[Killed by Death]

Hoisting up a Stella for the VER fans out there

Yes, I know it's an Americanized Belgium import but best I could do last minute on a Sunday. I'll do better next time

[243Racing]

Originally Posted by Killed by Death

Hoisting up a Stella for the VER fans out there

Yes, I know it's an Americanized Belgium import but best I could do last minute on a Sunday. I'll do better next time

No step on snek \m/

[E92inNC]

Originally Posted by Killed by Death

Agreed, I don't think they should have ever replaced Maurizio Arrivabene! But word is he was kind of an overbearing a$$hole? I thought he was doing a great job and appeared to have leadership skills.

I prefer the Toto Wolff model. He is a potent driver / manager combination. Don't believe he can drive? Checkout some of his YouTube videos. But no one comes to mind

Maybe try a MB senior adviser type like Niki? Even Red Bull has Helmut Marko who was a driver.

Rubens Barrichello, too nice
Massa, too nice,
(Retired) Vettel, strong choice but spent too many years within the team.
(Retired) Alonzo, but will he ever retire?

Mika Häkkinen

Suggestions

Same, I thought they got rid of Arrivabene too quickly, Binotto is more suited for the technical side. Helped build the car up to contender status in 2017 from having started so far back with the new regs back in 2014. With development now focused on 2022 we can only hope they start on better place and be competitive from the get go and focus on improvement instead of catch, which is gonna be real tough with the spending cap rules.

[Killed by Death]

Originally Posted by Bubbles

Nico R!

Nice guy...Too soft I'm afraid...Think I'd rather have HAM...Never drove for Ferrari...No friendship worries...Winner who is still HUNGRY. But yet again, nice guy, don't know if he has any Toto or Steiner traits. Ferrari needs someone who can get f'ing ugly if needed.

[Killed by Death]

Ferrari problem solved!!! Terry Tate office linebacker

"When it's game time it's pain time baby"

[NickyC]

Great race, fantastic season so far. About time good grief.

[Bongoxxx]

Originally Posted by Killed by Death

Keep in mind:

Max 23 years old

Hammy 36

So what’s your point?

Max 7 years in F1 - 0 titles

Hammy 14 years in F1 - 7 titles



Hammy averaging a title every other year…Max averaging 0


If things continue, Max may win his first this year, but mark my words - Russel will move to Merc and win more titles than Max.

[MKSixer]

Originally Posted by Bongoxxx

So what’s your point?

Max 7 years in F1 - 0 titles

Hammy 14 years in F1 - 7 titles



Hammy averaging a title every other year…Max averaging 0


If things continue, Max may win his first this year, but mark my words - Russel will move to Merc and win more titles than Max.

Congrats to Max and RBR. Max made a mistake at the start which was made ok by the horrible strategic decisions by Mercedes. Further, BOT did nothing to help the Mercedes cause. His defense against VER was pathetic. Had he held VER up for even one more lap, Sir Lewis would have probably won the race.

Toto Wolff and the strat team need to get thier crap together. They were out performed by Red Bull.

[Killed by Death]

Originally Posted by Bongoxxx

So what’s your point?

Max 7 years in F1 - 0 titles

Hammy 14 years in F1 - 7 titles



Hammy averaging a title every other year…Max averaging 0


If things continue, Max may win his first this year, but mark my words - Russel will move to Merc and win more titles than Max.

My point is simple, VER has time to catch up. Especially if he beats HAM to one this year.

RUS is a serious threat if MB is proactive and ditches BOT early enough.

[Killed by Death]

Originally Posted by MKSixer

....Toto Wolff and the strat team need to get thier crap together. They were out performed by Red Bull.

Team RB had this race but Toto and MB still scare me. VER and Red Bull didn't exactly blow MB's doors off. HAM was always lurking and VER never ran off into the distance.

I was on the edge of my seat. I thought VER would catch HAM but be too late to pass. They did a great job.

