2010 Formula 1 Qantas Australian Grand Prix

[niky]

He's a kid, he does stupid things. I don't think it's a big issue... or wouldn't be a big issue if Australia wasn't so uptight about its reputation as "hoon country"... ...but he should have known better.

But is it surprising? No matter how much I love the kid, and how beautiful he is to watch on track, his judgement hasn't always been very good... note the original incident way back in 08 that started the whole "overtaking rule" nonsense... his petulance in the race right after the stewards screwed him over by changing rules on him... Lie-gate... and now these off-track incidents.

One can only hope that he matures as time goes on. Being so good so young can go to your head... and while that hasn't seemed to affect his on-track performance, the rest of the package, well...

 

[Ardius]

He isn't really "young" anymore (as in, he has had 3 seasons of the big time now..). I think mentally he sometimes has a weak head, it came across a lot at the McLaren launch this year, where he kept deferring to Button. He didn't need to do that at all, even Button looked a little bemused when he kept doing it.
Lewis seems to constantly try to do the right thing, make the "right" comments, etc. But then he goes and does something completely backward, I think he tries too hard to be something he's not at times. He's been brought up by McLaren, and taken on their aspirations to excel in professionalism but he doesn't appear to know when to stop the corporate speak and when to speak his own mind or act on his own.

But in this case, I don't think its any of what I just typed. I think he just has another side to him, the Top Gear interview comes to mind. It would be so easy to think of him as your typical boy racer if he wasn't a professional racing driver. For this, I don't really blame him, when you're at the top there is little room for messing about and it must get frustrating at times that you can't just do what you want for fear of this exact media reaction. However, its all part of the job and he has to live with it.

 

[yeti]

TBH - it sounds like it's been blown out of all proportion...

The police man said he "Lost traction delibaretly"... so does that mean doing a wheel spin is breaking the law?

Also - to be fair - if there's someone that could handle a power slide in a "2010 mercedes" - then it's gonna be Lewis!

C.

 

[Ardius]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this here yet:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8588379.stm

The new Virgin team are being forced to make major modifications to their car after discovering that its fuel tank is too small to get to the end of races.

Virgin, who entered Formula 1 this season, have asked governing body the FIA for permission to submit a new chassis for inspection.

The modified car will not be ready until the fifth race of the season, the Spanish Grand Prix on 9 May.

Technical boss Nick Wirth admitted the car's tank capacity was "marginal".

A senior F1 insider described the changes needed as a "significant modification" which would require the car to go through a series of mandatory crash tests again.

The FIA has circulated a note to the other 12 teams informing that Virgin have been given permission to change their fuel tank specification for reliability reasons - ie, if they were not allowed to do so, they would not be able to finish the races.

The team have been struggling with reliability so far in their debut season - both cars retired from the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix by the 16th lap.

BBC Sport understands Virgin's fuel tank is about 13 litres too small to last a race distance and that the car could not reach the end of any of the next three races in Australia, Malaysia and China at full speed.

The team will have to make the chassis longer to fit in a bigger tank that can hold the required fuel loads - which are about 210 litres or 160kg of fuel.

F1 cars have carbon-fibre chassis which take months to make. Virgin will almost certainly be forced to cut off the back of their existing chassis and bond on a larger section at the rear.

Wirth said: "We recently applied to the FIA for permission to change the size of the fuel tank on the grounds of reliability and we are pleased that the FIA has granted us this permission.

"It has become clear during pre-season testing and our debut race in Bahrain that our fuel tank capacity is marginal and if not addressed there is the possibility that fuel pick-up could become an issue in certain circumstances.

"At the time that the design of the tank was locked down in June 2009, its capacity was determined by a number of factors, some of which have since changed and the tank capacity now needs to be increased accordingly.

"We thank the FIA for permitting this change, which we expect to introduce in the early part of the European season."

Guess Branson should just get it over with and don the AirAsia uniform already! Even HRT/Dallara have designed and built a more reliable car!

 

[SUPER NUMBBER]

I think this was a rumor before - I guess now it's confirmed.

Red Bull are rumored to be running a small tank too, although Horner denies it.

 

[Hun200kmh]

Red Bull are rumored to be running a small tank too, although Horner denies it.

Horner denying it is an understatement

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q. (Ralf Bach - R & B) Christian, I was very surprised last week by learning from Ron Dennis about your real problems in the race in Bahrain with Sebastian. He said your tank is simply too small.

CH: I guess the problem with age is that your hearing tends to fail you a little bit and perhaps Ron didn't hear the misfire that was there and probably didn't see the fact that the other car also finished the race without any issues at all. It wasn't anything to do with the size of the fuel tank. As I say it was a spark plug issue and that was it.

