The F1 Thread…

First chance we’ve had to see the cars at full-pace, and to me they just look quicker, more skittish, and I’m loving the new turbos. I was never really a fan of the V8 screetch.

Not looking good for Lotus though.

…and now rain!

Rain rain rain. First time the cars have been at race/qualy spec in the wet…

any overtaking 😉

tbh am not a huge formula 1 fan ,but i did love it back in the 80’s (nigel “the tasch” mansell era).

have no idea about the new rules with the cars? i reckon they should go back to the days of no driver aids,manual gearchanging,turbocharged engines and let the designers go for it with aerodynamics 😉

or better still create wipeout (game) league for real 😀

am hoping red bull don’t run away with it for once.

any overtaking

Nope. But then it is only qualy today…

Vettel’s just failed to get into final qualifying, and the crowd cheer!

[smirk]Vettel P12![/smirk]

and the crowd cheer!

So we can hear tyres squeal, the crowd cheering and drivers struggle with cars twitching – F1 might get some atmosphere back!

Vettel, Button & Raikkonen out in Q2 qualifying – that’s the last 6 years worth of world champs not making it to Q3!

Cracking.

Enjoyed that qualifying. Could well be interesting this season for a change.

Great performances from Magnussen, Kobaiyashi and Ricciardo there

For once I’m happy to see a Red Bull on the front row!

Great qualifying.

anywhere online that i can watch a re run of the qualifying session?

i still haven’t seen the new cars in action yet 🙁

I think it’s a bit worrying to see a Red Bull in second there, if Ricciardo can do it then Vettel won’t be far behind

The bbc highlights package is on this afternoon

ah.. good man* 🙂

*i’ve made an assumption there 😐

I said in a previous post that Redbull would be in the mix, the have they biggest budget and the best designer in Newey. Things may be different when it dries out but I’m really looking forward to the season and hope that one team doesn’t get dominant. We will see in the first few races.

*correct on both counts there 😉

hope that one team doesn’t get dominant. We will see in the first few races.

So do I… unless it’s Mercedes and Hamilton wins the championship haha 🙂

@MBrundleF1 “taking a bite out of the seat they are clenching so hard”

Looks like Hamiltons move to Mercedes wasn’t such a bad idea after all – IIRC he said at the time it was their plans/potential for this season onwards that persuaded him to do so?

Yep, great move on Hamilton’s part there! Just reading the commentary- it looks like Ricciardo was the only one with intermediate tyres on, which might explain why he did so well…

Yeah, deffo a tyre choice in the conditions that put him there.

Is there anywhere on the web that includes which tyre compound the drivers were using to set their fastest laps?

All the time sheets I’ve seen so far don’t have this info.

As an example, in yesterday’s FP2, Button was 0.9 secs slower than the quickest lap, setting this time on the medium compound, whereas everyone else set their quickest using soft’s. Given there seems to be about 1 to 1.5 secs difference between the two compounds, that makes the McLaren very competitive.

Granted, we don’t know what fuel loads the cars were carrying and this will also massively affect/distort the timings, so we’ll never know the true picture but presuming teams are looking at their qualifying pace during FP. My basic assumption is that the quicker times, particularly on soft tyres, are with low fuel loads.

Cars do sound horrible though; like a Formula Renault race.

At least the pack has been thoroughly shuffled.

Good to see Williams back in the top ten; most amusing to see Maldonado dead last. Good move matey.

Good morning all!

Morning morning. Didn’t know if it started at 5 or 6 so not only am I knackered but I’ve also annoyed my mrs and woken my 1 year old up an hour early.

🙂

afternoon, ready to go? there was a heap of black coulds went over head a few hours ago heading north and there was some rain earlier, could be fun.

morning 🙂 looking forward to this!!

Windy here…… Lots of cloud. But i guess you can see that from the tv coverage.

My money is on a silver car. One of four 🙂

Bet they don’t start as well as I did at Albert park in my Toyota hi ace. My tyre change having picked up a puncture was rapido too. Only 15 minutes

Morning. Monies on Alonso. And at least one car not leaving the grid! This is exciting….

Morning!

Night shift done

Bulmers on the go

F1 ready to start

Radio5 on..

F1 ready to start

..perhaps not quite yet! Could take a few goes to get them off the grid 🙂

Haha – come on Hamilton!

well thats some carnage to start

What a crap start by Hammy 🙁

So – how many cars will finish then?

I’m going for 11.