2018 Rolex Australian Grand PrixFormula 1 

  • Thread starter Jimlaad43
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Jimlaad43

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It's been a long winter break, but Formula 1 is finally returning this weekend. Talk will inevitably be about the Halo, which has been implemented to prevent drivers getting killed - a good thing. However, the hate for the halo has already tainted what should be a fantastic season. The top 3 should still be the top 3, but many teams in the midfield have the potential to move up. Will this season be one of the closest for a while? Who knows, but what I do know, is that it's about to be the Australian Grand Prix...

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Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit

First Grand Prix

1996

Number of Laps
58

Circuit Length
5.303KM

Race Distance
307.574KM

Lap Record
1:24.125 by Michael Schumacher (2004)

2017 Podium

1: Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
2: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
3: Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)

Session times at:
http://whenisf1on.com/
 
Jimlaad43
It's been a long winter break

It has only been one week longer than the break between 2015 and 2016,
but a full four weeks shorter than what the winter breaks used to be back in
the 00s.

1997-98: 134 days
1998-99: 127 days
1999-00: 134 days
2000-01: 134 days
2001-02: 141 days
2002-03: 148 days
2003-04: 148 days
2004-05: 134 days
2005-06: 148 days
2006-07: 148 days
2007-08: 148 days
2008-09: 148 days
2009-10: 134 days
2010-11: 134 days
2011-12: 113 days
2012-13: 113 days
2013-14: 113 days
2014-15: 113 days
2015-16: 113 days
2016-17: 120 days
2017-18: 120 days
 
According to some forecasts, weather looks pretty bad for Saturday, and not that flash for Sunday either. But according to other forecasts, it shouldn’t be too bad. So it’ll be interesting which way the weather wants to swing. Can’t remember a wet AGP for a while.
 
It has only been one week longer than the break between 2015 and 2016,
but a full four weeks shorter than what the winter breaks used to be back in
the 00s.
4 weeks counts as long when you're waiting for the next F1 race :lol:
 
They summer break must be kryptonite to you.
Motor racing is kryptonite to me this year. I haven't watched the Dubai 24 hours, Daytona 24 hours, Bathurst 12 hours, Silverstone 24 hours or the Sebring 12 hours. Normally I'd never miss races like that. I don't understand it.

I doubt I'll watch this either.

I will tune in to the first round of the VLN on the 24th though. Hopefully.
 
Motor racing is kryptonite to me this year. I haven't watched the Dubai 24 hours, Daytona 24 hours, Bathurst 12 hours, Silverstone 24 hours or the Sebring 12 hours. Normally I'd never miss races like that. I don't understand it.

I doubt I'll watch this either.

I will tune in to the first round of the VLN on the 24th though. Hopefully.

Quite different than what others are talking about, that is quite a pain to miss that much stuff when you probably don't want to. Though I've had the same issue with WRC and not getting to see all but maybe 2 stages so far, with no fix in sight, short of dishing out far too much money for the online feed through WRC.
 
There's no changing it so you (and others) might as well get used to it. Unless you wanna take a flight (or boat) out to Australia, get a buzz saw, and saw it off of all 20 cars + spare cars, it's not going away.

I was being sarcastic due to the already tainted nature of this thread.
 
I was being sarcastic due to the already tainted nature of this thread.
Oh shoot, my bad. Sorry.

On another note, this GP is shaping up to be something pretty exciting! Can't wait for that first practice on Thursday!
 
Very excited to get back to the F1 program. I am hoping becoming excited is for exciting racing, but I'm not crossing fingers.

What I would really love for is a Ricciardo win this Sunday. I know it is a stone throw chance.
 
Very excited to get back to the F1 program. I am hoping becoming excited is for exciting racing, but I'm not crossing fingers.

What I would really love for is a Ricciardo win this Sunday. I know it is a stone throw chance.

In F1 anything can happen and it usually does etc. etc.

Could be any driver from the top three teams... maybe one of the "2nd division" teams on the podium.

Motor racing is kryptonite to me this year

Very rare and utterly harmless?
 
US Broadcast Schedule:

FP1 - Thursday 9pm ET ESPN3
FP1 - Friday 1am ET ESPN3
FP3 - Friday 1pm ET ESPNEWS
Qualifying - Saturday 2am ET ESPN2
Race - Sunday 1am ET ESPN2
 
For the first time, we'll see a circuit with 3 DRS zones.
f1-australian-gp-2018-melbourne-grand-prix-circuit-map.jpg

The aim is to get the cars to be closer by the start straight so passes can happen into turns 1 and 3.
 
Australian GP is usually a fun race but it's a wild card as it's often not a true indicator of who has the ultimate pace.

Great, all the better for it.

Hamilton has already stated to look out for the red bulls.
 
It's prosumably better to stay in bed all day so the big bad world doesn't get you as well then. :lol:
Have you never heard the phrase "better to have a gun and not need it than not have a gun and need it?" just a variation in that lol
 
It's prosumably better to stay in bed all day so the big bad world doesn't get you as well then. :lol:
OK, I've had enough of this stupid Halo hate.

You want to know why I am happy to see the Halo on cars? In my time marshalling, I have been unfortunate enough to attend a fatal accident. It was a crash in a single seater where a driver was killed because his head was exposed. It was really not nice to be around and is not something I hope to see again. Why do I not dislike the halo? I know how horrible it is to go to a car and see terrible injuries. I wouldn't want to wish that experience on any other marshals. It really ruins your day/week/month to see somebody killed doing something they and you love. Do we really want another Justin Wilson type accident broadcast across the world and playing out in front of a packed grandstand filled with children? No. Do we want to open up GTPlanet and see a "RIP F1 driver" thread? No. The whole Jules Bianchi incident was a horrible moment for the sport.

The drivers asked for head protection, and the halo is the only viable solution at the moment. It will be improved to not only look better, but function even better than it does at the moment. How much do you really want to see one of the drivers killed? If the answer is anything other than "I don't", you really need to sort out your priorities and look at WHY the halo has been introduced, not just look at it and go...
sponge.jpg

iT loOkS DiSGusTIng, tAkE it AWay

I don't like the way it looks. I can see many issues with it, but BECAUSE I understand the reasons it's there, there is NO ARGUMENT AGAINST IT. Aesthetics the only argument against it, which is a pathetic argument. In modern F1, a driver is more at risk from being hit in the head by flying debris or other cars than they are to be trapped in a burning car. F1 takes place on a circuit with marshals everywhere. If a car is on fire, someone will at least attempt to stop the fire in enough time that a driver won't be trapped for any time longer than necessary.

The Indycar shield is not a solution yet. There are too many issues with its strength in car-to-environment crashes for it to appear on cars yet. But it will probably replace the halo in a few years.

Safety is not a joke. In some places it can be taken too far, but here, it is not being taken too far.


Now, let's ignore the halo for a while, because it has zero affect on anything meaningful, and focus on the racing. That's what we're all here to watch, and what we want to see. This season should be much closer than last season, and the racing should be awesome. So lets focus on what matters, and not something that has been fully researched, and is being introduced with full confidence. Any issues it may cause have been thought of, researched and explained.

tl;dr: Get over it.
 
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