CNN Indianapolis Motor Speedway 09/08/2013

It’s honestly embarrassing to see how blatant it was when Fernando Alonso was forced to back off.
Those pathetic radio exchanges were just painful to listen to.
Now I'm scrolling through the Ferrari thread seeing all this talk about how they "wanted to maximize results" and blah blah blah.
Look, if your idea of maximizing results involves forcing someone else to take the hit, then you've already lost. That's just sad.

stormybadger8 said:🤣🤣🤣

Btw I’m just waiting for Ferrari to walk up to the stewards and be like:
"Look guys, we're having a bit of a budget crisis here
"Instead of that $10,000 fine, can we just take a P1 grid penalty instead?"🙂

😂

At least the Maestro is improving. 😳
He's actually close to Felipe this year... at least he isn't over a second behind him like last season. 😬🤣

but you know damn well why things went down the way they did😳

darkmarlin16 said:but you know damn well why things went down the way they did😳

I know☕
Same story as this season... they're missing a few screws. Apparently, they left the brains for this year's car back in last year's garage. 😬🤣

darkmarlin16 said:but you know damn well why things went down the way they did😳

What kind of fraud is this guy? It's just not right—he's only ever proven himself in a single car. Honestly, I have no stomach for athletes like this, or even those high-profile frauds like Paolo Maldini, Ryan Giggs, Steven Gerrard, Javier Zanetti, Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, or Larry Bird. And where are they now? They act like Zlatan Ibrahimović, Fernando Alonso, or Cristiano Ronaldo—where everyone else is always at fault unless they happen to be the best, at which point they just jump ship for whoever writes the biggest check and spend the rest of their time whining about how their teammates weren't up to their standard...

@darkmarlin16, maybe next time you'll try using a bit more logic... 🙂

Tomorrow is going to be huge 😍

Sebastian Vettel celebrates 32 career wins and his 4th title tomorrow... and he’s doing it right where he grabbed his very first 🙏😍

I didn't catch any of it—honestly, I only tuned in for the final thirty seconds. What on earth happened with Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Räikkönen?

stormybadger8 said:Tomorrow is going to be huge 😍

Sebastian Vettel celebrates 32 career wins and his 4th title tomorrow... and he’s doing it right where he grabbed his very first 🙏😍

Just one question—as someone who follows Sebastian Vettel so closely, which other driver on the grid do you honestly think could achieve that same kind of symbiosis with a team and deliver comparable results? You know as well as I do that it isn't all just down to Seb🙂.

David Anderson72 said:There’s a massive amount of Ferrari power in the top 10—honestly, only one driver isn't running a Ferrari engine (Gutierrez). Tomorrow, I'm calling it now: we'll see a collision between two Red Bulls, followed by total dominance from the heavy hitters, with Nandov taking the win on home turf.

They don't even need to wreck each other (like back in the good old days); Massa could probably just brush them aside at turn one.
Finally, a single constructive post. 🙏

darkmarlin16 said:Let’s just pray that Hulk actually managed to snatch Massu's seat this time around

before Alonso's 😉

Joseph Peterson8 said:before Alonso's 😉

🤦

Joseph Peterson8 said:before Alonso's 😉

It seems Alonso just can't find his rhythm on the track 🤣

Every single time fans hold out hope for that coveted pole position, they are met with nothing but profound disappointment.

Maybe the car has the raw speed to push Ferrari even further, but it appears the maestro this simply isn't clicking.

Things are finally clicking for Sauber.

Hulk was absolutely clinical 😁

Besides those solid points, I’m hoping we see more Sauber coverage on camera tomorrow. Every single second of screen time is pure gold for their sponsors this year.

Let's go, Hulk!

Raymond Anderson4 said:It’s honestly embarrassing to see how blatant it was when Fernando Alonso was forced to back off.
Those pathetic radio exchanges were just painful to listen to.
Now I'm scrolling through the Ferrari thread seeing all this talk about how they "wanted to maximize results" and blah blah blah.
Look, if your idea of maximizing results involves forcing someone else to take the hit, then you've already lost. That's just sad.

What part of this don't you get? They're the weaker team. This was their last shot at making something happen, so they had to go all in. It didn't work, and now everyone thinks they're idiots, right?

I mean, what even are they? Some kind of monks? They're total pushovers... because despite all those schemes, they still managed to screw themselves over... 😂

brightwolf48 said:Just one question—as someone who follows Sebastian Vettel so closely, which other driver on the grid do you honestly think could achieve that same kind of symbiosis with a team and deliver comparable results? You know as well as I do that it isn't all just down to Seb🙂.