 

[Christian_C]

Hoping for a good result for Force India in Qualifying and in the Race, hopefully both Sutil and Liuzzi will make it to Q3 this time.

 

[Ardius]

I think this was a rumor before - I guess now it's confirmed.

Red Bull are rumored to be running a small tank too, although Horner denies it.

It was, the first I heard of it was from the photographer, Sutton, at Bahrain.
As for Red Bull, well, we'll see.

 

[The Outlaw]

Uh-huh. I'll also remind you he was about two seconds off Kubica's pace in first practice at Bahrain. So he's somehow managed to peg back a second in there - and he's currently sitting third in second practice, four-hundreths up on Kubica.

I see that you also need to be reminded that the Melbourne circuit is nearly 30% quicker (in terms of lap times) than the current Bahrain configuration.

 

[chromatic9]

Nice laps from Webber and Alonso in the 3rd practice.

Will have to watch repeat of quali at 1PM GMT.

 

[The Outlaw]

Top ten times from Practice 3 today:

1 6 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 1:24.719 16
2 8 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:24.929 0.210 19
3 3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes Benz GP Ltd 1:24.963 0.244 17
4 5 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 1:25.122 0.403 19
5 4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes Benz GP Ltd 1:25.366 0.647 16
6 1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:25.399 0.680 20
7 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:25.505 0.786 14
8 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:25.525 0.806 18
9 7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:25.549 0.830 20
10 15 Vitantonio Liuzzi

Schumacher's going to show Nico who's boss in qualifying in just a hour and a half...just watch

 

[Turbo Lag]

Haha, I heard them announcing that when I was there. I didn't pay for entry, just went and watched through the barriers.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Those birds sitting around the gravel trap at Turn 6 haven't move one bit during FP3, qualifying or during the V8 Supercar race on now, that's nuts.



Oh and also congrats to Vettel, Webber and Alonso.

 

[Pescara for GT5]

Sorry, posted messed up looking Qualifying times.

 

[Roo]

Impressive showing? You seem easily impressed by anything Petrov does

Maybe I should remind you that he was 1.2 seconds off of his team mates pace in FP1 (which means very little to begin with).

This is the first time he's raced in Melbourne.

Qually times:

Pos  Driver         Team                   Q1        Q2        Q3
 1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault      1:24.774   1:24.096  1:23.919
 2.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1:25.286   1:24.276  1:24.035
 3.  Alonso         Ferrari               1:25.082   1:24.335  1:24.111
 4.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1:24.897   1:24.531  1:24.675
 5.  Massa          Ferrari               1:25.548   1:25.010  1:24.837
 6.  Rosberg        Mercedes              1:24.788   1:24.788  1:24.884
 7.  Schumacher     Mercedes              1:25.351   1:24.871  1:24.927
 8.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth     1:25.702   1:25.085  1:25.217
 9.  Kubica         Renault               1:25.588   1:25.122  1:25.372
10.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1:25.504   1:25.046  1:26.036
11.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes      1:25.046   1:25.184
12.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:26.061   1:25.638
13.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes  1:26.170   1:25.743
14.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari        1:26.089   1:25.747
15.  Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth     1:25.866   1:25.748
16.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari        1:26.251   1:25.777
17.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:26.095   1:26.089
18.  Petrov         Renault               1:26.471
19.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth        1:28.797
20.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth        1:29.111
21.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth       1:29.592
22.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth       1:30.185
23.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth          1:30.526
24.  Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth          1:30.613

 

[Tomaz]

So Vettel has new track record?

 

[prisonermonkeys]

This is the first time he's raced in Melbourne.

He got shafted by traffic, dammit. He was the fastest man in S1, and was then forced to abort the lap. Apparently if you strung his best sector times together, he'd have been one of the fastest men on track - even if you then went ahead and did it for everyone else.

So Vettel has new track record?

No. The track record can only be set during the race, an based on what we saw in Bahrain, that's unlikely to happen.

 

[Alex.]

That's a stupid rule. The track record should be the fastest lap ever set on the track no matter what session (as long as it was on an official race weekend_

 

[Bram Turismo]

And again a huge gap between the first three and the rest of the pack... Those Red Bulls carry an insane pace! I'm kind of disappointed with the Force Indias though. I expected them this year to challenge in Q3 with both drivers at the very least

 

[red7]

Schumacher's going to show Nico who's boss in qualifying in just a hour and a half...just watch

It was mentioned during speed coverage that schumacher was on the harder compound in Q3. If this was indeed the case while Rosberg was on softs, I'd say that's actually about right despite him being the tick or so slower.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

It was mentioned during speed coverage that schumacher was on the harder compound in Q3. If this was indeed the case while Rosberg was on softs, I'd say that's actually about right despite him being the tick or so slower.

