The Australian Grand Prix Thread

[Lighthouse]

First race of the new season this weekend. Mclaren and Red Bull have been the pace setters in pre season, with Mercedes looking competitive. Ferrari are off the pace so far. Button was fastest in FP1, with Hamilton second. The Red Bulls never really set competitive lap times as Schumacher took third.

 

I reckon we could be in for a decent season, with Mclaren hopefully on Red Bulls pace unlikely the last 2 years. Finally gave in and upgraded to a Sky Sports package as I decided I couldn't survive a season on BBC's limited coverage. Will be interesting to see how well this works on Sky Go too.

 

Qualy and race both start at 6am UK time. How many other hard cores will be up to watch?

[Ric]

I'll definitely be up to watch the race, but will record qualy... I'm getting too old to do two early mornings in a row!

 

It's really hard to predict the relative speed of the cars - RB & McLaren won't go 100% until Q3.

 

And Mercedes could turn out to be rather handy indeed. I can't wait for Sunday morning!

 

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[Colinjb]

I am expecting Red Bull to be sandbagging, it's their usual style. The good thing is that McLaren seem well sorted out of the box and should be competitive.

 

Marussia and Caterham looked ok in practice two, fingers crossed they have both made good strides. Ferrari will struggle although Alonso will find a way of overdriving their new pig of a chassis. Mercedes and Force India will be competitive and once Raikkonen gets into his stride the Renault (sorry.... Lotus, yeah right.... in name only) should be getting regular points.

[Hatch]

what is the best F1 fantasy game to play ? ( free )

[Ric]

what is the best F1 fantasy game to play ? ( free )

 

www.GrandPrixBunny.com

 

I should point out that I'm not entirely unbiased...

 

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[saintbletch]

I'll definitely be up to watch the race, but will record qualy... I'm getting too old to do two early mornings in a row!

 

It's really hard to predict the relative speed of the cars - RB & McLaren won't go 100% until Q3.

 

And Mercedes could turn out to be rather handy indeed. I can't wait for Sunday morning!

 

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Same here.

 

The commentator on Sky's coverage of free practice was saying that Mercedes' rear wing could be the equivalent of Red Bull's 'blown diffuser' from last year. In that it looks like they've done something very different to other cars and so if it's good it will take other teams a long time to catch up.

 

There is speculation that Mercedes have implemented something similar to McLaren's F-duct but without the driver needing to put his knee in an air stream to make it work (which is the reason it was outlawed). This apparently makes them very quick in a straight line. We'll see.

 

I do enjoy this stage of the season where everything is up in the air and before we all realise the Vettel will win 90% of the races. Hope not.

[Colinjb]

Conclusions from Australian GP qualifying

 

1. That's the worst Ferrari chassis in 20 years

2. The new 'Lotus' has pace, and Kimi is still loveably brain dead

3. Caterham keep getting closer, but not enough

4. The new Williams is better.... but not at the sharp end

5, The lack of blown diffuser has really hurt Red Bull and benefitted McLaren

6. 'Mercedes' will win a championship this year

[Saint_Jonny]

Just watched it after avoiding the result on BBC2, that was epic! The Lotus Renault lad was beaming at the end, great drive.

[saintbletch]

Just watched it after avoiding the result on BBC2, that was epic! The Lotus Renault lad was beaming at the end, great drive.

 

Likewise.

 

Got up at 7:30 to watch the recorded qualifying from Sky but something went wrong with the satellite signal and it didn't record. I think there must have been heavy rain or something as the recording said the signal had been lost. Glad I didn't get up to watch it live.

 

Anyway, spent the morning avoiding all news channels / Internet sites and have just watched the good old BBC coverage.

 

Great qualifying and fantastic to see a change in lots of teams' fortunes. Really enjoyed seeing F1 again.

[DG]

Lots of wtfery down the grid, should be a great race.

[Alanh]

I liked the new qualifying programme. The edited format cut a lot of the fat out of the previous live coverage and as a result the viewing experience was much better. It was probably helped having an exciting and unpredictable session. If the BBC extended highlights are as good as that qualy programme I don't think I'll miss the live coverage as much as I expected to (provided I can keep away from finding out the result on raceday).

[Ric]

Conclusions from Australian GP qualifying

 

1. That's the worst Ferrari chassis in 20 years

 

I was going to pick you up on this, and mention the horrific F92A - an absolute dog's dinner of a car.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I realised that was 20 years ago. God, I feel really old now...

[Lighthouse]

That Ferrari is a complete dog at the moment and unlike Mclaren they don't have a great track record of developing a car. The most recent crap Ferrari was the 2005 car, which was off the pace and never got close throughout the season.

 

Should be a belter of a race. Hoping for a Mclaren 1-2 and have gone back to anyone but Michael. I don't want him winning again, it would be like the kid who bullied you at school turning up at the same nursing home when you're 85.

[Colinjb]

I was going to pick you up on this, and mention the horrific F92A - an absolute dog's dinner of a car.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I realised that was 20 years ago. God, I feel really old now...

