Formula 1 2013 Season Opener Melbourne 17th March

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I missed the race!

Can someone explain to me what's happened to the Red Bull and Vettel? it is pretty worrying, because they seemed to be the best car this year!
 
Great race, I was at turn 1, right were Fastor binned it.

Really happy for Lotus and Kimi, its been a long time coming.

Interestingly, Ferrari was the only car able to accelerate at the apex of turn 1, all the others could only hit the gas about 5 meters further on. RBR looked very loose at the rear.

Overall, a great start to the year, apart from Webbers continuing bad, luck with kers....
 
I missed the race!

Can someone explain to me what's happened to the Red Bull and Vettel? it is pretty worrying, because they seemed to be the best car this year!

Just not as good on the tires. Vettel couldn't extract as much as he needed to in order to keep ahead on a three stopper. Lotus, excellent on tires, was able to two stop and clinch it just.

Didn't help that Sutil lead the race for a good while and held Vettel and a couple other frontrunners back.

Trulli has passed the train horn to Sutil.
 
GOGO Kimi! Great race pace from Lotus. Ferrari seems pretty good as well. Red Bull really fast on the supersofts but destroys them quickly as well.
 
Kimi ran an awesome race. Really good overall.

Webber is having some strange issues; according to Adrian Newey it's Mark's fault for not doing proper pre-race preperations for the KERS failure.
That, and his telemetry wasn't being transmitted to the pits...
He looked nothing short of dejected after the race.
 
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Last year [Mark Webber] came in 4th and almost got 3rd but not enough laps though he had good pace.

Certain circuits just don't suit certain drivers, that's it.

It's a shame though. But also weird 'cause Webber's so good at Monaco. I guess Albert Park isn't confined enough :)

I love the track though still, but it would be cool to see them do something like Germany and switch off with another circuit in Oz somewhere.

Wish Phillip Island wasn't so nichey and impossible. It's a monumental Moto circuit.

Not really sure where else they could hold an Australian round. To get the obvious out of the way though: no Bathurst, no Adelaide, no Winton (although the first turn funnel would be awesome to see F1 cars sort though xD), no Hidden Valley, no Sandown, and Mallala would be great, but it's too short now.

Jeez, there just is no where else. Let's all just pour a few tens of millions into Phillip Island, lengthen it, and ruin it so F1 can go.
It's either that or they take it to Eastern Creek, where Mark Webber recently did the demo, pretty awesome circuit and my girlfriend's family is from Liverpool in Western Sydney, so I'd have a nice place to crash. It's a great layout, just really needs accommodation upgrades.
 
It was a great race, F1 came back greeting me with some good actions. Well done to Kimi and Lotus! I have to say I am fairly disappointed with McLaren as they really struggled to do anything this weekend. Hopefully all will be well for next weekend. Mercedes looked pretty strong and I only expect them to be as strong for next weekend.

I'll be in Sepang next week to catch up the action. Expect some good infos and pictures flooding up! :D
 
Lotus and Grosjean did some long runs in testing, Red Bull didn't.
Red Bull has the aero and mechanical package, they showed that in qualy, but they used more tyre. It's that simple.
Ferrari looks like a really good car this year already.
With McLaren not performing, Force India are taking those positions and points gladly.
Sutil was not a Trulli, he actually had pace.

A great spectacle and looking forward to this season.
 
I felt Hamiltons especially and Rosbergs 1st stints on the Super Soft were pretty decent 👍, went the longest on them I think. 👍

They did go the longest, I think Kimi might have equaled them, but the issue was also lack of balance between super soft and mediums from what Brawn said. Also the Lotus @ Melbourne has the best balance it seems, but I don't want to leap up too far because this is the same team that has been on the podium three times past four years at Melbourne, but I feel more confident that Lotus can maintain the speed due to last year.

Sutil also did quite well, he actually had a gap on Vettel, I don't think he really held him up for most of that stint if all. Vettel just didn't seem to have the balance that Ferrari and Lotus have.
 
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Didn't help that Sutil lead the race for a good while and held Vettel and a couple other frontrunners back.

I have to disagree with you here. Vettel was barely holding up with Sutil's rear, and only for a few laps.
After that he started losing ground to Sutil and was never even in a position to attack. So much so that he was getting a hard time from both Ferraris while Sutil was doing his own race and driving the best lines with no worries.
 
