US Grand Prix - Indianapolis Motor Speedway 09.02.2018

Gary Palmer8 said:I've already said this, he'd have at least 20 points on Lewis...

So you're saying on top of his current 145 points, he'd need another 105 or 110 or so!? 🤔
That's a massive stretch.
Sure, let's just blame Ferrari because he hasn't finished ahead of Lewis once.

fadedpanther51 said:Magnussen really messed up that lap for both himself and Alonso—though I suppose he did prove his point, if nothing else. Magnussen definitely looked like a total rookie out there.

Magnussen ruined the lap for Alonso. I guess Nando just didn't want to owe him anything.☕

Team radio with video: https://streamable.com/kmhy4

mellowtiger83 said:I guess Alonso really earned some respect in my eyes today after he totally called out Magnussen's sloppy driving. I mean, the guy basically lunged past him on the formation lap right before the Parabolica, which leads straight onto the main straight, instead of just chilling, slowing down, and waiting his turn behind Alonso to maybe snag a bit of that McLaren slipstream.
Alonso looked pretty ticked off, honestly; it felt like he did that move on purpose, which ended up messing up the lap for both himself and Magnussen, even though he probably would've preferred a massive monster tow later on🙂.

Maybe the kid needs to realize he actually has to wait his turn when hitting the Parabolica.

Sloppy driving? I don't know, man. Who's actually calling him out if the guy starts two spots ahead of him anyway?
😬

Let’s just say Renault would probably need a serious night of heavy drinking and... other substances... just to even contemplate matching a fraction of Fernando Alonso's success. I’d bet anything that guy will never actually see a win in his Formula 1 career ☕

crimsonhawk23 said:Magnussen totally wrecked Alonso's lap. Nando just gave him back exactly what he deserved. ☕

Exactly. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.
It would’ve been pure madness if it had been someone else instead of Magnussen—like Max, for example. 🍿

I guess Max would just go right ahead and let Fernando Alonso take his frustrations out on the younger drivers 😁 He did the exact same thing back when Lewis Hamilton called him a "dickhead" 😁

crimsonhawk23 said:It’s almost too easy for Max to go after younger drivers like he's picking on them—just how Alonso does. 😁 He did the exact same thing with Lewis Hamilton after he called him a dickhead. 😁

Hahaha, oh man! 😁
Honestly, Max has screwed over Ferrari more times than I can count. I usually feel like I have his entire playbook memorized, but I have to admit—Formula 1 just wouldn't be the same without him. This sport needs someone like him. Sure, the guy is absolutely insane, but he does things his own way and he simply doesn't give a damn. 🤣

crimsonhawk23 said:I mean, Max would probably just jump right in, since it’s always been pretty easy for Alonso to take his frustrations out on the younger drivers 😁 He did the exact same thing to Lewis Hamilton back when that guy totally outplayed him during his rookie season in Formula 1.

Just fixed your post for you.
😬

Well, Max is just built that way—exactly what fadedpanther51 mentioned—he stays locked into his own lane and doesn't seem to care about anything else 😍

Thomas Davis98 said:It turns out that despite all of Hamilton's hard work, Ferrari is still about a tenth ahead even here. That pretty much nails the coffin on Mercedes' long era of dominance. Looking at how things have played out since the start of the season, I don't see how Mercedes can stay competitive on any track. Sebastian Vettel could easily take a +7 or +10 tomorrow, which means he’ll likely be sitting in the lead by Singapore. In my opinion, the only way this championship stays interesting until the last two or three races is if Vettel DNFs at least once.

As for tomorrow's race, everything hinges on whether Ferrari can pull off a clean driver swap right at the start. I'm betting they'll go for the classic move and sacrifice Kimi no matter what. If they pull it off, expect a boring race with Vettel pulling away and Kimi just busy blocking Mercedes.
If they mess that up, things might actually get interesting later on, given that having two Mercedes cars playing strategic games and attacking could spice things up.

+1
Spot on.
I honestly can't remember a time when a tactic involving Kimi being an active part of the plan—whether it was holding someone up or otherwise—actually worked.
First, they just need to survive that first corner. There's a decent amount of distance from the start to get there, but Ferrari has been coming out stronger more often lately. Plus, they've got the whole front row to themselves, which is a nice little advantage.

