2016 Australian GP (Melbourne - Albert Park) - March 20th

Jacob White49 said:if Alonso had been behind the wheel of Vettel's Ferrari in Los Angeles, they would've walked away with the win for sure...

Please—he'd have ended up exactly where he did in the Honda.

Jacob White49 said:if Alonso had been behind the wheel of Vettel's Ferrari in Los Angeles, wouldn't they have secured the victory quite easily?

👏😵🤣

How much longer must we endure this? 🙂

Things look pretty shaky over at Mercedes after this race, so feel free to share your thoughts. That era of total dominance is officially over. Toto isn't even smiling anymore, and even Niki Lauda looks visibly shaken... It’s not just Ferrari we have to worry about; Red Bull is going to be an even bigger threat during the second half of the season...😉never mind, never mind...

The level of fanaticism among Alonso fans is maybe 1% to 2% of what you see from the Ferrari crowd...

who, let's be honest, will probably manage at most one win this season...

If you want the "experts'" opinion, he won't make it past Sauber...🙄

The tragic news is that Allison's wife has passed away...😢

http://www.gazzetta.it/Formula-1/22-...16036739.shtml

Jacob White49 said:if Alonso had been behind the wheel of Vettel's Ferrari in Los Angeles, they would've walked away with the win for sure...

Even then, if they messed up the strategy, there wouldn't be a win.

swiftmaker12 said:The fanaticism from Alonso fans is maybe 1 or 2% compared to how crazy the Ferrari fans are...

who'll be lucky to grab maybe one win this year....

Don't insult us like that.
What 1-2%? Compared to us, they're basically zero.

Jacob White49 said:if Alonso had been driving Vettel's Ferrari in Los Angeles, they would have walked away with the win for sure...

It’s not about the guy behind the wheel.
The issue lies with those on the pit wall.

As long as the Mercedes car remains this much better, the incompetence of those slick Italians isn't what determines the championships.
Honestly, thank goodness for that. If the roles were reversed, it would be a much harder watch.

Jason Campbell70 said:It’s not even about the guy behind the wheel.
The real issue lies with the crew sitting up on the pit wall.

As long as the Mercedes car stays this much faster than the rest, the sheer incompetence of those slick Italian types isn't what determines the championship title.
Honestly, I’m glad it’s working out this way; if the roles were reversed, watching them try to manage a race would be an absolute nightmare.

Wait, isn't Jock Clear acting as the race engineer for the Italians this year? As far as I know, the strategy lead is that Spaniard from Lotus... the Technical Director is an Englishman, and the one footing the bill is an Italian.😁

Alonso would have walked away with the win just like he did back in 2010 when he snatched the spot from Vitaly Petrov and then grabbed the trophy.🎉

It is widely understood that Vitaly Petrov was quite a questionable character who didn't exactly adhere to the principles of fair play—for instance, by simply letting his teammate pass him without any real fight, which goes against the spirit of the sport 🙂

How Jacob White49 manages to cloud the issue is truly something else. 🤣

This isn't even really about the Australian Grand Prix.

For three days straight now, the Ferrari fanboys have been whining about how the win was "stolen" from them...

...spinning these little fantasies about how they should have actually crossed the line first.....

If Ferrari had actually managed to beat anyone, they would've done it—considering they spent every single session tearing up the track on ultra and super soft tires, consistently posting the fastest times just so they could go home and brag to their bosses about those results before bed...

But reality is much harsher, and we're going to see that play out in Malaysia when Mercedes leaves them in the dust by an entire lap... assuming they even manage to finish the race at all.

I wouldn't call myself a Ferrari fanboy, per se; rather, I find myself more on the anti-Alonso side of things... 🙂

I feel like I’ve been saying this for ages... Mercedes looks unbeatable as long as they can just pull away at the start, but once Ferrari or even Red Bull starts putting pressure on them, they’re going to look completely lost. Their whole strategy seems built on being out front and just disappearing, but if that doesn't work—and honestly, it won't work much longer—they'll struggle big time when they have to chase someone down, especially since they look so much slower on paper. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this plays out, particularly on those tracks where they usually struggle to find any pace.

swiftmaker12 said:This isn't even about the Australian Grand Prix.
For three days straight now, Ferrari fanboys have been whining about how their team had the win "stolen" from them...
just projecting their own little fantasies about how they should've crossed the line first...

