F1 Italian GP - Monza (Sept 2, 2018)

crimsonhawk23 said:Why hasn't anyone been penalized this season for failing to leave a car's width of space? Even Max only left Bottas exactly one car width—if that—and Bottas didn't go even a millimeter off the track. 😬

Where on earth are you getting the idea that Max was penalized for not leaving space? 🤔

Max got penalized because he moved under braking and slammed into Bottas, not because he failed to leave any room...
That famous "moving under braking" rule—or what everyone calls the "Verstappen Rule"—has me wondering. Why on earth does everyone, including Charlie, insist on calling it the "Verstappen Rule"? 🤣

neonfox65 said:mellowtiger83, imagine if that contact happened between Vettel and Hamilton fighting for the win on the final lap—would they have slapped Vettel with a penalty and snatched his victory right there in front of the fans at Monza? Or even better, what if it happened during the season finale where the championship was on the line and then the stewards stepped in? That’s the absurdity I’m talking about. This is why I've always said stewards shouldn't meddle in racing duels. Unless someone is actually wrecking someone else, which Max didn't do, Bottas just kept pushing and caught him.

They would've absolutely hammered Vettel with a penalty, no question... anytime, anywhere. At the end of the day, he's the first one to get hit once that rule was actually introduced...

There's no way Hamilton gets penalized if we're talking about somewhere like Silverstone, because the steward there would be Warwick, and Warwick wouldn't penalize Hamilton even if he pulled out a gun during the warm-up lap and shot the tires off everyone in the first two rows.
Warwick would somehow find a loophole to justify it, or just make up some nonsense like, "Well, the rulebook doesn't explicitly say you can't shoot at your competitors..."🤣
As for Monza, I honestly can't say for sure... I'm leaning towards yes, but it really depends on how the other driver fared in the duel. If it were someone like Bottas, probably not.

But let's be real, Max got penalized mostly because he's Max...
That rule was created specifically to stop his nonsense, so I don't get why anyone is surprised when he gets punished for repeating that exact same nonsense. ☕

Richard Walker38 said:Listen, you Vettel fanboys, is this guy ever actually at fault himself?

Isn't it a little embarrassing to blame everything else? The pit wall, the pit crew, the tires, the weather, luck, the setup, the strategy, other drivers, teammates... the whole list.

Are we ever going to see you admit that your golden boy screwed up on his own?

Sure he screws up solo. Nobody's perfect...
But let's be real, the team is definitely responsible for a huge chunk of those blunders...

http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/124...ttels-mistakes

Read that. If even Sky Sports—which is basically Hamilton's personal hype squad and can barely stand being in the same zip code as the Ferrari crew—is writing this, then you know how bad things really are...

The fact is, Hamilton has the significantly better package on the grid, just like Vettel used to have back at Red Bull...
Maybe not the absolute fastest car, but as an organization, they have the superior overall package.☕

And even if Ferrari builds a car that’s way faster than everyone else, it won't matter. Having the fastest car is useless if your tactics, pit stops, and execution are a total disaster compared to the rest of the field...

Nicholas Newman2 said:Hold on, man—hasn't your whole mantra lately been that whenever anyone goes after Verstappen, the refs are just looking for an excuse to penalize him? So now that they actually *did* penalize Max, suddenly he's guilty? Is that how it works now!?

I'll say it again: I'm against officials sticking their noses into driver duels. Drivers should settle things on the track—that's what racing is about. When they scrutinize every tiny little thing and hand out penalties, they're just killing the sport. I don't know which genius decided we needed this level of micromanagement... honestly, damn them. The only time you need to step in is if someone truly screws up—like when Max hit Vettel in China. That's where the penalty belongs.

neonfox65 said:I'll say it again: against officials meddling in driver duels. Drivers should settle things on track themselves; that's what racing is. Constantly scrutinizing every tiny detail and handing out penalties just kills the sport. This wasn't how things used to be—some genius decided this was a good idea, and frankly, it's nonsense. The only exception is when someone truly messes up (like when Max hit Sebastian Vettel in China), then a penalty is warranted.