I have to disagree with you here. Vettel was barely holding up with Sutil's rear, and only for a few laps.
After that he started losing ground to Sutil and was never even in a position to attack. So much so that he was getting a hard time from both Ferraris while Sutil was doing his own race and driving the best lines with no worries.

^ Exactly, the point I was trying to make thanks Beerz. Vettel's car just didn't have the balance over long runs, and the set up they had was probably geared more toward Supersoft tires, which killed them like Merc GP. Ferrari and Lotus were just amazing to watch.
 
Good race, I believe if Massa's pitstop wasn't delayed for those three laps he could have finished in front of Alonso. His pace was on par with the spaniard but his overtaking skills were not, but still a nice recovery from last season.

Great to see Kimi taking the top spot, hopefully Lotus can pick up their qualifying pace even more to give the man a shot for the title. Vettel was pretty decent, didn't show much at Albert Park but consistency is what gets you titles, Alonso learned that early on and Vettel is following the same path.
 
Well that's just it. NO car will have good balance over long runs if they're running behind someone in dirty air. Understeer on exit so you have to scrub, oversteer on entry so you have to heat up the rears.

He just happened to be in the wrong place at exactly the wrong time, Sutil effectively seemed to through their strategy out, RB originally were going for a two stop.

This is the same reason, and I'm not exactly calling it on luck either, that Grosjean wasn't able to get anything going. He was supposed to two stop on the same strategy as Kimi but couldn't because he just couldn't get around traffic quick enough or find himself a clean run in his stints at all.

This race was all about timing against the flow of the circuit, and no one was really able to run their race as planned. Certain drivers just had advantages drop into their laps and they took them and ran. Vettel should've won this race. Horner will try to tell everyone that it was the "cooler than expected temp's" but that's just to cover up the head scratching they were all doing. And to be fair, all the teams were confuzzled as well. Just look at the Lotus directors in their pit stalls near the end of the race, they couldn't believe they were winning.

Look, Sutil did a great job capitalizing his start being on nice and fresher Mediums, it was tough to keep it up, but it was inevitable that he'd fall to the back of the top 10. He held up a number of front-runners and was only able to do so because of his backward tire order compared to the rest of the field. He was a ghost. Only other thing is that I feel like he really dropped the ball when he got the Super Softs at the end, he should've been able to hold off Hamilton if he really had "pace."
 
Nice race. Kimi and Ferrari did a wonderful job. Extremely surprised by Hamilton's race, I wasn't expecting him to end 5th; Mercedes still has a lot to do, but their first race wasn't that bad. On the other hand, McLaren's race was very underwhelming. I was expecting Perez to do good, but heh...
All things considered, I think that this season could prove very interesting.
 
Well, I fell asleep whilst watching the build up. I had been awake for over 30 hours though, watching the Qualifying that never happened, the Sebring 12 Hours and then Qualifying again. So there wasn't much I could do. *Must. Keep. Eyes. Open!* :eek:

Fortunately, I recorded it so when I woke up after a few hours sleep I could see the whole thing straight away. It was a good start, especially from Massa, I was rooting for him today but they really messed up on his pit strategies. 👎

Sutil had a great drive today. I disagree with those saying he was holding some of the other front runners up, he wasn't. You seen yourselves he was managing to pull out a lead on Vettel after a while, up to two seconds at one point. His could-have-been 5th place hopes were shattered when he had to change to Super-Softs way to early. He just couldn't keep the life in the tyres. Good placements for Force India, however, especially after Sutil had been out of F1 for a year.

The marshalls were waving blue flags at him too, although he was leading. :odd:

Happy Kimi won. Great drive. 👍
 
So everyone; How is this report?

The Australian Grand Prix started with a familiar sight; That of a Red Bull, driven by a certain protagonist going by the name Sebastian Vettel, heading the grid. His team mate Mark Webber lined up second, with Lewis Hamilton third and Nico Rosberg sixth. The Mercedes duo were separated by the two Ferraris.