In every single race we've seen this season, Kimi Räikkönen is the only driver who hasn't managed to gain even one position during the opening lap.
I don't see that changing this time around either.

Roger Wright94 said:In every single race this season, Kimi is the only one who hasn't gained even a single position during the opening lap.
I doubt he'll change that here.

The reasons why he won't—I suppose—are pretty obvious.😬

crimsonhawk23 said:I think it's pretty obvious why they won't 😬

As far as I'm concerned, I wish every single race played out like this. Just give us Kimi Räikkönen P1 and stop making things complicated.

crimsonhawk23 said:I think it's pretty obvious why they won't 😬

And what exactly do you think I was thinking?🙂

Roger Wright94 said:What exactly did you think I meant? — I guess it’s hard to say.🙂

I know, I know—believe me, I get it. 👍

Roger Wright94 said:As far as I'm concerned, I wouldn't mind seeing this play out in all the remaining races—if we could just have Kimi Räikkönen P1, to avoid any confusion, I guess.

It would be quite nice if he managed to snag a win tomorrow—and if they do end up pushing him out of Ferrari to make room for Charles Leclerc, I suppose it’d be better if he went out on his own terms. 😍

Tyler Ross56 said:Let’s get real for a second. We’ve got four-time, two-time, and single-time world champions sitting on this grid. Now, if you start dissecting a career from day one—looking at pure luck, the car you happen to be driving, raw motivation, or just the struggle of getting an F1 seat in the first place—it’s all very subjective... but there is one undeniable fact. Even though he’s the veteran of the group, Kimi Räikkönen is hands down the most naturally talented driver out of everyone listed. If he had possessed Alonso's grit, combined with the kind of luck Seb and Lucien had to be behind dominant cars during their prime, he would have walked away with a much larger collection of titles and wins, provided anyone actually gave him the chance... He’s older now, and yeah, he can be a bit lazy, but he’s still the most gifted talent on the grid.

Sure, people can say what they want about his talent... and honestly, I’m inclined to agree that he’s probably one of the most naturally gifted drivers out there. But the problem is that, too often throughout his career, he just seems to vanish when it matters most. Look, he’s driving pretty well this year, though you have to admit that impression is partly due to the fact that Sebastian Vettel is struggling quite a bit lately. Still, if you look at last year, he produced absolutely nothing, and the year before that wasn't much better either...
I still remember when he joined Ferrari to go up against Alonso. Back then, everyone was buzzing about this massive driver showdown in the making. Kimi had just come off an incredible season with Lotus, so most people were bracing for a legendary battle... instead, we got a level of humiliation that hadn't been seen in a long time...

Richard Ross11 said:Let's hear it from the esteemed forum members... what's everyone's take on how Kimi Räikkönen is going to lose that lead tomorrow...
Right out of the gate... what a disaster of a start.
2. Pit stop "strategy"...
Pushing Vettel at the start in Singapore...
"Kimi, Sebastian is right on your tail, and he’s absolutely shredding his tires..." — that radio call from the pit wall...
Felipe Massa having to swap out his gearbox right before the start... just one more thing, I guess.

Or maybe something actually new... something we haven't seen a thousand times before... 🙂

I’ve been scrolling through some other forums lately, and honestly... it looks like Kimi Räikkönen really just threw them under the bus. They're in a massive hole now... 🙂

We've seen this movie before in recent history... I honestly think it’s finally time for a classic "Kimi, Sebastian is faster than you" moment... 😁

Roger Wright94 said:So, if we're looking at the current 145 points... that means there's roughly another 105 to 110 left on the table, right...? 🤔
Pure exaggeration...
Sure, let's just pin it all on Ferrari because they're apparently the reason he hasn't managed to finish ahead of Lewis Hamilton once...