Thank God you showed up to enlighten us all.
What fanboys? What whining? What fantasies? I haven't seen any of it. 🤔

Roger Wright94 said:Thank goodness you're here to enlighten us all.
Just fanboys, whining, delusions... 🤔

You haven't updated your helmet in your avatar, if you'll excuse me 😁, just because I have Hamilton's helmet on mine? A purely rhetorical question!! 🍿

graniteharbor502 offers his personal assessment of the drivers' performances:
Alonso 6
Bottas 6
Button 6
Ericsson 6
Grosjean 9
Gutierrez 6
Hamilton 7
7 Haryanto 6 Hulkenberg 6 Kvjat
Hulkenberg 6
Kvjat 5
Magnussen 6
Massa 6
Palmer 6
Nasr 6
Perez 6
Raikkonen 7
Ricciardo 8
Rosberg 8
Sainz 6
Verstappen 6
Vettel 8
Wehrlein 6

Roger Wright94 said:What else could they have used? They didn't exactly have a buffet of options. That's the whole damn problem.
And those first Safety Cars were way too short—they got called off way too soon because everyone was scrambling to pit for Rosberg.

This definitely holds up.👍
And that’s the biggest screw-up right there. In theory, they might have even come out ahead with one less pit stop. Since Kimi pulled into the pits just a lap before the red flag, if that hadn't happened, he would've scored a totally free pit stop. What a joke. 😉
It’s always easy to play the genius once the race is already over...

In that final stretch, it was honestly a smart move. They played it safe to hold onto the track position, and let’s be real—Ferrari knows damn well that the Mexicans won't have a prayer if they can't find a way past.
At the end of the day, they clearly have no clue what they're doing—they can't even tell she's on softs while the Mexican is sitting there on mediums.
That’s the whole issue with these kinds of cars. It was painfully obvious, especially when you look at Luxury vs STR.

I'm not even sure they would've pulled it off at the end, even without that red flag... maybe Hamilton, but definitely not Rosberg.
They barely managed to pull that overtake right at the finish line. And honestly? Don't hold your breath thinking they’ll pull off something similar next time. 😉
Mexican drivers really have it figured out. They’re just faster right out of the gate, mostly because they clearly get their tires up to temperature way quicker than Ferrari does.
And in what mode was that full tank actually faster? I mean, it’s not like Rosberg was some nobody—he still managed to hunt down Ferrari in a single lap, even after being over three seconds behind before hitting the pits. 😳

Basically, the Mexicans are still pretty fast, but that gap isn't nearly what it was last year. It’s just not enough for them to breeze past everyone else during the race anymore.
Looks like they're going to run straight into some serious traffic issues...

I’ve got this feeling that someone’s going to organize a race where they just let drivers run around with whatever random tires they want. Imagine if they just had a Mexican driver pull 57 solo laps on the track first.
So then she pulls a move where I'm stuck behind that Ferrari for 57 laps just to keep the gap somewhere between 20 and 30 seconds in favor of the Mexican driver.
I'm thinking the same thing. A Mexican driver isn't going to just overtake a Ferrari on pure track pace. It’s more likely they’ll have to play the tactical game through the pits. Even then, pulling off an undercut is probably their best bet—it won't be that simple, though.
A good chunk of this season might actually come down to which crew is faster in the pits. Honestly, those tire changes could decide everything.

Jacob White49 said:if Alonso had been driving Vettel's Ferrari in Los Angeles, they would have definitely taken the win...

Yeah, right.🤣
The car would actually be a total piece of junk because it would’ve been built to his specific preferences (roughly 2014 levels, give or take 10%)...
And even if some miracle happened and he did win, he’d probably still start 5 spots back and then pull off some "phenomenal" drive worthy of the Maestro to grab 5th—or maybe 3rd if someone else's engine blew up by pure luck.😍

Roger Wright94 said:Thank God you're here to enlighten us all.
What a bunch of fanboys—all this whining and delusion... 🤔

People have been preaching about someone's son descending to Earth for about 2,000 years now...

And you're acting like you're the first one to realize I've finally descended to join the mere mortals and spread some wisdom...

When we meet up in the afterlife, I'll make sure you get a seat right next to me in the VIP lounge...