 

Bizare twin floored thing with 3 year old suspension. Great idea Ferrari! Poor old Ivan Capelli, killed his career.

[Colinjb]

That Ferrari is a complete dog at the moment and unlike Mclaren they don't have a great track record of developing a car. The most recent crap Ferrari was the 2005 car, which was off the pace and never got close throughout the season.

 

In comparison though, that car was reasonably competitive, akin to a third place car. It could score podiums and regular points, this one will be far worse.

[Ric]

Bizare twin floored thing with 3 year old suspension. Great idea Ferrari! Poor old Ivan Capelli, killed his career.

 

Indeed. An Italian gets his dream Ferrari drive, and they give him that to go racing with. Alain Prost was distinctly unhappy with the 1991 Ferrari, and got sacked for comparing it unfavourably to a truck. He must have been thanking his lucky stars he dodged the F92A bullet!

 

I was - and remain to this day - a big Prost fan, and it would have been soul-destroying to see him have to drag that thing around the Grands Prix that season. You can see that's what Alonso fans will have to endure this year: love him or not (personally I don't have a problem with him at all), he's a great driver and doesn't deserve to be lumbered with an even worse car this year than last

[DG]

Anyone else up watching this live?

[stardustonmyfeet]

Listening live... James Allen is surprisingly bearable on radio.

[DG]

Nooooo **** off SC.

[DG]

Well Jenson bossed that.

 

Great to see Kimi up there in 7th, looking forward to seeing him qualifying a bit higher than 17th next time.

 

A shame to see Alonso wasted in another poor Ferrari.

[Lighthouse]

Pretty decent race i thought, great to see Jenson running the show and Hamilton on the podium. That was a mental final lap though. Di Resta went from 13th to snatch the final point on the finish line, Maldonado crashing out, Perez hitting Rosberg and Kobayashi and Raikkonen coming through for 6th and 7th. Amazed how far off the pace Merc were though.

 

Should be a good season.

[Jimmy_D]

Looks like McLaren will get the Constructors' Championship, going to be close between Button, Vettel, and Hamilton for the Driver's Championship.

[Colinjb]

Superb race, delighted for Jenson. The percieved ability gap between him and Lewis seems to be further diminishing and that can only be a good thing.

 

Red Bull's race pace was better but they have to sort out their qualifying speed if they are to genuinely challenge. Alonso overdriving that Ferrari reminded me of Jean Alesi doing the same 20 years ago. That final lap was stunning.

[Eastcowzer]

Superb race, delighted for Jenson. The percieved ability gap between him and Lewis seems to be further diminishing and that can only be a good thing.

 

Red Bull's race pace was better but they have to sort out their qualifying speed if they are to genuinely challenge. Alonso overdriving that Ferrari reminded me of Jean Alesi doing the same 20 years ago. That final lap was stunning.

 

Sky made an early start. The intro' was almost as long as the race.

Why was it necessary to replay the start five times during lap 2.

The Daily Telegraph seemed suitably impressed by 'Super-yap' Brundle and praised the option of the MUTE button.

The Beeb's offering at 2 p.m. 'did just what it said on the label' with a lot less yap about nothing.

The BBc bosses wnt shooting for letting Sky get their mucky paws on F1.

[bridge too far]

I didn't think Sky's coverage was anywhere near as good as the Beeb's used to be.

 

In other news, the BBC has also lost out on the Grand National and the Derby to Channel 4 Racing from next year (the only two horse races I ever watch).

 

Such is the result of keeping the licence fee at its current level.

[Ric]

Why was it necessary to replay the start five times during lap 2.

 

TV pics (including replays) are under the control of the world feed director, and nothing to do with either Sky or the BBC. We've been subjected to countless replays of the start at every race for the past couple of years, which I've always found intensely annoying - especially when the director does it when there's actually something happening on-track.

 

We end up missing more than a lap of the race, due to these annoying replays.

 

Overall, I thought Sky did a pretty decent job. The main anchor isn't as good as Jake - but I'm sure he'll improve. My only quibble was with Georgie Thompson - just what is the point of her?

[hutch]

Don't know what feed we had, but it wasn't Brundle. We had Coulthard, with Lee McKenzie doing the "girlie in the pits".

[Ric]

Don't know what feed we had, but it wasn't Brundle. We had Coulthard, with Lee McKenzie doing the "girlie in the pits".

 

That's the BBC part if the broadcast - commentary, info from the pits,etc. - but the tv pictures during the race, of on-track action, is all done centrally and is the same for every broadcaster.

 

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[Colinjb]

Such is the result of keeping the licence fee at its current level.

 

Imagine the riots if it was significantly raised to facilitate keeping sport such as F1 exclusively on the BBC.

 

In fact, what would the raise required be to permit that? And premiership football? And the grand national? etc.

 

I enjoyed the Sky Coverage. Was it as good as the BBC? No, but what is? Was it better then ITV? Christ yes. It was extremely thorough too, and gave you the ability to red button through to timing screens and the like. For F1 geeks like me, heaven.