2013 Australian Grand Prix Thread - Race SUN 0700 CET

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 15 Mar 2013, 03:04

Marussia embarrassing Caterham in FP1? I can live with that

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 15 Mar 2013, 03:14

Vettel quickest. Wake me up in 2014.

Just kidding things look really close at the front.
Bianchi only 0.3 behind the Toro's, boy has talent.

Onxy Wrecked · Post by **Onxy Wrecked** » 15 Mar 2013, 03:27

Shadaza wrote:Vettel quickest. Wake me up in 2014.

Just kidding things look really close at the front.
Bianchi only 0.3 behind the Toro's, boy has talent.

Wonder how long he'll be at Marussia?

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 15 Mar 2013, 06:55

Oh dear, both Mercs have had separate mechanical failures in the space of a minute :lol:

RonDenisDeletraz · Post by **RonDenisDeletraz** » 15 Mar 2013, 07:07

Sutil and Bianchi have actually been quite impressive imo. GVDG is almost humorously bad though

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 15 Mar 2013, 07:11

One McLaren to drop in Q2, seeing the FP results...

the Masked Lapwing · Post by **the Masked Lapwing** » 15 Mar 2013, 07:17

eurobrun wrote:Sutil and Bianchi have actually been quite impressive imo. GVDG is almost humorously bad though

I want to support him, but his driving is making it difficult :lol:

RonDenisDeletraz · Post by **RonDenisDeletraz** » 15 Mar 2013, 07:19

the Masked Lapwing wrote:
eurobrun wrote:Sutil and Bianchi have actually been quite impressive imo. GVDG is almost humorously bad though

I want to support him, but his driving is making it difficult

Why, as well as being terrible he is also a total James Allen :lol:

That contract crap in 2007 and his general attitude means I will never like him

Post by **mario** » 15 Mar 2013, 08:22

Shadaza wrote:Vettel quickest. Wake me up in 2014.

Just kidding things look really close at the front.
Bianchi only 0.3 behind the Toro's, boy has talent.

And it looks like those times in FP1 were not a fluke, as he was 0.3s behind the last midfield driver again in FP2 (Bottas in this instance) - given that he has only had two days worth of testing, that is a pretty impressive achievement. If he can keep that up for the rest of the weekend, then he might well get a very respectable result at the end of it given the usual chaos that occurs in Australia.

Shizuka wrote:One McLaren to drop in Q2, seeing the FP results...

You might well be right there - OK, McLaren are normally relatively conservative when it comes to Friday free practise sessions and tend to not really show their hand until FP3, but at the moment it looks like a three way battle between Mercedes, Lotus and Ferrari for best of the rest behind Vettel (and it looks like Mercedes genuinely have found a fairly large chunk of performance in the off season, but not the reliability to go with it - Rosberg's gearbox packed up in FP2 whilst the splitter on Hamilton's car came loose, hence why he spun off the track).
It looks like both Sam Michael and Martin Whitmarsh are pretty pessimistic after the these first two sessions - the car does not seem to be working as hoped (and it seems that, as some were predicting, McLaren are paying the price for their front pull rod design in some ways - there are reports that it took them nearly 25 minutes to make some changes to the suspension of Perez's car because of restricted access to the suspension components).

In fact, I would not be entirely surprised if we ended up seeing both McLaren's drop out in Q2 as things stand - neither Button nor Perez seem to be the strongest drivers over a single lap, and coupling that to a car that doesn't seem to be responding to set up changes in the way that they would like does sound like a recipe for trouble.

pi314159 · Post by **pi314159** » 15 Mar 2013, 08:31

Marussia and Mercedes seem to be the most improved teams. Mercedes is back at the top, at least in qualifying. Marussia seem to have overtaken Caterham, who contnue stagnating. McLaren are the other disappointment. After their strong end of the last season, I expected them to be a title contender again, but at the moment, they're just upper midfield. But they haave shown before that they can develop a car, so I expect them to improve.

Boomstick · Post by **Boomstick** » 15 Mar 2013, 09:07

In the red bull pit there was a swarm of renault guys around the back of webbers car, there was some fuss over his half spin being caused by a mechanical fault...hrm...

