2010 Australian Grand Prix Discussion

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 25 Mar 2010, 10:46

Let me open the discussion for this weekend's race by giving you This to digest.

K-RON · Post by **K-RON** » 25 Mar 2010, 11:28

It can't be as boring as the last race :roll:

still, I'm looking forward to it rain or shine.

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 25 Mar 2010, 11:49

Hope it pours. Actually no, because that way Vettel simply shoots in front and nobody else sees him until the flag drops...

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 25 Mar 2010, 13:57

Shite, I won't be able to watch it. Anyway...

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 25 Mar 2010, 16:07

Phoenix wrote:Shite, I won't be able to watch it. Anyway...

Me neither; will be on an aiplane...

P_Friesacher · Post by **P_Friesacher** » 25 Mar 2010, 16:14

That's really strange: Me too (airplane!)

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 25 Mar 2010, 16:24

P_Friesacher wrote:That's really strange: Me too (airplane!)

We all decided Bahrain has been too boring, and headed for the exit...

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 25 Mar 2010, 21:40

I will be abroad as well (school trip).

JeanDenisAlcatraz · Post by **JeanDenisAlcatraz** » 26 Mar 2010, 00:05

It's a choice between heavy drinking and sleep or light drinking and the race. Tough call. If it's raining I'll stay in and watch it.

Plus I'm heading out to the local car museum here in Hamburg on Sunday afternoon. They've got an exhibition on Le Mans cars until Monday.

SuperAguri · Post by **SuperAguri** » 26 Mar 2010, 00:35

Looks like practice will be dry, qualifying will be wet (so big points in the F1 Rejects Fantasy game) and the race will be damp. Should be a fun race, as long as Vettel crashes.

Gumby · Post by **Gumby** » 26 Mar 2010, 01:39

I'll be there at turn 1 on sunday... At the moment the weather looks to be hot(31 degrees celcius) on sunday - But with late rain forecast. The race starts at 5pm local time... And should finish just before 7pm. Now let me say this... At 7pm it's already getting dark here in melbourne. But if it does in fact rain - It will be too dark to drive by 6pm !! So it could be a very short race indeed...

I am another that absolutely hates the late start time... I'll not even be bothering to get to the track before noon... We are wasting the best part of a sunday having a sleep in and a long brekky.

Crazy stuff Bernie.

Cheers G

P.S. Go Vettell !!!! 8-)

thehemogoblin · Post by **thehemogoblin** » 26 Mar 2010, 01:51

Over/under for Hormone Rep-race-ment Therapy:

1.5 nosecones

1.5 gearboxes

0.5 engines

I'm taking all overs for this weekend.

thalion · Post by **thalion** » 26 Mar 2010, 02:14

Kobayashi has already destroyed a front wing. At least someone is trying to keep F1 interesting this season.

thehemogoblin · Post by **thehemogoblin** » 26 Mar 2010, 02:29

thalion wrote:Kobayashi has already destroyed a front wing. At least someone is trying to keep F1 interesting this season.

He just wrote off a chassis too.

P_Friesacher · Post by **P_Friesacher** » 26 Mar 2010, 02:30

And he's done it again. Doesn't seem to be his mistake, though.
And if it wasn't, it's a rather dangerous error by the team.

eytl · Post by **eytl** » 26 Mar 2010, 02:31

P_Friesacher wrote:And he's done it again. Doesn't seem to be his mistake, though.
And if it wasn't, it's a rather dangerous error by the team.

Whatever the cause, that's two red flags in one session caused by the Cowboy! Way to go, son!

RAK · Post by **RAK** » 26 Mar 2010, 08:37

Button hasn't done badly at all, considering how quickly everyone seems to be to write him off. Better than Hamilton in the first practice, and just behind him in the second. Not a bad effort from Petrov either, or for that matter, Kubica; perhaps that Renault chassis is better than predicted.

Somehow, Chandhok managed to finish ahead of Senna in the first practice, before they suffered their usual bout of unreliability. It'll be interesting to see the backmarker race - so far, only Lotus seems to have got their act together when it comes to keeping their cars running.

Pieman · Post by **Pieman** » 26 Mar 2010, 10:49

RAK wrote:Somehow, Chandhok managed to finish ahead of Senna in the first practice, before they suffered their usual bout of unreliability.

Taken from Autosport...

At HRT, Karun Chandhok had to park his car 200 yards into his out lap when he lost drive with a suspected gearbox failure

I wonder if Perry McCarthy has considered making a return?

