2016 Rolex Australian Grand Prix

So this race was definitely not bad. I'm glad that even the background palaver doesn't stop big stuff from happening in F1.

Rosberg looks good and Vettel did too, when Ferrari or him weren't slipping up. Hopefully something can come out of that.

Grosjean for Driver of the Day because I love underdog teams getting big results and it's very possible Haas might not get a better one this year.
 
Just watching Alonso's crash again, I can't help but think that with a tarmac runoff he wouldn't have flipped, wouldn't then have missed out most of the gravel trap and that he'd have dissipated more energy before the wall. They should put more tyres over the concrete and tarmac it, imo.
 
prisonermonkeys
Meanwhile, Mercedes nearly retired Rosberg:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/123375/mercedes-rosberg-almost-had-to-retire

He had an overheating brake duct after a piece of rubber got lodged in it, and a problem with the left rear tyre; they don't say it outright, but the contact with Hamilton seems to have been the likely culprit.
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Wasn't there a user that told you the biggest worry with rubber affecting a car during a GP is that being caught in the brake duct. I'd like to see a replay though so I can closely analyze if it was from Hamilton or the more evil Dane Bot of Jamie Whincup.


As for driver of the race, I went with Grosjean...it was a toss up between him and Dan.
 
So Haas stole the T Shirt guy from Sahara Force India...

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LMSCorvetteGT2
As for driver of the race, I went with Grosjean...it was a toss up between him and Dan.
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Yeah, those two were my picks too. Both did really good with what they had and drove faultless races but I ended up with picking Ricciardo only due to the fact that that he finished higher in the points. I would have voted for them both if I could.
 
Cap'n Jack
Yeah, those two were my picks too. Both did really good with what they had and drove faultless races but I ended up with picking Ricciardo only due to the fact that that he finished higher in the points. I would have voted for them both if I could.
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I mean I don't vote based on finishing position or points haul. It's obvious from testing and this GP alone that currently the RBR is the third best car and if they get the engine in order could give the top two trouble in DR's hands. That said Grosjean drove from deeper in the field in a car that showed performance but hadn't been fully verified with a brand new team at their first GP. The strategy worked great and he kept cool and drove a great race amidst all the chaos. Daniel did too but I feel it was always going to be a bit easier in the RBR, not to take away from him I just feel with all that happened in the end with what both of them had Grosjean did a little more.
 
LMSCorvetteGT2
I'd like to see a replay though so I can closely analyze if it was from Hamilton or the more evil Dane Bot of Jamie Whincup.
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I know you're being facetious, but please, be my guest. It will take you hours to review all of the footage and data to get your I-told-you-so moment.
 
prisonermonkeys
I know you're being facetious, but please, be my guest. It will take you hours to review all of the footage and data to get your I-told-you-so moment.
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Well I don't have one I was asking if you could procure it since you brought it up. And I already had my I told you so moment, you claimed that teams would likely not appreciate rubber finding it's way into certain areas. Those areas happened to be areas I told you would be unlikely or likely enough that it would cause a massive effect on the car. S-duct being unlikely and side pods being unhampered.

What I told you would be a true worry for teams and something you should of said was brake ducts. Now I'll see myself out, good day sir.
 
Brend
I like Max Verstappen but he was an absolute embarrassment today toward the end. No professional should be acting like that in any sport.
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It's F1, you're not a true racer in F1 until you come over the radio asking for team orders to be made in your favor.
 
My thoughts on the race:

-Mercedes seems to be the best team in the grid at making the most out of a bad situation. 1-2 after a disastrous start is impressive.

-Ferrari has the pace to worry Merc. Maybe not outright beat them, but worry them. This WDC could get interesting.

-8 points for Haas on their debut is massive. Grosjean was helped by the red flag, sure, but he kept it there on merit.

-Speaking of red flags, Alonso's accident was one of the more spectacular ones I've seen in a while. I was glad to see him walk away from that.

-Palmer impressed me. He brought the car home in one piece, out-raced his teammate, and displayed very good wheel-to-wheel racecraft. Definitely not what I expected from someone in his first F1 race. He's going to need to keep that up if he wants to prove to his detractors that he deserves a seat, though.

-Verstappen needed to take a chill pill there. Even if you're angry, nearly taking your teammate out is not a good way to prove you deserve a promotion.

-New tire rules are a bit confusing, but I enjoyed watching the different strategies play out--not to mention the fact that teams can actually try different strategies now.

-I didn't watch qualifying so I can't comment on it, but from the way it sounded I didn't miss much.
 