The williams cars are very slow into turn 3 running heavy prehaps?

And we had the caterham in the kitty little infront of us..

HonoraryNortherner · Post by **HonoraryNortherner** » 15 Mar 2013, 09:34

Very impressed with Marussia. With Bianchi they seem to finally be able to complete with the lower midfield on occaision. I might even put a bet on this year that they score points....

Post by **Ataxia** » 15 Mar 2013, 09:56

eurobrun wrote:
the Masked Lapwing wrote:
eurobrun wrote:Sutil and Bianchi have actually been quite impressive imo. GVDG is almost humorously bad though

I want to support him, but his driving is making it difficult

Why, as well as being terrible he is also a total James Allen That contract crap in 2007 and his general attitude means I will never like him

In that case, my sig might appeal to you.

RonDenisDeletraz · Post by **RonDenisDeletraz** » 15 Mar 2013, 10:01

Ataxia [BacLettNinj] wrote:
eurobrun wrote:
the Masked Lapwing wrote:I want to support him, but his driving is making it difficult

Why, as well as being terrible he is also a total James Allen That contract crap in 2007 and his general attitude means I will never like him

In that case, my sig might appeal to you.

I saw that, I think that it is an early contender for Sig of the Year

David AGS · Post by **David AGS** » 15 Mar 2013, 10:25

Still early on Bianchi, but has started really well.

Not so good for McLaren duo!

Was at track, weather was great. Have signatures of a few drivers and team members.

Visibly, state the obvious but Caterham look slow, while Williams, Force India and Ferrari have loud noises (presume gearbox changes) then the norm.

Looked like good crowd too, which is positive!

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 15 Mar 2013, 10:32

Onxy Wrecked wrote:
BlindCaveSalamander wrote:
andrew2209 wrote:Can we have a dry start, but a sudden downpour on Lap 1?

But only in a few corners.

Like a race at Bathurst?

Yeah, sure, why not.

Yannick · Post by **Yannick** » 15 Mar 2013, 10:56

Giedo Van der Garde outside of the 107% time of Friday ... Caterham what has become of you?

Having quite liked Caterham over the previous seasons since their entry to F1, it's kind of sad to see them go down like this. But the season is just beginning, so here's hoping for an upswing. (Enter appropriate "bit of bull" joke here)

Jonny83 · Post by **Jonny83** » 15 Mar 2013, 12:01

Loads of people getting hormonal over on Autosport boards because Vettel had the bare faced cheek to like, go fastest by a few tenths, and stuff. Apparently the year won't be worth watching now. Would love to drop them in the middle of 1992 and watch their heads explode.

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 15 Mar 2013, 12:22

If anything, this only proves that McLaren, performance wise, is looking screwed

If Hamilton wins before McLaren he'll look like a genius

takagi_for_the_win · Post by **takagi_for_the_win** » 15 Mar 2013, 12:30

Ataxia [BacLettNinj] wrote:
eurobrun wrote:
Why, as well as being terrible he is also a total James Allen That contract crap in 2007 and his general attitude means I will never like him

In that case, my sig might appeal to you.

Damn you!! :evil:

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 15 Mar 2013, 12:32

JeremyMcClean wrote:If anything, this only proves that McLaren, performance wise, is looking screwed

If Hamilton wins before McLaren he'll look like a genius

That's assuming the two Mercs make it to the end of the race, as both of them decided they didn't want to be German anymore at the end of FP2. Again.

Post by **mario** » 15 Mar 2013, 12:47

Wizzie wrote:
JeremyMcClean wrote:If anything, this only proves that McLaren, performance wise, is looking screwed

If Hamilton wins before McLaren he'll look like a genius

That's assuming the two Mercs make it to the end of the race, as both of them decided they didn't want to be German anymore at the end of FP2. Again.

