[Closed] The F1 Thread...

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

[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/26443262 ]The bbc highlights package is on this afternoon [/url]

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.

Retire

No stay out. Wtf

Chilton takes Vettel!

is that enough overtaking for everyone?

Bottas is the real deal.

It's a bit spicier this year isn't it!

JCL in wrong again shocker 😆

Bottas could still get decent points.

He'll have his day alright.

Worth getting up for?!

Oh yes

Points for Caterham or Marussia today?

Button looking characteristically uninspiring. Expect maybe one or two decent performances from him, but I doubt much more.

I think they're all just waiting to see what goes on with fuel/tires.

Those couple laps when Nico put a bit of effort in where pretty amazing eh? That Merc is rapid.

Loving hearing the tyres squeal

Loving hearing the tyres squeal

+1

Might be eating my words about Button - currently 4th from 10th isn't a bad position to be in - can't see him catching Kev though

Worth getting up for?!

I just decided it would be worth getting up to watch the second half of the race. Started flicking through the channels then realized it was on bloody Sky 👿

Bottas one to watch, Maclaren look like they might be ok this year - hope Jenson isn't a number 2 though and it will be interesting to see Hamilton and Rosberg in a straight fight. Well done Ricciardo and Magnussen

So one of the redbulls survived. And pretty reasonably....

I just can't get excited about Rosberg - just a bland driver.

Is it because he is zee German?

I like him. Quite a clever kid and I think that'll give him the edge over Hamilton.

nope

I feel he's in the same mould as Webber - he'll only every win when everything is perfect, unlike drivers like Alonso or Hamilton.

Loved that. I think I'll be enjoying this season.

DisregardiNg his usual spin fest I wonder how massa would have done, clearly not his fault this time but I bet he's excited about the next few races before the other teams catch up

Good race. Shame for LH and I actually quite like Rosberg. Good to see Bottas fight back and prove Williams have some pace this year.

Moving on slightly - if you close you eyes and just listen to the voices you could be forgiven to think that Arnie has taken over as principal of Mercedes...

Ted Kravitz just tweeted that Redbull have been disqualified for exceeding 100kg fuel limit.
Awaiting official FIA confirmation.
Poor Daniel...seems a genuinely nice guy in a team that's hard to like!

Kobyashi lives up to his kamikaze reputaion again.

Ricciardo under investigation for 'fuel flow irregularities'

Button might be 3rd yet. Two cars on the podium for Mclaren would beat last year in the first race.

Brilliant stuff.

Kobyashi lives up to his kamikaze reputaion again.

Kobayashi cleared - systems failure apparently...

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/03/16/kobayashi-responsible-massa-crash-stewards/

Redbull again on the limits of legality
I did think it strange that the Mclarens could not get him even with DRS
so maybe he was going over the fuel flow on the drs bits

Redbull been disqualified
[url= http://www.planetf1.com/news/3213/9216771/Ricciardo-Disqualified-From-Aussie-GP ]Redbull out [/url]

well thats going to go down like a
fart in a lift
ton of bricks
[insert rob warner airline joke here]
in Oz tomorrow morning, so Mclaren looking the best?

A shame for Danny, thought he looked very much like a seasoned top 3 finisher today.

Great to see McLaren up there again though, impressed with Magnussen and Button showed a lot of intelligence to get up to 4th.

With all the issues they have had it's bizarre that RB chose to ignore the FIA and but a podium at risk.

One thing I don't understand:
100kg max fuel limit in the cars
100kg/hr max fuel rate allowed
The races go on for a lot longer than one hour.

Eh?

One thing I don't understand:
100kg max fuel limit in the cars
100kg/hr max fuel rate allowed
The races go on for a lot longer than one hour.

Eh?

The fuel flow rate is the maximum rate that fuel can be put through the engine. To use 100kg in an hour they would have to be at full throttle all the time, which of course they aren't.

The fuel can flow slower than the 100kg/hour rate, but at no time can it exceed it. Even if they have plenty of fuel left.

Regarding Red Bull - this is a reply from another forum (not my words). Seems like they don't have a leg to stand on...

[i]Even if RBR appeals, I think point number 9 will destroy anything they can come up with:
9) The FIA technical representative observed thought the telemetry during the race that the fuel flow was too high and contacted the team, giving them the opportunity to follow his previous instruction, and reduce the fuel flow such that it was within the limit, as measured by the homologated sensor – and thus gave the team the opportunity to be within compliance. The team chose not to make this correction.

They ignored FIA more than once and even during the race itself. Even if RBR were within rule-limits, these offences undoubtly will keep the decision of disqualification in place.[/i]

Looks like a bit of a whoopsy by RBR there. Oh well. McLaren are shaping up for a blinder of a season- that decision to concentrate on this year's car half way through last season seems to be paying off

Well they've got to find at least a second a lap to get close to Mercedes...

Regarding the flow rate, it isn't just 100kg per hour, I think there's is also a maximum peak flow rate.

It's to limit the power from the engine. For short bursts, they could get the power output over 1500hp which would be great for overtaking.

Ah, I see