Mercedes look like they might beat their record constructor points in 19 races this year as Ferrari look quite far away but hopefully they catch up. They probably need to speed up though to remain second fastest with likes of Red Bull close to them and maybe McLaren Honda can pull off some big performance increase to become competitive with them.

Seb managed to get the speed boost at start, this experience probably helped improve his craft:
pb-130714-soapbox-02.photoblog900.jpg


Good to see Haas do so well at their first race, voted for Grosjean. 👍
 
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Did Lewis say anything about why he was pointing left at the start of the race? Seemed like a very odd thing to do on purpose...
 
Brend
I like Max Verstappen but he was an absolute embarrassment today toward the end. No professional should be acting like that in any sport.
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You mean, he acted like a champion to be. Hamilton, Vettel all ranted like babies in their career.

And to be fair, Verstappen did have a point in his ranting. He was royally screwed by the strategy. The teams knew it was difficult to impossible to overtake, Verstappen was on fire and Sainz just took waaaaaaaaay too long to overtake the Banana.

But. He did act a wee bit bratty.
 
Eh, I'd probably be pissed too if my team managed to mess up strategy so bad that they snatched 10th from a quite likely 4th.
 
Ben Edwards: "One Ferrari wheel nut costs £800, that's the level of sophistication involved in F1."

David Coulthard: "I suspect there's plenty of hardcore Ferrari fans out there who would happily pay £800 for one of Vettel's nuts."

Good ole DC.
 
Thought it was a great race overall.

My thoughts:

Crash between Gutierrez and Alonso was nasty, felt like it could have been prevented, somewhat, nothings perfect though and Alonso is alright, that's the most important thing!👍

I think this will be another Mercedes driven year, in the beginning at least. I think we're going to see some shakeups in the podiums by Redbull and Ferrari, maybe HAAS even? Never say never

Great showing by HAAS for an American team in their first start.

Max Verstappen, the kid is 18, younger than me, he needs to take a step back and be a little more humble. He about binned both of Toro Rosso's rides this morning. Can't help but think he's going to cost himself top 5s, maybe even a podium if he can't keep his head, and of course Money to Toro.

Lastly, Seb, is always there, I think he'll be more prominent this year for the Championshop between Himself, Nico, Lewis, and maybe Ricciardo.


There's my two cents from a American from the East!:lol:👍

Looking forward to Bahrain.
 
I am being serious in this inquiry: If the run off was not sand and all asphalt instead would of Alonso not flipped at all? I think he would of not flip.
 
Just watched the highlights on C4, decent enough race. Obviously a horrid crash for Alonso, testament to the engineers of F1 though that the safety cell was perfectly intact whilst the rest of the car did it's job in dissipating the energy.

The FIA might have got the quali very wrong but thumbs up to them on the three tyres rules, that really helped vary strategy and have cars on different pace. Unfortunately overtaking is always tough at AP but I think Bahrain and the rest of the season could be great in that regard.

I still have no idea why they're allowed to change tyres under a red flag though. Made zero sense to me when it helped ruin the end of Monaco that year, still makes zero sense today.
 
yzfmike
I am being serious in this inquiry: If the run off was not sand and all asphalt instead would of Alonso not flipped at all? I think he would of not flip.
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It's the grass that sent the car airborne. Without that, the car would have slammed into the tires because Alonso had no way of slowing the car down himself.
 
GTPorsche
It's the grass that sent the car airborne. Without that, the car would have slammed into the tires because Alonso had no way of slowing the car down himself.
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In my opinion it was the combination of gravel and the fact the left hand side of the car was already damaged from the first impact that caused it.

Normally a car going into the gravel sideways is fine if it has four wheels and stays balanced but as Alonso slides into it the sidepod is destroyed and both wheels are flailing around on the tethers. There is nothing to support that side of the car and with the inertia and heavier weight on the right side of the car, it rolls.

 
Happy to see Alonso is okay. 👍 Good job there was gravel there or I think it would have been much worse.

Ferrari didn't do Vettel any favours on the restart. 👎 Having said that under a red flag the cars are supposed to be under parc ferme rules so you absolutely should not be able to change the tyres.

Verstappen is starting to sound like a very unlikeable git. :irked:

Haas score points! 👍

Mercedes scored a 1-2. That was unexpected. :lol:

I like the choice of three tyres. It mixes things up.
 
GTPorsche
It's the grass that sent the car airborne. Without that, the car would have slammed into the tires because Alonso had no way of slowing the car down himself.
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Not in that video, the car doesn't roll/lift until a couple of feet into the gravel.
 

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