Australian Grand Prix 2011, Albert Park Circuit - Race 1/19

Masterdog said:
Argh where does this leave my Fantasty F1. What were the conditions like during P2?
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This is what I'm thinking too. I think I will just stick to who I have and see how this first race plays out.

And for the first time ever I'm thinking of putting some money on this qually, but I've never ever bet before so don't really know where to start.
 
Was interesting to see just how much ground the ferrari made up on the red bull when the rear wing kicked in, only saw a glimpse or 2 of it but as soon as it was activated it was a noticeable speed increase.

I know its not race or even qualy conditions but it was nice to see where it will be useful and possibly an insight into how useful it could actually be.

Williams car looks completely carp with all the sponsorships now, prior to this i thought it was probably the best looking car.

McLaren cars do look very planted but they do look quite awkward too.

Why do HRT even exist, they really are a joke of a team.
 
Ceryndrion said:
p2 conditions were cool, with light rain towards the end..

the McLarens looked to top the boards, but I am pretty sure that their times were set just before the 'race conditions' came into effect, but I could be wrong, either way, the mix is pretty good for the top 3 teams, with mercedes a very close 4th.
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to be fair JB and Lewis were pretty close to the top prior to that also

(I think JB was top with an hour to go or something like that)

Just what McLaren needed, some decent milage and good speed - but as stated above nothing like quali / racing conditions so we wont know for sure until tomorrow. RB and Ferrari could have been sand-bagging a little but given the new tyres and how little track time they have here hopefully not too much)

Also times were very close to that of the 1st session too which is always a good sign to proper running

edit BBC are also stating that JB did 18 laps on one set of tyres with little time drop /lap which is good news (not for JB particularly, Im meaning that tyres are lasting a little better than expected), but would still expect 2 pit stops during the race to be the norm for each car, rather than 1 from last season.
 
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zootfloot said:
Why do HRT even exist, they really are a joke of a team.
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The team selection process made by the Mad Max administration was a complete **** up all told. The original three entries accepted were Campos Meta, Manor F1, and USF1. Lotus Racing (now Team Lotus) were accepted only when it looked like BMW Sauber were pulling out. And what happened? Campos needed buying out to form HRT, and still don't have enough money to even tread water in F1. Manor F1 needed more money, so Virgin invested, and now Marussia. USF1 folded, due to having no money. Team Lotus, the FIA afterthought, are the only ones who you could say did a reasonable job - and even they're emboiled in off-track controversy.

The FIA completely screwed the pooch on that one.
 
Ceryndrion said:
The McLarens looked to top the boards, but I am pretty sure that their times were set just before the 'race conditions' came into effect, but I could be wrong, either way, the mix is pretty good for the top 3 teams, with mercedes a very close 4th.
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They were, but they were at the top or there abouts all through the session, and they were close to the top through much of practice 1 too, until they chose to stick to slower setups (harder tyres, higher apparent fuel) while the others tried some quicker runs.

I'm pretty optimistic. At the very least, I think McLaren have closed to within biting distance of the Red Bulls and Ferrari and I think we might well seem them challenging for the win.
 
Can someone clarify the 107% rule for me

Is it measured against Q1 "pole" time (most probable I would have thought) or actual pole time (obviously set in Q3)?
 
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It's based on the fastest time in Q1.

JRS said:
Nice to see the FIA adding even more confusion to the moveable rear wing rules....
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Absolute muppetry. It's been widely known for months that the teams would be using DRS at every possible opportunity during practice and qualifying and NOW the FIA choose to try and amend the rules. Idiots.

Also, just LOL at HRT. I know people defend them saying '26 cars is better than 24' blah blah, but they really don't deserve to be in F1. Trying to run an F1 team with a Formula3 budget and thrid rate drivers (Liuzzi excepted) is never going to work. If they cross the finish line at the end of the season I will be amazed.
 
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Mr Jack said:
Huh? Wasn't the point of that to provide a test with the real cars on a proper track before the racing begins in anger. It's not like they're planning to do it at every race so how can it add much confusion.
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It's more down to the fact that the decision was taken just minutes before the start of the 2nd session. It's as if the FIA is reacting to the situation rather than anticipating anything - like Mat Coch said, making it up as they go along.
 
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JRS said:
It's more down to the fact that the decision was taken just minutes before the start of the 2nd session. It's as if the FIA is reacting to the situation rather than anticipating anything - like Mat Coch said, making it up as they go along.
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What's the alternative? That they're not flexible enough to respond to events?

I dunno, I don't think the FIA are covering themselves in glory, but I think it's significant improvement on the inflexible rubbish they've managed in prior times.
 
