what are you even talking about? 😁

Honestly, I have no clue who CS is actually defending this time... 🤷
I didn't even catch anyone calling him out 😕

frustrated darkmarlin16😉

It’s gotta be tough—two races, two DNFs... 😁

Strange things are happening in Formula 1!

Listen to this: Lewis Hamilton insisted on testing the car at the US Grand Prix! You can't believe it.

mellowtiger83 said:Declaring Charles Leclerc the champion right now and Sebastian Vettel the runner-up is just nonsense from all these Vettel haters—there's definitely been a huge surge of them lately, which honestly just makes me hope Vettel gives them a massive reality check!

Man, you might want to give yourself a reality check too, because you were stuck in that exact same mindset before...☕

Some people are claiming that Charles Leclerc was driving way too aggressively and ended up wrecking his PU, but do you guys actually realize that the PU strategy is basically mapped out before the race even starts? If you look at the live timing, it's pretty obvious—you know exactly how many seconds the engine can run in any given mode per race. Charles wasn't even close to being the fastest on the straights. Honestly, this whole PU issue might be something similar to what Kimi went through in Barcelona last season, where he lost a cylinder just so the problem could be fixed in time to use the PU in the next race.

darkmarlin16 said:Who was that scraping the floor—someone from Red Bull Racing .?

And Williams didn't even throw off a spark—looks like they kept it maxed out just to avoid wrecking the track 😁 🤦

But having two cars die in the same lap has happened before. Pretty sure the Red Bull Racing cars blew up last year 🤔

EDIT:

Yeah, Hartley and Pierre Gasly in the same lap at the Russian Grand Prix
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Russian_Grand_Prix

Back in '97, both McLarens died at once during the Luxembourg Grand Prix held at the Nürburgring

And I think they had a similar circus in Austria that same year, but I can't be 100% sure

Kevin Cox said:When one car is trailing directly behind another, they lose about 50% of their downforce. Since Seb was feeling impatient, he tried to reclaim that spot immediately and just mashed the throttle while he was still mid-corner. And well... there you have it.

That was last year, though. This year they actually reduced the impact, so now they're losing maybe 25%, if I recall correctly. It makes following the car ahead a lot easier. But yeah, the point remains—all of those factors combined led to Vettel spinning out.

neonfox65 said:Remember when I was begging them to let them raca? Looks like my prayers actually worked. 😁

https://www.gptoday.net/en/news/f1/2...rstappen-crash

Yeah, exactly. 🙂
The thing is, Sainz is at least just as much to blame for the incident—honestly, probably more...
That’s exactly why he isn't rambling on about Max's fault. He knows Max got off easy without a penalty, and if it wasn't for this whole "let them raca" nonsense, Max would have been the one getting penalized way sooner. 🙂

I can't even begin to explain why people act like this. It’s honestly exhausting. stormybadger8 says:
stormybadger8 😉

Rough break for him. Two races, two DNFs. Tough luck.😁

What's up with that?🤔

If they actually wrote anything, it was probably mid-race—and they likely posted it the exact second it happened.
Not after he watched the footage, saw what actually went down, and finally had a chance to cool off...

Alright, let's see what you guys have got. ☕

copperdrifter26 said:Some people claim CL was driving too aggressively and trashed the PU, but do they even get that the PU strategy is basically decided before the race even starts? You can look at the live timing and see exactly how many seconds per race the engine can run in a specific mode. Charles wasn't even close to being the fastest on the straights anyway. Plus, the PU issue could be similar to what Kimijev dealt with in Barcelona last season—where he lost a cylinder just so they could fix the issue and use a fresh PU in the next race.

Oh, conspiracy theories now? 😬
Fine, if nobody else will, I’ll throw one out. 🤣

The issue might actually be that Binotto shut down a cylinder—basically just clogged the damn thing up...
because the kid wouldn't follow team orders, like "hey kid, just chill out a bit." 🙂

As crazy as that sounds, it's not even totally impossible...

Regardless of whether Ferrari prefers Leclerc over Vettel, if the kid actually ignored team orders, that means he went against the crew. And at Ferrari, that is an absolute, hard no. 😉