2008 Australian GP - Race 1/18

rpstewart

rpstewart

rpstewart

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Wahay! F1's back, no more posing press launches, no more Spanish holidays masquerading as testing. In a shade over 7 days the lights will go out at Albert Park and the 2008 F1 Championship will be underway.

Friday practice : 2300 (Thurs) - 0030 & 0300 - 0430
Saturday practice : 0000 - -1--
Saturday Qualifying : 0300 - 0400, ITV 0215 - 0420 . Re-run 1320 - 1505 ITV.
Sunday Race : 0430 - 0630, ITV from 0330. Re-run ITV 1500 Highlights, Monday 0015 (ITV) & 1800 (ITV4)

Obviously no scores yet but some new names along the pitlane.

Drivers

Code: 
Pos Driver           Nationality   Team           Points 
 
1  Kimi Räikkönen       Finnish    Ferrari          
2  Felipe Massa         Brazilian  Ferrari          
3  Nick Heidfeld        German     BMW              
4  Robert Kubica        Polish     BMW              
5  Fernando Alonso      Spanish    Renault
6  Nelsinho Piquet	Brazilian  Renault
7  Nico Rosberg         German     Williams-Toyota  
8  Kazuki Nakajima   	Japanese   Williams-Toyota  
9  David Coulthard      British    Red Bull-Renault 
10 Mark Webber          Australian Red Bull-Renault 
11 Jarno Trulli         Italian    Toyota           
12 Timo Glock		German     Toyota           
14 Sebastien Bourdais   Italian    STR              
15 Sebatstian Vettel    German     STR        
16 Jenson Button        British    Honda            
17 Rubens Barrichello   Brazilian  Honda
18 Takuma Sato          Japanese   Super Aguri-Honda
19 Anthony Davidson     British    Super Aguri-Honda
20 Adrian Sutil         German     Force India   
21 Giancarlo Fisichella Italian    Force India
22 Lewis Hamilton       British    McLaren-Mercedes 
23 Heikki Kovelainen    Finnish    McLaren-Mercedes

Calendar
Code: 
01 2008 FORMULA 1 ING AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX (Melbourne) 		14 - 16 Mar 
02 2008 FORMULA 1 PETRONAS MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX (Kuala Lumpur) 		21 - 23 Mar 
03 2008 FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX (Bahrain) 		04 - 06 Apr 
04 FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO DE ESPANA TELEFONICA 2008 (Catalunya) 		25 - 27 Apr 
05 2008 FORMULA 1 PETROL OFISI TURKISH GRAND PRIX (Istanbul) 		09 - 11 May 
06 FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DE MONACO 2008 (Monte Carlo) 			22 - 25 May 
07 FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DU CANADA 2008 (Montreal) 			06 - 08 Jun 
08 FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE 2008 (Magny-Cours) 			20 - 22 Jun 
09 2008 FORMULA 1 SANTANDER BRITISH GRAND PRIX (Silverstone) 		04 - 06 Jul 
10 FORMULA 1 GROSSER PREIS SANTANDER VON DEUTSCHLAND 2008 (Hockenheim) 	18 - 20 Jul 
11 FORMULA 1 ING MAGYAR NAGYDIJ 2008 (Budapest) 			01 - 03 Aug 
12 2008 FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX OF EUROPE (Valencia) 			22 - 24 Aug 
13 2008 FORMULA 1 ING BELGIAN GRAND PRIX (Spa-Francorchamps) 		05 - 07 Sep 
14 FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO SANTANDER D'ITALIA 2008 (Monza) 		12 - 14 Sep 
15 2008 FORMULA 1 SINGTEL SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX (Singapore) 		26 - 28 Sep 
16 2008 FORMULA 1 FUJI TELEVISION JAPANESE GRAND PRIX (Fuji Speedway) 	10 - 12 Oct 
17 2008 FORMULA 1 SINOPEC CHINESE GRAND PRIX (Shanghai) 		17 - 19 Oct 
18 FORMULA 1 GRANDE PREMIO DO BRASIL 2008 (Sao Paulo) 			31 Oct - 02 Nov





If you're interested in seeing what the tracks look like I've updated my Google Earth links and flyovers. Unfortunately it's still not perfect, Fuji for example is still low res and the imagery for Valencia is a fair age so the purpose built bridge isn't visible. To play the flyovers select the flyover folder and press the play button at the bottom of the Places pane.

Some links for Melbourne

Official GP Site
Wikipedia
Circuit details on the official F1 page
 
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There are a number of technical & rule changes for 2008, hopefully I've captured the important ones

The cars
Head protection extended
Standard ECUs (no traction control or launch control)
Gearboxes must last for 4 races although like engines are not restricted on Fridays.
Gear ratios may be changed although any other changes will result in a five place grid penalty.
Extreme wet tyres now marked like soft dry tyres
The first engine failure for each car will be allowed without penalty

The races
Cars may not refuel after the end of Q3 so will start the race with the fuel they finish Q3 with.
Qualifying will be 3 sessions of 20, 15 and 10 mins rather than three 15 minute sessions.
A minimum of 5.75% of the fuel must be from a biological source.
Spare cars have been banned, spare chassis may be taken to the race but only in disassembled form.
In the event of a start behind the safety car due to rain the FIA can insist on all cars using full wet tyres.
 
boot bloody time! i'm sick to death of bloody waiting for the season to start! bring it on!
looking forward to a nice action pack first race.
 
