What did you think of the race: Round 1 -Australian Grand Prix

frostie500

What did you think of the race? I was pretty impressed by it and while the DRS didnt work as well as hoped that was probably more due to the placement of the overtaking zone rather than the effectivness of the device.

Anyhow much like the driver of the day thread I'm thinking that it might be good to have a poll for what we all thought of the race so marks out of ten for what you thought of it. If these threads prove popular we could run them after each race

frostie500

6/10

7 for me, thought it was a good race to start the season and gives a bit of confidence that we could have some very exciting races this year

Glico Man

6/10

7 for me also.

Wasn't the greatest race with regards to excitement but is a decent start to the season where hopefully it can push on and provide more edge of the seat racing like last season

Top Dog

5/10

6 for me with similar reasoning to the above

Was interesting as a season opener, but nothing to really keep you riveted to the edge of your seat

losthorizon

4/10

5 for me because Australia is usually one of the best races of the season. That could be a bad omen.

G-Money

It wasn't bad. A reasonably quiet race, especially compared to last year. I was surprised to see Perez completing the race with just one pit-stop. I'm hoping it's a case that him/the Sauber are just especially kind of their tyres. If it's the case that the other teams just over-reacted and bought into the hysteria about tyres not lasting and now realising they do, which might mean one stop races again potentially. Not so sure that would be good.

The moveable rear-wing didn't seem to help overtaking too much. I guess they should give it a couple of races to work out the kinks but it seemed a bit stupid that the drivers could only use it on the start/finish straight when there seemed to be several other places on the track where would have come in handy.

Great to see Hamilton finish P2, that was some upgrade McLaren brought. Webber was so far back, I'm wondering was he driving last year's Red Bull or something. Great to see Petrov getting a podium place and it being through merit and not a fluke result because of the mistakes of others ahead of him. Although it makes you wonder what Kubica could have done had he been in the other Renault.

Well done to Perez too, finishing 7th in his first race. Sauber seem to have made a step forward this year so far.

jordainius

5/10

Mixed feelings; I'm happy to have F1 back, but on the evidence of the weekend nothing much has really changed.

Bottom 3 teams are still seemingly hopelessly adrift, Red Bull still the ones to beat, Mercedes still short of the top 3, only real changes are that Ferrari are a small bit worse than last year and Sauber are improved.

I've always been a fairly big Schumacher fan ever since his duels with Hill (who I hated!) so its disappointing to see that he no longer has it. Not unexpected after 3 years away and in his early 40's I guess!

Good to see McLaren have defied pre season testing form. I'd imagine Ferrari will improve and we'll be right back where we were last season, which in fairness wasn't all that bad- a 5 way title fight!

Good to have it back, average race today though.

recyclebin

6/10

It wasn't a Melbore but wasn't that exciting either.

Both Saubers and Petrov were the big suprises although both Saubers have now been excluded.

The new rules didn't appear to make much of a difference. The DRS needs to be used on more than one part of the track in the race. The tyres were a lot better than expected.

KERS is only going to work on certain types of tracks and Melbourne probably isn't one of them.

smooch71

5/10

It wasn't the most exciting race I've but I think I'd put that down to the hype over the different tyre compounds and the time differences and overtaking opportunites they would bring. It didn't really happen and while I think the DRS looks cool when its in operation, it didn't really do what it was meant to. We'll get overtaking at the usual tracks like we do every year but it won't be down to the adjustable wing or the tyres. It'll be down purely to the track layout so roll on Canada, Monza, Spa etc.

Why can't the powers that be realise the solution is smaller less effective front wings.

Buts it only one race, Malaysia will put on a different show I think. Hermann got that one spot on.

amacachi

I just can't understand why with KERS and the wing that it's so limited. There's little incentive for development when the power they're allowed to harvest and use is so massively limited.

mickdw

3/10

amacachi wrote: »

I just can't understand why with KERS and the wing that it's so limited. There's little incentive for development when the power they're allowed to harvest and use is so massively limited.

100% agree. I always thought they should have been given free reign with kers - allow them to use as much kers power as they could generate etc.