Which is surprising given that the team seemed to have sorted out their reliability in the off season (given that they racked up the second highest mileage in testing) - mind you, it's a little ironic that the splitter on Hamilton's car should have broken given that it happened to him a few years ago during the race.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 15 Mar 2013, 13:05

mario wrote:
Wizzie wrote:
JeremyMcClean wrote:If anything, this only proves that McLaren, performance wise, is looking screwed

If Hamilton wins before McLaren he'll look like a genius

That's assuming the two Mercs make it to the end of the race, as both of them decided they didn't want to be German anymore at the end of FP2. Again.

Which is surprising given that the team seemed to have sorted out their reliability in the off season (given that they racked up the second highest mileage in testing) - mind you, it's a little ironic that the splitter on Hamilton's car should have broken given that it happened to him a few years ago during the race.

I think that was because he went off like 5 or 6 times in the race. And still finished 2nd.

eytl · Post by **eytl** » 15 Mar 2013, 13:13

Did anyone notice the glimpse of Paul Stoddart chatting to HWNSNBM during FP1?

My word, the great ZB has ... broadened, shall we say ...

Post by **mario** » 15 Mar 2013, 13:25

mario wrote:
Wizzie wrote:
JeremyMcClean wrote:If anything, this only proves that McLaren, performance wise, is looking screwed

If Hamilton wins before McLaren he'll look like a genius

That's assuming the two Mercs make it to the end of the race, as both of them decided they didn't want to be German anymore at the end of FP2. Again.

Which is surprising given that the team seemed to have sorted out their reliability in the off season (given that they racked up the second highest mileage in testing) - mind you, it's a little ironic that the splitter on Hamilton's car should have broken given that it happened to him a few years ago during the race.

BlindCaveSalamander wrote:I think that was because he went off like 5 or 6 times in the race. And still finished 2nd.

I thought that it was the case that Hamilton went off the track because the splitter was damaged (it seemed to have been damaged before he went off in Turn 1, from what I can recall of that race).

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 15 Mar 2013, 13:45

eytl wrote:Did anyone notice the glimpse of Paul Stoddart chatting to HWNSNBM during FP1?

My word, the great ZB has ... broadened, shall we say ...

All that Ambrosia and Nectar doesn't do wonders for one's figure.

Ferrim · Post by **Ferrim** » 15 Mar 2013, 13:53

Hey, McLaren are looking really screwed right now... and they haven't the kind of drivers who can drive around a troubled car.

GwilymJJames · Post by **GwilymJJames** » 15 Mar 2013, 14:36

Vettel's helmet this weekend is a tribute to HWNSNBM, apparently. Something like that.

Post by **Ataxia** » 15 Mar 2013, 14:58

I don't think it matters who Force India would've picked out of Bianchi and Sutil. Both have been pretty impressive, it has to be said.

AdrianSutil · Post by **AdrianSutil** » 15 Mar 2013, 15:05

Ataxia [BacLettNinj] wrote:I don't think it matters who Force India would've picked out of Bianchi and Sutil. Both have been pretty impressive, it has to be said.

And I'm very pleased for both so far this weekend. Sutil hasn't lost his pace and Bianchi is proving to be a big signing for Marussia.

Zetec · Post by **Zetec** » 15 Mar 2013, 15:11

I think it's still a bit early to draw any conclusions:

Hamiltion for instance says, that the Mercedes is faster than last year, because they are so high up the standing. Let's not forget, that Schumacher was 3rd in FP1 and 1st in FP2 in 2012. And you now, how the season ended for Mercedes.

Maldonado on the other hand thinks, that the Williams is lacking speed. Well, last year in Melbourne they where up to 4 seconds slower than P1 in FP1+2.

Sutil thinks, the Force India is fast. Last year they were faster then Sauber in FP1 and FP2. Over the whole season they still were slower and Sauber had podiums.

And so on...

What I try to say is, that I don't get it, that after FP2 everyone thinks that they know the pecking order and who will win the Championship.
And I really hope for Hamilton, that he will be thrown back to reality after the race. They are fast, but on the long stints it seems, that the tyres do the same thing as last year for them...