[Bubbles]

Originally Posted by MKSixer

Congrats to Max and RBR. Max made a mistake at the start which was made ok by the horrible strategic decisions by Mercedes. Further, BOT did nothing to help the Mercedes cause. His defense against VER was pathetic. Had he held VER up for even one more lap, Sir Lewis would have probably won the race.

Toto Wolff and the strat team need to get thier crap together. They were out performed by Red Bull.

At times during the race it appeared Bottas had the better pace and the dirty air behind hammy wasn’t great for his tires. Up until the last few laps, bottas was fastest in sector 1 and 2 consistently.

I agree with you that the Merc strategy team needs to step up, they underestimated Max’s outlap potential especially sector 3 where he posted fastest overall for the race.

Maybe they got greedy and targeted a 1 & 2 finish and it didn’t pan out for them without a safety car. They Merc appeared to have better grip than the Redbull for most of the race, due to the low downforce setup RBR was running.

It was wild watching Max pulling his right front wheel off the ground every lap in this turn.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by Bongoxxx

If things continue, Max may win his first this year, but mark my words - Russel will move to Merc and win more titles than Max.

But do you really want to?
Do you really want to get into the same situation that we've been in, in the last 9 years or so?
That even before the season begins it's pretty sure who'll win and if not, the other guy will be his teammate?
That constructors championships are won with 300+ point differences?

That's not good for the sport, as every race will be a dull race.

The last really exciting season in F1 was 2012 where multiple drivers and teams were fighting for the title.

Because that's what true fans of the sport want to see. Real battles on the track that last until the last round. I mean, up till half the race the top 3 was within 4 seconds, we had seen 2 leadership changes, and then the race leader takes a pitstop and the #2 and #3 don't and then an incredible hunt begins that lasts till the end.
These are the kinds of races I want to see.

And preferably that even more teams mix into the fight
The lead MERC and RB now had over the other teams in this race (the gap was 50 sec or so) is still too big.
That's why I'm also eager to see what effect the development budget restraints will have in 2-3 years.
Will we see a top 4 within 100 points composed of drivers who all race in a different team and a top 4 constructors championship also within ~100 points? Like we had in 2012?

Or will we see 1 team leading with over 300 points and 1 driver having a 100+ point lead on the runner up, racing for the same team?

I'm a VER fan mainly for 2 reasons:
1. He's a spectacular driver that sometimes displays incredible moves on the track (drifting through corners to correct his own mistakes because he wants to go too fast etc)
2. He's currently the only one that breaks that pattern that makes F1 the dullest sport on earth in the last decade.

That I hear the most beautiful and (arguably) oldest anthem in the world every time he wins is only a 3rd, minor reason.

But honestly if we get a race every time like the one we had now, the one who wins becomes less and less important.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by Bubbles

At times during the race it appeared Bottas had the better pace and the dirty air behind hammy wasn’t great for his tires. Up until the last few laps, bottas was fastest in sector 1 and 2 consistently.

My point with Bottas is, is that he's a really good qualifyer and that he's really consistent in a race (still not as good as HAM though) if there's no threat or pressure, but he's very weak in dogfights.
Maybe he cracks under pressure or something.
He's not a good overtaker and not good at holding his challengers off.

And VER is the opposite.

That Bottas was pissed over the radio about this race being a 2 stop race shows that he really is the #2 in the team and only the #1 counts (in the end I think that's the way in most top teams).
They probably didn't gave BOT a 2nd stop (and maybe get that FL) so he could serve as a barrier to VER gaining rapidly.

Originally Posted by Bubbles

they underestimated Max’s outlap potential especially sector 3 where he posted fastest overall for the race.