First off, it’s just not true that Kimi never finished ahead of Lewis Hamilton in a race... I’m not going to tell you which one it was, though. You can go ahead and Google it if you're so sure... 😁).
Secondly, looking at the numbers, Kimi has had three DNFs this season, whereas Sebastian Vettel hasn't had any—well, technically one, but that was entirely his own fault. Out of those three times Kimi dropped out, one was a mechanical failure and the other two were straight-up mistakes by the pit wall. Under normal circumstances, Kimi would have walked away from those races with massive points, likely sitting on a podium, or maybe even taking the win in Belgium... If you factor those points back in, he’d be right up there with Vettel in the standings. Basically, if those major mishaps had happened to Vettel instead of Kimi, the championship gap would look completely reversed. And if they’d both just had equal luck, they’d be neck and neck. You could even shave a few points off Lewis Hamilton’s total because, in some of those scenarios, Kimi probably would've finished ahead of him (looking at you, Belgium)...
Then, when you layer those big disasters on top of all the little things—the preferential treatment given to Vettel, the missed opportunities, the way they scrapped Kimi's strategy just to bail out Sebastian (like what happened in China)—and you start adding up all those tiny point losses...
I honestly believe that if Kimi had been treated as Ferrari's number one driver from the start, he’d be leading the championship right now. I don't mean he'd be 110 points ahead, but he'd likely be sitting where Hamilton is, though Hamilton and Vettel would both have slightly less than they do now. Of course, that assumes the errors made against Kimi were a result of neglect or perhaps even intentional sabotage to favor Vettel; if we assume Kimi was the lead driver but all those car failures were just pure, random bad luck that would've hit whoever was driving regardless, then the whole theory falls apart...

mellowtiger83 said:Fernando Alonso really earned my respect today by calling out Magnussen’s absolute clown show of a drive. The guy actually overtook him on the formation lap right before the Parabolica heading into the straight, instead of just chilling, waiting his turn behind Alonso, and maybe grabbing some slipstream from the McLaren.
Alonso was clearly pissed. He did that move on purpose, basically screwing over both his own lap and Magnussen's, even though he probably wanted that monster tow later on. 🙂.

Maybe the idiot should've realized he has to wait his turn entering the Parabolica.

All Alonso showed is that the McLaren is painfully slow—so slow he's practically falling asleep at the wheel...🙂.
And he showed how frustrated he is about it. Like, seriously frustrated...
.
The guy's been fraying at the edges off-track for ages, and now he's doing it on-track too...
. If McLaren had even an ounce of sense, they’d just dump him and put little Lando Norris in the car already. I mean, Alonso isn't going to do anything but mess things up for the rest of the season anyway...
. At least the kid would get some experience, and Alonso could spend more time bickering with reporters and team bosses about who offered him a seat and how many times 🙂
.

Thomas Davis98 said:I also think that if Kimi had been the number one driver at Ferrari from the start of the season, he’d be leading the championship right now. I don't mean he'd have an extra 110 points, but he'd be roughly where Lewis Hamilton is—though Lewis and Vettel would probably have slightly less. Of course, that assumes all those mistakes made against Kimi were due to the team not caring about him or even actively sabotaging him. If we assume Kimi was the lead driver but all the crashes and errors on his car were just pure bad luck that would've happened to anyone instead of Vettel, then that whole theory falls apart.

Yeah, yeah, this and that...
We can make up whatever fairy tales we want, but honestly, I have zero clue how anyone can blame Ferrari for Kimi's pile of terrible Final Qualifying Rounds this season, his pathetic starts, or those races where he looks like he’s literally sleeping before suddenly waking up confused, wondering where the track even is...

Look, you can't really blame Ferrari for that. I mean, you could, but it's ridiculous...
The problem with Kimi is Kimi 😍, not Ferrari, the Illuminati, lizard people, or whatever else you want to blame...

Sure, we can spin it however we want, but the truth is Kimi just doesn't give a damn and he's simply unmotivated...
The only time he might actually give it his all and show what he's capable of is when it's time to sign a new contract. As soon as that's done, he'll go right back to "don't care, gonna grab a coffee or take a nap" mode and everything stays the same...
Kimi clearly has the raw talent and speed to be a champion; he just hasn't had the drive for a long time now...
And the only way he'd get that drive is if Ferrari offered him a new contract every single Sunday afternoon for the following week. Otherwise, it's never going to 😬
If there's one thing you can actually fault Ferrari for regarding Kimi, it's that they haven't tried giving him weekly contracts yet...

