[POLL] Sports Talk - Who's playing and what are you watching?

Haas are the second biggest clown team on the grid, if Ferrari get it together, they are the number one clown team.
But Hulks performance yesterday, and their even more similar car (to Ferrari) with the bathtub sidepod now also on the Haas, makes me think that they could at least be constant midfield racers this season.
Let’s see … if they ever get to drive for the podium, they will surely botch that pit stop again …

Maybe a Sports discussion thread (including golf?) should be designated…

As for me:
Hockey (ice) - Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs
Baseball - Toronto Blue Jays
Soccer - Canada, England, Germany + vague interest
Cricket - like to watch, hard to find
Racing - sort of NASCAR I follow some drivers, track ovals, watch road courses
Indycar - same as NASCAR, but more interesting. Toronto Indy race is (usually) hot, but worth it
F1 - incredible hotbed of machinations - and often fun. Last year was horrible after the ‘great ripoff’ that ended the previous season. Last thing we need is another run of Red Bull dominance (even Mercedes dominance was never quite as bad - nor was Ferrari’s before that.
This year, we MIGHT get to see some talent count for more again - Alonso still has a lot of that! Following Hamilton, Alonso and hoping to see Piastri and Logan do well - as well as some exciting racing.

And…
bluejay2


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Precisely what I was hoping for here :slight_smile:

It’s the missing golf that ‘worries’ me, though :grin:

Actually, I’m missing golf myself… :golf:

Just saw todays time tables. Alonso is on the Top 3 again … But it looks bad for Mercedes.

Well, overlapped cars were allowed to overtake the safety car and lap themselves back before the race restarts since the 2000s. The only rip off was, that only the cars between Verstappen and Hamilton could round themselves back and the others weren’t allowed.
And even with them still being between them, they would have to let Max go past with blue flags during the first 3 corners. Max performance on fresh softs, compared to Hamilton’s old hards was worlds so Hamilton never had a chance, after Mercedes decided to let him stay out on his old hard tyres. If Max hadn’t overtaken him at the hairpin, he would have got him on the second straight. He didn’t even need DRS to get past him.

I’ve gotta dust off my clubs - I’ve decided I need to stop tending the grass so much and actually play some golf this year. I’m docketed for March 13 and 21 for tee times already.

I thought Russel didn’t race yesterday? He looks good, and I think will be worthy replacement for Hamilton when he finally retires.

It’s amazing how much older Alonso looks than the rest of the field.

Logan Sargeant - hello. 7 from the new guy from the states?!?

Yeah, Williams seem to have done a decent job this year.

On day 2 of testing. We’ll see in a few weeks.

Day 1 they were 7 and 10, way better compared to last year :wink:

Yes, it was mostly just last and last.

Also - I added something to the poll - I think you were one of maybe two whose initial vote isn’t there anymore.

Thanks for the heads up - re-voted now.

That’s an odd view of the foul-up - Hamilton didn’t take tires because under the rules he would have given up a sure win with pitting and dropping his track position. There wasn’t time to let the cars through, and there would not have been any way for Max to get through them all, blue flags or not. There NEVER has been a partial wave-through before, and it was the only way to give Max a free ride. You will have noted that the guy that made that decision is no longer employed there?

The biggest disappointment is that they missed the opportunity of a great finish when they didn’t throw the red flag upon the occurrence of the accident… then BOTH would have been on fresh (soft) rubber, and a complete wave-through would have been executed. we would have been treated to a dream finish to the season, instead of a mis-applied rule change and an outright gift…

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The accident happened with 6 laps to go on a spot where several race-deciding crashes happened in the past. Track Marshalls were prepared for a quick clean up there to make a finish under racing conditions possible, which they succesfully executed. Mercedes pokered on the race not being restarted and lost - simple as that. They did that poker in several races, and lost almost every time. A friend and I have actually realized that everytime where pitting for fresh tires would be a bit of a risk, and Mercedes deciding to play it safe, is a sure way to say that pitting would have been the right call.

thats where we disagree. Alonso even said before the restart that Verstappen should be directly behind Hamilton without the overlapped cars between them. He would have let Verstappen go with blue flags on the start-finish line at restart like in the times before the lapped cars were allowed to unlap themselves and so would have the other 4 drivers. https://twitter.com/WMDSharky/status/1470527202416631809

And even if one or two would have tried to block Verstappen, his performance on the fresh tires was so much better that latest on the first DRS straight, he would have been exactly behind Hamilton, giving him corners 6, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 and every straight in between for launching the attack. Hamilton on his old hards was a sitting duck. Usually one can not overtake a similarly paced car in corner 5, but Verstappen did it easily.

thats what I said above, that was the only rip off.

Yeah, because both, Mercedes and Red Bull maneuvered him into a position where there was no way forward. You did realize that the channel that both Red Bull and Mercedes used to influence his decisions all over the season and especially during the finale was also closed as a result of that season and its finale?

I agree, in retrospect that would have been the best decision, but Mercedes hoping on the title deciding race being finished behind a safety car was foolish.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like Verstappen, he is an arrogant little prick. But I also don’t like Hamilton either. I lost all respect for him in the 2016 season finale where he behaved like a little child and sandbagged his own race, just to actively block Rosberg in hopes that some other driver would overtake Rosberg and rescue Hamiltons title, but the other drivers didn’t want to decide that Mercedes-internal championship season either. (By the way, THAT was domination - several seasons where it was clear before half time that the champion would be from Mercedes or Mercedes) Hamilton showed that exact same childlike behaviour several times after that.
It will be interesting to see how next season will go, with Russel already leading the championship over Hamilton in his first season at Mercedes. Hamilton won’t like another season where he is the number 2.

Liked the story of the battle for Alberta. Would be neat if a Canadian hockey team could win the Stanley Cup. Sick and tired of Boston, Pittsburgh, N.Y. Islanders etc. making it every year. Also rooted for Minnesota but they keep failing in the first playoff round. :confused:

I like baseball first, and NHL second. Sometimes basketball is amusing but FIBA Women the most and NBA the least. FIFA, like Kresimir said, otherwise not into European leagues and stuff like that. Not into NFL neither but was interesting to see Philadelphia was denied a sports championship a second straight time.

Basketball now moving into March madness, generally football (NFL), some soccar as well.
But My favorite is mudd wresling!

it’s the best!!! https://www.vice.com/en/article/9k49vz/inside-an-underground-womens-mud-wrestling-ring-in-chicago