Australian Grand Prix 2011, Albert Park Circuit - Race 1/19
- Thread starter Glaucus
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assuming that was at me, #2s not reserve drivers (ie Massa/Webber)
Soldato
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Ah sorry. Grabbed the wrong end of stick 
Even then I doubt they'd do it. For the top teams I'd have thought tyre conservation in Q1 is more important than having less cars in the race.
Even then I doubt they'd do it. For the top teams I'd have thought tyre conservation in Q1 is more important than having less cars in the race.
new mercedes advert
That's brilliant !
Edit: Just watched the F1 preview in HD for the first time .... looks good
I agree with what they said in FP2.
These teams came in under the promise it would be an equal playing field with 40mill budget. not only is that not the case, they have the kers and other stuff they simply can't afford. It is a miracle they are racing at all and all respect to all 3 new teams.
They will almost certainly come in under the 107% rule, especially with tyre shortage top teams will not be pushing it.
These teams came in under the promise it would be an equal playing field with 40mill budget. not only is that not the case, they have the kers and other stuff they simply can't afford. It is a miracle they are racing at all and all respect to all 3 new teams.
They will almost certainly come in under the 107% rule, especially with tyre shortage top teams will not be pushing it.
Soldato
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LOL I was half expecting it to be Vettel.
Bet Brandson is kicking himself for not buying into Brawn when he had the opportunity has he has been sold the dream of a magic bean salesman! I fully expect them to be on the same merry-go-round the post Jordan team ended up on by the end of the summer...
HRT with all the best will in the world should be told to stop coming, or at least should be scuppered by some strong FIA rule about the amount of thins you actually need to bring to a GP to be a real team. Luizzi has proven him self to be a bit of a half baked driver too by choosing to be a road block instead of the sensible option of waiting and trying to actually get a real seat at a good team. Force India have done a sensible move getting De Resta in that seat.
Wish id remembered the timing for the practice sessions last night, would have watched the first one
Still where did McLaren get that pace from?!?! Hope we dont get landed with the James Alen prediction that if one team gets it hooked up round Albert Park that's it for everyone else...
HRT with all the best will in the world should be told to stop coming, or at least should be scuppered by some strong FIA rule about the amount of thins you actually need to bring to a GP to be a real team. Luizzi has proven him self to be a bit of a half baked driver too by choosing to be a road block instead of the sensible option of waiting and trying to actually get a real seat at a good team. Force India have done a sensible move getting De Resta in that seat.
Wish id remembered the timing for the practice sessions last night, would have watched the first one
Still where did McLaren get that pace from?!?! Hope we dont get landed with the James Alen prediction that if one team gets it hooked up round Albert Park that's it for everyone else...
They might not, we don;t know fuel loads, how they where using rear wing and engine tune in comparison to others. Qauli is the first true indicator.
Red Bull, Ferrari and maybe Mercedes have ~2 seconds in reserve so the P2 times aren't hugely important. What is important is that the McLaren drivers are happy with the car and that it's not exploding. It would be an incredible turnaround if they just copied what the other teams were doing and turned it into a potential race winner with just a months work! They are probably in a similar place to where they were last year- a little off the pace but capable of an upset.
How can you possibly know that until qualifying?
That's exactly who I was expecting. An all German F1 driver advert.
I'm a little dubious over the laptimes posted by McLaren.
At least with RBR and Ferrari, in pre-season testing, they were consistently quick, over many sessions, with various tyres/fuel loads. Moreover, various F1 commentators/drivers all suggested that they are the teams to beat.
With McLaren, they have had 1 good session - a session that I strongly suspect Ferrari/RBR did not go all out to dominate.
Within 24 hours we should all know where the teams truly stand.
What I can say is that McLaren have definitely made a step forward. They've tried out a new (simple) exhaust system which has worked straight out of the box. Originally, I suspected that may be struggling to be the 5th best team, but now it looks like they could well be alongside Mercedes.
At this point, I believe the pecking order to be:
Ferrari/RBR
McLaren/Merc.
At least with RBR and Ferrari, in pre-season testing, they were consistently quick, over many sessions, with various tyres/fuel loads. Moreover, various F1 commentators/drivers all suggested that they are the teams to beat.
With McLaren, they have had 1 good session - a session that I strongly suspect Ferrari/RBR did not go all out to dominate.
Within 24 hours we should all know where the teams truly stand.
What I can say is that McLaren have definitely made a step forward. They've tried out a new (simple) exhaust system which has worked straight out of the box. Originally, I suspected that may be struggling to be the 5th best team, but now it looks like they could well be alongside Mercedes.
At this point, I believe the pecking order to be:
Ferrari/RBR
McLaren/Merc.
Oh I remember all that, its just a bit of a surprise after weeks of doom mongering from the team... Least Quali should be more fun than usual! If the rear wing thing is unrestricted over it would place a bet that someone manages to bin it trying to use it too early out of a corner or something...
(will be worth getting up for)Of course he's not kicking himself, he couldn't afford to buy into the team. He only got involved in the first place because the sponsorship deal was so cheap, stupidly cheap.
He will be gone soon along with others if they don't continue with budget cuts.
Vettel made a good point in the press conference re: allowing drivers to use the moveable rear wing in practice - choosing gear ratios gets a bit sticky without the option of using the wing to see what the car's flat-out speed is. If they test and qualify without the DRS, and set the gear ratios and final drive ratio up so that the car works without the DRS, then they'll just hit the rev limiter as soon as they move the wing. They aren't allowed to alter the ratios after qually AFAIK.
So they'd find themselves in the position of either driving a compromised car through practice and qualifying, with gear ratios that should work on raceday with the DRS, or driving a car that works well in practice and qualifying that then can't use the DRS come raceday because it hits the rev limiter.
Hope the FIA was listening to him.
So they'd find themselves in the position of either driving a compromised car through practice and qualifying, with gear ratios that should work on raceday with the DRS, or driving a car that works well in practice and qualifying that then can't use the DRS come raceday because it hits the rev limiter.
Hope the FIA was listening to him.