2012 Japanese GP (Suzuka) - Oct 7th

Two pretty interesting takeaways from this Kimi-Alonso situation:

1. Is it actually possible that Kimi could, quite by chance, snatch the championship title again just because everyone else messed up? Honestly, if that happens, I might just have to go on a massive bender.🤣
2. He’s clearly had a few too many drinks.🙂

Frank Collins85 said:Two decent things came out of this Kimi-Alonso contact:

Kimi could potentially stumble his way into another championship, purely by accident because everyone else keeps screwing up. If that actually happens, I’m going to need a serious drink.🤣
He drank until he was banned. 🙂

I had the exact same thought regarding Kimi. He’s practically barely driven anything all season, yet he somehow manages to stay right in the mix. It is honestly wild how he keeps holding onto his position. At this point, it’s almost impossible to imagine him stumbling into another title; if that actually happened, we’d have to start looking into paranormal activity.

And one more thing. No matter how much noise people make about the tires, I don't see any evidence that the chemical engineering has actually stopped evolving...

Lewis got a real buffet of trouble from Pirelli yesterday. 😢

steelmaker83 said:And one more thing. No matter how much people complain about the tires, I don't think the tire degradation has actually stopped...

Yeah, I can see that too. It just feels like every team is intentionally slowing their drivers down so it isn't as obvious anymore...

http://en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?p...=Mark Webber

If you look at Vettel's times, it's clear his fastest lap was about 1 to 1.3 seconds quicker than his previous average, even on 14-lap old tires...
It’s obvious teams are being way more careful with tire management now than they used to be...

Times would probably be a lot faster, but they'd have to commit to a one-stop strategy and risk the tires giving out in the final laps...
Basically, all the teams just stopped using those aggressive tactics.

Even back in Singapore, we saw Massu pushing like crazy because he ended up behind, so they went for that aggressive approach and didn't baby the tires at all...

Who knows, maybe we'll get a surprisingly fast race toward the end of the season—like the last or second to last one—and see Pirelli fall apart again.😳

Frank Collins85 said:So Kimi might just stumble his way into a championship again—purely because everyone else messed up? Man, I’d be absolutely stoked if that actually happened...🤣

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me one bit—actually, I'm totally rooting for it.
Kimi actually closed the gap this weekend since Alonso had to drop out. Detroit is still struggling big time this season; they're just missing that one extra tenth of a second to catch the leaders. Even though they claim they've been cranking out upgrades all year, maybe it's just not cutting it. Kimi lives for the win—he's not interested in just cruising to some 5th place finish.
If Vettel and Alonso both DNF next race, or if Kimi pulls off some miracle win, things could get wild in the final stretch.
Just imagine—winning the title in a comeback season? People at Ferrari would probably start shooting at each other. 😁

I wouldn't bet on Kimi taking the title; honestly, Sebastian Vettel is the clear favorite right now, mostly just because his car is actually decent. But hey, there are still five races left and plenty of points up for grabs

The duel between Kimi Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton, featuring an absolutely brilliant reaction from Kimi:

http://indavideo.hu/video/Kimi_vs_Hamilton

I can't help but wonder, though, if Fernando Alonso doesn't ultimately carry the blame for his own retirement by the EOD.

Look at this—they’re back at it again, claiming 🤣🤣
was just pure luck for Kimi Räikkönen.

ps. give my best to Romain Grosjean:

pps. ☕

graniteharbor502 said:that duel between Kimi Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton—and honestly, what a reaction from Kimi:

http://indavideo.hu/video/Kimi_vs_Hamilton

definitely the highlight of an otherwise pretty dull race...

that incredible dive by Lewis Hamilton into turn two, paired with how perfectly Kimi Räikkönen kept that car under control... just pure class.

steelmaker83 said:I had the exact same thought regarding Kimi-esque driving. He basically didn't drive anything at all, yet he’s always hovering right there, and it’s honestly incredible how he manages to stay in the hunt.

It’s a bit nonsensical to claim a driver accomplished nothing when he’s out there collecting points and currently sitting third in the championship standings. If he actually manages to snag the title, people will probably try to argue he won it "by pure accident" rather than acknowledging the solid driving that put those points on the board.

The issue with certain users on this forum is a blatant lack of focus, reality, respect, and basic decency.
This constant posting of yours isn't an exchange of ideas, a debate, or even a conversation. It’s just primitive venting about what you dislike and arrogant worshiping of whoever you happen to root for.

steelmaker83, forgive me for replying directly under your quote, but I really don't have the energy to write out everything I was planning for a separate post.