Im working (on call nights) so the TVs in our maternity unit will be tuned in to the F1s and labouring mothers will just have to choose a more suitable time to deliver :-)
 
steve45 said:
boot bloody time! i'm sick to death of bloody waiting for the season to start! bring it on!
looking forward to a nice action pack first race.
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This close season has flown for me as it's the first one in years I've not been interested in following after the sour taste last year left. I will watch the first race though as I'm interested to see how many of the gadgets have actually gone.
 
helpimcrap said:
is mcclaren a one man team now?:confused:
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Can I borrow you're name while I change the list?

frakker said:
So who else is planning to get up at the crack of sparrows for both qualifying and/or the race on Sunday?
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I'll be around for the race, not sure about qually at the moment, depends when I get in on Friday night.
 
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frakker said:
So who else is planning to get up at the crack of sparrows for both qualifying and/or the race on Sunday? There's something special about having to get up at a ridiculous time to get the first taste of the new F1 season!
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:cool:
 
Some news this morning as well:

Mclaren won't be down the wrong end of the pitlane despite being classified as last in the 2007 Constructors Championship. A deal has been done with Bernie which will see them use the fifth garage (between Williams and Red Bull) for the season. It's thought that the size of McLaren's motorhome would have caused problems at the far end of most paddocks.

Super Aguri will be taking part in at least the Australian GP despite concerns about their financial future. Talks are continuing with investors but in the mean time their freight has started to arrive in Melbourne with the cars due today.
 
I should be happy but I'm not.
I used to get all excited at this time of the year but these days I detest what F1 has become. Am still sucked in to watching it though like a bad footy match i have started watching, You know there won't be any goals but also know i have to watch the 2nd half. Bit like ******** yesterday :mad: + :p.
I want to Beat Bernie around the head a bit, then pop into a few garages & swing my boots around the pits. Kin Gayers the lot of them with there electric cars & FIXXED races. Yes i said it out loud. Like English boxing i just don't trust some of the results which is Sick & makes me Mental :p

I'll still watch every session though & then pretend i am James Hunt whilst hiolding my Momo & my RFactor Sim car through La Rouge :D + :cool: + :p

I an alf a ****** some times :p
 
rpstewart said:
Mclaren won't be down the wrong end of the pitlane despite being classified as last in the 2007 Constructors Championship. A deal has been done with Bernie which will see them use the fifth garage (between Williams and Red Bull) for the season. It's thought that the size of McLaren's motorhome would have caused problems at the far end of most paddocks.
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Heh, thought something like that might happen. It seemed fairly inconceivable that the almighty McLaren would actually end up in a cramped garage down the far end of the pitlane. Obviously, they'd rather not be where they've ended up, but it would have been far worse without that deal.

Wonder what Bernie made out of it?
 
Just popped in to give the heads up on the preview show - looks like it already been done :) Thanks again for starting the threads rpstewart.

On a slightly different topic, I was watching the night qualifying for MotoGP in Doha, Qatar last night. Track looks great lit up in the dark. The lights make it possible to see the riders faces through their visors - feels very odd. Plus the artificial lights really bring out the colours of the bikes.
F1 in the night should make for interesting viewing.
 
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rpstewart said:
Mclaren won't be down the wrong end of the pitlane despite being classified as last in the 2007 Constructors Championship. A deal has been done with Bernie which will see them use the fifth garage (between Williams and Red Bull) for the season. It's thought that the size of McLaren's motorhome would have caused problems at the far end of most paddocks.
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What a rubbish excuse! So if Force India turned up with a large motorhome that wouldn't fit at the bottom could they do a similar deal? Ha.
 
rpstewart said:
Some news this morning as well:

Mclaren won't be down the wrong end of the pitlane despite being classified as last in the 2007 Constructors Championship. A deal has been done with Bernie which will see them use the fifth garage (between Williams and Red Bull) for the season. It's thought that the size of McLaren's motorhome would have caused problems at the far end of most paddocks.

Super Aguri will be taking part in at least the Australian GP despite concerns about their financial future. Talks are continuing with investors but in the mean time their freight has started to arrive in Melbourne with the cars due today.
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Personally I feel this kind of makes a mockery out of McLaren's punishment. McLaren were caught cheating (how bad the cheating was has been argued to death elsewhere) and they should serve their years shame and inconvenience at the far end of the pit lane. But it does highlight that F1 is Bernie's show though.

I'm glad that the Super Aguri's are apparently going to make it to Oz. After all Honda need somebody to chase. ;)

Having just visited Autosports site it seems that Bernie is now threatening to take his toys away from the Aussie's if they won't run in the dark too. I do wonder whether he's good for Formula One some times. I suppose he just wants to have another race in the desert somewhere. :(
 
Psymonkee said:
Is there a benefit to being in any particular place in the pitlane?
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Size of garage.. amount of equipment etc you can take with you.

Getting to the front of the pit queue in qualifying.. i think it was to get out in the 3rd fuel burning phase first.. supposedly some advantage.
 
rpstewart said:
A minimum of 5.75% of the fuel must be from a biological source.
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What does this achieve exactly? Remind me again of how oil is produced? You'd think the FIA would be capable of finding someone who can write rules without glaring loopholes big enough to drive a McLaren motorhome through.
 
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