Autosport

6/10

I gave it a 7/10, It was an ok race, loved the Button/Massa overtake scenario but it wasnt as exciting as i thought it was going to be, Tyres played a certain part of the race but it was Rubens that gave me the most excitement

freestyla

5/10

mickdw wrote: »

100% agree. I always thought they should have been given free reign with kers - allow them to use as much kers power as they could generate etc.

Agree! especially with DRS, why not use it on backstraights also? in this race, it would probably work very well before turn 11- many close situations there

in next race Malaysia, there is huge straight before last corner which is hairpin ish

losthorizon

4/10

freestyla wrote: »

Agree! especially with DRS, why not use it on backstraights also? in this race, it would probably work very well before turn 11- many close situations there

in next race Malaysia, there is huge straight before last corner which is hairpin ish

Actually talking of Malaysia it usually rains during that Grand Prix. When using the DRS and the flap at the rear goes up what happens to the cars stability in the rain and whats the effect for the car following?

frostie500

6/10

losthorizon wrote: »

Actually talking of Malaysia it usually rains during that Grand Prix. When using the DRS and the flap at the rear goes up what happens to the cars stability in the rain and whats the effect for the car following?

You cant use the DRS when its raining because there are "safety concerns" about reducing downforce in bad conditions

Cookie_Monster

Started off well but settled down to a reasonably boring race.
DRS was pants
No SC
Rosberg taken out of it in a completely reckless move
5/10

frostie500 wrote: »

You cant use the DRS when its raining because there are "safety concerns" about reducing downforce in bad conditions

:rolleyes:

adds an element of "risk"

frostie500

6/10

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

:rolleyes:

adds an element of "risk"

Tell me about it, best drivers in the world and they cant use the tech at their disposal. Obviously enough KERS can still be used in the rain even though it gives a big increase in power and could cause an accident in the "inconsistent conditions"!

bennyx_o

5/10

6/10 for me.

Reasonably good race, but nothing to get overly excited about. DRS seems to be a good concept, but in practice, didn't seem to work too well. I know the FIA have said they will adapt and modify the rules regarding it as the season progresses, but why not just let the drivrs use it whenever they want? Would be better IMO.

Hopefully we get some better races in the coming weeks!

amacachi

From the on-board footage I got the distinct impression that the DRS makes a much bigger difference with the KERS. Coming out of the last bend maybe it was too low-speed for the lower drag to make a huge difference (remember Button last year off the line at Monza) and halfway to the S/F straight the KERS was running out, it was only after that that the gap seemed to close more than would be expected.

Cookie_Monster

amacachi wrote: »

From the on-board footage I got the distinct impression that the DRS makes a much bigger difference with the KERS. Coming out of the last bend maybe it was too low-speed for the lower drag to make a huge difference (remember Button last year off the line at Monza) and halfway to the S/F straight the KERS was running out, it was only after that that the gap seemed to close more than would be expected.

True.

It was well demonstrated with Massa and Button, you could clearly see Massa was keeping his KERS for the straight to negate the DRS.

Presumably with something similar to happen at every race for the season there'll be little impact from them as one negates the other effectively.

Can you use the DRS when behind backmarkers? I presume not.

amacachi

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

True.

It was well demonstrated with Massa and Button, you could clearly see Massa was keeping his KERS for the straight to negate the DRS.

Presumably with something similar to happen at every race for the season there'll be little impact from them as one negates the other effectively.

Can you use the DRS when behind backmarkers? I presume not.

Button kept running out of KERS before the S/F line and stalling then he'd take off again after the KERS was available.

The DRS can only be used when behind someone, so backmarkers could use it to unlap themselves.

EvilMonkey

6/10

Did you here Buttons radio message after a few attempts to pass on the straight. How is he so fast, or why isn't this working, which i translated to Waaah, why cant i just press this button and go past him.

Glad it wasn't too easy to pass, but i fear on tracks with a longer straight and better corner for overtaking it will. Its still far to easy when a faster car comes up behind a slower one. Massa had the advantage of the Ferrari being faster in a straight line then the McLaren too. Would prefer to see them held up, or make their own move. The driver should decide where to overtake not the FIA.