Quite often the Australian Grand Prix has been a race of attrition, and this year looked to be no exception before the race even began. Nico Hulkenburg was unable to start the race due to a problem with his cars fuel system. Also, the skies were far from blue as the cars headed out of the garages, onto the grid and then onto their warm-up lap.

Many in the paddock were predicting a Red Bull domination. But, as the 1999 race proved, qualifying pace doesn't equal race victory; That year the McLaren's looked set to run away with it, only for both to be struck down with problems during the race. That year it was Eddie Irvine who won for Ferrari; Could a man in Red overalls possibly stand victorious at the end of the race?

You could feel the excitement in the air as the cars completed their warm-up lap. The cars lined up on the grid and the lights lit up...

And it was go in Melbourne! the grid made it through the first corner cleanly and Sebastian Vettel had already broken away. Massa took second followed by his team mate Fernando Alonso. Meanwhile, Kimi Raikkonen was hassling Lewis Hamilton, who was holding fourth at the end of the first lap. And, three quarters of the way through lap two Raikkonen took the position. The Renault engine obviously has speed.

Mark Webber had an appalling start. The Australian fell back to seventh at first, and began hassling Nico Rosberg. Jenson Button changed from badly worn out Super Soft compound tires to the more durable Medium compound. This was after just four laps.

Lap six, and Webber also pitted. Meanwhile, the Ferrari duo of Massa and Alonso had reeled in Vettel by roughly two seconds. Kimi Raikkonen was also catching up to the lead group, before Vettel ducke din to pit on the end of Lap 8. He, like his team mate, changed to medium compound tires.

Raikkonen was still gaining on Alonso as Massa pitted, also choosing mediums. Massa exited the pits behind Vettel. On the next lap Alonso and Raikkonen both pitted, maintaining their order but both also slotted in behind Vettel.

The Mercedes team kept Hamilton and Rosberg out, with the team holding a one-two order as they crossed the timing beam to begin lap eleven. Adrian Sutil was third on his Formula One return, but of course all three of these cars would slot in behind the leaders once they pit...

The Mercedes cars began to pit, with Hamilton being the first silver arrow to do so. On the next lap Nico Rosberg pitted, leaving Adrian Sutil out front on the medium compound tire he started the race on. Vettel was close behind his fellow German at the fifteen lap mark.

Mark Webber was losing time to the pack, as he was stuck behind the struggling McLaren of Jenson Button. But Mark then pitted to find clear air, putting the Australian way down the order. Sutil was doing a fabulous job leading the race, he even appeared to be building a lead over Vettel, who was falling into the grasp of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso.

On Lap 21 Fernando Alonso bowed out of fourth to pit and change to another set of mediums, he came out seventh. Then, on the next lap, Adrian Sutil and Vettel both pit. Sutil and the Force India team manage to keep Sutil ahead of the Red Bull, but Alonso got around him as he exited the pits. Massa remained out and was leading. Vettel managed to pass Sutil at turn three on lap twenty three, and at the end of the lap Massa pitted. This left Kimi Raikkonen in the lead with Hamilton second. Pastor Maldonado spun off at turn one, putting him out of the race.

Kimi was getting away from Hamilton and the pack, he over a dozen seconds ahead. At turn four Nico Rosberg pulled off and out of the race, as drops of rain started to fall around turn thirteen.

The team radios started telling the drivers of a predicted short and light shower on lap 30... And indeed, rain does start spitting down from the clouds but it leads to nothing. Lewis Hamilton was still second, with Alonso right behind him. Alonso makes it by, just before Hamilton makes a pitstop, moving Alonso to second and Vettel to third. Adrian Sutil was still hanging on in fourth.

Hamilton radios his team telling them that his tyres will not last the 27 laps required to pull off a two stopper as Raikkonen pits, handing Alonso the lead but critically, meaning he shouldn't need to stop again. Vettel also pits, and exits behind Lewis Hamilton. Jenson Button and Romain Grosjean also pit; They are joined by Webber, who has not made up the positions following his horror start.

Alonso exits the pits in the foreground as Vettel passes Hamilton. Then Massa did the exact same thing towards the end of the lap as team radio tells us that light rain is falling in the last sector. Webber makes a good pass on Di Resta as Hamilton pits, changing to a three stop strategy. Sutil was in the lead, but Raikkonen swiftly passes him to take that position.