If it wasn't just about Seb...
Look, to me, Sebastian was a way better driver before he even hit Formula 1 than both Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton ☕

Five or six years ago, people thought I was pretty crazy😬
Now they don't think I'm quite as nuts, though I'm still a little bit of a nutcase 🤣

stormybadger8 said:If it wasn't just about Seb...
Look, to me, Sebastian was a way better driver before he even hit Formula 1 than both Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton ☕

Five or six years ago, people thought I was pretty crazy😬
Now they don't think I'm quite as nuts, though I'm still a little bit of a nutcase 🤣

I wasn't just talking about Obrvan and Lewis—though we might actually be on the same page there—but given how disorganized Red Bull seems to be in certain areas, combined with Kimi’s signature ice-cold temperament, I wonder how he’d actually fit into that squad. Let's indulge in a little bit of "what if" speculation.🙂 There’s also Rosberg, Button, and plenty of others who knew exactly how to capitalize on a car's peak performance when it actually mattered. Formula racing is ultimately a synergy between the machine and the driver—it isn't just one or the other. Since you clearly spend most of your time tracking Red Bull, I’ll direct this specific question to you; I suspect you might be capable of seeing the bigger picture if you could just look past everything through Sebastian Vettel's lens for a moment.

I’m asking because when I think back to how Markov absolutely wrecked Sebastian, or how Coulthard's move against Mikko went down—if Massa ever pulled something like that on Lewis Hamilton, there would probably be a public execution happening in the middle of Times Square by the next morning.

steelmaker83 said:What part of this don't you get? They're the weaker team. This was their last shot at making something happen, so they had to go all in. It didn't work, and now everyone thinks they're idiots, right?

So what are they?
Honestly, Alonso proved today he’s just a total fraud, not championship material.
That guy is destined to be second best forever... seriously, every single time he actually has a real shot and the right tools, he completely chokes.

If he couldn't even grab a Pole this time, then he's absolutely hopeless...
If I remember correctly, you were just arguing a little while ago that Alonso is faster than Massa in qualifying by half a second... which I shut down with a mountain of data proving it's more like 0.350...

Now, just do the math: look at where Massa is—who nobody is helping through qualifying—compared to Vettel, and then imagine where Alonso would be if he were 0.300 to 0.500 slower...

Based on all the rumors and everything going on, it looks like Alonso might be getting his walking papers from Ferrari soon.
If this pattern of Massa being faster continues in the races and during qualifying in Singapore, then it’s obvious: LdM ate dirt, signed a deal with Kimi, and they're getting rid of Alonso.
Finally, Massa might actually get a real chance to show what he's worth compared to that Spanish politician.

steelmaker83 said:What part of this don't you get? They're the weaker team. This was their last shot at making something happen, so they had to go all in. It didn't work, and now everyone thinks they're idiots, right?

If he wants to be remembered as someone who expects a royal court to cater to his every whim, then fine, let him have it.
Personally, I couldn't care less... but people are going to stop buying into this myth of him being some otherworldly driver if he keeps acting like this.
Go check out the Ford thread over on ESPN; the fans there are losing their minds over him, while his die-hard supporters are busy posting deep philosophical pleas for everyone to just give Massino a break.

stormybadger8 said:If it wasn't just about Seb...
Look, to me, Sebastian was a way better driver before he even hit Formula 1 than both Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton ☕

Five or six years ago, people thought I was pretty crazy😬
Now they don't think I'm quite as nuts, though I'm still a little bit of a nutcase 🤣

Exactly—for *you*. For anyone with actual working eyes? Hell no. ☕

brightwolf48 said:I wasn't just talking about Obrvan and Lewis—though we might actually be on the same page there—but given how disorganized Red Bull seems to be in certain areas, combined with Kimi’s signature ice-cold temperament, I wonder how he’d actually fit into that squad. Let's indulge in a little bit of "what if" speculation.🙂 There’s also Rosberg, Button, and plenty of others who knew exactly how to capitalize on a car's peak performance when it actually mattered. Formula racing is ultimately a synergy between the machine and the driver—it isn't just one or the other. Since you clearly spend most of your time tracking Red Bull, I’ll direct this specific question to you; I suspect you might be capable of seeing the bigger picture if you could just look past everything through Sebastian Vettel's lens for a moment.

I’m asking because when I think back to how Markov absolutely wrecked Sebastian, or how Coulthard's move against Mikko went down—if Massa ever pulled something like that on Lewis Hamilton, there would probably be a public execution happening in the middle of Times Square by the next morning.

Honestly, I have no clue, and I’m pretty bummed it didn't happen.

I honestly doubt he’d have been half as successful as Sebastian Vettel was at Red Bull Racing if the roles had been swapped back in 2009—say, if Kimi Räikkönen had taken that seat instead.
Look, Kimi had the chance to work with Adrian Newey, backed by an equally elite crew and just as much cash—if not more. Plus, he actually got allowed to do in-season testing. It wasn't even close to being as successful as the Vettel-Newey combo.