2012 Australian Grand Prix

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Yes, Webber at his home grand prix outqualified Vettel in the same car for the first time. I don't know if Vettel had kers or not but as Webber didn't, it sure doesn't look that bad for Red Bull.

Shame about Nico Rosberg, he probably got carried way with it and asked too much off the car and paid the price. I think he would have been very close to the McLaren's if he hooked it up or potentially beat them. Mercedes probably have the best car to overtake with this year so I think Vettel and Webber will be very wary.

Well done to Romain Grosjean, I was impressed with his qualifying speed in 2009 considering he was thrown in the deep end straight away and showed glimpses of speed. Main thing for him will be to go well in the race and without mistakes and I think he can achieve that.

Congratulations to Daniel Ricciardo for making Q3 at his home grand prix and also being the only Ferrari powered car in the top 10 :sly:. Maldonado and Hulkenberg have also done a solid job to get into Q3.

Finally McLaren, soon as I'm a Lewis Hamilton and McLaren fan, I'm so happy 👍. Potential chance of McLaren winning a WCC for the first in a while and Lewis to get back on track. Tomorrow we will find which car is fundamentally the best and hopefully McLaren is good on its tyres compared to others. The most beautiful looking car winning will be good. Red Bull will not be happy with Lucozade topping them, maybe the secret to McLaren's qualifying success today and their drivers.

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For the race I will be keeping an eye out for Vergne and see how well he looks after the car. He seemed quite hard on his car from the little I've seen of him. I wonder if he is more gentle now though.

The main interest in the race will probably be Raikkonen dicing through the field if everything goes well. Hopefully there is no 1st lap crashes and we can have a full on race. Vettel will most likely have Rosberg in his mirrors so it will be interesting to see how well he copes with that.

McLaren might have a nervy first corner and first couple of laps but I'm hoping they do a one-two, the order is not that important so early in the season but getting points on the board is.

Hopefully all drivers do stay away from the grass and not get sucked in when trying to make a better entry for the corners. I think only Rubens did it last year and this year it has happened quite a few times already. Maybe it is due to drivers trying to overdrive the car but forgetting about the grass when lining up the next corner.
 
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prisonermonkeys
It's especially unfair to judge Massa on one Grand Prix weekend before the race has even taken place. Doubly so, considering that Alonso is struggling with the car.
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What about last season?

Also Alonso is struggling but still over a second quicker then Massa.

Sure, one swallow doesn't a summer make, but if Massa is 4 or 5 races deep into this season and its more of the same, I cannot see him occupying that seat come the mid season break.
 
It's quite nostalgic to hear that robotic voice of Kimi's back in F1 :) And I always get a smile when Alonso ends up facing the wrong way on the track. This should be an interesting year!

niky
An F1 car has the drag coefficient of a brick. One extra bump will not make it that much less streamlined. And if you do it rught, that bump can be used to shape the air going over the driver and up into the intake over his head. And then there are the strategies of shaping the air at the bump itself, like on the Red Bull and the Mercedes.

Then again... it's probably all down to aesthetics. Prettiest car wins. This may be McLaren's year to shine. :D
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This! I wouldn't quite say "a brick" but there are endless examples of cars with severe damage to so-called critical aero gizmos driving just fine and having no trouble setting fastest sectors and laps.

Don't get me wrong, things like underbody/diffuser work can make for some incredible handling and performance changes, but I would bet good money that if you went back in time to any past race and bolted an empty cooler to the winner's car, in most cases the end result of the race would be the same.
 
jcm
I hate TSN. If no-one had the rights to show it in Canada, then SPEED wouldn't get blacked out. Their commentators actually understand what's going on, and they seem a lot cooler and it sounds like they're having fun broadcasting the races. And they actually have pre-race coverage, as well as Formula 1 Debrief before every grand prix. Speed and TSN both have commercials which is annoying, but SPEED just does a way better job.
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If Speed wasn't blacked out, I would still watch TSN. Most importantly, TSN has an HD feed. The crisp image is breathtaking and no comparison to Speed's video feed that looks straight out of the 90s. Speed has longer commercials than TSN and TSN has kept a minimized muted feed of the race going while commercials roll for the past few years. I prefer Brundle and DC to the rag-tag bunch at Speed; though the difference in insight isn't great, the British commentary sounds more professional.

Pre-race coverage is a waste of time; it's usually boring so I would tune in 5 minutes before the race anway.
 
Mike Rotch
What about last season?

Also Alonso is struggling but still over a second quicker then Massa.

Sure, one swallow doesn't a summer make, but if Massa is 4 or 5 races deep into this season and its more of the same, I cannot see him occupying that seat come the mid season break.
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I think Ferrari will wait until they get their car sorted which is probably about 5 races time before starting to fully analyze Massa's performance. However if he is a second off Alonso in the next four qualifying sessions, I'm sure Massa will not be too happy and Ferrari will not also be as it will be a further problem for them and unnecessary media attention. They could get Trulli in short term to please the Italians though I suppose but that is quite unlikely. I'm sure drivers like Sutil will be getting excited about a potential seat getting up for grabs at Ferrari. Hopefully though Massa can pull together and be strong in the race tomorrow and subsequent races to build his confidence back up.
 