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 26 Mar 2010, 11:13

I don't get it. If the McLaren is so lacking in downforce, why are they topping a wet session? Have they once again produced a car with prodigious mechanical grip?

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 26 Mar 2010, 11:34

Pit lane speed limit for qualy and the race has been reduced from 62 mph (100 in metric) to 37 mph (60 in metric) by request of Charlie Whiting:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82372

Doesn't make clear whether it is just for this race or not. Also doesn't explain why suddenly this is necessary on safety grounds. Anyone got any explanations? :?:

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 26 Mar 2010, 11:38

That Kobayashi repaired front wing going AWOL was NOT good. I get a chill every time a bit of aero breaks on anyone's car.

Jordan192 · Post by **Jordan192** » 26 Mar 2010, 11:40

dr-baker wrote:Doesn't make clear whether it is just for this race or not. Also doesn't explain why suddenly this is necessary on safety grounds. Anyone got any explanations?

Purely plucking stuff from the air, does melbourne have a relatively narrow pit lane?

SuperAguri · Post by **SuperAguri** » 26 Mar 2010, 11:52

Were Ferrari really that slow in 2nd practice?

In the F1 Rejects Fantasy Game, that practice session meant that only 4 people got positive points including Enoch with 10 for Glock being so slow, 4 people scored no points and 20 scored negative points. Bad news for the people with negative points at the bottom of the table as you just added to them. :p

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 26 Mar 2010, 11:52

Jordan192 wrote:
dr-baker wrote:Doesn't make clear whether it is just for this race or not. Also doesn't explain why suddenly this is necessary on safety grounds. Anyone got any explanations?

Purely plucking stuff from the air, does melbourne have a relatively narrow pit lane?

Melbourne's pitlane is pretty narrow compared to most other tracks but that's something you have to live with on street circuits
Also as a result Petrov and Senna got pinged during FP1 for speeding (Petrov was fined 7000 Euros and Senna 1000 Euros)

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 26 Mar 2010, 12:19

Wizzie wrote:
Jordan192 wrote:
dr-baker wrote:Doesn't make clear whether it is just for this race or not. Also doesn't explain why suddenly this is necessary on safety grounds. Anyone got any explanations?

Purely plucking stuff from the air, does melbourne have a relatively narrow pit lane?

Melbourne's pitlane is pretty narrow compared to most other tracks but that's something you have to live with on street circuits

My question was more along the lines of, why this year? Why not all the way back in 1996 or any of the years since? Is there a reason for needing it this year rather than any other year? Or is it an attempt to 'spice up the show'?

Tealy · Post by **Tealy** » 26 Mar 2010, 12:26

dr-baker wrote:My question was more along the lines of, why this year? Why not all the way back in 1996 or any of the years since? Is there a reason for needing it this year rather than any other year? Or is it an attempt to 'spice up the show'?

I've been looking but can't find a thing. I hope it's just for this race though because the extra pit time means nobody is going to consider a 2 stop strategy now.

RAK · Post by **RAK** » 26 Mar 2010, 14:24

I'm going to guess that, if the pit lane limit is imposed for all races from now on, that it's some sort of attempt to bring Formula One's pit lane limit in line with other FIA series, such as the WTCC. I've never seen anything which shows that Australia in particular should need a pit limit reduction; if any circuit should need it, that one is Monaco, and even that would be fine with a 100km/h limit as far as I can tell.

Pedestrian · Post by **Pedestrian** » 26 Mar 2010, 18:04

dr-baker wrote:My question was more along the lines of, why this year? Why not all the way back in 1996 or any of the years since? Is there a reason for needing it this year rather than any other year? Or is it an attempt to 'spice up the show'?

My guess ist that they are trying to make the pitstops longer to encourage overtaking in the pits, since we aren't likely to see any overtaking on the track anyway.

Post by **mario** » 26 Mar 2010, 18:33

RAK wrote:I'm going to guess that, if the pit lane limit is imposed for all races from now on, that it's some sort of attempt to bring Formula One's pit lane limit in line with other FIA series, such as the WTCC. I've never seen anything which shows that Australia in particular should need a pit limit reduction; if any circuit should need it, that one is Monaco, and even that would be fine with a 100km/h limit as far as I can tell.

Monaco does typically run with a lower pit lane speed limit anyway (I think that they run at 80km/h) - they probably would do so anyway this year, since there are extra teams (and Monaco has always been notoriously cramped in the pit lane). But I'm not entirely sure why the FIA have decided to reduce the speed limit here - there have been no accidents recently in the pit lane down to inattentiveness or speeding by the drivers, nor has there been anything during the practise sessions which would suggest that it was necessary.

