Australian Grand Prix 2014, Melbourne - Race 1/19

[Shimmy]

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.

TV Times




Track Diagram & Information




Live Timing

http://www.formula1.com/live_timing/


Weather Forecast





Technical Changes

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


Australia Preview Quotes

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2014/3/15532.html


Practice 1




Practice 2




Practice 3




Qualifying




Race

 

[Shimmy]

Exciting new season ahead of us and it seems I have volunteered myself to take over the reigns from Duke.

I'd like to thank Duke and Glaucus for their continued efforts over the last few years in making these threads, hopefully I'll keep them up to scratch.

If you guys find anything you'd find useful for the OP let me know.

Not long to wait now! By far the quickest F1 winter I've known.

 

[Shimmy]

Teams starting to get ready track side.




Interestingly Bottas had a quicker average race sim than Rosberg in Bahrain, taken from AMuS.

But then we don't know how much extra in hand the teams had, certainly looks very good for Williams.

 

[Shimmy]

Should be real exciting to see the true running order...M Salo seems to think Ferrari have been sandbagging in testing...who knows!

They've definitely been holding back a bit, just a question of how much. Certainly the biggest unknown team wise coming into the 1st race.

Current speculation is the power is there, but is more thirsty than the Mercedes PU.

 

[Shimmy]

Making of the Australian Grand Prix.

Australian F1 Marshalling swag.

 

[Shimmy]

Good swag sir, how did you get into marshalling?

Not mine, belongs to a chap over at reddit - it's his first motorsport event too!
http://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/20199w/heres_a_look_at_some_of_the_gear_given_to/

 

[Shimmy]

Force India will be running a new lighter chassis this weekend, shedding around 10kg of weight.

Good news for someone with a frame like Nico's.

 

[Shimmy]

Pretty neat video from Red Bull:
http://www.redbull.com/en/motorsports/f1/stories/1331638258301/new-f1-rules

 

[Shimmy]

Nice write up by DC on the Ferrari driver pairing.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/26496267

 

[Shimmy]

FIA Press Conference Schedule:


Thursday, 15:00 local time clock (clock 5:00 CET)

Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
Kevin Magnussen (McLaren)
Felipe Massa (Williams)
Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)

Friday, 18:30 clock local time (between 8:30 clock CET)

Eric Boullier (McLaren)
Stefano Domenicali (Ferrari)
Christian Horner (Red Bull)
Remi Taffin (Renault)
Claire Williams (Williams)
Toto Wolff (Mercedes)


Some conjecture about RBR's filming day this morning, preparing for this weekend?

It appears that Red Bull are circumventing the rules once again in their search for speed for their troubled car.

This morning at the RAAF Air Force base in Victoria (around two and half hours from Melbourne) a ‘filming’ day had been organised which had an F/A-18 Hornet drag racing the Red Bull car. This in itself is not a problem – it’s straight line running after all.

An observer told TJ13, “it was a great event and the noise of both powerplants was awesome!”

However after the actual filming was completed, and the jet removed, the Red Bull car would appear periodically and complete a number of laps using the runways and taxiways as a form of track.

With the venue being a military base, photography was banned and any brave individual who felt the slightest inclination to secretly record anything was informed explicitly by the military police they would be arrested if they did so.

Mmm…. How many filming days have RBR now had? Was there an F1 observer there to count mileage?

For now we don’t know.

Does seem a bit sensationalist though.

 

[Shimmy]

That's an old spec car right?

Certainly old spec front nose and the rear wing looks too wide to be this year's.

 

[Shimmy]

Hmm. Black and silver livery on the McLaren?

Special Mobil1 20th Anniversary livery for Australia.

 

[Shimmy]

Such are the reliability concerns, that apparently some teams are considering skipping FP3 in fear that they would not be able to rectify an issue before Qualifying.

 

[Shimmy]

Thanks Shimmy. Can't say I have seen your name before?

Been posting in this forum since its inception really, I've mainly participated on the technical updates and stories in F1 though. So pre-season testing and practice before a race.

Mercedes have brought a new FW and airbox for the engine, worth as much as 2 tenths.
They also intended to use a new shorter front nose, but it failed its crash test so will need to be revisited.

 

[Shimmy]

So, bets on first red flag?

 

[Shimmy]

Maldonado hopefully, the little **** hope he crashes on his out lap.

I wonder if Renaults will do very few laps in all practices simply to save engines.

Haha, as long as he doesn't collect anyone else which he seems to have expertise in.

 

[Shimmy]

Some of you guys are up, was getting worried there might be no discussions.

And rbr car still not legal. Dows this mean they have no sparw wings, meaning they are saving for the race. Although they're saying it's probably illegal even for practice. But I can't see RBR making such mistakes.

Ted's misunderstood the rules I think, car doesn't need to be legal in practice. Hence why you sometimes running with massive sensor rigs hanging off the cars on a Friday.

 

[Shimmy]

^Yup, does look very tidy.

P1 & P2 times added to OP.

 

[Shimmy]

Nifty look at the trick McLaren rear wishbones.

RBR engine cover and side pods off.

If you missed that funny bit from FP1 where Lewis got questioned at the turnstiles in full race apparel, it's here:
http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/f1/9212230/hamilton-stopped-by-guard

 

[Shimmy]

I reckon we'll see very little running if the heavens open in FP3, as there won't be much time to fix the cars.

They'll need all the practice they can get though, can't wait for Quali now.