2019 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand PrixFormula 1 

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  • 312 comments
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Who will win the Australian Grand Prix?

  • Lewis Hamilton

    Votes: 26 29.9%

  • Valtteri Bottas

    Votes: 10 11.5%

  • Sebastian Vettel

    Votes: 20 23.0%

  • Charles Leclerc

    Votes: 14 16.1%

  • Max Verstappen

    Votes: 10 11.5%

  • Pierre Gasly

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Daniel Ricciardo

    Votes: 1 1.1%

  • Nico Hulkenberg

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Romain Grosjean

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Kevin Magnussen

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Carlos Sainz

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Lando Norris

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Sergio Perez

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Lance Stroll

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Kimi Raikkonen

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Antonio Giovinazzi

    Votes: 1 1.1%

  • Daniil Kvyat

    Votes: 1 1.1%

  • Alexander Albon

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Robert Kubica

    Votes: 2 2.3%

  • George Russell

    Votes: 2 2.3%
  • Total voters
    87
  • Poll closed .
Ouch!

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Tough times at Williams. So sad to see such a great squad with so much history struggling year after year like this.

For some perspective, the pole times here have been:

2017 - 1:22.188
2018 - 1:21.164
2019 - 1:20.486

The gap is growing. :guilty:
 
Sucks for Sainz. He probably could have made it to Q3.
 
TenEightyOne
I didn't want to pay/register to read the article... but if I remember correctly it was around this time last year that they knew what the fundamental issue was with their car. They didn't get it fixed.
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Williams has found a "fundamental" fault with its 2019 Formula 1 car that can get it closer to the pace, reckons George Russell, but it could take months to resolve.

The team has been at the bottom of the timesheets throughout the Australian Grand Prix weekend and was 1.3 seconds adrift of the next slowest car in qualifying.

But Russell said a major issue has been identified that could mean a decent step forward.


"There is one fundamental which I don't want to discuss publicly," said Russell, who will start 19th for his F1 debut.

"We understand what that is, but it doesn't mean we can wake up on Monday morning and rectify it.

"To change something so fundamental will take months of development, work in the simulator and designers working out how to do it, and that is what needs to be done at the moment.

"Unfortunately we are looking at a number of races before we are going to be able to fight, and that is just where we are at the moment."

Asked how big a leap forward that change could produce, Russell said: "I think once we have solved that fundamental there will be a big leap.

"We will probably still be at the back of the grid, but with the chance to fight rather than like it is at the moment. The fact is we don't have any hope because we are too far behind."

While Russell is optimistic a turnaround can be achieved, team-mate Robert Kubica was not getting too excited about the possibility.

Asked if he thought a solution could be ready in a few months, Kubica said: "I don't want to put numbers [on it] because last year I think we knew even earlier what was a fundamental problem of the car, and for all year it stayed more or less the same.


"We are all in a line with feelings, with where we have to work. But probably because I am more experienced, I will never say it will take two or three months. No one knows.

"I hope it will take only two or three months, but I cannot say it. I don't know."

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Russell was very happy with what he had managed personally in his first F1 qualifying session.

"All three laps in Q1 I crossed the line with a smile on my face, and really felt like I got the most out of it," he said.

"But obviously overall we want more than that and obviously I want to be in the car longer than just the first 18 minutes of Q1."

Asked if qualifying was the first time he had found the limit of the Williams, he said: "I think Barcelona I was probably at 99%, but today I think that was our maximum potential. Positively or negatively.

"Positively in the sense from my side and my engineers, we did our job - which was get the maximum out of the package we've got, so that was very satisfying.

"But obviously this is the first race, and the main job now is to really help the team understand the weaknesses and how to go forward, because I've got no interest in fighting Robert for 19th place.

"We want to work together to push the team forward."
 
Williams has 800 employees and it takes years to do anything right. What really is going on here?
 
Merc is light years ahead. Again. Anything can still happen over the course of the season but with a driver like Hamilton it's tough to see anything other than a 6th WDC.

Red Bull's pace surprised me. Well done Honda. Unlucky for Gasly though.

Midfield is really tight so every small mistake is going to cost lots of places. Surprised at Haas' dominance. Alfa not as quick as I thought and Renault also. Lando is the biggest shock. Never did I see that coming. Has he inherited Nando's magic dust? :D Hopefully not his luck as well.

Williams oh Williams. It's not even embarrassing, it's just sad to see such an illustrious team fall back to being a backmarker on the level of HRT/Marussia/Caterham a few years ago. I hope they can get it sorted because it's difficult to see them surviving a few more years like this. They don't have the resources like McLaren/Ferrari to tough out 5 years of backmarker results and still recover. Shame for Russell and Kubica is definitely still not ready, being 2 seconds adrift of a rookie is not a good sign :(

PeterJB
To give you an idea of how far the hybrid cars have come along, the fastest qualifying time from 2014 was over ten seconds slower than this one.
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Besides wet quali as mentioned, don't forget aero rules also made cars significantly faster from 2017 onwards.
 
LeGeNd-1
Besides wet quali as mentioned, don't forget aero rules also made cars significantly faster from 2017 onwards.
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2013 was wet Q3 too, the best time from dry 2012 was 1:24.922 by some lad from the Stevenage slums.
 
TenEightyOne
2013 was wet Q3 too, the best time from dry 2012 was 1:24.922 by some lad from the Stevenage slums.
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But then it's not a hybrid comparison :lol: Honestly 4 seconds is not bad for the old V8 and nerfed aero.

I'd love to see 2004 cars shod with current slicks + DRS, and go head to head with current cars :drool:
 
Good Morning everyone, its 3.45am here in the UK and I haven't been to bed!

Looking forward to another great season of Formula One. 👍

Sky's race coverage has started, race start here is 4.30am.
 
Seriously cool to hear To Build A Home by The Cinematic Orchestra for the intro
 
Any Canadians with the F1 pro app...would love to hear your thoughts.
 
Magnussen reminds me of that old man looking at a computer meme.
 
Dear Australia, could you please change timezone? I don't care that it doesn't match your day/night cycle anymore, but this is just way too early for a f1 race ;)
 
PaMu1337
Dear Australia, could you please change timezone? I don't care that it doesn't match your day/night cycle anymore, but this is just way too early for a f1 race ;)
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Imagine we would be in Australia. They have early races for the majority of the season. :dunce:
I just refilled my mug for the fourth time....

Here we go!
 
Or they could just have the race start a few hours earlier. Didn't other race change their times to better accommodate viewers?
 
Did Ricciardo just lose his wing on his own?
 
Pretty sure Honey Badger blew up his front wing by himself...
 
parts flying
 
Just for touching the grass. Either these new cars run the front a little lower or someone didn't cut the grass short enough!
 
Looks like a small bump in the grass might have knocked it off.
 
Great start for Bottas, Ricciardo did really well to avoid the other cars in the first corner.
 
Prost doesn't look mad at Daniel, he just looks disappointed. :lol:
 
Now, how will Mercedes make sure Bottas ends up behind Hamilton without making it look suspicious?
 
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