Even Max was flabbergasted by that he said in an interview.
He gained 3 sec by that undercut pitstop.
There was also an interesting analytic discussion about that and that had to do with the #1 pitbox (the merc box) on Paul Ricard.
When coming in, the cars for the #1 pitbox have to make a sharp turn to the right and then to the left to get to the pad, and the #2 and further boxes can do that more gradually.
So the #1 pitbox takes more distance to drive into. They believed (in that discussion) that that alone could take up 0,5sec, so that helped Max get that unexpected lead during the first pitstop.
It's of course debatable how much that influenced the final results as Max gave away his lead (less than 2sec) again after ~20 laps to make his 2nd stop

[Mr Pete]

Watching dvr'd race right now. You know Marzepan is a horrible driver when your 7 year old son asks you, 'dad, why is Marzepan always in last place?' Hahaha!

[Bubbles]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

My point with Bottas is, is that he's a really good qualifyer and that he's really consistent in a race (still not as good as HAM though) if there's no threat or pressure, but he's very weak in dogfights.
Maybe he cracks under pressure or something.
He's not a good overtaker and not good at holding his challengers off.

And VER is the opposite.

That Bottas was pissed over the radio about this race being a 2 stop race shows that he really is the #2 in the team and only the #1 counts (in the end I think that's the way in most top teams).
They probably didn't gave BOT a 2nd stop (and maybe get that FL) so he could serve as a barrier to VER gaining rapidly.


Even Max was flabbergasted by that he said in an interview.
He gained 3 sec by that undercut pitstop.
There was also an interesting analytic discussion about that and that had to do with the #1 pitbox (the merc box) on Paul Ricard.
When coming in, the cars for the #1 pitbox have to make a sharp turn to the right and then to the left to get to the pad, and the #2 and further boxes can do that more gradually.
So the #1 pitbox takes more distance to drive into. They believed (in that discussion) that that alone could take up 0,5sec, so that helped Max get that unexpected lead during the first pitstop.
It's of course debatable how much that influenced the final results as Max gave away his lead (less than 2sec) again after ~20 laps to make his 2nd stop

It’s funny, I thought MERC had the ideal pit box spot, basically drive right into it.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Killed by Death

My point is simple, VER has time to catch up. Especially if he beats HAM to one this year.

RUS is a serious threat if MB is proactive and ditches BOT early enough.

RUS would be a serious threat to hammy also and Wolf doesn't want an in-house 'starwars'.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Bubbles

At times during the race it appeared Bottas had the better pace and the dirty air behind hammy wasn’t great for his tires. Up until the last few laps, bottas was fastest in sector 1 and 2 consistently.

I agree with you that the Merc strategy team needs to step up, they underestimated Max’s outlap potential especially sector 3 where he posted fastest overall for the race.

Maybe they got greedy and targeted a 1 & 2 finish and it didn’t pan out for them without a safety car. They Merc appeared to have better grip than the Redbull for most of the race, due to the low downforce setup RBR was running.

It was wild watching Max pulling his left front wheel off the ground every lap in this turn.

Hey Bubbles it's his F/R wheel that's airing

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Killed by Death

Team RB had this race but Toto and MB still scare me. VER and Red Bull didn't exactly blow MB's doors off. HAM was always lurking and VER never ran off into the distance.

I was on the edge of my seat. I thought VER would catch HAM but be too late to pass. They did a great job.

They shouldn't scare you friend, they're just a team that 'were' quick and ppl are just used to thinking 'oh they'll win in the end'.
There's only one way to counter a bully and that's to head straight into them and surprise them.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by Killed by Death

Hoisting up a Stella for the VER fans out there

Yes, I know it's an Americanized Belgium import but best I could do last minute on a Sunday. I'll do better next time

Well done ! Cheers my friend

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

RUS would be a serious threat to hammy also and Wolf doesn't want an in-house 'starwars'.

I heard , Toto 5H1T in his pants ...

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

I heard , Toto 5H1T in his pants ...

thats made my day, this character has had it his way for way too long with rules that seemed to partner the W series of cars at every turn, his wife a former driver for Audi DTM will have a job on her hands now heheh

[Bubbles]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Hey Bubbles it's his F/R wheel that's airing

Ha, need more sleep!