Australian Grand Prix 2013, Melbourne - Race 1/19

Duke said:
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Melbourne

When Formula One came to Australia in 1985 it set up home in Adelaide. However, ex-racer-turned-entrepreneur Bob Jane wanted a race in Melbourne. He created a huge 'thunderdome' and invented the AUSCAR series, bringing NASCAR action to Australia.

The desire to have a race in Melbourne did not wane. Despite the popular end of season slot for the Adelaide race, pressure was growing from the Melbourne motor sport community, and in 1992 Jeff Kennett was elected the new premier of the State of Victoria. He immediately set about improving Melbourne's profile. First on his list was the Australian Grand Prix.

An agreement was reached with Formula One in 1993, but the contract with Adelaide did not expire until 1995, so Kennett had plenty of time to prepare. A track was developed in Melbourne's beautiful Albert Park, part of it using closed-off public roads, and in 1996 the city held the first round of the world championship. Since then the race has become very popular with drivers and fans alike, and the party atmosphere of Melbourne keeps them coming back year after year.


Session Times

Fri 15 March 2013
Practice 1 01:30 - 03:00
Practice 2 05:30 - 07:00

Sat 16 March 2013
Practice 3 03:00 - 04:00
Qualifying 06:00

Sun 17 March 2013
Race 06:00


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All live on Sky Sports F1. For BBC times and info see here.


Race preview -


Track:

Track Diagram

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Circuit information

Number of Laps: 58
Circuit Length: 5.303 km
Race Distance: 307.574 km
Lap Record: 1:24.125 - M Schumacher (2004)



Current Standings

n/a



Technical Changes

http://www.formula1.com/news/technical/



Photos from the event

Thursday - http://www.formula1.com/gallery/race/2013/893/general/thursday.html & http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2013/03/14/2013-australian-grand-prix-buildup-pictures/

Friday -

Saturday -

Sunday -


FIA Press Conference

Thursday -

Friday -

Saturday -

Sunday -


Practice 1
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Practice 2
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Practice 3
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Qualifying
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Race
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damn already?? Seems like yesterday we were all arguing that Vettel won due to luck. Bring it on!!!!
 
Early laps, the Merc looks supreme. Hamiltons gone without about 4/10th's of Vettel, but Vet came out, did like 3-4 laps and in, Webber's doing a few laps but came out miles after Hamilton. Hamilton has been out there for ages, has gone off the track though probably not hurt his tyres, and he's done that within 4/10ths what, probably 10+ laps in, he was only a little slower than that earlier with a lot more fuel on board, and he's done that with probably 10 more laps on the tyres than Vettel.

That is impressive for sure, Rossberg is pretty far up and he also did quite a lot of laps though I think probably less than Hamilton(I missed the first 5-10mins so he may have done 4-5 more laps then).

Either way, Red Bull on low fuel which is generally what most people have done, looks VERY fast, but Hamilton for the age of tyre and length of run suggests that he could well have more pace than Vettel.

Ferrari's came out late, see how far they go, pretty close to Rossberg's time but on early tyres/not many laps yet.

Early indication is like in testing that Merc are not only fast, they are doing it with fuel on board and laps under the car and a really good time many laps into a stint is really really promising.

Commentators suggesting that Red Bull seem like they were going for ultimate pace run, and number of laps, speed, and look of that car make me think the same. Take 10 laps of fuel/tyre wear out of that Merc and theres got to be at least half a second to gain, if not quite a bit more. Massa's just gone fast, half a second up on Alonso, and neither of them have gone out for a 3 lap run for max speed. As in testing, Ferrari/Merc feel like they might be something really special.


EDIT:- Button's already complaining while all the "top" ( :p ) drivers are just banging in the times. Also ffs, why do Hamilton/Rossberg have such similar helmets and who thought Perez in a yellow helmet was a good idea. Everytime I see him I think its Hamilton still :p
 
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SPARC said:
Vettel .5 ahead ... should have just stayed in my bed :mad:

Whitmarsh sounds gutted.
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Vettel 2-3 laps, Hamilton 10 lap run, did his fastest time in the last 1-2 laps.... he's WAY faster than 0.5 behind, that was 10 lap old tyres, that is insanely impressive. Quali last year, how many people were going that close to quali pace 10 laps later, answer, no one at all, not even close. Massa's time I'm not sure, I'm fairly sure he did more than Vettel but less than Hamilton by some way, but he also did his faster lap a little later on in his run.

As I said above, Ferrari/Merc look like they can go much faster on a one quick lap run, Vettel looks like he was really pushing, on his first fast lap and came straight in. Webber did more laps than Vettel, less than Hamilton and that Massa and Ham are faster than him actually suggests a lot tbh.
 
Meh, we really don't know, guessing based off a few laps isn't possible, Hamilton went off, Vettel was held up, Webber is crap here and not as fast anyway, Alonso was held up, etc, etc.

I don't think any of what I regard as the top three, Ham/Vet/Alonso, managed a clean 1 lap run so, we don't really know anything. Ultimately if the ss's are THAT bad, the fastest car on mediums could go on mediums in Q3, have better tyres for the first stint than everyone else in the top 10, then run fresh(not used in qualy) super softs at the end of the race with the most rubber down, and without any qualy pace laps in them so they'll last better.

If they REALLY are this bad, mediums in Q3 could throw up some major surprises in the race.
 
tummelv said:
Mclaren seem to have banned their mechanics from wearing shorts. :rolleyes:
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Banned the car being fast as well :p

How is F1 still stuck in last century. So much space on the screen for stuff, move the times over to the corner, wtf doesn't have a widescreen and watches F1? Second, put up other times, rotate between fastest lap in practice and last lap so we can keep an eye out on long run pace easily. They've got the fastest laps up there, and they haven't changed in 30 mins + because everyone is doing slow/race pace laps, and yet we can't see a single time, 10 years ago I could accept it, its been rubbish they haven't been doing it for at least 5 years now.
 
HMm, fuel test or is it Hamilton had a problem that they've decided to stop Rosberg out on track for safety? Hmm, they are saying gearbox, could still be related to Hamilton, gear box caused lock up and they stop Rosberg to stop him crashing. Guess we'll find out at some point today.

So we've got Hamilton had gear issues coming out of pits just before going off and said somethings wrong with the car before going off, then Rosberg stops on track within a lap, certainly sounds like something caused his car to lose control again and they stopped Rosberg. Webber had an interesting spin and was talking about problems with the car also.
 
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