Australian Grand Prix 2014, Melbourne - Race 1/19

FrankJH said:
Edit Ted in his notebook has confirmed that even if drivers finish races, if they are lapped too many times then they are unclassified in the end result ( ie with more retirements) finishers may still not get points
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That's been the case for decades.


Irish_Tom said:
Such a shame for Riccy if he is DQ'd - possibly masking slower pace from the RBR if they are having to over-fuel to get that kind of performance?
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Wouldn't be a massive difference. They weren't over-fuelling - just that fuel was saved during the aborted starts and the safety car (and it's not an especially heavy track on fuel), so they had more to play with during the race. For whatever reason, through the race the engine was allowed to drink more fuel than it should have. Given that they weren't disqualified from qualifying, it's probably just a little glitch somewhere down the line.

They/the FIA did change the fuel-flow meter in parc ferme, but the FIA have been having issues with them all weekend apparently.
 
this_is_gav said:
(and it's not an especially heavy track on fuel), .
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This contradicts everything everybody from drivers to teams to commentators has said about Australia, being the second hardest on fuel?

Will be a shame for Ricciardo, but I hope if it was found to overfuel they will be consistent with the rules from the start.
 
drunkenmaster said:
Yes, without knowing it was a brake failure it was still nothing worthy of a ban, that was my point. He compared it to Grosjean, who over a long distance swerved at a car, continued to push him off the track and caused a collision on the inside going into a very tight right turn which caused an absolutely insanely dangerous massive crash.

Koby, for all intents and purposes, did what 20 other cars out there do every race, he went in close as anyone else in a pack then his brakes failed. Without his brakes failing his position wasn't obscenely dangerous, nor had he done something dangerous since he pulled away. He wasn't placing another car in danger merely by his position or what he chose to do. If he locked his brakes it's driver error but not an overtly dangerous situation he got himself in to. Had it been driver error there is no way it's one, a ban, or two, remotely comparable to what Grosjean did.
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Erm if it was not a brake failure and Kobi braked 50 meters later than the pack then yes it would be a totally dangerous move and could easily end in a similar accident at Spa.
 
At different races the outcome could be better for Ferrari, supposedly the electrical issue on them meant both could go faster than they did, without likely expending much/any more fuel. Likewise, with the fuel limit at 100kg, at some races a thirsty engine may have to be slow to finish where at others it isn't a problem. Ultimately at those less thirsty races Merc can also put less fuel in their car but in general I'd say you have to go significantly slower to extend fuel efficiency than you can save by putting a few kg's less fuel into the car. If Merc really is noticeably more efficient that advantage could be much smaller at less fuel constricted races.

We could see Ferrari gain half a second a lap from electrical working, improvements in their brake by wire, and less fuel restriction see them much faster while arguably this could have been best case for Mercedes.

I don't think it should be underestimated what resources and time Merc have spent with the intention of being competitive this year though. Red Bull did the worst thing last year and over developed the car when everyone else gave up. Mclaren did the dumbest thing the year before in deciding on huge changes for 2013 and then 2014. Merc's focus on this car showed in the race pace performance of the past two years AND the performance in this years car, so really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

Unfortunately in this race it was too easy for Rosberg, he wasn't under pressure and was effectively cruising like Vettel has done way too many times. I think with the Merc drivers keeping each other honest and Williams/Mclarens starting from higher up the grid and not getting stuck behind, they should push each other enough to make it exciting. If Webber was half as good as Vettel and they actually put each other under pressure and caused mistakes in harder to control cars it would be exciting even if they were 20 seconds ahead of the next lot. It felt like we had more overtaking, more around the outside and inside of corners, more braking mistakes(though in a semi DRS way a lot of them have been induced by crappy brake by wire some teams have :p ). less Marbles and seemingly a lot smaller penalty for being off line. I think there were quite a few teams playing the "I'd prefer to finish than be fast" game this week. There were more mistakes and I think as more teams focus on pace than just finishing we'll see more pushing, more races where backing off for fuel isn't an issue we'll get even more mistakes which shakes up the order, causes faster cars to drop back and have to do more passing like Bottas.

The only things I'd really say I feel like I know for a fact, is that Merc is damned fast, Williams looks good in race pace and Mclaren look good also. Ferrari, Red bull, FI, TR, Lotus... not a clue about them really.
 
