Monaco GP 2015

Jenson Button mentions how much he’s enjoying the car's handling lately..🙂
He certainly took a bit of a beating following the Los Angeles race🙂

Lewis Hamilton secured pole position in Monaco, and honestly, given how the session unfolded, I suppose it was somewhat expected. This time around, however, it felt like Nico Rosberg was really pushing his luck right to the absolute limit. We saw some chaos with the penalties too; Romain Grosjean picked up a penalty for a gearbox issue, and Carlos Sainz was penalized for missing his weighing station, which effectively bumped Jenson Button up into tenth place. There might even be a chance for McLaren to scrape together a single point if things go their way. What are we all thinking for tomorrow's race? If the track stays as "cold" as it felt today, anything could happen, and wouldn't a little bit of rain actually make things quite interesting? 🙂

Ferrari 🤦
God, what an absolute disaster of a strategy during the Q3 session🤦

That was easily one of the dumbest calls I've seen...
They basically handed Rosberg the win on a silver platter, even though everyone knew he’d probably screw up and ruin Vettel's lap anyway...
And they managed to sandwich Kimi right behind Sainz, who was already trailing Vettel...
It's like, why didn't they just send them out first? I have no clue what they were waiting for. It wasn't like the track temperature suddenly spiked out of nowhere and turned the asphalt into a furnace🤦

Instead of getting pole, Rosberg basically wrecked half the grid...
First at the end of Q2, and then doing it all over again at the end of Q3...

It wasn't a tactical error; it was the temperature drop killing the performance, which is exactly what Sebastian Vettel pointed out. Honestly, they should just be glad Daniel Ricciardo didn't snatch third place from them...
Nothing is set in stone yet. There's rain in the forecast for tomorrow, so things could get interesting...

Forecast says it’ll be a bit cloudy tomorrow, but no rain... at least that's what they're calling it. Tibi, don't go looking for excuses for Sebastian Vettel's absolute garbage lap 👋

dustyskipper77 said:It’s not the strategy that failed, it was the temp drop killing performance—even Sebastian Vettel admitted that. Honestly, they should just be glad Daniel Ricciardo didn't snatch third...
Nothing's set in stone yet. There might be rain tomorrow, which could make things interesting...

Not even close...
I was watching the track positions on LT, and Rosberg slowed down significantly right before his flyer, bunching everyone up. He absolutely blew his first sector, and because of that, everyone trailing him (Vettel, Carlos Sainz, Kimi Raikkonen) had already lost their shot at beating their previous best times since they were already lagging 0.300-0.400 behind their personal best S1 pace...
Vettel didn't lose much anyway, considering he had zero chance at pole due to the temperature drop, but who knows, maybe he could have clipped Rosberg's time...

Sainz's run meant nothing since he's starting from the pits regardless.
And Kimi just messed up his own fast lap; honestly, would he have even been fast enough for anything better if that hadn't happened?
Regardless, it was still a massive Ferrari blunder. It could have cost them dearly if both Red Bull Racing cars had jumped Vettel—or maybe even a Toro Rosso...

I’m feeling like a bit of an optimist regarding Sebastian Vettel tomorrow. I have a gut feeling he could actually be breathing down the necks of those Mercedes drivers. As for Kimi Raikkonen, I’m expecting him to slice past one of the Red Bull Racing cars right at the start; if he somehow manages to pull off both moves, he’ll be right there in the mix with the Mercedes duo and Vettel.
Mercedes just seems to have that edge when it comes to warming up their tires, so I don't think today was as much of a disaster as people are making it out to be.
Jenson Button might even snatch a couple of points tomorrow, finally proving that the technical superiority everyone has been hearing about from Ron Dennis and Fernando Alonso—who basically called it last year—is actually real. 😁

I mean, what if Honda actually beefed up the engine and that’s exactly why it just gave up on Fernando Alonso?

Didn't Fernando Alonso suffer an electrical failure?

Who says he's washed up? 🤷
Maybe Fernando Alonso just decided to spin out on purpose to save face, especially since Jenson Button was leaving him in the dust... still, the guy’s one of the smarter drivers out there.