Jim Clark, claiming that Alonso is at the pinnacle of racing etiquette while being fully aware of the circus and the disgrace he and his teammate Nelson Piquet caused in Singapore is frankly laughable. I never particularly cared for Alonso, but I always respected his skill. However, after Singapore, he’s just a common gossip to me, someone with somewhat questionable morals. If that's his style, fine... but elevating him to legendary status while minimizing his opponents is incredibly unserious... because what is Alonso's greatness actually worth if he’s only racing against amateurs and various "hack drivers" who just happened to get lucky enough to grab a few points.

I honestly don't know what possessed me to start reading you people again. 🙄
It looks like it's time for me, much like Michael Schumacher in Formula 1, to finally and completely retire from this Formula 1 forum. 😍

Finally, Koba 😍

"Getting a podium at my home Grand Prix, my very first one... it’s just... you know... incredible. I was actually joking before the race that I’ve had a few close calls with podium finishes lately, but luck just wasn't on my side. Maybe grabbing this one was just meant to be, fate playing its part, you know?"

The atmosphere 🙏

KA-MU-I 🙏





Unfortunately, we saw absolutely nothing from those highly anticipated Lotus's upgrades, and the car feels sluggish and frustratingly slow... honestly, it'll be a struggle to aim for anything better than a 5th or 6th place when we head to Korea.

That was easily his best race ever, considering he's driving that absolute junk heap of a Mercedes-Benz; if it hadn't been for that penalty, he would've walked away with points.

And once again, KA-MU-I!

steelmaker83 said:I mean, I was actually thinking the same thing regarding Kimi Räikkönen. He’s basically barely winning anything, yet he’s always hovering right there in the mix, which is just wild when you think about it. It’s not even totally impossible that he somehow stumbles into another title, though if that actually happened, I guess we’d all have to start looking into some kind of paranormal activity or something...

I suppose you really can outdo yourself sometimes. I get the feeling you’re not exactly a fan of Kimi Räikkönen, but man, throwing out nonsense like this...
Just imagine—this guy somehow ends up with the most points in the longest season ever, despite driving a car that isn't exactly a rocket ship and not really dominating races, and then he just happens to walk away with the championship.
That would be pretty incredible, I guess.

Jack Kelly5 said:You can really outdo yourself sometimes. I get that you might have a grudge against Kimi Räikkönen, but spreading this kind of nonsense is just embarrassing.
Imagine a guy who happens to score the most points in the longest season ever, driving a car that isn't even that good, and still misses the title by a hair.
That’s incredible.

That's exactly my point. It would be straight-up paranormal if that happened to him twice.

The guy is completely passive and hasn't shown anything. Sure, he circles the track and finishes races. Boring.

Maybe he'll fall off his yacht again?

What Alonso pulled on Romain Grosjean in Monaco and Guido di Resta at Monza didn't fly with Kimi Räikkönen—he wasn't having any of his nonsense.
Hopefully, Alonso actually learned something from that.
Maybe.

steelmaker83 said:I actually had the same thought regarding Kimi Räikkönen. He basically hasn't driven anything significant lately, yet he’s always just *there*—it's honestly wild how he manages to stay in the hunt. It wouldn't even be a stretch to think a championship could just fall right into his lap again...

See, if you look at the other side of things... back in 2005, he was absolutely tearing it up—even with those +10 place grid penalty setbacks—and he was pulling off the best drives on the grid, despite the fact that his car was about as reliable as a cheap knockoff blender from a flea market

The car would just die on him three separate times while he was sitting in a commanding lead, not to mention the occasional wheel falling off...

Did I even mention how often he was slapped with a +10 place grid penalty just because they had to swap out the engine?

EDIT: Honestly, I wouldn't disagree with you that he's been a bit dull this season. The only thing that sticks in my mind is that situation with the old man at Spa. He just kind of cruises along, circling the track...

Honestly, Alonso is basically pulling the same moves as Kimi this season.
Just cruising around the track and crossing the finish line—nothing exciting about it.
But look, Alonso got lucky and landed in the championship lead, while Kimi had a bit of bad luck and ended up sitting in 3rd.
Still, Kimi outscored his teammate by a huge margin, just like Alonso did. So yeah, Kimi’s definitely not lacking anything.