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SoliD said:
This contradicts everything everybody from drivers to teams to commentators has said about Australia, being the second hardest on fuel?
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This race was under the 100kg allowance. Spa\Monza\Suzka are over, they will have to slow down at these races
 
Overall I wasn't really that interested the whole races. I think it's cause I like lotus and not f1

Shame for DR, but wonder how substantial the limit was exceeded by. Could be nothing could be why he did so well.

Do wonder how good the merc is. Better I think than what was apparent

Quite a few stand out performances

I will probably be a casual viewer now. Ie not bothered about missing race if I got something to do or the weather is nice. Haven't missed a race live in years yet

Only thing I'm interested in really is potentially seeing massa do better than Ferrari
 
Skeeter said:
So were you a Renault fan prior to Lotus?
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Yes I was. Which is why it's such a shame. I have a model of the 2004 and a cap from the same year
Those were good memories
It's not that it's just a bad year, it's that I don't see them being a team much longer

Its such a shame. World be happy if a manufacturer bought them out
 
deuse said:
This race was under the 100kg allowance. Spa\Monza\Suzka are over, they will have to slow down at these races
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http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/01/15/new-fuel-limit-2014-toughest-f1-rule/

Finally found it, Albert Park is the approximately 3rd worst track for overall fuel usage with only Suzuka and Catalunya being worse, the latter being insane compared to the rest.

In terms of overall fuel usage an average at Albert park of 145kg under V8's with a 30% efficiency improvement gets you 101.5kg, with 35% improvement you're down to 94.5kg. The lightest track, Montreal, only uses on average 112kg of fuel and 100kg limit on these cars won't be an issue I would suspect. They are mostly around the 140kg mark for fuel and for those that didn't have really any problem here I don't think they will elsewhere either.


When you get to average fuel rate, I don't know if you can really expect the same situation. Without blowing exhaust gases around for downforce in corners I suspect those averages drop massively anyway and a lot less accelerating through corners, a lot less foot down situations on track it will be naturally quite a bit lower.

Monza had the highest fuel rate, but a pretty low fuel usage, so if they aren't going to run out of fuel they can all bang around as fast as the flow rate will let them to a degree, which puts them all on an even footing in that regard.
 
Remember, a full replay of the show starts on Sky at 2pm.

By the time that finishes, we may know the result from the live showing of the race. *sigh*
 
I watched this, half asleep.
I couldnt help but feel that this was a boring race.
The top 3 were determined at a very early stage. There wasnt any wheel to wheel racing amongst the top 3.

I think Bottas was the only guy who was making things happen.
DRS didnt seem to encourage overtaking.
ERS didnt seem to shake things up.

The big talking point was that the 2 title contenders (Vettel and Hamilton) went out.

We already knew that Merc were going to be the fastest and that turned out to be the case, so no big revelation there.
 
dannyjo22 said:
Ferrari's pace I have to say is worrying me. Another season where they look to be playing catch up from quite a distance.
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As someone who has been watching F1 for the last 23 years, I believe that the best drivers should end up with the best teams and be able to compete for wins/titles. By and large this is what happens.

My biggest frustration is that Alonso seems once again, to have a car incapable of winning the title. He's been the standard bearer in F1 for some time now and he is once again up against cars which are 0.5s/lap faster than his.

He won his last title back in 2006.

I said last year that it would be best for his career to change teams, if only to have a fresh challenge. Ferrari are going nowhere fast and in the last 5 years they havent even lucked into a title winning car.
 
Merc reliability stole what could have been a great race for 1st!
JB reaping on doing what he does very well, driving consistent. Made a nice change seeing him benefiting from a safety car, he's usually unlucky in those circumstances!

That RedBull clearly has pace, fuelling issues aside i still get the distinct impression DR was just doing what he needed to to keep KM behind him perhaps flattering the McLaren a bit. will be interesting to see how well SV can drive it. i look forward to seeing those 2 hustle for places when its not topping the time sheets.

The McLaren aint looking to shabby though, certainly more positive than last seasons! Just seems to be missing that edge to allow it to be pushed harder. That may just be down to being to conservative in the first race.

sunama said:
I said last year that it would be best for his career to change teams, if only to have a fresh challenge. Ferrari are going nowhere fast and in the last 5 years they havent even lucked into a title winning car.
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Never quite understood the lure Ferrari hold over competitors to get some of the best drivers, when more often than not there cars are not out and out the quickest and if it wasn't for Schumacher's era it would be even more dire
 
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