Formula 1 2018 - Round 1 – Australia

Mike Litoris · 24-03-2018 8:07am

Still think the Merc has a lot more in it. Hams lap looked messy at the end there.

Mike Litoris · 24-03-2018 8:09am

Dammit this is exciting!

Mike Litoris · 24-03-2018 8:10am

Jesus, that lap looks quick from Hamilton. :eek:

Cool_CM · 24-03-2018 8:11am

Jesus, that was quick!

Jordan 199 · 24-03-2018 8:11am

Monster of a lap by Lewis.

Mike Litoris · 24-03-2018 8:15am

That lap was insane.

Kimi looks sweating after his lap!

HighLine · 24-03-2018 8:16am

Cool_CM wrote: »

Wow, this is surprisingly tight!

Unfortunately not. Nearly a second a lap faster on a short lap. Sickening.

Cool_CM · 24-03-2018 8:17am

HighLine wrote: »

Unfortunately not. Nearly a second a lap faster on a short lap. Sickening.

Famous last words...

flazio · 24-03-2018 8:32am

No points for pole position though.

Cool_CM · 24-03-2018 8:37am

flazio wrote: »

No points for pole position though.

Absolutely, but that gap is pretty ominous.

HighLine · 24-03-2018 8:40am

flazio wrote: »

No points for pole position though.

For sure but to see that much of a gap in the first qualifying of the year....
Hopefully Ferrari will continue their trend of last year for fast starts at lights out. Only hope for a race.

H3llR4iser · 24-03-2018 8:54am

Meh, that's more or less season done - AMG Mercedes certainly have at least the same skill and potential for development as RB and Ferrari, and Bottas will do his contracted job and no more. Unless Hamilton's was a case of that "I don't quite know how I did it" absolutely perfect lap which happens from time to time.

It's a bit odd that people ("fans") aren't screaming their heads off about the lack of competition like they did during the - far less crushing - Vettel/RB domination, but probably it's just that we mostly hear the English-speaking side who are, quite obviously, content with their idol winning it easy. It was more or less the same in Italy when Ferrari and Schumacher dominated in the early 2000s.

Yet there was a telling shot on TV of the spectators around turn 1..."fans applauding Hamilton" says Brundle, but the people I saw on screen had quite a dejected body language...the "ah feck, not again..." attitude.

Rossi IRL · 24-03-2018 9:47am

Tomorrow we will know more, after all this was only qualifying.

Race pace is where it counts and Red Bull and Ferrari should put on a better showing there.

Would love a bit of rain tomorrow.

Brian CivilEng · 24-03-2018 10:45am

I guess that's me for the season. What bothers me is that when Vettel and Red Bull were dominant we kept hearing about regulation changes to slow them down. Seems to be the opposite for the past six (SIX) seasons since Mercedes started their run.

EDIT: This is the fifth not sixth season of the current regs. I guess it just feels longer. Mistake left in to prolong my embarrassment.

ayux4rj6zql2ph · 24-03-2018 11:28am

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24-03-2018 11:54am

Bottas is like watching someone in work who doesn't really care because they know they're just wiling away the time in a job that they're not good at.

ayux4rj6zql2ph · 24-03-2018 12:19pm

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chicorytip · 24-03-2018 12:23pm

Prisoner 6753 wrote:

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Ok, average but I don't think Kubica would do a much better job.

ayux4rj6zql2ph · 24-03-2018 12:30pm

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Tippex · 24-03-2018 12:41pm

Prisoner 6753 wrote: »

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We are going to hear that for the whole season I think with regards to Sirotkin and Kubica. It's a case of Damned if you do damned if you don't with Sirotkin

flazio · 24-03-2018 1:46pm

https://twitter.com/F1/status/977508414724104192?s=19

Also Bottas drops 5 places with a gearbox penalty.

skipper_G · 24-03-2018 3:16pm

flazio wrote: »

No points for pole position though.

Absolutely! The Merc has been much stronger than the Ferrari in qualy for some time. Ferrari race pace is good, same for Red Bull. The weekend is far from over. And how many times has the pole sitter won here over the last few years. It's a bit premature for people to start saying season over already.

Also I'm really loving the new theme music, can't get it out of my head

H3llR4iser · 24-03-2018 3:22pm

abitofacomedian wrote: »

I guess that's me for the season. What bothers me is that when Vettel and Red Bull were dominant we kept hearing about regulation changes to slow them down. Seems to be the opposite for the past six (SIX) seasons since Mercedes started their run.

EDIT: This is the fifth not sixth season of the current regs. I guess it just feels longer. Mistake left in to prolong my embarrassment.

Vettel was guilty of "winning while German", I guess...

More realistically, as I said before, it's the bias of the English speaking world - similar story to the 2000-2004 stint with Ferrari, everyone in Italy thought F1 was fantastically entertaining back then, wonder why...

skipper_G · 24-03-2018 3:29pm

Prisoner 6753 wrote: »

What are people's opinions of Sirotkin's Performance?

Average, he was half a second off Stroll in Q1. The other rookie Leclerc was a tenth off Ericsson.
I figure for now he just wants to keep it on the track and bring the car home in one piece.

devildriver · 24-03-2018 4:50pm

Prisoner 6753 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

It's difficult not to be cynical about Sirotkin, he's been knocking about the fringes of F1 for years without being offered a competitive drive. Now with bags of sponsorship money he gets a seat with a once great but now sadly struggling team that arguably had better options with the likes of Kubica and Wehrlein.

Vic_08 · 24-03-2018 5:46pm

H3llR4iser wrote: »

Vettel was guilty of "winning while German", I guess...

More realistically, as I said before, it's the bias of the English speaking world - similar story to the 2000-2004 stint with Ferrari, everyone in Italy thought F1 was fantastically entertaining back then, wonder why...

A bit like how people hear what they want to hear when it comes to moaning about bias.

Of course the Brit media are going to be positive about Hamilton winning, just like RTE's coverage used to be 75% Jordan back in the day. They do occasionally go overboard but the level of supposed Hamilton sycophancy claimed by some on here is just garbage.

I can't stand the man but it is just churlish to ignore the fact that the final quali lap he put in today was as close to perfect as is possible. The gap was maybe 2-3 10ths car and the rest the difference between Hamilton's performance and the rest. None of Vettel, Raikkonen, Verstappen or Ricciardo put in great laps in Q3

All of the bitching here about Merc's dominance is ignoring the fact that Ferrari had the beating of them last year, it was Vettel and the team's own stupid mistakes that handed Hamilton the championship nothing else.

Slutmonkey57b · 24-03-2018 8:06pm

I think one element of the frustration with the Vettel/RB winning era is that those seasons *could* have been close: Vettel had a potentially threatening teammate, there were 3 different teams operating at a winning level, and multiple champion drivers in those cars.

With Mercedes, they're so technically far ahead, Hamilton's teammates haven't consistently stressed him, with the exception of max and maybe Daniel the drivers don't set the heart going, and the other teams have gone off the boil (in McLaren's case terminally) it means there isn't a prospect of another team winning. And so what's the point in getting worked up about it?

cherryghost · 24-03-2018 11:58pm

Lads I'm running on fumes here. Is the race 6.10 or 7.10 after clocks go forward?

Got it, it's 6.10

skipper_G · 25-03-2018 12:01am

cherryghost wrote: »

Lads I'm running on fumes here. Is the race 6.10 or 7.10 after clocks go forward?

6:10 after the clocks go forward

flazio · 25-03-2018 12:29am

Same time as London.
https://twitter.com/F1/status/977656299004440576?s=09

Formula 1 2018 - Round 1 – Australia

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