Go ahead, keep trying to spin it how Max was closing in on Bottas and just happened to make contact with his wheel in a way that was totally unnecessary and dangerous!

crimsonhawk23 said:

I see what's happening now.
The absolute best part about this whole thing is that little "ups" on the side.
Ups... 😂

Timothy Castillo6 said:That little "ups" on the side—that’s probably the best part.
Ups... indeed. 😂

🙂

neonfox65 said:Let me repeat: against refs meddling in driver duels. Drivers should settle things on track, not have officials deciding everything. That's what racing is. Investigating and penalizing every tiny little thing just kills the sport. This wasn't how it used to be—some genius decided this was a good idea, and honestly, screw them. The only time you should actually step in is if someone truly screws up (like when Max hit Sebastian Vettel in China).

Whoever dreamed this up...
Well, your former favorite driver basically kicked off this whole trend...
If anyone knew how to whine about every damn contact—even when someone just drove near him without touching him—it was him. He’d cry even when he wasn't within a single millimeter of the other driver...
https://www.facebook.com/Formula1/vi...1245668699086/
Total whining at its peak. There wasn't even pushing involved, just some lane closing, because he wasn't even next to him 🙂

He was the first one to start sobbing over the team radio and screaming hysterically. Once everyone else saw that it actually worked—that they could profit from whining since opponents would get penalized—everyone started following suit on the radio...
And ever since then, we've seen a flood of penalties for all sorts of nonsense...

So yeah, now we have these new "moving under braking" rules, which are just a direct result of Kimi Räikkönen, Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, and the rest crying about Max...
Then there's these new bullshit calls where perfectly normal first-lap racing incidents get penalized just because Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton, and Mercedes started complaining...

At this rate, they'll probably start penalizing drivers for looking at their teammate, or maybe giving the middle finger or waving will become a major no-no too...

Just a heads up for darkmarlin16, I can write a post without mentioning him if I have to 🙂

Better late than never, I guess. 😉

mellowtiger83 said:Come on, promote how Max was closing in on Valtteri Bottas and mention how he touched his tire—completely unnecessary and dangerous!

🤦

I already answered you in that other thread, but I guess you were left speechless... Unnecessary? Look, Max had to defend himself—that's literally why he gets paid to drive. It wasn't dangerous because he didn't wreck him or spin him out. If he actually hit him hard, sure, a penalty would make sense. But Valtteri caught up, and instead of us watching a real battle, those idiots just ruined the whole race. You say you watch NASCAR, so tell me—do you actually see stuff like this happening there? This whole argument is just ridiculous...

neonfox65 said:🤦

I already gave you my answer in that other thread, and clearly, you were left speechless. Unnecessary? Please. Max needed to defend himself because that is quite literally why he gets paid. It wasn't dangerous because he didn't wreck anyone or spin them out. If he had done that, a penalty would have been appropriate. But Valtteri caught up to him, and instead of letting us actually watch a battle, those idiots ruined the race. You claim to watch NASCAR, so tell me, do you actually see any real racing happening there? This whole argument is ridiculous.

Look, I’m a fan of Max and I root for him, but he earned that penalty, wheel included.

stormybadger8 said:Sure, he messed up on his own. Nobody's perfect...
But let's be real, the team is definitely partially to blame for those blunders too...

http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/124...ttels-mistakes

Honestly, I’ve been thinking about this, and the fact is Sebastian Vettel has seemed pretty high-strung lately...

He used to be so smooth, like this:


- my favorite🤣

Even last year, things were more fun...

- this one is killer. You actually need to be able to roast yourself like that.🤣

Just pure comedy and totally relaxed mistakes.😁
But this season? Hardly any humor left. It’s just dry, strict PR nonsense in front of the media, and that's it...
Or maybe I just haven't run into it yet.🤷

mellowtiger83 said:Look, I’m a huge fan of Max Verstappen and I’m rooting for him—but honestly? He earned that penalty. Period.

Hey, could you please get back to me on that other post you skipped over?

darkmarlin16 said:https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/20539...g-3-cars-.html

🤣

Pretty sure this news is fake, or at least taken wildly out of context...
Half of it is made up, the rest is just mashed together to grab clicks. 🙂

Because I really don't see why Autosport would publish something completely different...

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13...s-on-raikkonen

In your version here...

"For me, it's clear: I have to race three cars, including my teammate."

According to Autosport:

"But for me it's pretty clear: I'm happy to fight three cars, I'm happy to actually fight 19 cars.