The Force India driver then got overtaken by Alonso, who immediately drove away trying to chase Raikkonen down and claim victory. Sutil then pitted, dropping down to fifth and changing to super softs. Alonso was now just eight seconds behind the Finn in the Lotus, but Vettel was only five seconds behind the double champion from Spain. More light rain was to be expected, according to the radar in front of Jules Bianchi's Marussia team.

Hamilton was now right behind Sutil. But Sutil was passed with ease by both Hamilton and Mark Webber, as his tyres were now fading away. The teams behind Sutil were now smelling blood as he cautiously made it round each lap with just four to go.

But, as the chequered flag waved it's Kimi Raikkonen who crossed the line first, followed by Alonso and Vettel. Massa came home fourth, with Hamilton fifth and Webber sixth. Sutil held off his team mate for seventh, meaning Paul Di Resta finished eighth. Button and Grosjean round out the top 10 in Melbourne.

So a brilliant start to the season for Kimi Raikkonen and the fans, who witnessed a very exciting motor race unfold. Next up is Kuala Lumper, I'll see you guys then!


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Please let me know what you think?
 
Pretty good first race. It's hard to get a great idea of things but from what I saw Ferrari and, at least in the hands of Kimi, Lotus, have the best race pace. Red Bull looked decent but probably still third best, neither car really impressed even in clear air. Mercedes it's hard to say as tires dominated but I'd say they are probably next with Force India not far behind.

As for the rest it's again hard to decide except McLaren are clearly lacking a lot, behind the others but we know they're kings of developing over the year, they certainly have a long way to go just as Ferrari did last year. Hard to tell with Sauber only having one car in the race and a rookie at that.

Just watching the BBC show and I see Paul Di Resta is moaning already.
 
Good interesting race.

I have no idea how McLaren have managed to go from one of the best cars on the grid, to solidly midfield. Judging by performance, they have the fifth or sixth best car. Awful.

Shame we didn't get to see Hulk perform either. Gutierrez isn't a fair test of the Sauber's performance, and I'd have hoped that Hulk could pull off some Sutil-esque wizardry. Back in the day, Gutierrez would have had to give up his car for the Hulk, ya know... :P
 
Intresting race pleasantly suprised that Kimi won and that Hamilton came 5th. I'm glad there was no Red Bull at the front. :P
 
Why was there no T-Car for Hulkenberg? I don´t know the exact rules of Formula one, but back in the 90´s (when at least one or two cars didn´t even manage to start) the drivers ran back to the pits and jumped in their "spare car"
 
Why was there no T-Car for Hulkenberg? I don´t know the exact rules of Formula one, but back in the 90´s (when at least one or two cars didn´t even manage to start) the drivers ran back to the pits and jumped in their "spare car"

I don't think T-Cars have existed since the early 2000's.

Not allowed now.
 
They were scrapped as a cost cutting measure.

28) SPARE CARS, ENGINES AND GEARBOXES
28.1 Each competitor may have no more than two cars available for use at any one time during an Event. Any partially assembled survival cell will be deemed to be a car in this context if it is fitted with an engine, any front suspension external to the survival cell, bodywork, radiators, oil tanks external to the survival cell or heat exchangers.
28.2 Any driver who decides to use another car or whose car has a change of survival cell following the qualifying practice session must start the race from the pit lane following the procedures detailed in Article 38.2. Under these circumstances :
- no restrictions on fuel load will be applied ;
- the car concerned will not have to comply with the requirements of Article 34 ;
- the car will be permitted to carry out one reconnaissance lap when the pit lane is opened for the race

What that means in plain English is that they can have a third tub but it can't be assembled into a car unless one of the main two tubs is deemed a failure (In terms of safety, not performance).

Good interesting race.

I have no idea how McLaren have managed to go from one of the best cars on the grid, to solidly midfield. Judging by performance, they have the fifth or sixth best car. Awful.

You would have to assume it's because of the changes to the front end, much higher chassis and the switch to pull-rod front suspension.
 
Great drive by Kimi. I liked what I saw from Ferrari. Webber had another classic start.

Edit: I'd also like to mention Jules Bianchi. I believe he lapped his teammate and both Caterhams. Very impressive.
 
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