On another note, I know that the man is an anathema to most here, but sometimes Allen can come up with something interesting. http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2010/03/m ... ech-ideas/

The reason that I've mentioned this article is the fact that it interestingly mentions one reason why the Red Bull and Ferrari cars have an advantage, which is due to being able to adjust the ride height. The theory is that Red Bull are using a loophole which allows the teams to re-pressurise the gas in the dampers between the qualifying sessions and the race itself - thus allowing the team to increase the pressure in the system (and raise the ride height) when they want to put fuel into the car.
It isn't implausible either - since all of the adjustment of the ride height will be done when the car is stationary, it doesn't come under the rules for active suspension (since that only applies when the car is in motion, and the system is still reactive - all that they do is manually adjust the suspension settings at the pit stops).

eytl · Post by **eytl** » 26 Mar 2010, 22:02

Having reviewed both free practice sessions on the box, some impressions:

1. Quali which genuinely represents pace order + wash from diffusers + harder/more durable compounds compared to last year + narrower front tyres + lowering of speed limit = zzzzzzzzzz

Here's hoping for some seriously unpredictable Melbourne weather.

2. What is Force India thinking giving Paul di Resta a full session in FP1 when there was mixed weather on the way for FP2? Sutil has been doubly disadvantaged. If this is a major sign of no-confidence in Liuzzi, then Tonio is stepping up nicely.

3. Go Renault! And more sponsorship as well. Looks like for once kostas22's source really was off the mark about Renault's impending doom.

4. The Schu is back. Those last few laps in FP2 were really impressive, especially his initial mid 1m26s time with a few spits of rain.

5. Webber's time at the end of FP2 was set on prime tyres. Good omen for the pace of the Red Bull this weekend.

6. I don't think McLaren heading FP2 is that indicative of anything. Ferrari weren't doing low-fuel runs in that session, Vettel kept getting held up by Alonso and then chucked it off the track, and given that last year the Brawns were close to Schumi's 2004 qualifying record, I expect times in dry qualifying to get well into the 1m24s.

7. I'm getting seriously unimpressed with Sauber. All that deceptive pre-season pace has turned out to mean stuff-all. Kobayashi's had more off-track moments - not including his front wing collapse in FP1 which was scary. This weekend so far he's been not so much banzai but bonsai. More reliability issues with de la Rosa as well in FP1 before he did a hatchet job on his old team, blocking both McLarens' final fast laps in FP2 - really poor driving.

razta · Post by **razta** » 27 Mar 2010, 06:17

Massa is being given the "DBTMOR" by BBC's Ted Kravitz so far

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 27 Mar 2010, 06:45

Hamilton knocked out in Q2 :shock:

Hasn't been a good 24 hours for him has it?

J Washburn Stoker · Post by **J Washburn Stoker** » 27 Mar 2010, 07:56

dr-baker wrote:Pit lane speed limit for qualy and the race has been reduced from 62 mph (100 in metric) to 37 mph (60 in metric) by request of Charlie Whiting:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82372

Doesn't make clear whether it is just for this race or not. Also doesn't explain why suddenly this is necessary on safety grounds. Anyone got any explanations?

I believe that as a result of the new teams, the pit boxes are squashed closer together than they were last year. So the cars are entering the box at a steeper angle, and closer to the teams on either side. Furthermore when lining up to back into the garage the cars are blocking the entire pitlane. So presumably Whiting has deemed these conditions dangerous to pit crew and traffic.

[NB Rant about the made-up word 'airplane' has been averted.]

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 27 Mar 2010, 12:33

J Washburn Stoker wrote:
dr-baker wrote:Pit lane speed limit for qualy and the race has been reduced from 62 mph (100 in metric) to 37 mph (60 in metric) by request of Charlie Whiting:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82372

Doesn't make clear whether it is just for this race or not. Also doesn't explain why suddenly this is necessary on safety grounds. Anyone got any explanations?

I believe that as a result of the new teams, the pit boxes are squashed closer together than they were last year. So the cars are entering the box at a steeper angle, and closer to the teams on either side. Furthermore when lining up to back into the garage the cars are blocking the entire pitlane. So presumably Whiting has deemed these conditions dangerous to pit crew and traffic.

[NB Rant about the made-up word 'airplane' has been averted.]

Makes sense. So it could be variable from track to track, depending on space in respective pit lanes?

