2009 Aussie GP(and Practice and Quali) Discussion and Spoilers

amacachi

Great seeing the cars out on the track at last.

Hamilton already been off the track. Kovalainen 1st, wonder if the other teams have anything to show how much faster they are than McLaren.

EDIT: Also I'm wondering what the times were like in practice last year, at the moment they're only about 3 seconds off last year's fastest qualifying, I was expecting the cars to be a good 2-3 seconds down on ultimate pace.

dor83

Yeah, enjoying it myself. Kimi leading by 0.543 from Rosberg atm but Kimi was on the softer compound, both Brawns are doing well too but most interesting so far is Hamilton being 1sec slower than Kovalainen. Hamilton seemed to be finding it harder to get to grips with the car today but it is only first practice.

Grim.

nice to see all the privateers at the top although it'll be quali when we see the true pace hope they stay there though












rubs hands with glee 16th muahahahaha

dor83

Finished up like this

1:N Rosberg- Williams
2:K Nakajima- Williams
3:K Raikkonen- Ferrari
4:R Barrichello- Brawn
5:H Kovalainen- McLaren
6:J Button- Brawn
7:F Massa- Ferrari
8:T Glock - Toyota
9:A Sutil - Force India
10:F Alonso- Renault
11:N Heidfeld- BMW Sauber
12:J Trulli - Toyota
13:R Kubica - BMW Sauber
14:G Fisichella- Force India
15:S Buemi- Toro Rosso
16:L Hamilton- McLaren
17:M Webber- Red Bull
18:N Piquet Jr.- Renault
19:S Bourdais- Toro Rosso
20:S Vettel- Red Bull

amacachi

Hard to read too much into the times today, Heikki near the front and Hamilton near the back. Ferraris, Brawn and Williams towards the front.

Anyone else not able to spot the front wings from the onboard shots?

afatbollix

great to see more chat on the site...to be honet i think it was all the drama of last year and the BBC is getting alot more people into it... it can only be good for the sport...

any one knwo what the weather is to be over the weekend? at first pratise it looked a bit overcast... with the later starts could it bring in a evening rain cloud?

amacachi

I think it was raining last weekend and the start of this week, but was forecast to be more or less dry for the race weekend.

Here's a more up-to-date forecast http://www.weather.com.au/vic/melbourne

afatbollix

1 thing about setanta is that they will allways answer your questions... i asked two questions there and they spent at least 15 minutes answering them.... yer man ( forgot his name.. he was head enginer for jorden) he knows his stuff... can answer anything ya thrown at him...

amacachi

Aye, if ya can hear them over the engine noise :P Maybe it's just my telly but I find the sound balance off a bit.

Oblomov

Once again, Nico Rosberg has set the fastest lap in the second practice session in Melbourne, ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Jarno Trulli.

The times are as follows.

Rosberg 1.26.053
Barrichello 1.26.157
Trulli 1.26.350
Webber 1.26.370
Button 1.26.374
Glock 1.26.443
Nakajima 1.26.560
Vettel 1.26.740
Sutil 1.27.040
Massa 1.27.064
Raikkonen 1.27.204
Alonso 1.27.232
Fischella 1.27.282
Heidfeld 1.27.317
Kubica 1.27.398
Bourdais 1.27.479
Kovalainen 1.27.802
Hamilton 1.27.813
Piquet 1.27.828
Buemi 1.28.076

afatbollix

amacachi wrote: »

Aye, if ya can hear them over the engine noise :P Maybe it's just my telly but I find the sound balance off a bit.

not this year.... they are all in dublin for the year... no prancing around the track...

G-Money

I'm a bit surprised to see Williams fastest in practise 1 and 2 but surprised in a good way I've always liked Williams and it's been a bit of a shame to see them fall back from where they were in the 90's. Rosberg needs a good year as he was the hot new thing a few years back but the talk about him has quietened down since Hamilton and Kubica have appeared on the scene. He might need a good year if he wants to get into a better car.

It's funny, there's so many teams and drivers that I'd like to see do well, but obviously only one driver and team will win the race.

One driver I'm on the fence about is Alonso. I liked him back in 05 and 06 but his year at McLaren and his comments at the Brazilian GP about hoping Ferrari and Massa would win the championships kind of put me off him.

amacachi

afatbollix wrote: »

not this year.... they are all in dublin for the year... no prancing around the track...

They still have the volume from the track stream too high compared to the commentary volume. Well, for me anyway

Chong

Can i just say two things:

1)I am so happy to have F1 back.