"I think I've never been in a different position to that. That's fine. I don't expect anything else."

Wow, look at that. Super similar, yet totally different...🙂

Heh, talk about karma coming full circle...

mellowtiger83 said:Oh, please, go ahead and hype up how Max was closing in on Valtteri Bottas and just happened to tap his tire in a way that was totally unnecessary and super sketchy!

Whatever, man, he was cutting the chicane even before that, and the stewards let him slide with zero consequences.

Look, if Lewis Hamilton actually pulls off the title this year, it’s going to be his most legendary run yet because he’d be doing it in a car that isn't even the absolute class of the field. You see guys like Fernando Alonso come out the other side of a championship win and just absolutely crush their subsequent seasons, but Sebastian Vettel hasn't quite figured out how to pull that off so far. Honestly, if you give him a faster car right now, he’d probably just end up losing a wheel-to-wheel fight with his own teammate and watch the title slip through his fingers—I mean, he managed to scrape by twice before, but nowadays? It's looking pretty grim.

darkmarlin16 said:If Lewis grabs the title this year, it’ll be his most impressive one yet because he’s doing it in a car that isn't even the best on the grid. Some drivers, like Fernando Alonso, pull off their best seasons right after winning titles, but Sebastian Vettel hasn't figured out how to do that yet. Honestly, if he had a faster car, he’d probably lose a duel between two top drivers. He narrowly escaped twice before, but now? Unlikely.

Who stole your glasses? 🤔

Plus, this might actually be the easiest title Lewis has ever had to win...
Given how much of a disaster Ferrari is right now, and since Mercedes-AMG runs like a Swiss watch, it would be weird if he didn't take it...
Especially since there’s zero competition in his own garage—just a submissive Valtteri Bottas who isn't allowed to breathe wrong...
Red Bull Racing usually plays the tactical game perfectly and they're incredibly fast, but they aren't in peak form right now, so they aren't really a threat...
And Ferrari? They're guaranteed to shoot themselves in the foot during the championship...
Even if Sebastian Vettel won the next six races in a row despite them, they’d still find a way to screw everything up at the last second with some total stupidity, like fitting him the wrong tires and then having the FIA disqualify him after the race.🙏

It doesn't matter how good a Ferrari car is when you have a completely incompetent crew in the pits and on the pit wall.🤦

The fact that Lewis has to sit there wondering if he's going to collide with someone exiting the pits or if he should just brace himself for a penalty, waiting for those idiots at Ferrari to turn the light green at the right time... it's pretty naive.🙂
Vettel finished the last race without a penalty, but let's be real, he deserved one. Just think back to the last time Lewis got hit with one for the exact same thing.🙂

Then there's qualifying—you can basically expect a penalty just for driving a slow lap, because those morons can't tell who is where on the track. They can't even warn a driver that someone is on a fast lap right behind him while he's on his in-lap.
Seriously, remember the last time Lewis got penalized for something like that?

And don't even get me started on when they last dragged Lewis's car across the asphalt without lifting it up, or when they stood around like idiots wondering where the tires were so they could actually fit them on the car.🤦 I honestly can't remember the last time something like that happened at Mercedes...

Or try remembering when Lewis forgot to tighten a wheel nut or spent several seconds just staring at the tires in the pit box. Gosh, I can't recall the last time that happened at Mercedes either...

And what they used to pull with Kimi Räikkönen was just horrifying... and no, it wasn't intentional, it's just their natural state. Kimi doesn't care and doesn't bother with the drama, so it shows more with him...
Sebastian Vettel yells at them, so they pay a little attention, but barely.😍

All in all, yeah, Vettel is pretty high-strung, but you can bet anyone else would be losing their mind if their team pulled this much crap and stupidity on them almost every other race...

Sebastian Vettel winning a title at Ferrari? Yeah, right. He’d honestly have a better shot at doing it with Renault 🤦
because Ferrari is basically like that one cow that gives you 25 liters of milk every single day, only to kick the bucket over and spill the whole mess every single time...

darkmarlin16 said:Doesn't even matter—he was cutting the chicane before that too, but the stewards just let him slide...

He was totally right—using that move once was basically his "joker" card...

neonfox65 said:He totally pulled it off once, honestly, it was like he played a complete "joker" card on them.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤦