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2007 Australian GP - Race 1/17

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Well the teams are in Melbourne for the first race of the season so I thought it was time that we dragged ourselves out of the Winter Testing thread and back into race mode.

There are no changes that I know of to the line ups from those posted in el_dazza's thread:

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes:
1) Fernando Alonso (SPA)
2) Lewis Hamilton (GBR)

ING Renault F1:
3) Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA)
4) Heikki Kovalainen (FIN)

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro:
5) Felipe Massa (BRA)
6) Kimi Raikkonen (FIN)

Honda F1:
7) Jenson Button (GBR)
8) Rubens Barrichello (BRA)

BMW-Sauber F1:
9) Nick Heidfeld (GER)
10) Robert Kubica (POL)

Panasonic Toyota:
11) Ralf Schumacher (GER)
12) Jarno Trulli (ITA)

Red Bull Racing:
14) David Coulthard (GBR)
15) Mark Webber (AUS)

AT&T Williams F1:
16) Nico Rosberg (GER)
17) Alexander Wurz (AUT)

Scuderia Toro Rosso:
18) Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA)
19) Scott Speed (USA)

Spyker F1:
20) Adrian Sutil (GER)
21) Christijan Albers (HOL)

Super Aguri F1:
22) Takuma Sato (JPN)
23) Anthony Davidson (GBR)


If you're interested in seeing what the tracks look like I've updated my Google Earth links and flyovers. All the tracks are now in reasonably high resolution with the exception of Monza & Fuji which are still low res and Shanghai which is a high res building site. To play the flyovers select the flyover folder and press the play button at the bottom of the Places pane.

Some links for Australia

Official GP Site
Albert Park when it's not holding a GP
Circuit details on the official F1 page

Finally remember there's live timing available for all sessions from the Formula1.com timing page
 
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Can't wait to see how Lewis Hamilton does. Great story that the other day on telly about his rise from karts. Ron Dennis is no fool and must rate the lad to put him straight into a McLaren., what a dream come true situation for the lad.
I'm really looking forward to this season.
 
Silly me, just created a thread for the new season,didnt realise this one existed.. should've searched really :o

I'm unbelievably excited about this season, I think it's going to be incredibly close between the top three, with BMW added to the mix, provided they get their reliability problems sorted!
 
It will be interesting to see Massa v Kimi and to see whether he can keep up the pace that he has showed in testing into the races.

I thought it was interesting to hear James Allen's anaylsis of the testing saying that he thinks that Kimi has been holding back against Massa in testing, and when the lights go green for qualifying that he will be faster - although time will tell.

Looking forward to the season should be lots of battles, scars and tears :cool:
 
Some bits of news from Melbourne this morning.

BMW to run Vettel rather than Kubica in first practice

Spyker announce title sponsor - it's a 3 year deals with Etihad Airways and Abu Dhabi based property company Aldar. It's good to see the small teams getting some financial stability.

F1 could introduce brake lights this year . I'm far from convinced on this one, if this goes through expect to see enclosed body shells next season and from 2009 the competitors will collect their cars from the Hertz lot at the airport :rolleyes:
 
Stonedofmoo said:
Why do teams keep hiring Ralph :confused:
They don't - he left Jordan about 3 years ago??

Why do people keep hiring Trulli I always wonder, he's been beaten soundly by his teammate Ralf Schumacher the past couple of years!
 
Wicksta said:
They don't - he left Jordan about 3 years ago??

Why do people keep hiring Trulli I always wonder, he's been beaten soundly by his teammate Ralf Schumacher the past couple of years!

I agree. A team with Toyotas budget should be trying to get drivers with full race distance ability. Ralf gives up if he is on for a poor finish or if his car is a bit poo. Trulli seems quick enough to win races at points but can't seem to maintain a run.
 
tonyyeb said:
I agree. Ralf ... is a bit poo.

I agree too :p. A bit worrying for Toyota if Williams do better than them now they have the same engine. I think Toyota have the better drivers but there doesn't look to be much in it from the pre-season testing results I've seen.
 
I havent followed F1 for a few years now (Damon Hill was still driving the last time I followed a season). Just looking at the changes on the BBC site - the tyres one looks a bit bizarre? So are these changes going to make it a better spectacle or will it still be a 180mph parade? Also looks wierd to see the line up without a (proper) Schumacher in it!
 
I really don't want to sound like an ass, but I don't see much point in continually linking to autosport news articles. I'm going to assume the people reading this thread are also reading the autosport page with some sort of regularity...

Oh and with all the shenanigans going on down under, we launched our new team kit yesterday. Our Race/Test team has only worn black/gray non-branded clothing so far so its good to seem them in official colours :)
 
NicktheNorse said:
I really don't want to sound like an ass, but I don't see much point in continually linking to autosport news articles. I'm going to assume the people reading this thread are also reading the autosport page with some sort of regularity...
It's a fair point. I'll limit myself to timing and stuff then. Oh, and opportunities to take the mick out of Ralf ;)

Just looking at the changes on the BBC site - the tyres one looks a bit bizarre?
While it's meant to improve the spectacle by adding another layer of strategy (or complexity as it's known to the rest of us) it's actually down to cost. If each team were to run only a single compound Bridgestone could bring a huge number of tyres (potentially 7 sets per car) which wouldn't be used. By forcing teams to use both kinds of available tyre Bridgestone don't have to bring as many tyres and most of those will get used.

The softer tyre will be marked by a 3cm white dot on the sidewall which is meant to allow them to be seen (as a white ring on the sidewall) when running. Whether this is that visible remains to be seen.
 
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Anyone else think "Iceman" Kimi looks daft in a red race suit. It ruins the blonde, Finnish, Iceman image he and to some extent Mika had at McLaren.
 
Is Australia tobacco free these days?

I was looking at the BBC's preview and they have an image of the Ferrari with the new Marlboro logos which look a bit daft. It's only a small thumbnail so I went to find a bigger view but all the Melbourne photos on Autosport have the unbranded car.
 
rpstewart said:
The softer tyre will be marked by a 3cm white dot on the sidewall which is meant to allow them to be seen (as a white ring on the sidewall) when running. Whether this is that visible remains to be seen.

Not sure about that either, there's plenty of white on the sidewall anyway with Bridgestone and Potenza but the dot is closer to the tread than the rest - we'll see.

The regulations only say distinguishable when the car is on the track, no mention of how fast they are going at the time.
 
I hear ITV are zoooming straight into the 90's and broadcasting in Widescreen :eek: Are they using Bernie's feed now then? (Remember that was always in WS on F1 Digital)
 
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