Formula 1: Round 01 - Australian GP

Goldstein

Schumacher is one of the best starters on the grid so hopefully he can get between the two McClarens to prevent them sailing off into the distance for the whole gp. Looks like it'll be a cracker

rua1972

Jordan 191 wrote: »

Apparently this race is the first British driver front row start since the 1995 Australian GP.

Looking at that list Schumacher is the only one still racing. But this year the laptimes are much closer. Hope they keep that up this season, might be as close as 2010.
Looking forward for the race tomorrow. Curious what Kimi can do from 18th, they snd him out to late to get another fast lap in.
Wonder what will happen with the mercedes' DRS/F-duct system.
Roll on 6 o'clock

Mitch Connor

hat time does the GP start at? According to the official site it starts at 6am (GMT), but seeing other times elsewhere. So, what is it?

ivanc

Mitch Connor wrote: »

hat time does the GP start at? According to the official site it starts at 6am (GMT), but seeing other times elsewhere. So, what is it?

Race at 6.00am. Setanta coverage starts at 5.55am and Sky's starts at 4.30am.

Setanta will use BBC5's stream - so you'll get the dulcet Scottish tones of old square jaw! (Who wasn't bad during quali).

Nice to see Jake back for the BBC highlights show - but it was all a bit empty.

ivanc

Having spent the day thinking about the various possibilities I think that Vectra has hit the most important nail on the head.

How will Vettel, in a more difficult car than EVER before (inc his Toro Rosso), get on dealing with traffic?

Daniel S

ivanc wrote: »

Having spent the day thinking about the various possibilities I think that Vectra has hit the most important nail on the head.

How will Vettel, in a more difficult car than EVER before (inc his Toro Rosso), get on dealing with traffic?

He'll move up no doubt. He isn't as bad as most people seem to think he is in traffic.

ivanc

Daniel S wrote: »

He'll move up no doubt. He isn't as bad as most people seem to think he is in traffic.

He can deal with traffic - he's proven that. But never in a difficult car.

freestyla

Vettel is very good racing i remember watching some videos of him.

Kimi with Mclaren did 3rd from the pits in 2003 -i think he could reach top 5-6 this time

Interesting to see Hulkenberg's pace and if Heikki could keep Perez behind anyhow

lord lucan

Still a lot of variables at play here,i wouldn't write Vettel off just yet. Could it be that the RB is the reverse of last years,better in race trim than quali?

Tyre wear/degradation has yet to be known,If the car is anyway competitive Vettel will make progress.

Delighted to see Schumacher at the sharp end. Whilst the Merc looks class,it's early days and wouldn't get too carried away just yet. Augers well though,interesting to see how it treats its tyres during the race.

decisions

I think it's way to early to call wether the red bulls are up to much this year. Or any car for that matter, the Merc is looking handy but how will it deal with deg.? The red bull dosent seem to have 1 lap pace but how is it over long runs and so on.

antodeco

Ugh, alarm set for 5:50. See you all on the other side

blackdog2

I am intrigued to see how they get through turn 1! A lot of cars were having moments, didn't look completely stable or were set up badly, so I can't try to predict the order after lap 1, never mind the end of the race!

Bloodwing

Definitely a great start to the season. I'd consider myself a RedBull/ Vettel fan but I'm an F1 fan primarily so its great to see some variation to last years dominance.

I don't think the Mercedes will have the same pace during the race when DRS won't play as big a part.

v3ttel

Is there somewhere I can get a decent/reliable stream of this? I'd like to get up at 6am to watch this. Don't want to have to wait until 2pm for the BBCs coverage and don't have Sky Sports F1 HD.

Cookie_Monster

Good start to the season but Sky down here are ****. they feed commentary when the quali is on and have soundless shots of the local when it's not. Why no presenters?!?

ottostreet

I'm so excited! But can't watch it live

amacachi

I've an awful feeling that after all the build-up and the 6 potential winners it'll come down to that Vettel guy.

Grim.

amacachi wrote: »

I've an awful feeling that after all the build-up and the 6 potential winners it'll come down to that Vettel guy.

doubt it tbh unless they can manage fewer stops than the rest the car just doesn't seem to have the pace of the mercs or mclarens

amacachi

Grim. wrote: »

doubt it tbh unless they can manage fewer stops than the rest the car just doesn't seem to have the pace of the mercs or mclarens

Who's ahead of them? Rosberg is behind, he'll mess up like he always does, Schumacher will fall asleep halfway through, Grosjean will panic and Hamilton will crash into Button.

I'm an optimistic bastard. :pac:

Jordan 199

decisions wrote: »

I think it's way to early to call wether the red bulls are up to much this year. Or any car for that matter, the Merc is looking handy but how will it deal with deg.? The red bull dosent seem to have 1 lap pace but how is it over long runs and so on.

Yeah, you're right. I think the picture will become clearer after 3 or 4 races as to see which team has the best car.

amacachi

Jordan 191 wrote: »

Yeah, you're right. I think the picture will become clearer after 3 or 4 races as to see which team has the best car.

TBH either McLaren or Lotus have the best car. I'd guess McLaren except Lotus's only show of "true pace" has been a rookie. Red Bull have some catching up to do for once

Jordan 199

amacachi wrote: »

TBH either McLaren or Lotus have the best car. I'd guess McLaren except Lotus's only show of "true pace" has been a rookie. Red Bull have some catching up to do for once

McLaren have a really good car, and I have to say it has surprised me. As for Lotus, remember the start they had last year, two 3rd places in the first two races, and as the season progressed they began to slide back. That could happen again. If Lotus want to be near the sharp end of the grid for the rest of the season, they have to keep developing the car.

amacachi

Thing is the Lotus has been fast since the start of testing and the other teams haven't managed to point out something to whinge about. I think it's just a fundamentally quick car. Bearing in mind what Brundle said about a possible reason for Red Bull being behind the curve I imagine the Lotus this year is one of the cleanest breaks from last year of any of the teams.

El Inho

6am kick off is it???

amacachi

Yup. Chickening out already or just getting settled in? :pac:

El Inho

amacachi wrote: »

Yup. Chickening out already or just getting settled in? :pac:

nah in about an hour. Just going to bed, setting the alarm and going to sleep with th beeb on. Think they have coverage of the race live with sky right?

Jordan 199

amacachi wrote: »

Thing is the Lotus has been fast since the start of testing and the other teams haven't managed to point out something to whinge about. I think it's just a fundamentally quick car. Bearing in mind what Brundle said about a possible reason for Red Bull being behind the curve I imagine the Lotus this year is one of the cleanest breaks from last year of any of the teams.

Do you mean by cleanest breaks that Lotus have started afresh and rejuvenated?

amacachi

eldwaro wrote: »

nah in about an hour. Just going to bed, setting the alarm and going to sleep with th beeb on. Think they have coverage of the race live with sky right?

No BBC til China.

El Inho

amacachi wrote: »

eldwaro wrote: »

nah in about an hour. Just going to bed, setting the alarm and going to sleep with th beeb on. Think they have coverage of the race live with sky right?

No BBC til China.

Was just glancing through the listings and am very angry indeed. Have to move to the couch in three hours. If I don't make it I'm sorry :P

amacachi

Jordan 191 wrote: »

Do you mean by cleanest breaks that Lotus have started afresh and rejuvenated?

Pretty much. The stepped noses are because it came late and teams didn't want to start over. Brundle pointed out that it's on turn-in/lift-off that Red Bull have lost out because of the exhaust stuff. Their car is the same as last year.
Renault on the other hand probably had a better exhaust-blown diffuser last year but didn't develop it and that's looking like a good idea now.