Honestly, the same tactic would work wonders for Nico Rosberg. At least then people could blame the car for his spins instead of pointing the finger at him. 🤣
Though maybe Rosberg is just trying to prove that last year wasn't some intentional crash during qualifying, but just his "unique" way of handling Monaco. 😁

Sebastian Vettel is playing a bit fast and loose with the regulations by sporting that retro-style helmet.

🙂

stormybadger8 said:Who’s out here claiming he just lost his edge? 🤷
Maybe Fernando Alonso just decided to pull over to the side of the track to save what little dignity he has left, especially since Jenson Button was absolutely smoking him... though, let's be real, the guy is still one of the sharper drivers on the grid.

Honestly, if Nico Rosberg pulled the same stunt, it would actually work for him—he could just blame the car for his little off-track excursions instead of taking the hit himself. 🤣
Or maybe Rosberg is just trying to prove that his qualifying disaster last year wasn't some intentional wreck, but just his "unique" way of handling things in Monaco. 😁

🙂

If you’re going to pull a joke like that, just go ahead and dump it in the middle of nowhere 🤦🤣

Anyway, regarding McDonald's and those two drivers—I’ve got a hunch they might just play games with their strategy...

I'm dying to see if they actually take the bait and try an offset strategy...
The SS tires look incredibly durable, and they're clearly faster... I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of people start on softs just to pit down to the SS later.
Jenson Button gets first dibs on the choice, and it'll be wild to see if he goes with softs. If the guys ahead leave him enough of a gap to pit and come out in front, he might just stay untouchable, because honestly, I don't see anyone passing him anyway...

stormybadger8 said:If such an obvious joke can actually derail things, then we’re all basically doomed at this point, 🤦🤣

Anyway, why even bring up McDonald's? And honestly, looking at both those drivers, I get the feeling they’ve got a massive opening here to really mess around with their strategy...

I am seriously dying to see if they actually take the bait and try out an inverted strategy...
Those SS tires look like they'll last forever, plus they seem noticeably faster... my gut tells me a bunch of people are going to start on softs and then pivot over to the SS later on.
Jenson Button is the first one with the luxury of choice, and man, it’s going to be wild to see if he goes with the softs—especially if the pack ahead doesn't leave him enough breathing room to pit and jump back in front of them, because frankly, I don't see anyone actually passing him.

Look, trolling is trolling; you’re the one trolling, and I’m just sitting here waiting for the "authorities" to follow the rules.

Everything else is fine. ☕

Red Bull is having a pretty rough start this year... meanwhile, Kimi is looking absolutely solid.
Could probably just skip both of them right now...
And Vettel was also in one of those Mercedes-Benz cars...

silvergull10 said:Sebastian Vettel is playing fast and loose with the rules using that retro-style helmet.

Jason Campbell70 said:

Are you kidding me?

stormybadger8 said:Sebastian Vettel didn't actually lose by much—not that he had any real shot at PP anyway, given how much the temperature dropped.

I have to wonder what world you're living in, man—you're really kidding yourself here... but hey, whatever works for you.

analogpilot16 said:Man, what kind of alternate reality are you living in? You're totally delusional... but hey, whatever.

🤣🤣🤣
Hold up. Are you seriously claiming Ferrari should have beaten Mercedes-Benz in Monaco qualifying and grabbed the PP😲🤣
? Because if so, it definitely isn't the same Ferrari that Fernando Alonso claims is identical to last year's car.😁

Wait, what? Seriously?

Blaž says the driver at the start doesn't even touch the clutch—that they’re just controlling it from the pit wall instead.

Is that actually true????

That's absolute madness.

Total nightmare fuel.

Now those are actual horrors, not some Hinchcliffe nonsense.

Way to go, Joe Biden

Joe Biden!!!!!

Joe Biden is a freaking genius

Just feels like maybe a few too many people have been lurking around here lately

He says if nobody gets hurt, then it wasn't even a big deal.

Sound familiar?