Actually, both started on the harder tyre.

 

[mipuumal]

He got shafted by traffic, dammit. He was the fastest man in S1, and was then forced to abort the lap. Apparently if you strung his best sector times together, he'd have been one of the fastest men on track - even if you then went ahead and did it for everyone else.

Come on now, that's just not true.

Yes, he had the best time in S1, but it was only for a moment at the beginning of Q1. His best S1 time was 0.6s slower than Webber's. If you had strung his best sectors together he would've been in Q2, but that's it.

He's a decent driver but he spent 3.5 years in GP2 (+ 2 seasons of GP2 Asia). Considering the fact that the GP2 car has barely changed at all since the beginning of the series in 2005, his experience with the car should've made him unstoppable in GP2. Yet he only managed 2 race wins in his final season.

His debut in Bahrain was going well until his retirement, but to me he is not F1 material. Maybe he'll prove me wrong.

Moving back to quali:

Sauber seems to be dreadful, why on earth did Peter Sauber buy his team back?

 

[chromatic9]

What a great lap by Vettel in quali. He really threw away any caution.

Disappointed by Massa and Hamilton though.

 

[Silent Drifter]

Those birds sitting around the gravel trap at Turn 6 haven't move one bit during FP3, qualifying or during the V8 Supercar race on now, that's nuts.

Oh and also congrats to Vettel, Webber and Alonso.

Yeah, I noticed those birds too, while watching qualifying. They must be some brave birds, having those F1 monsters come screaming by you. Heck, the birds around where I live, fly away every time you drive past them.

Actually, both started on the harder tyre.

Yeah, I think it was Bob Varsha, who corrected himself about both being on the harder tire, after qualifying got done.

Hopefully, Vettel doesn't have any mechanical problems this time. I would like to see him win the drivers championship this year.

 

[Alex.]

He got shafted by traffic, dammit. He was the fastest man in S1, and was then forced to abort the lap. Apparently if you strung his best sector times together, he'd have been one of the fastest men on track - even if you then went ahead and did it for everyone else.


No. The track record can only be set during the race, an based on what we saw in Bahrain, that's unlikely to happen.

This now appears to be incorrect. It's officially the new track record, maybe you were confusing the same system used for fastest laps.

 

[Stevisiov]

Hopefully, Vettel doesn't have any mechanical problems this time. I would like to see him win the drivers championship this year.

Me too, I think last year was a golden opportunity squandered.

 

[Fastas]

Me too, I think last year was a golden opportunity squandered.

Agreed. I think that the drivers resolve goes a long way to winning the championship. As I see it, I would rank this years drivers apparent resolve as follows; Vettel, Alonso, Button, Rosberg. Their respective team mates are not really showing that they have fully prepared for the season.

I still have a hang up about Vettel. I think he's probably suffering the same personality restrictions as Hamilton. As Ardius put it....

....I think he just has another side to him, the Top Gear interview comes to mind. It would be so easy to think of him as your typical boy racer if he wasn't a professional racing driver. For this, I don't really blame him, when you're at the top there is little room for messing about and it must get frustrating at times that you can't just do what you want for fear of this exact media reaction. However, its all part of the job and he has to live with it.

Alonso hides his personal life well. At least, he doesn't bring it to the track with him. Button to me is the only one who, has mastered the best balance of on and off track sensibility, perhaps it is an age thing. The conversation piece that the BBC filmed for the opening race with the two Mclaren drivers confirmed that Button, by way of personality, will probably prove to be the more successful of the pair this year.

Personally, I'd like to see the drivers speeding more. I like to see which 'pop-star' is currently hanging off their arm, I want to hear about them being tanked-up and generally being over exuberant.

When this sport was more dangerous, it brought about this edge of the seat hunger, that was part of it's fascination. Teams and drivers had one chance to get it right and they either stepped up to the challenge or they didn't. It's a real shame that they have to compromise today. It's not like driving and open seater car at 200mph is the same as working behind a desk every day, why should they behave like that?

So back to this weekend; what the hell happened to Lewis? Is it a possibility that the Mclaren fuel tank is too small as well? that would be funny. Nick Wirth gave a great explanation of the fuel tank situation at Virgin and, using his logic, it would be fair to assume that this problem could affect any of the teams.

This suggests two things:
- The season will not get started proper until the return to Europe when all of the teams can revise their designs.
- The reason why it's not as 'exciting' as some would like is simply that the engineers have sanitised the sport too much.

