f1 australia

[Paul Pless]

Alonso fastest in a first practice session marred by reliability issues for much of the field.



not a pretty car. . .

[Paul Pless]

Re: f1 australia

besides reliability issues, practice times are all over the map, i wonder if the 107 percent rule could possibly be invoked during qualifying. . .

[Full Tilt]

Re: f1 australia

That is definitely the ugliest Ferrari of all time.

I've seen sexier agricultural machinery.

[Paul Pless]

Re: f1 australia

the 312t5 was not a pretty ferrari


do these new cars have nick names yet? the ferrari f14t25 aardvarc surely has been suggested by someone. . .

[Gerarddm]

Re: f1 australia

Just read an article that said the F1 drivers were complaining that the cars looked bad and sounded even worse.

[Full Tilt]

Re: f1 australia

This is going to be a weird season.

[Paul Pless]

Re: f1 australia

inter team rivalries should also be most intriguing

i could quite happily cheer on kimi and ferrari this year; although i'll be quite interested in following hamilton - i'd like to see him challenge for the championship

[delecta]

Re: f1 australia

... and the noise was fabulous.

Hold on to that memory.

[Paul Pless]

Re: f1 australia

I went to the '96 Melbourne GP. Enjoyed it too. My apartment was adjacent the track... and the noise was fabulous.

I've been to f1 races in three countries, representing cars from the turbo era, to the v8s and v12's and the unlimited rev v10s. The V10 shriek at Indianapolis is the only race of any kind anywhere that I was actually compelled to wear earplugs in the stands. The wail was just uncomfortable otherwise. But fabulous, yes!

[skuthorp]

Re: f1 australia

I learned to sail on Albert Park Lake. I don't like what's happened to it.

[xflow7]

Re: f1 australia

besides reliability issues, practice times are all over the map, i wonder if the 107 percent rule could possibly be invoked during qualifying. . .

The FIA has stated that they will be lenient with respect to the 107% rule this weekend, so unless somebody is just ludicrously slow, I wouldn't expect any exclusions.

I'm a long-time Williams fan, so I've been buoyed by their pre-season form, although Merc seems to be the team to beat. Ferrari looks like they may be stronger than the pre-season indicated. With Renault apparently giving the go-ahead to turn the wick all the way up and a lot of work back at the factory, Red Bull seem to have turned things around a bit. But nevertheless, they are missing a host of data that other teams have about tire characteristics, etc.; not to mention longevity of their powertrain through a full weekend's worth of running.

My suspicion, though, is that the Friday times are even more meaningless than usual this year. There is lots of talk that some teams may sit out Saturday morning practice altogether because it takes so long to deal with power unit failures that if something gives out Sat. morning, they will almost certainly miss qualifying. Thus, you probably have a situation where some teams are taking a conventional approach of using Friday to work on race-pace and leaving Sat for qualifying set up, while others are trying to do everything on Friday. I expect the order to look different tomorrow.

I'm not sure what to expect of the race. If it's dry, I suspect that nobody is going to want to lead in the early part of the race and drivers will be trying to use DRS not to pass, but to further reduce fuel consumption leaving them a bunch of juice for the end of the race. Particularly with the propensity for safety cars in Melbourne, there's no advantage to streaking off into the distance at the start of the race if it means you have to conserve fuel at the end.

But, rain on Sunday is a distinct possibility in which case fuel consumption concerns go out the window and I would expect a race more like we are used to, albeit with lots of cars going off as the drivers deal with the massively higher torque of these engines.

Looking forward to it!

[Paul Pless]

Re: f1 australia

I'm not sure what to expect of the race. If it's dry, I suspect that nobody is going to want to lead in the early part of the race and drivers will be trying to use DRS not to pass, but to further reduce fuel consumption leaving them a bunch of juice for the end of the race. Particularly with the propensity for safety cars in Melbourne, there's no advantage to streaking off into the distance at the start of the race if it means you have to conserve fuel at the end.

this could lead to a spectacular late race

[xflow7]

Re: f1 australia

this could lead to a spectacular late race

Could well be. I think what will be interesting is to see what the effect of DRS is at the end of the race if we do end up with cars in front needing to save fuel while cars coming from further back have more in reserve. Combine a power advantage with DRS and cars in front could be sitting ducks. I've never been a particular fan of DRS and I'm concerned that this year it will make it essentially impossible to avoid getting passed.

The thing that might be a counter to my comment about using DRS to save fuel is the marginal cooling that some teams seem to have. At the hotter races they may need to be careful about staying too close to cars in front if it starts causing thermal problems.

[xflow7]

Re: f1 australia

Or electrocution.

Unlikely. The drivers have been trained.

[Paul Pless]

Re: f1 australia

Unlikely. The drivers have been trained.

surely he would be fined for not replacing the wheel. . .