And Ferrari knows that damn well. Why do you think they bother signing him to a new deal every single season...
They know perfectly well they won't find another driver with his talent and speed on the grid, especially not for that kind of money. They also know that despite his personality, he could eat his entire collection of famous quotes for breakfast...
But they also know that if they sign him for two, three, or five seasons, they'll end up stuck with a driver in a car that will never deliver anything decent, let alone special... Keeping him on a short leash is actually what makes Kimi drive better. 😁

stormybadger8 said:All Alonso managed to demonstrate is that the McLaren is absolutely abysmal. It’s so painfully slow that he probably drifts off to sleep behind the wheel from time to time.🙂
And he made it clear that he was frustrated by it all—honestly, just incredibly frustrated.

Lewis Hamilton has been falling apart off the track for quite some time now, and it seems he’s finally starting to unravel on it as well.
If McLaren actually had a shred of common sense, they’d have shoved Lando Norris into that seat already. It’s pretty obvious at this point—Alonso isn't exactly going to be doing anything other than messing things up for the rest of the season.
It would have been beneficial if they had at least managed to pick up some decent experience along the way. As for Fernando Alonso, he would have certainly enjoyed having more free time to bicker with reporters and team principals over who offered him a seat and how many times they actually did. 🙂

I honestly wouldn't have expected anything else from you when we're talking about Fernando Alonso. He’s out there wrestling this incredibly slow car, yet somehow he still managed to outmaneuver Esteban Ocon despite the pace being absolutely abysmal. I was rooting for him during that duel with Kevin Magnussen yesterday. Just typical Alonso.
If I were to ask you what would have happened if Kevin Magnussen had pulled that move on Sebastian Vettel before the final turn, he probably would’ve just taken it in stride. He might even be happy about it.
Honestly, Ferrari is moving so fast right now that they’d have such a massive slipstream, they could probably just cruise straight into first place without even trying.🙂.

stormybadger8 said:So this is this, or that is that...
We can make up whatever fairy tales we want, but I truly haven't the slightest clue what logic dictates that Ferrari is to blame for the pile of poorly driven Final Qualifying Rounds this season, for those rather pathetic starts, or for races where he looks like he’s literally asleep before suddenly waking up and wondering where on earth he is on the track and why...

Well, you can't really blame Ferrari for things like that—I mean, you could, but it's honestly ridiculous...
The issue with Kimi is Kimi 😍, not Ferrari, or the Masons, or lizard people, or whatever else people want to conjure up...

Look, we can spin all the stories we like, but Kimi simply doesn't give a damn and just isn't feeling it...
The only time he might actually give his all and show what he's truly capable of is when it's time to sign a new contract; once that's done, he'll slide right back into that "I don't care, I'd rather grab a drink, sleep, or fight" mode and everything returns to business as usual...
Kimi certainly possesses the natural talent and pace required to be a champion, he just hasn't had the drive for a long time now...
And the only way he'd find that drive is if Ferrari were signing a new contract for him every single Sunday afternoon for the following week, otherwise, it's never going to 😬
If there is anything one could reproach Ferrari for regarding Kimi, it's that they haven't tried signing weekly contracts with him yet...

And Ferrari knows that damn well; why do you think they bother signing a new contract with him every single season...
They know perfectly well they won't find a driver with his level of talent and speed on the grid, especially not for that kind of money, and they know he'll eat his famous excuses for breakfast—the ones journalists keep pulling out of their sleeves...
But they also know that if they sign him for two, three, or five seasons, they'll end up with a carcass in a car that will never even deliver something solid, let alone something special... keeping him on a short leash is the only reason Kimi drives as well as he does 😁

It is interesting how Kimi, at 39 years old, manages to be faster than Sebastian Vettel despite, as you put it, driving a literal log 🙂.
I am trying to imagine what Sebastian Vettel would do if he had Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen in that same car! But the time will come when we find out; it will happen when Charles Leclerc gets in and we finally see, though even he is struggling with form lately.