2012 Australian Grand Prix

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Mercedes = Impressive, I think... Who knows, though.
McLaren = Godly. It's so stable and looks very easy to drive.
Red Bull = Sandbagging.
Sauber = Twitchy.

Massa = /facepalm.
 
Massa? How about Ferrari in general - what a terrible car they look to have produced! Hopefully for them, nothing as bad as 1992 or (early) 2009.
 
Ardius
Massa? How about Ferrari in general - what a terrible car they look to have produced! Hopefully for them, nothing as bad as 1992 or (early) 2009.
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True, true. I think they will be able to turn it around quickly, though.

Honestly, I don't understand why they had to be "radical" this year. They had a good car last year, but they fell short because of EBD, in my opinion.
 
Design a radical car = get criticised for not sticking to conventional design.
Design conventional car = get criticised for not going for radical designs.

Ferrari had to try something to catch Red Bull - they've admitted this themselves. But as Gary Anderson put it recently - they've gone for the fancy bits before sorting the basics out.

Perhaps the blame should be laid at their pull-rod front suspension?
 
fissionproject
.....someone that won't crash a Ferrari within 30 minutes of a season kicking off.....
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This. Its not that I hate the guy. He is just not the same since his crash in 09. As Ferrari goes, that thing is twitchy even when in slight turns. Looks more like a suspension problem rather then downforce. Maybe the front pullrods are not such a good idea?

Treed on the pullrod.
 
Just an FYI, Red Bull got a 1-2 in 1st practice last year and went on to win the race. I hope history repeats itself, but with McLaren.
 
dudedo
Just an FYI, Red Bull got a 1-2 in 1st practice last year and went on to win the race. I hope history repeats itself, but with McLaren.
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Just an FYI, practice times mean nothing.
 
Ardius
Massa? How about Ferrari in general - what a terrible car they look to have produced! Hopefully for them, nothing as bad as 1992 or (early) 2009.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the F2012 never looked comfortable in the low-speed corners. Alonso was confident enough to be able to drive through it and correct anything that happened as needed, but it just never settled on the exits as quickly as it should have. Maybe that was just a trigger-happy DRS, but both Alonso and Massa were opening the flap at the same points they were last year, and the car behavour was totally different.
 
This first session pretty much means nothing. Boy what has happened to Massa? He needs to get his head together eventhough he know that he will be experiencing a real pressure this year. Those mistakes can really be costly!

Alonso didn't look all that comfortable in the car. Something must be really wrong in that Ferrari. As some suggested the fault being the Pull-Rod suspension but we'll see if they're any better in the second session.

Raikkonen pulled a bit of a surprise. Complained about the steering, changed the steering column and were out only in the last minutes and clocked in 9th fastest time. I'm anticipated to see his performance throughout the season because clearly he has lost nothing during his off-seasons.
 
F1 fan
Just an FYI, practice times mean nothing.
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To echo this, seeing all the enthusiasm on the previous page... note that the fastest time in practice is still five seconds or so off of the qualifying lap from last year. Meaningless.

All I can really gather from this is that the track is slippery when wet.
 
niky
To echo this, seeing all the enthusiasm on the previous page... note that the fastest time in practice is still five seconds or so off of the qualifying lap from last year. Meaningless.

All I can really gather from this is that the track is slippery when wet.
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Agree on first part. Hope so for the 2nd.
 
First live SPEED F1 broadcast of the year, and I've already noted several mistakes by the SPEED commentators.:D
 
It'll get going tomorrow. Will make for an interesting next couple of days.



Sun's out pretty well now though...
 
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Lots of people harping on RBR's low trap speeds... but really... errh... really? We don't even know if the drivers are pinning the throttle down the straights, if they're running a fuel-conserving mode or if they're saving the engines for the race.

We know the Renault engine gives them less top speed, but the concern over this is at the edge of hysteria, already!

(Not that I'd be willing to bet against there actually being a speed deficit... but I wouldn't be willing to bet that this is representative of their true pace, either...)
 
People need to save judgement for FP3 if they were smart. If they were really smart they'd wait till Q3 and open their yaps.

Niky you're fighting a good fight, but those people who are using FP1 to make a point are people that you as a rational person will never make sense to.
 
The media are the worst. "Hamilton top as Vettel struggles" is indicative of the type of headlines I've seen after FP1 in the past.
 
Now THAT is commitment. Vettel gave up every single personal sponsor he had, just so he could focus on this season. That means he has no sponsor commitments to honor; like commercials, meet and greets, etc. Other than what the team wants him to do. But that probably won't be anything, since RBR have the whipping boy Coulthard to boss around in the showcar.:p
 
astrosdude91
Now THAT is commitment. Vettel gave up every single personal sponsor he had, just so he could focus on this season. That means he has no sponsor commitments to honor; like commercials, meet and greets, etc. Other than what the team wants him to do. But that probably won't be anything, since RBR have the whipping boy Coulthard to boss around in the showcar.:p
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Source? :)
 
I'm loving Kovalainens helmet.
Nice save from Kamui, i thought he was going to go straight into the wall.
 
Holy ****, Kobayashi!

EDIT: I know I shouldn't look in to the times too much, but it's great to see Mercedes on top.
 
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Those new noses with the 'step' in them sure look ugly.

Yeah I know it's new regs and an aero feature, but there should be some consideration given about the final look of the car.
 
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