On Midweek Motorsport S7 episode 9 Sam Collins of http://www.racecar-engineering.com/ Predicted Grosjean for a podium in this race back on Wednesday.

http://rlm.0157.org/

He seems to know what he's talking about so Audi fans might want to avoid what he says about what Toyota are going to do to Audi in the WEC this year. :sly:

On a personal note, Daniel Ricciardo should be made to start at the back of the grid. Not setting a time in Q3 should have been banned last season. 👎

Since you lose your Q1 time when you do Q2 and you lose your Q2 time when you do Q3 then not doing a meaningful lap in Q3 means that you have not set a qualifying time at all.

Glad to see McLaren have a good car.

Ferrari have been playing down their chances with the Italian press ever since pre-season testing started. It's been clear that they have a problem and it's not going to be fixed anytime soon.

Red Bull? The team that spends more money than any other team has messed up. Can Newey fix it?
 
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SagarisGTB
If Speed wasn't blacked out, I would still watch TSN. Most importantly, TSN has an HD feed. The crisp image is breathtaking and no comparison to Speed's video feed that looks straight out of the 90s. Speed has longer commercials than TSN and TSN has kept a minimized muted feed of the race going while commercials roll for the past few years. I prefer Brundle and DC to the rag-tag bunch at Speed; though the difference in insight isn't great, the British commentary sounds more professional.

Pre-race coverage is a waste of time; it's usually boring so I would tune in 5 minutes before the race anway.
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I don't watch F1 in HD anyway, so I don't notice a difference, but I believe SPEED does have the races in HD. It's intresting, how SPEED used to air the races last year, until it started getting blacked out. It was called 'off-air', but for the first half of the year they aired the races on TV 👍

And I think that they're commentators are a lot smarter then the brits. The brits have said a lot of dumb things, whereas I've never heard SPEED say something un-educated, and I find them way more entertaining. Oh well, just personel prefference.
 
Tired Tyres
On a personal note Daniel Ricciardo should be made to start at the back of the grid. Not setting a time in Q3 should have been banned last season. 👎
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Fairly clearly a team instruction, I can't see him not wanting to go out in Q3 in front of his home crowd.

I'm not sure that saving a set of tyres is going to be that much of an advantage over starting further up the grid, really. A bit of a dumb call on the team's part.
 
shawnjets
Kubica in Massa out; Anybody?
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I don't think Kubica will ever race in F1 again. Sad but probably true.

Alonso made a silly drivers error in a car that looks like the worst dog from Ferrari for many years. How is it possible to produce such bad cars with that budget?

Edit: And I am really looking forward to seeing Vettel do some real racing from sixth on the grid.
 
Mike Rotch
What about last season?

Also Alonso is struggling but still over a second quicker then Massa.

Sure, one swallow doesn't a summer make, but if Massa is 4 or 5 races deep into this season and its more of the same, I cannot see him occupying that seat come the mid season break.
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Maybe. But Ferrari have one massive problem: there is no immediately-obvious candidate to replace him. Felipe Massa might underperform, but even if he does, he still might be the best person for that seat. Especially if the F2012 remains an absolute handful to drive. The Ferrari name might command respect, but not so much respect that a young driver would be willing to jeopardise his entire career simply by racing a car that even Fernando Alonso is visibly struggling with (and I'm not just talking about his spin, either). Robert Kubica would be doubly interested in staying away, since his return would generate a lot of attention, and if he struggles with the car because of its inherent qualities, it may lead to a lot of people questioning his ability to return to race at all.
 
Perez has been given a 5 place grid penalty and will start 22nd due to a Gear Box change.

Also, apprently none of the cars have left parc feme yet, when they should have.......
 
Cracking session of F1, I had my eyes glued to the wheel of Lewis' car on his pole lap,just perfect, that car is glued to the track. Good to see Grosjean up there and plenty of errors creeping in without those stupid blown diffusers.

Tomorrow should be a cracker!
 
dhandes
You can stick your ugly noses up your ***!
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jcm
So, the best looking car on the grid gets pole. Stepped-nose is ugly and slow :lol:
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niky
Then again... it's probably all down to aesthetics. Prettiest car wins. This may be McLaren's year to shine. :D
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Quoted for truth.

"It's only ugly if it loses" was the mantra of the teams with the stepped noses. Well, they're ugly.

Shaping up to be interesting race and season. Great jobs from Grosjean, Maldonado and Ricciardo to get their cars as high up.
 
Centura
Unfortunate that things like this happen so early in the season.
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Yeah, the first race hasn't started and he's already down a gearbox. AND a penalty, just to rub it in. Ouch.

I hope he has a strong race to make up for it. He deserved to be much higher up in qualifying, he's had good pace all weekend.
 
prisonermonkeys
Adam Cooper confirms HRT will not be allowed to race.
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They're actually enforcing the 107% rule. The rule is there for a reason; if you're not within the time, you're out.

Sure HRT are developing off the track, but rules are rules and they're just not fast enough on the track. Same as last year, I don't think they made the first race neither.