Flexibility is one thing, but forethought is better.

Like I said above, there were questions raised about why the DRS was allowed at all times during FP and Q as soon as the rules were announced.

Then is testing it was obvious drivers were using it the second the got on the power out of corners. If the FIA were going to act, the time was 2 months ago. Not 9 minutes before the second practise session of the year.
 
Hmm.

So McLaren appear to be up there with RBR, Ferrari and Merc. That's a lot better than I originally thought they would manage after their poor testing sessions.

At this point, the order seems to be:

RBR/Ferrari
Merc/McLaren

We shall find out more in 24 hours. Should be interesting.
 
JRS said:
Nice to see the FIA adding even more confusion to the moveable rear wing rules....
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Give it a few weeks and it will banned for everything except the race, which is how it should be. It's an over taking device. The idea behind the thing was for over taking not trimming wing out for faster qualifying laps.

If it makes them go faster in qfy they will either stop them using it or nobble the cars some more to make the corner speeds slower.
 
Just watched both sessions on the re-run on red button. Nice to see Mclaren up there but guess the real times will come in P3.

Not too impressed with whoever was in the commentary booth today, the guy linked to Virgin Racing? Heard him before but don't know his name. He did nothing but moan about modern F1, whether it was the wings, tyres, kers, drs, etc :rolleyes:
 
Spunkey said:
Then is testing it was obvious drivers were using it the second the got on the power out of corners. If the FIA were going to act, the time was 2 months ago. Not 9 minutes before the second practise session of the year.
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But they haven't changed anything. They introduce a test period into one half hour of one practice session.

I'm not seeing the big deal.

If they were tamperin' about with Quali that'd be another matter
 
Posted P1 times again as this shows the number of laps completed


Practice 1 times

Code: 
[b]Pos  Driver         Team                   Time              Laps[/b]
 1.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault       1m26.831s           20
 2.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault       1m27.158s  + 0.327  19
 3.  Alonso         Ferrari                1m27.749s  + 0.918  20
 4.  Rosberg        Mercedes               1m28.152s  + 1.321  16
 5.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth      1m28.430s  + 1.599  24
 6.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m28.440s  + 1.609  29
 7.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes       1m28.483s  + 1.652  26
 8.  Schumacher     Mercedes               1m28.690s  + 1.859  14
 9.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari         1m28.725s  + 1.894  13
10.  Petrov         Renault                1m28.765s  + 1.930  15
11.  Massa          Ferrari                1m28.842s  + 2.011  20
12.  Heidfeld       Renault                1m28.928s  + 2.097  14
13.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1m29.314s  + 2.483  19
14.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m29.328s  + 2.497  21
15.  Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth      1m29.403s  + 2.572  24
16.  Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m29.468s  + 2.637  23
17.  Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m29.643s  + 2.812  18
18.  Hulkenberg     Force India-Mercedes   1m31.002s  + 4.171  20
19.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault          1m32.428s  + 5.597  13
20.  d'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth        1m35.282s  + 8.451  17
21.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth        1m35.289s  + 8.458  15
22.  Chandhok       Lotus-Renault          no time              1
23.  Liuzzi         HRT-Cosworth           no time
24.  Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           no time

Practice 2 times

Code: 
[b]Pos  Driver         Team                   Time              Laps[/b]
 1.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m25.854s            32
 2.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes      1m25.986s  + 0.132   31
 3.  Alonso         Ferrari               1m26.001s  + 0.147   28
 4.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault      1m26.014s  + 0.160   35
 5.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault      1m26.283s  + 0.429   33
 6.  Schumacher     Mercedes              1m26.590s  + 0.736   31
 7.  Massa          Ferrari               1m26.789s  + 0.935   34
 8.  Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1m27.101s  + 1.247   39
 9.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth     1m27.280s  + 1.426   34
10.  Rosberg        Mercedes              1m27.448s  + 1.594   23
11.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m27.525s  + 1.671   31
12.  Petrov         Renault               1m27.528s  + 1.674   29
13.  Heidfeld       Renault               1m27.536s  + 1.682   22
14.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m27.697s  + 1.843   30
15.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari        1m28.095s  + 2.241   35
16.  di Resta       Force India-Mercedes  1m28.376s  + 2.522   33
17.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1m28.583s  + 2.729   31
18.  Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth     1m29.386s  + 3.532   29
19.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault         1m30.829s  + 4.975   22
20.  Trulli         Lotus-Renault         1m30.912s  + 5.058   23
21.  D'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth       1m32.106s  + 6.252   36
22.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth       1m32.135s  + 6.281   30
23.  Liuzzi         HRT-Cosworth          No time               1
 
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