 

[Ardius]

That's a stupid rule. The track record should be the fastest lap ever set on the track no matter what session (as long as it was on an official race weekend_

Its possibly because of the old qualifying cars of the 80s. Its also why I don't consider fastest lap a particularly special statistic, its nice when a smaller team manages it though.

Interesting to see the Button/Hamilton battle is almost equal at the moment whereas the other top-team teammate battles are all one-sided so far. I hope Button pulls off a class performance and makes the podium, it will start a very interesting season for McLaren 👍.
Rain would be nice tomorrow too 👍.

And again a huge gap between the first three and the rest of the pack... Those Red Bulls carry an insane pace! I'm kind of disappointed with the Force Indias though. I expected them this year to challenge in Q3 with both drivers at the very least

I think thats a bit unreasonable, put it this way, they have made a massive step forward from last year - they were only challenging Q3 in three races! This year they appear to finally have a car that is solid at all tracks, which is better than a car that is quick at three tracks.
I think you are expecting too much of them too soon, they are still a small team, they are not going to be fighting the top 8 properly yet and fighting at the front of the midfield is an excellent achievement from 9th in the constructors last year 👍. They are among Renault and Williams, and they appear to have the most balanced driver line-up of the 3.

 

[yeti]

Don't forget that Sutil effectively put Hamilton out in Q2... that's no mean feat.

And clarification of Schumacher & Rosberg... I'm pretty sure they went out on Softs - and then changed to Hards on Q3... The faster lap was on the softs - so I'm pretty sure they'll be starting on those...

I remember that they used to list the fuel loads for the race - they need to now list the starting tyres for the top 10 instead!!

C.

 

[The Outlaw]

Schumi gets a taste of his own medicine in qualifying

Source: http://www.yallaf1.com/2010/03/27/caption-this-schumi-and-alonso/

"In an photo captured by Sutton Images photographer Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher speaks with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso immediately after qualifying in parc ferme for the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne.

Schumacher stooped to engage in conversation in parc ferme with Alonso, before the Ferrari driver had even got out of his red cockpit.

The German later admitted he had also visited Charlie Whiting to complain about being blocked not only by Alonso but also McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.

He said after qualifying, “We had a reasonable qualifying session today and I am ok with the outcome even if I was a bit handicapped by traffic, especially on my final quick lap.”


Another angle of Schumi's "interogation" of Alonso
The seven time world champion told Autosport, “In a way it is difficult because he was on his in-lap, and he was worrying about other things than maybe watching the mirror. But saying that, we had this chat yesterday in the drivers’ briefing that this should be taken care of, and actually he was one of the main guys asking about it. I wanted to know if the team had told him or not.”

Meanwhile Pedro de la Rosa was reprimanded by stewards for impeding in practice, and Tonio Liuzzi said after qualifying that de la Rosa and Nico Hulkenberg didn’t “seem to be able to use their rear view mirrors”. De la Rosa told the media that F1 mirrors are located too far from the driver."



Schumacher's wife taking charge

Here's the speed trap list from qualifying, which I found interesting. The RBR must be running a good bit of downforce judging by their trap speed relative to the factory Renault cars. The speed they carried through the turn 11 to 12 transition was pretty insane and on a different level I must say

1 Lewis Hamilton 17:30:41 309.8
2 Jenson Button 17:09:57 308.7
3 Vitantonio Liuzzi 17:18:07 306.6
4 Vitaly Petrov 17:03:19 305.6
5 Bruno Senna 17:07:58 305.4
6 Adrian Sutil 17:03:21 305.3
7 Michael Schumacher 17:17:43 304.0
8 Robert Kubica 17:31:31 304.0
9 Nico Rosberg 17:58:29 303.8
10 Sebastien Buemi 17:06:25 303.7
11 Fernando Alonso 17:04:44 303.3
12 Karun Chandhok 17:18:01 303.3
13 Felipe Massa 17:14:04 303.2
14 Jaime Alguersuari 17:41:55 302.8
15 Heikki Kovalainen 17:17:04 300.6
16 Rubens Barrichello 17:04:15 299.9
17 Nico Hulkenberg 17:05:00 299.7
18 Jarno Trulli 17:18:19 298.3
19 Pedro de la Rosa 17:07:59 297.2
20 Timo Glock 17:03:58 296.7
21 Lucas di Grassi 17:05:22 296.5
22 Kamui Kobayashi 17:40:27 296.0
23 Mark Webber 17:28:48 295.8
24 Sebastian Vettel 17:08:41 295.3