Australian Grand Prix 2014, Melbourne - Race 1/19

[Glaucus]

It wouldn't be interesting it would be stupid. Pretty much unlimited power when you want, but only for brief periods. It would just be mayhem, let alone safety. It wouldn't produce good races.

However the rules we have, albeit not perfect, is producing good races, as we are mechanical grip limited, once again which is how it always should be.

 

[deuse]

Team radio

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/03/18/2014-australian-grand-prix-team-radio-transcript/

Some interesting things said and

"Rosberg set the fastest lap of the entire race as early as lap 19, shortly after switching to a ‘rich 20′ engine map. Immediately after that came an intruction to “target +0.3″. From that point on he only lapped within three-tenths of a second of his fastest time once, yet was over 24 seconds ahead at the chequered flag, indicating Mercedes had a lot of performance in hand."

 

[Jono8]

As much as i want Hamilton to win the championship, i hope the Merc isnt TOO far ahead otherwise it will be boring.

Still i think Rosberg can keep Lewis honest though so at least there might still be a battle for the title.

 

[gord]

Some interesting things said and

"A switch has just come off my steering wheel… I don’t know where it is! My numbers, pit numbers and all those, just came off."

This is my favourite from Lewis. I can imagine the panic as his steering wheel disintegrates.

 

[FrankJH]

Team radio

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/03/18/2014-australian-grand-prix-team-radio-transcript/

Some interesting things said and

"Rosberg set the fastest lap of the entire race as early as lap 19, shortly after switching to a ‘rich 20′ engine map. Immediately after that came an intruction to “target +0.3″. From that point on he only lapped within three-tenths of a second of his fastest time once, yet was over 24 seconds ahead at the chequered flag, indicating Mercedes had a lot of performance in hand."

But there was no clear indication of what the Williams / McLaren would have been like directly behind him. Also F1 performance is still only nailed on on that formulation of tyres /in those weather conditions on that particular track.

The harder any car has to be pushed the more likely a critical part is going to fail - Rosberg's car wasnt being stressed (as you pointed out) so every componant was well inside tolerance levels for majority of the race (where as its fair to say the McLaren, Ferrari, Williams were all pushed quite hard for significant parts of the race).

I think its fair to say every car was quite stressed by two parade laps (or rather waiting for 20 - 30s at the end of each one) plus the massive acceleration at the green light. I found it quite interesting that Lewis's car failed at or around the instant of pulling away after the 2nd parade lap, ie so far Lewis / the team havent mentioned noticing anything wrong in either parade lap, and I would have thought even on a parade lap this would have been noticable.

Melbourne was also pretty cool (if not down right cold) most of the weekend with rain lashing down Sat, and potential for rain on Sunday - although admittedly it didnt arrive during the race. It will certainly be interesting to see how the Merc copes on different tyres / different types of track in hotter ambient / track temps (especially if miracle of miracles another car can get away faster and lead into the first corner)

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Melbourne was also pretty cool (if not down right cold) most of the weekend with rain lashing down Sat, and potential for rain on Sunday - although admittedly it didnt arrive during the race. It will certainly be interesting to see how the Merc copes on different tyres / different types of track in hotter ambient / track temps (especially if miracle of miracles another car can get away faster and lead into the first corner)

For all we know the warm temperature might suit them more.

 

[cuke2u]

Basically we know very little from this race aside from RB cheating...

 

[V F]

I like the sound of the new engines, adds a bit more character and change to the high pitched screams the V8's made. V8's @ 18k rpm sounded little more than just a lot of noise, there was no finesse to it.

In 20years time kids of today will be getting all nostalgic over today's engines. Its just change.

However gimmie the noise of a DFV, BRM V16, Ferrari V12 any day!

I can't remember if it was 2007 - 2010 but one F1 car was louder than a 747. Let alone 22.

 

[DiCe!]

Basically we know very little from this race aside from RB cheating...

And that Merc are well ahead

 

[deuse]

But there was no clear indication of what the Williams / McLaren would have been like directly behind him. Also F1 performance is still only nailed on on that formulation of tyres /in those weather conditions on that particular track.