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 27 Mar 2010, 12:44

Couple of comments on Qualy:

- HRT is up (well, down) there with Virgin. Lotus seems to have the upper hand of both. Anyone in for a bet that, once they figure out which way the nuts and bolts go, the Dallara chassis will turn out to be better than the other two (despite my previous comments on Colin Kolles' sanguine comments)?
- Old habits die hard. You still don't want to sit in Renault's number 2 car.
- Rosberg held Schumi away, just. The comeback starts here.
- The Saubers are [insert your derogatory adjective of choice here]. Cowboy-ashi is overdriving, and the platform doesn't seem to like being overdriven.
- No running on Friday morning, and again 10th on the grid: Sutil, what a man! I wonder who he'll crash into in corner 1 tomorrow.
- Hulkenberg clearly trying to keep his drawers clean this time around. Come on son, we now you have it, just give it the beans.
- Buemi is in the middle of the grid. Bet nobody noticed, not even within Toro Rosso.
- And what is Lewis Hamilton doing?

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 27 Mar 2010, 13:26

CarlosFerreira wrote:Couple of comments on Qualy:

- HRT is up (well, down) there with Virgin. Lotus seems to have the upper hand of both. Anyone in for a bet that, once they figure out which way the nuts and bolts go, the Dallara chassis will turn out to be better than the other two (despite my previous comments on Colin Kolles' sanguine comments)?
- Old habits die hard. You still don't want to sit in Renault's number 2 car.
- Rosberg held Schumi away, just. The comeback starts here.
- The Saubers are [insert your derogatory adjective of choice here]. Cowboy-ashi is overdriving, and the platform doesn't seem to like being overdriven.
- No running on Friday morning, and again 10th on the grid: Sutil, what a man! I wonder who he'll crash into in corner 1 tomorrow.
- Hulkenberg clearly trying to keep his drawers clean this time around. Come on son, we now you have it, just give it the beans.
- Buemi is in the middle of the grid. Bet nobody noticed, not even within Toro Rosso.
- And what is Lewis Hamilton doing?

I noticed that the Virgins are taking it slow, and that Buemi qualified in the top half of the field.

Jordan · Post by **Jordan** » 27 Mar 2010, 13:51

redbulljack14 wrote:
CarlosFerreira wrote:Couple of comments on Qualy:

- HRT is up (well, down) there with Virgin. Lotus seems to have the upper hand of both. Anyone in for a bet that, once they figure out which way the nuts and bolts go, the Dallara chassis will turn out to be better than the other two (despite my previous comments on Colin Kolles' sanguine comments)?
- Old habits die hard. You still don't want to sit in Renault's number 2 car.
- Rosberg held Schumi away, just. The comeback starts here.
- The Saubers are [insert your derogatory adjective of choice here]. Cowboy-ashi is overdriving, and the platform doesn't seem to like being overdriven.
- No running on Friday morning, and again 10th on the grid: Sutil, what a man! I wonder who he'll crash into in corner 1 tomorrow.
- Hulkenberg clearly trying to keep his drawers clean this time around. Come on son, we now you have it, just give it the beans.
- Buemi is in the middle of the grid. Bet nobody noticed, not even within Toro Rosso.
- And what is Lewis Hamilton doing?

I noticed that the Virgins are taking it slow, and that Buemi qualified in the top half of the field.

It's good for virgins to start slow. Especially when they can't go the distance (on fuel)

Mister Fungus · Post by **Mister Fungus** » 27 Mar 2010, 14:13

All the cars qualified within 107%, yay!

watka · Post by **watka** » 27 Mar 2010, 14:22

Mister Fungus wrote:All the cars qualified within 107%, yay!

Good good good, that means the new teams are now officially better than Mastercard Lola, and all their drivers are probably better than Alex Yoong.

Anyway, I hope I was the only one who heard Jonathan Legard (does he insist on being called Jonathan and not Jon?) utter the name of HWNSNBM in reference to a 2-seater Minardi run. I was lucky to escape with 3 of my limbs still attached.

JeanDenisAlcatraz · Post by **JeanDenisAlcatraz** » 27 Mar 2010, 14:24

- I'd say Rosberg more than held Schumi off. I think he's surprising a few people with how well he's dealing with Schumacher so far.

- I told you Sutil was good. Webber's replacement at RBR when he goes? Schumacher's at Mercedes?

- Hamilton's having one of his weekends to forget. He has too many and he's becoming a bit of a Villeneuve-type with his lack of focus now he's achieved the championship. Less ****ing annoying though, thankfully.

- Fortunately, the German commentary is too busy talking utter inane rubbish or trying to work out just what the hell Niki Lauda just said. His Austrian accent is impenetrable in his mother tongue.