2018 Rolex Australian Grand PrixFormula 1 

  • Thread starter Jimlaad43
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From what I can tell:

Hamilton pitted from a couple of seconds ahead of Vettel
Grosjean pitted, his wheel fell off
VSC was "deployed"
Vettel pitted from ~20 seconds ahead of Hamilton
Vettel came out ~3 seconds ahead of Hamilton

It's always been the case that when there is a safety car on the circuit, the pitlane time loss reduces by a huge amount, because rather than comparing your 80km/h trundle through the pits to a full speed straight, it's being compared to a straight at reduced speed behind the safety car. With VSC I imagine there is a similar, smaller effect because the cars are still moving at a decent but reduced pace.

It comes as a bit of a surprise that it's as much as 10 seconds in this case, but the fact is Hamilton lost the full duration of a pit stop by taking a pit stop, and Vettel lost the reduced duration of a pit stop by taking a pit stop in safety car conditions, effectively gaining time.


But the Ferrari-engined, Ferrari-gearbox, Ferrari-suspension car failing at the exact moment it did was highly fortuitous for Ferrari*.


*Humour.
 
Famine
But the Ferrari-engined, Ferrari-gearbox, Ferrari-suspension car failing at the exact moment it did was highly fortuitous for Ferrari*.


*Humour.
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Indeed they basically did a Piquet Jr. on demand! :confused::D

On a more serious note I feel gutted for the pit crew, that SF70H adepted chassis ehm VF-18 deserved a much better ending. :)
 
I understand why Australia is placed where it is in the calendar, but it’s hardly the best track to open with after all the big off-season buildup. Without Haas’ incompetence and the resulting VSC taking-advantage by Ferrari, Liberty’s grand season opener would have been another straight-up processional.
 
Can we all just agree that this man put on a show yesterday?

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I don't know which was more entertaining, David Croft getting driver's names/positions wrong several times then blaming it on not being able to see their helmets even when I, a relative layman, knew exactly who was who, or the computer struggling to keep up with things as well as constantly showing "no time" for people in quali. Still, not a bad race weekend in all.
 
GroupB
I understand why Australia is placed where it is in the calendar, but it’s hardly the best track to open with after all the big off-season buildup. Without Haas’ incompetence and the resulting VSC taking-advantage by Ferrari, Liberty’s grand season opener would have been another straight-up processional.
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Too be fair even if I highly disagree with future Liberty Media F1 ideas, this Melbourne processional has more to do with 2018 FIA rules, only 3 power units cause drivers to save the car in the end of the race when they realize they can't gain/loose positions. Today Hamilton clearly turned off lots of stuff on his steering wheel, not good advertisement of the sport compared to last lap Dovi-Marquez drama.

Not to mention the return of massive aero which is notoriously bad for overtakes.
 
A decent but strange race, race winners shouldn't be decided by safety cars, whichever version...

Feel a bit sorry for Lewis having a potential race win snatched from him by something he has little or no control over, horrible day for Haas, but also bad day for Force India as its rare for them not too have two cars in the points, going to be long season for Williams and Torro Rosso.

I didn't get up to watch the race today for the first time in years, I have always got up to watch the opening race of the season in anticipation until today, I don't feel a motivated for the season like I have before.
 
It looks like Williams and Toro Rosso will be on the bottom of the mid-field this year. Sauber seemed ahead of them and while Ericcson retired Leclerc didn't put a foot wrong and brought the car home. Good start at least.
 
It was an ok race, Mercedes was in control up until that VSC. Was really looking forward to a nice little Hamilton vs Vettel battle towards the end but the former braked a little too late and lost a ton of ground.

Gutted for Haas, it's upsetting seeing both cars go out like that. :mad:
 
TenEightyOne
I guess we'll need to wait. Several former F1 drivers are making the observation that it seems to be quicker through the pit lane - we'll have to see what Vettel's entry-to-exit pit lane timing was compared to that of the on-track cars running to the VSC minimum times. The fact stands that cars outside the pit-speed lines but within the entry/exit lines are not speed limited under a VSC.
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No need to wait, they're wrong, you can't go faster through the pit lane than you can on track under VSC.

I found it quite painful and embarrassing to listen to Brundle and Crofty go on and on about how something that has been happening for ages is now all of a sudden unfair when it disadvantages Hamilton, and actually entertaining the idea that it could be faster to go through the pitlane despite the very clear evidence otherwise.
 
Tired Tyres
So I watched Channel 4's highlights program. Where were the highlights? Did an actual motor race break out at any point? At all?
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Bottas overtook a Force India in the 15 first laps and that was pretty much it as far as on track action goes.
 
Tyger
I don't know which was more entertaining, David Croft getting driver's names/positions wrong several times then blaming it on not being able to see their helmets even when I, a relative layman, knew exactly who was who, or the computer struggling to keep up with things as well as constantly showing "no time" for people in quali. Still, not a bad race weekend in all.
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Nah the best bit was when Croft said Albert Park was in Mexico and no one picked up on it.

Or was I hearing things?
 
Tired Tyres
So I watched Channel 4's highlights program. Where were the highlights? Did an actual motor race break out at any point? At all?
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Grosjean was keeping Ricciardo at bay while Magnussen held off Verstappen until he spun. Vettel also had Hamilton for a bit but Hamilton kept making mistakes due to pushing too hard. Alonso passed Sainz and kept Verstappen behind at the end.
 
GTFraker
"We don't have a party mode, there was no extra button, no extra mode" "Wipe the smile off your pace!", "strat 14", "I'm going for it!"




























































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That's priceless :lol: :bowdown: :cheers:.