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 15 Mar 2013, 15:35

AdrianSutil wrote:
Ataxia [BacLettNinj] wrote:I don't think it matters who Force India would've picked out of Bianchi and Sutil. Both have been pretty impressive, it has to be said.

And I'm very pleased for both so far this weekend. Sutil hasn't lost his pace and Bianchi is proving to be a big signing for Marussia.

It seems that Bianchi can really make the difference. He just has to keep it up! Still, it is yearly days and don't forget that, besides Pic, the others are complete rookies and still finding their feet.

Gerudo Dragon · Post by **Gerudo Dragon** » 15 Mar 2013, 15:43

Yep, this year is going to be VETTELWINSLOL.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 15 Mar 2013, 15:45

darkapprentice77 wrote:Yep, this year is going to be VETTELWINSLOL.

I am still hoping it is not as bad as it seems. But what I am afraid of is that the last time Red Bull dominated FP's like this was THAT year of 2011...

Post by **Ataxia** » 15 Mar 2013, 15:52

DanielPT wrote:
AdrianSutil wrote:
Ataxia [BacLettNinj] wrote:I don't think it matters who Force India would've picked out of Bianchi and Sutil. Both have been pretty impressive, it has to be said.

And I'm very pleased for both so far this weekend. Sutil hasn't lost his pace and Bianchi is proving to be a big signing for Marussia.

It seems that Bianchi can really make the difference. He just has to keep it up! Still, it is yearly days and don't forget that, besides Pic, the others are complete rookies and still finding their feet.

I know it's early days, yeah, but it's looking like Razia not paying up is the best thing that's happened to Marussia...

S951 · Post by **S951** » 15 Mar 2013, 16:50

Jules what a gem he is turning out to be not far off str either this is good

caterham for fail of the year

Post by **mario** » 15 Mar 2013, 18:32

DanielPT wrote:
darkapprentice77 wrote:Yep, this year is going to be VETTELWINSLOL.

I am still hoping it is not as bad as it seems. But what I am afraid of is that the last time Red Bull dominated FP's like this was THAT year of 2011...

We will have to wait and see how things turn out, but Vettel should be in a position where he has the fastest overall package given that the RB9 is an evolution of the RB8, and the RB8 was a pretty strong car by the end of 2012.

That said, whilst the car looks very quick over a single lap, it does look as if some of the other teams are a little closer over a longer stint, so in the race itself Vettel might not be entirely comfortable. Equally, some of the other drivers did seem to be driving a little more cautiously than Vettel was - whilst Vettel wasn't pushing right to the limits of the car's performance, it did look as if some of the other drivers were taking it a little easier than he was, so the gap may not be quite so large come FP3.

S951 wrote:Jules what a gem he is turning out to be not far off str either this is good

caterham for fail of the year

As others have pointed out, at the moment van der Garde is potentially in a situation where he may fail to qualify - his best FP2 time was slightly worse than his best FP1 time (did he have problems that prevented him from doing more laps?) and outside of the 107% margin by several tenths. At least Pic seems to be doing a better job of things, though he is still a long way behind Bianchi's very solid FP2 times.

GwilymJJames · Post by **GwilymJJames** » 15 Mar 2013, 18:38

mario wrote:As others have pointed out, at the moment van der Garde is potentially in a situation where he may fail to qualify - his best FP2 time was slightly worse than his best FP1 time (did he have problems that prevented him from doing more laps?)

He crashed 30 minutes in.

Nessafox · Post by **Nessafox** » 15 Mar 2013, 19:09

I guess that if Pic manages a reasonable time, VDG will be allowed to start, as Caterham could probably come up with some excuses to why VDG is so slow. (but we all know that in fact he's just rubbish)
But still these are worrying signs.

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 15 Mar 2013, 19:13

This wrote:I guess that if Pic manages a reasonable time, VDG will be allowed to start, as Caterham could probably come up with some excuses to why VDG is so slow. (but we all know that in fact he's just rubbish)
But still these are worrying signs.

He is about equal to Pic on pace it is just he is a lot more wild on track and had plenty of off track moments, He ended up stuck in the gravel before he could do a super soft tire run.