Great lap from Grosjean, putting Raikkonen to shame. Wonder what Autosport will have to say about it.
 
Kimi was on the wrong tires, though. Just give him a few races to get back into it, and then we'll be able to judge him. I know I won't judge him tomorrow already. But what Grosjean did once again proves that he was fired from Renault in 2009 for no reason. I think it's pretty obvious how much rookies can improve from one season to another without a Briatore leading the team with Alonso as the lead driver. I really hope Grosjean will show big things for Lotus this year.

Good to see Red Bull is far from dominating as they were last year. Will be fun to see them having to work hard for the wins this year. A little bit disappointed with Rosberg, though. Hoping he can snatch his way past a Red Bull or two tomorrow.
 
Tired Tyres
On Midweek Motorsport S7 episode 9 Sam Collins of http://www.racecar-engineering.com/ Predicted Grosjean for a podium in this race back on Wednesday.

http://rlm.0157.org/
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I've been reading on this #F1 practice on the web (fell asleep last night), and something is getting annoying to me.

Besides the obvious spotlight for the 1-2 from the Macs, next up is the german love/hate thing about Schum on a Merc ahead of Vettel, some Ferrari scorn poor performance notes and very little about the 3rd place man Grosjean.

Are people so involved in the Eclestone flying F1 "circus" that are unaware of the racing world outside it?

"Shum experience this, Vettel that, Redbulls struggling, Ferraris too bla, bla, bla... oh and there's that "whats-his-name" in 3rd. From whom I know very little about so I'll stick to gossip about the same old ones."

There should be a special piece about him telling his story, where he comes from, his best moments, like this one:



...and how good this 3rd place Quali actually is on a car other than the usual top ones - MacLaren/RedBull/Ferrari/Mercedes.

I wrote months ago how happy I was to see him back, on what appeared to be a half decent car this time round. Tiff Needel tweeted about it. But the "specialized" press seamed to see it as just another report. They still seam to know very little about him, or they regard his coming and his first performance as very little.

Sorry, I guess I'm just pissed about wasting time reading so much 🤬 and very little about racing.

/end rant

Good to be back here and discuss this with you guys! 👍
 
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Grosjean's performance is impressive, and better is it's not an isolated incident. He's been quick all weekend, and mostly quicker than his not-untalented teammate Kimi.

The car is obviously capable as well, I'm hoping we're seeing the start of a good new driver in competent machinery. Would be great to have Grosjean nipping at the big boys heels, and even better if he was in contention for podiums.

A bit of topsy-turvy is good for the excitement in F1.
 
MazdaPrice
They're actually enforcing the 107% rule. The rule is there for a reason; if you're not within the time, you're out.
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The stewards have always enforced it. The 107% rule is there for a reason - it is to remove cars that are not competitive enough to race. There were plenty of instances in 2011 where drivers failed to set a lap time within the 107% margin, and while they were given permission to race, they were given permission for a reason. More often than not, this was because they had consistently set times within 107% of the fastest time recorded in two or more practice sessions, and their failure to qualify was due to mitigating circumstances. For example, Michael Schumacher crashed on his outlap at Spa, and never set a time. Jerome d'Ambrosio also failed to qualify at Spa, but this was because a late change in the weather during Q1 meant that it was impossible to set a fast enough time. And d'Ambrosio was forced to change to the spare chassis in Montreal because he crashed heavily in Friday practice. But the difference here (and also in Australia in 2011) is that both HRT cars failed to set a lap time within 107% of any time in any session, let alone qualifying. In fact, de la Rosa's time - 1.2 seconds off Kobayashi's fastest - was the closest HRT had come to anything resembling 107% all weekend.
 
Wow, Grosjean 3rd! Let's hope he gets a podium and a Button win tomorrow.:D
 
Imari
Grosjean's performance is impressive, and better is it's not an isolated incident. He's been quick all weekend, and mostly quicker than his not-untalented teammate Kimi.

The car is obviously capable as well, I'm hoping we're seeing the start of a good new driver in competent machinery. Would be great to have Grosjean nipping at the big boys heels, and even better if he was in contention for podiums.

A bit of topsy-turvy is good for the excitement in F1.
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He didn't really get a good bite at F1 the first time around but from what I saw of him in Sports Cars he was mighty impressive in that Ford GT, including a couple of wins. So I'm not overly surprised his pulled something like this off as he definitely has the talent. But as they say, this is only the first qualifier of the first race of a long season. I wish him luck.
 
Wow, what a session!

Bit disappointed with my man being #15 but hey-ho, well done to Nico!
 
Hamiltons lap was electric. I think the race is going to be very exciting, and ofcourse I want to see a 1-2 for mclaren, prefferably led by Hamilton.

Good job for Grojean, Webber, Schumi and Maldonado!
 
Looking at how Friday and Saturday in particular has panned out, this is going to be a brilliant season 👍

Very happy about McLaren locking out the front row and congratulations to Roman on a great qualifying session, he's been really quick all weekend.
 
Not a Hamilton fan here, but a right HA! to the staircase noses... hope the FIA ban them.
 
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