GP Germany - 07/25/2010

So much for the idea that Baby is just a second driver 😲

Joseph Young57 said:Trying to justify one crime by pointing at another is just pathetic, honestly.😉

Neither way is a crime. It’s just a different philosophy. Some teams don't bother having a clear number one driver, while others go all in. That's their call. But honestly, sticking to a single lead driver usually pays off better. Just look at Prost versus Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell back in '86, Michael Schumacher against Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard in '00, or Kimi Räikkönen against Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton in '07. Same story every time.

Jason Campbell70 said:Jason Campbell70. 😁 😎

🙏🙏🙏

😁

Ryan Gomez4 said:Look, last season wasn't exactly irritating, but it wasn't anything to write home about either. Now? It’s actually pretty cool.

I’m with Mark Webber on this one. He’s got a point. 🙂

Honestly, that whole Brawn era and that feeling of invincibility really got under my skin. Then, for the second half of the season, you start wondering—is it actually him, or just a dominant car? It was all pretty pointless.
This year, he seems to be working from the shadows. He’s good, and the internal team dynamics are interesting; I always find it entertaining when things go down at McLaren (kind of like back in 2007).
.....
You can't compare what's happening at Ferrari to 2007 and Kimi Räikkönen like some people do. It isn't the same thing; that was right at the moment of clinching the title toward the end of the season.

Plus, Fernando Alonso gets on my nerves, and it bugs me even more how Felipe Massa basically has to act as his number two driver. It wasn't even that clearly defined when Kimi was there, even though they did take a win once, and Massa could have had a shot in 2008.

rustystag7, I agree with everything you said.
Mark Webber, Felipe Massa, Jenson Button 🙂

cosmicridge5 said:I don't see why anyone is acting like he earned it. It's not like he actually had to fight for it 😬 It was basically handed to him on a silver platter 😁

It shouldn't be this hard to just get through the day without feeling like you're being constantly pushed around. 🤷

slydrifter39 said:Neither way is a crime. It’s just a different philosophy. Some teams don't bother having a clear number one driver, while others go all in. That's their call. But honestly, sticking to a single lead driver usually pays off better. Just look at Prost versus Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell back in '86, Michael Schumacher against Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard in '00, or Kimi Räikkönen against Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton in '07. Same story every time.

It comes down to the sport itself.
And honestly, nothing bugs me more than those idiots who pull the whole "but everyone else does it, so why can't they?" excuse.☕

cosmicridge5 said:So much for the idea that Baby is just a second driver 😲

Yeah, they just forgot to mention that part.😁

Or maybe they didn't, and they just lied and said they did.🤣

slydrifter39 said:Facts. He's not championship material. If he were, he'd be leading the standings.

Then again, Mark Webber isn't championship material either since he only has one good race out of every three. Being consistent is what matters, and this season we've only seen that from Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. If Hamilton—who’s pretty wild and prone to errors—is leading because of consistency, it just shows how damn good he is.

Look, you’ve got some points there, but let’s be real... we aren't seeing any of that happening on track.

I was literally just telling my buddy, if all this stuff is staged for the cameras and the sponsors, who knows what kind of favoritism they're pulling behind the scenes where we can't see it...

Because seriously, man, look at Felipe Massa. For the last two seasons, he was a killer driver. Love him or hate him, he was consistently racking up wins regardless of how the season went, and now suddenly he’s nowhere to be found and everyone is talking about some random guy like Kubica...

What the hell is the point of having a second driver like him? He would've been out there consistently overtaking Fernando Alonso on the outside...

In my book, he probably would've been the most nightmare-inducing second driver out of anyone on this list. 🙏

Ryan Gomez4 said:It shouldn't be this hard to just get through the day without feeling like you're being constantly pushed around. 🤷

😬

There we go, Massa grabs the fastest lap after getting a bit of a lukewarm reception from his race engineer 😁 😁

cosmicridge5 said:It's the same logic as screaming at Jenson Button that his fuel is critical and he REALLY needs to save gas...😁 😁 😁

If they get penalized for that kind of thing, then I guess Ferrari should be penalized for this too.🤷

Hmm, based on what I know about McLaren's internal codes—"save fuel" usually means you stop racing hard to protect your position, not that you slow down enough to let someone pass you.

At the end of the day, Lewis Hamilton earned that 4th place through pure driving, a solid start, and by overtaking Mark Webber—it wasn't some gift from Jenson Button.

Jason Campbell70 said:Of course. It happened right when they banned the hydraulics. 😁

So, what exactly has Williams brought to the table lately? With that stunning—yet surprisingly unsuccessful—setup they've introduced? 👋FW26?