I just want to say, and Ill know Ill get heat for this but, as an American watching these races, I long for the NBC coverage again.

Sorry, but Diffey, Hobbs, Matchette and Buxton BLOW AWAY these overrated bufoons you all so love so much.

Sorry, but had to get off that off of my chest.

God, they sounded so depressed for the remainder of the race once Seb was in the lead.

Bunch of homers.
 
MUSC4EVER
A decent but strange race
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You are really easily pleased. There was no race. Cars weren't able to get any closer to each other than 0.7/8 of a second. Just look at Hamilton, he closed the gap to Vettel in 2,5 round or something and then nothing happened. He got stuck at around the second. Just like everyone else .
 
Race thoughts:
  • VSC procedure should be looked at, but I'm not hopeful that it will. It's unfortunate when this decides the results (it didn't only affect the lead of the race). I'm not saying this based on the results of only this race, I've had the same thoughts on this from a few WEC races.
  • 3rd DRS zone kind of kept things closer, but passing was still lacking. Not sure if that's Melbourne, the complicated aero regs, or both.
  • Did Lewis actually have a problem at the end of the race? Or did Merc tell him to back off to save the power unit? If it's the latter, then the 3 power unit rule may have ruined the end of the race for the lead, which is not a good sign for the rest of the season.
  • 1 stop race. Nice try, Pirelli. (To be fair, not sure if that's just the nature of Melbourne or not).
  • Haas... just... why...? IT WASN'T EVEN THE SAME WHEEL!
  • And finally, despite everything... Sky Sports > NBCSN, in my unimportant opinion. Also liked most of the new on - screen graphics, even if they didn't work at all time.
VET got really lucky on this one, but despite this, HAM couldn't get by him at the end. Had the VSC not come out, it probably would've been a procedural 30 lap run to the end.

So... 13 days 'til Bahrain, I guess.
 
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It was kind of painful to see so many UK presenters complaining about the pit lane and aero once Vettel was leading. Strangely, nothing was wrong with the rules when Hamilton was leading through the first stint. Same applies to Hamilton’s complaints. He qualifies first, everything is great. He finishes second, “it’s too too hard to overtake with the “new” aero regulations”. I can understand Hamilton’s frustration better though.
 
VSC idea is supposed to maintain the gap and you get punished sticking to those times. The rule needs looking at. You can't have Hamilton speeding up to keep the gap for safety reasons while Vettel is blasting down the pit lane.

The only way was for Hamilton to carry on pushing before the VSC if Mercedes team factored that in but what if for example you couldn't and that was your limit then all your good work is undone. Teams might not have the luxury of pushing further like Mercedes could've done today.

To fix this maybe drivers have to coast in and out the pitlane under a VSC.

The race was pretty boring and I really don't like this idea of drivers having to look after three engines and fuel saving again. Following in dirty air looks worse than last year. 2014 was a good year for cars being able to get close. The last two seem really poor and this year is more management. Hopefully it's more down to the track, we'll have to see but for the first time since the late 80s I might just start catching the highlights if I can find info the race was a little eventful and if not just check the results on the BBC website.

I've never felt apathetic to F1 before, I even used to watch practice sessions when they were live on BBC such was the interest. I've seen enough dull races where other people would complain and I'd be ok and happy over the years. The sport, cars and rules were more than a dull race to me, it was never enough to dampen my spirits over the decades, I take the ups and downs but this year and last and how it's been progressing, I'm for the first time in 30 years in a take it or leave stance.
 
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potvinsuks
I just want to say, and Ill know Ill get heat for this but, as an American watching these races, I long for the NBC coverage again.

Sorry, but Diffey, Hobbs, Matchette and Buxton BLOW AWAY these overrated bufoons you all so love so much.

Sorry, but had to get off that off of my chest.

God, they sounded so depressed for the remainder of the race once Seb was in the lead.

Bunch of homers.
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Same boat here. The Sky announcers don’t come across as having the same enthusiasm for the sport that the NBC crew did. Maybe it’s a cultural thing, but they give the impression that it’s just another day at the office, been here, seen it all before.
 
GroupB
Same boat here. The Sky announcers don’t come across as having the same enthusiasm for the sport that the NBC crew did. Maybe it’s a cultural thing, but they give the impression that it’s just another day at the office, been here, seen it all before.
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It's not a cultural thing it's just that since the old commentator Murray Walker retired about 15 years ago no one has been able to replace his enthusiasm for the sport.

Here's a great video of him in action.



F1 hasn't been the same since he retired for me.
 
Most of the potential action came late race, when everyone had already turned their units down. I don't think the 'new aero' is to blame, 2017 had some excellent on-track action, not particularly here, as it's Albert Park, no regulations will make it an epic track for passing, but no reason to go into red alert about the season because the commentators were salty about Hamilton not being able to breeze past Vettel (which he very well might have been able to do with the pace he had before flat spotting his tyres and turning his motor down)

Blame things in this order: 1. power unit rules 2. Albert Park 3. Aero
 
Nando deBem
It was kind of painful to see so many UK presenters complaining about the pit lane and aero once Vettel was leading. Strangely, nothing was wrong with the rules when Hamilton was leading through the first stint. Same applies to Hamilton’s complaints. He qualifies first, everything is great. He finishes second, “it’s too too hard to overtake with the “new” aero regulations”. I can understand Hamilton’s frustration better though.
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Hamilton gladly took the win in China and Spain last year because of "good old uncle Charlie" timing with VSC and everything was good.
Now obviously all these fanboys will ask VSC to be changed asap, no I'm not impressed.
 

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