2)I am even happier to have it back on the beeb.

Silver-Tiger

was at this today. It really hotted up in the afternoon weather wise. Cold for the first session. Arse burned off me in the evenin. My first gp experience and i'm enjoying every second. Spent 7 hours down there today and enjoyed every second. Straight back tomorrow mornin. Hamilton can be picked up at 33's with some bookie. Amazing for a defending champ. All the local money here is goin on the brawn favourites.

vectra

amacachi wrote: »

They still have the volume from the track stream too high compared to the commentary volume. Well, for me anyway

Same here
Still
Good to see the practice sessions :cool:

BoardsRanger

Great to have F1 back although i do think the cars look .. awkward, to say the least! Not very impressed with Vettel in both sessions! Obviously first session stop was mechanical but looks like my each way bet is out the window!

De Hipster

afatbollix wrote: »

yer man ( forgot his name.. he was head enginer for jorden) he knows his stuff... can answer anything ya thrown at him...

Gary Anderson...a legend that man!

afatbollix

thats the man... heard he is still asked to go back to F1 every year...

amacachi

Anyone up for practice? Fingers crossed a few drivers will put in flat-out laps to test the car on low fuel ^_^

The BBC lads are really kacking themselves about McLaren. :P

afatbollix

is it online? someone has taken over teh sky box in work .....

what time does it start at? it shoudl come up here in work but ill have to wait and see....

amacachi

Practice is on now, Qualifying at 6 o'clock. It's online on BBC if you're in Britain, otherwise there should be a feed somewhere here for qualifying, can't see any for practice I'm afraid.

G-Money

Don't know about the rest of you, but I'm awake just to watch the qualifying on the BBC

Bring it on!

amacachi

Ya pussy, I've been up all night.

I reckon it'll be Trulli on pole. Hamilton out in Q2, Kovalainen to make Q1.

Goddammit, the BBC didn't say "Well done for staying/getting up." Like they used to!

Robbo

Happy days, 20 minutes in and only passing mentions to Hubris Hamilton so far.

amacachi

I don't think they want to mention him now there's a chance he won't do well.

amacachi

Brilliant qualifying. Nerve-wracking, ridiculously close. I can see this being a great season, the high-budget teams towards the back throwing money at the cars trying to catch up with the others. Woo!

Ironmania

Just wacthing the drivers briefing now. I've been watching F1 since 1994 and involved in British motorsport for 6 out of 9 years gone by. I think this will be a very entertaining season.

jank

McLaren look to be in deep trouble, I dont think they will feature at all this year. Looks to be a very open year. Was expecting more from Alonso though!

mrmac

Nice to see Vittel up there. I think he's a great driver.

G-Money

Just finished watching the qualifying. It was a great session, the times tumbling constantly. I remember Hamilton popped up P2 or P3 and I blinked and he was way down the list.

I have to admit that Brawn car looks good. It looks nice and seems to be fast and almost glued to the road.

Line of the broadcast has to go to Martin Brundle (as usual) who described wing mirrors on an F1 car to being about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.

amacachi

grandmaster wrote: »

Line of the broadcast has to go to Martin Brundle (as usual) who described wing mirrors on an F1 car to being about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.

Heard that line before in relation to a bassist using a plec :P

The Brawn cars look great, pity they'll be raped with sponsorship logos over the next few weeks

FrostyJack

Just seen the results looks like it will be a crazy season. Did Brundle or anyone make reference to the illegal cars Brawn and co are running? What are their opinions on it? I didn't (and probably wont see qualifing).

amacachi

FrostyJack wrote: »

Just seen the results looks like it will be a crazy season. Did Brundle or anyone make reference to the illegal cars Brawn and co are running? What are their opinions on it? I didn't (and probably wont see qualifing).

At the moment they're not illegal. There'll be a hearing in two weeks to decide if they are. If they're declared illegal they won't lose points from this or next weekend as they were within the rules at the time. All the other teams are apparently now working flat-out on similar diffusers so it would seem that even they're not expecting to get the decision their way.

Ghost Train

I'm not a fan of David Coultard as pundit... great not to have ads on bbc

Still going to watch setanta for the better commentry

Nice to have a mixed up grid... should be some good races while the teams establish the pecking order

bennyx_o

Really looking forward to this season now, especially after the qualifying this morning. Plenty of teams with the pace to win races it seems so hopefulyl we'll see an interesting season.