What does hydraulics have to do with the joint?
And even when Williams brought in hydraulics, everyone else stuck with the standard ones because they were 100% reliable (though I don't recall a single time where Williams was left hanging in mid-air or sitting on the ground when they shouldn't have been).

I’m talking about the joint that allows the mechanic to step away from the car while it's still elevated, letting them pull the jack away without having to scramble out of the way first.😉

Joseph Young57 said:It comes down to the sport itself.
And honestly, nothing bugs me more than those idiots who pull the whole "but everyone else does it, so why can't they?" excuse.☕

Why? Fernando Alonso was faster (he built a 4-second gap after passing). He could've gone for a direct overtake, but he risked a Sebastian Vettel-style collision.

As for why Felipe Massa is number two... it's because he's down by 30 points with more than half the season left. It's that simple.

The only thing I don't get is why they didn't just settle on a plan before the race if Massa was ahead of Fernando, instead of all this messing around mid-race.

Oh, looks like Nando just snagged the fastest lap 🤣

slydrifter39 said:Neither way is a crime. It’s just a different philosophy. Some teams don't bother having a clear number one driver, while others go all in. That's their call. But honestly, sticking to a single lead driver usually pays off better. Just look at Prost versus Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell back in '86, Michael Schumacher against Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard in '00, or Kimi Räikkönen against Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton in '07. Same story every time.

I mean, if they're just going to spend the whole season cannibalizing each other's points, what's the point of putting two top-tier drivers in the same garage anyway?🤷

And then you hear them talking about how every team should have three cars... man, imagine the chaos if that actually happened.🙄

I can already picture the press conference and the look on Williams' face if things stay this way.

rustystag7 said:That kind of attitude is the only way to go if you want people to actually respect you...

I'm rooting for Felipe Massa, but honestly, there's no point in just whining about it.....

I mean, look at Webber—he showed up in a few races and basically told that little punk to sit down and shut up... that's about as much as he could do....

Vettel is getting all the favoritism again, but even then, they have respect for Webber because they know better than to mess with him....

But Button and Massa? They didn't set that up themselves, so they've got nobody to blame but their own selves....

Like, personally, I kind of wish Massa had just blocked Fernando Alonso that one time when they both pulled into the pits at once and acted like complete idiots...

Things would've gotten heated, sure, but then the guy—and the whole team—would've known right away that you can't just push him around....😉

He was the real deal. That’s why we loved him 😍 (and still mourn him 😬)

Michael Lee4 said:Yeah, they just forgot to mention that part.😁

Or maybe they didn't, and they just lied and said they did.🤣

🤣🤣🤣🤣

redheron12 said:Hmm, based on what I know about McLaren's internal codes—"save fuel" usually means you stop racing hard to protect your position, not that you slow down enough to let someone pass you.

At the end of the day, Lewis Hamilton earned that 4th place through pure driving, a solid start, and by overtaking Mark Webber—it wasn't some gift from Jenson Button.

I think they were talking about that mess from five or six races back when Jenson Button jumped Lewis Hamilton, only to get yelled at to save fuel, which basically handed the lead right back to Lewis.

mistybear87 said:What does hydraulics have to do with the joint?
And even when Williams brought in hydraulics, everyone else stuck with the standard ones because they were 100% reliable (though I don't recall a single time where Williams was left hanging in mid-air or sitting on the ground when they shouldn't have been).

I’m talking about the joint that allows the mechanic to step away from the car while it's still elevated, letting them pull the jack away without having to scramble out of the way first.😉

With the Williams hydraulic jacks, the front mechanic wasn't supposed to stand directly in front of the car during the descent either; they stayed to the side.😉

So, this Ferrari solution follows the Williams blueprint, with one major catch: the actual lifting is still left to the mechanics' muscles, since machine-assisted lifting is strictly against the rules.

redheron12 said:Hmm, based on what I know about McLaren's internal codes—"save fuel" usually means you stop racing hard to protect your position, not that you slow down enough to let someone pass you.

At the end of the day, Lewis Hamilton earned that 4th place through pure driving, a solid start, and by overtaking Mark Webber—it wasn't some gift from Jenson Button.

Look, if Jenson Button ends up crashing out and Lewis Hamilton slides right into his spot, people are going to start crying foul again, claiming they’re just falling back on that old Renault playbook where they pick a favorite and run with it.
Wall of Victory!!!! 🤣🤣

Honestly, it was a decent enough race for us, I suppose.👍It’s not a bad start, considering the whole system is still running at half-capacity anyway.☕