McLaren already know they are over a second behind. Even button says so.

I think its fair to say every car was quite stressed by two parade laps (or rather waiting for 20 - 30s at the end of each one) plus the massive acceleration at the green light. I found it quite interesting that Lewis's car failed at or around the instant of pulling away after the 2nd parade lap, ie so far Lewis / the team havent mentioned noticing anything wrong in either parade lap, and I would have thought even on a parade lap this would have been noticable.

The team knew that Hamilton's car had a problem when he done his out lap. They was hoping it would cure itself.
We will know more when they come back to Europe.

 

[MooMoo444]

Team radio

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/03/18/2014-australian-grand-prix-team-radio-transcript/

Some interesting things said and

"Rosberg set the fastest lap of the entire race as early as lap 19, shortly after switching to a ‘rich 20′ engine map. Immediately after that came an intruction to “target +0.3″. From that point on he only lapped within three-tenths of a second of his fastest time once, yet was over 24 seconds ahead at the chequered flag, indicating Mercedes had a lot of performance in hand."

I hope this is true. It would be nice to see Merc take a title.

 

[drunkenmaster]

McLaren already know they are over a second behind. Even button says so.
The team knew that Hamilton's car had a problem when he done his out lap. They was hoping it would cure itself.
We will know more when they come back to Europe.

Not only have they said they knew but afaik it's still fully legal to run less cylinders to save fuel when required, so I wouldn't be surprised if they ran parade laps and safety cars under fewer cylinders. So while it did seemingly show up in the parade lap(or laps) I can envisage situations in which the faulty cylinder wasn't even used till probably turning them back on when they reach the start finish straight. Either way a lack of power would be less noticeable in a very slow parade lap then trying to apply fully acceleration off the grid.

 

[deuse]

I think rb will lose their appeal, and here's why.

The FIA have backed the sensor supplier.
The sensor supplier has backed the FIA
And all other teams back the FIA.

So for once in years rb are on their own with no way out. Lets hope rb don't bring more shame to F1 this season.

 

[FrankJH]

For all we know the warm temperature might suit them more.

Thank you for agreeing with me.

People here are seeminly happy to give the CWC to Merc already, all Im saying is conditions suited their car on Sunday, we have no idea what will happen in different conditions etc

McLaren already know they are over a second behind. Even button says so.
.

In certain conditions.

Without the yellow flag in quali ( due to Kimi's crash) that disrupted his last run, who knows where JB might have been, but its promising at the very least that KM was able to get 4th in Saturday's tricky conditions.

The team knew that Hamilton's car had a problem when he done his out lap. They was hoping it would cure itself.
We will know more when they come back to Europe.

Havent seen that being reported, but fair enough - which probably means this happened at the end of his Pole lap or during the warm down lap

 

[smr]

I think rb will lose their appeal, and here's why.

The FIA have backed the sensor supplier.
The sensor supplier has backed the FIA
And all other teams back the FIA.

So for once in years rb are on their own with no way out. Lets hope rb don't bring more shame to F1 this season.

Wow, I actually agree with you on something.

 

[~Mike~]

I think rb will lose their appeal, and here's why.

The FIA have backed the sensor supplier.
The sensor supplier has backed the FIA
And all other teams back the FIA.

So for once in years rb are on their own with no way out. Lets hope rb don't bring more shame to F1 this season.

Looks that way.

 

[MooMoo444]

And all other teams back the FIA.

Hah, wonder why

 

[this_is_gav]

All the other teams backed the FIA because they all ran to the FIA's recommendations of running at less than 100kg/h due to those spikes from the "unreliable" sensors. Red Bull chose to follow their own sensors. Therefore Red Bull had more power available (presumably still not exceeding the 100kg/h rate) than the other teams.

I'm fairly sure you won't find the other teams backing the supplier, given the issues they've had with the supplied sensors.

 

[cuke2u]

And that Merc are well ahead

And have unreliability issues the same as any other car out there it seems...

 

[Glaucus]

Worth a listen. Mainly about the fuel flow sensors and a short bit on Williams gearing and McLaren front suspension.