G-Money

Yeah, I really really like the shape and look of the Brawn GP car. I think the current colour scheme is ok but could be a lot better, it looks a bit plain. But the shape of the car is beautiful. As is the Red Bull.

bennyx_o

grandmaster wrote: »

Yeah, I really really like the shape and look of the Brawn GP car. I think the current colour scheme is ok but could be a lot better, it looks a bit plain. But the shape of the car is beautiful. As is the Red Bull.

I love the look of it, including the colour. I'll admit it looks plain, but it looks better like that than plastered in advertisements IMO.

Overall, I think the new cars look well, apart from the fron wing looking out of proportion to the rest of the car.

G-Money

I understand what you mean Benny. I'm thinking they could make it look a lot nicer with a different paint job, and keep it logo free. It's nice now, it has the Brawn GP logo, the Virgin one and Bridgestone and it looks nice. I'm just not a fan of white, black and luminous yellow

FrostyJack

amacachi wrote: »

At the moment they're not illegal. There'll be a hearing in two weeks to decide if they are. If they're declared illegal they won't lose points from this or next weekend as they were within the rules at the time. All the other teams are apparently now working flat-out on similar diffusers so it would seem that even they're not expecting to get the decision their way.

Cool, thanks, this should make the race more interesting knowing they have to go for it 100% as points will stand and also to see if the other teams catch up.
Will also be interesting to see how Hamliton copes with his friends the "monkeys at the back", will they give him an inch?

G-Money

I really hope the appeal doesn't succeed. If those three teams have come up with a good solution then they shouldn't be penalised for it. There's been lots of other appeals that were rejected before that should have succeeded IMHO (Spa last year for example). What was the point penalising Hamilton so much especially seeing the car he passed crashed out a few corners later.

Fans are going to get pretty fed up of races finishing and then hours, days or weeks later the results being overturned because of an appeal. You don't see that happening in football!

vectra

Robbo wrote: »

Happy days, 20 minutes in and only passing mentions to Hubris Hamilton so far.

They done need to
They have another british driver at the front now to turn their attentions to:rolleyes:

G-Money

Brawn GP are going to get a lot of coverage this weekend, and rightly so. When they debued the car in testing I think some people raised a few eyebrows at it's pace, myself included. I think a lot of people thought it was some sort of stunt to grab a few headlines and a few sponsors at the same time.

However qualifying P1 and P2 is the best way for them to prove that it's a genuinely fast car.

I just wish the other teams would stop whining about the diffuser and spend more time making their own cars faster.

I'd like to see them win the race. Button and Barrichello seem like sound guys, the same goes for Ross Brawn. I think it would be the ideal result, considering that they've been hanging in limbo since the end of last year, until just a couple of weeks ago.

If the reliability is there and neither of them fall off the road or anything, I don't see the other teams getting past them.

Time to set the alarm for 5.50am

I sure hope the teams brought plenty of spare front wings. There's going to be a lot of them coming off tomorrow I reckon!

Chong

Get in Jenson and Barrichello.

BoardsRanger

The star of quali for me has to be Vettel. He had feck all practise time and stuck it on 3rd. Imagine if red bull manage to engineer a revised rear diffuser in a few weeks- they could be championship contenders.
I am delighted for Brawn GP though, and would love to see Barrichello get the win tomorrow, although i do think he has a lap less fuel than Button.

*Tripper*

I feel weird and disorientated with the grid the way it is. It's so strange.

Robbo

vectra wrote: »

They done need to
They have another british driver at the front now to turn their attentions to:rolleyes:

Well in fairness, the pace and indeed existence of the revenant Brawn operation is quite a story. Moreover, Button looked like his career could have been effectively over before time.

Overall, the jingoism has been cranked right down thanks to the absence of James Allen.

bennyx_o

Just had a quick glance here. Makes for interesting reading, with the two Brawn GP cars being the heaviest in the top 6.

BoardsRanger

bennyx_o wrote: »

Just had a quick glance here. Makes for interesting reading, with the two Brawn GP cars being the heaviest in the top 6.

just had a look- was wrong about Jenson having an extra laps fuel, turns out Rubens has it! Go on Barrichelo!

EvilMonkey

Looks good for Brawn GP :cool: (are you watching Honda :P). It will be good to see how the Ferrari's with kers do behind a load of cars without kers.
I thought it was interesting with low fuel the top 10 cars are doing similar laptimes with more fuel the times spread out, i guess it shows which cars have better balance.

Oblomov

with the two Brawn GP cars being the heaviest in the top 6.

Have another look, the BGP cars are about mid way... in the whole group.