Formula 1 - 2012 Season

[Lightman]

SO then, practice.....

Red Bull sandbagging, (one would think - if not they're screwed), Mercedes not bad, McLaren some 7 tenths ahead. Could be a good season after all.

Prediction for for the grid, 1 Button, 2 Hamilton, 3 Rosberg, 4 Vettel, 5 Schumacher & 6 Alonso.

Hamilton to win the race.

A bit too quick with any conclusions I think. FP1 and 2 affected by rain. Only teams which had to run were going out in wet. Other teams played it very safe to have a chance running in Quali.

One thing for sure, they look to be a lot closer than last year

 

[DJ12]

FP1 was mainly dry, but we will see in a few hours.

 

[Kaotik]

I think every single driver/team who were asked from said the same, these first practices tell just about nothing, just like pre-season testing, probably not a single team, or even driver, is running at same settings or trying "qualifying laps" or some such.

Lotus has still issues with steering not matching Kimi's taste, they got "ok basic setting" for it, but it's still not quite as good as it should/could be.

Also they used high fuel load at least in one of the practices, not sure which one though

 

[Colourless]

What an exciting unexpected qualifying.

 

[DarthShader]

What a goofup by Kimi. While the car is certainly capable of great things.

Ferrari on the other hand...

 

[Colourless]

Ferrari (Alonso 12, Massa 16) really need to fix that car. If Alonso didn't go off in Q2 it may have been different, but they are obviously really struggling.

Red Bull also needs to be concerned. Mark Webber (5) beat Vettel (6) and Webber didn't have KERS (surprise, surprise). Wondering if Vettel had KERS issues too or if Vettel really doesn't like the car without EBD

 

[DJ12]

So much for red bull sandbagging. Newey, shock horror, has designed a car that isn't that good.

 

[Kaotik]

Nice work from Lotus, Räikkönen was supposed to have time for 1 more lap after doing a mistake on the fast lap, and he slowed down to make room in front of him since driver obviously has no clock to see how many secs are left, and no-one from the team said on radio that he's gonna miss the last fast lap if he slows down.

Grosjean proved that the car is good though, so Kimi should have no problems climbing towards the top, let's hope the car is as good as it seems rest of the season and not just couple first races like last season.

Let's also hope that they get the steering fixed for Räikkönen, they said they got "basic, ok setting", but the new things they tried during practice sessions were worse than that, and that testing to find the steering he likes continues on next GP's practice sessions

So much for red bull sandbagging. Newey, shock horror, has designed a car that isn't that good.

First qualifying is hardly enough to judge the car completely, let's see how it fares in race & next few races

 

[itsmydamnation]

So much for red bull sandbagging. Newey, shock horror, has designed a car that isn't that good.

Webber was without KERS for Q2 and 3 and ran in the middle of Q3 so he would have been up close to the front row ( 2nd or 3rd) as KERS is worth a fair bit on this track with quite a few low speed into long straight corners.

 

[Bludd]

Exciting quali. Errors by Kimi and Fernando. Grosjean got to 3rd on the grid, so where could have ended up without that error?

Hamilton didn't even finish his last lap, great performance. RB7 was so heavily designed for EBD and RB8 can't cope without it. Ferrari also doesn't have rear grip. Mercedes looks quick but Rosberg made a mistake on his last fast lap while Schumi was consistent.

Race is going to be massive tomorrow, hoping Lewis won't just scamper off and win without anyone fighting him.

Also, HRT won't be allowed to race. Shocking pace on that car, but at least they made it to Melbourne. They totally need the time before Malaysia to get up to speed.

 

[Bludd]

With the loss of rear downforce, is this playing to Hamilton's strengths? I think so.

 

[Dave Baumann]

Not just the loss of backend downforce (though, that McLaren is looking planted) but also the subtle changes to the tires. Although tire management will still be key, as overall degradation is high, Pirelli have changed the tire to have a more malleable sidewall. The net effect is that a tire slide this year will cause less degredation than on last years tire with a stiffer sidewall, thus being slightly better for an over steering style.

 

[DJ12]

Red bull qualified 8 tenths ahead last season and we all knew they'd dominate. this year they are almost as much behind and we cannot predict anything? Seriously they are way behind mclaren. Kers is not all win if it isn't working and you turn it off completely it makes a neglidgable difference to the lap time.

 

[Bludd]

Red bull qualified 8 tenths ahead last season and we all knew they'd dominate. this year they are almost as much behind and we cannot predict anything? Seriously they are way behind mclaren. Kers is not all win if it isn't working and you turn it off completely it makes a neglidgable difference to the lap time.

Sure we can predict. RB8 doesn't like being without an EBD. They usually setup for cornering and not top speed and they don't have enough downforce now without the EBD for the lack of top speed to be balanced out. McLaren has the best KERS and the best engine (arguably). Lewis is favourite for tomorrow, but Button is a good racer and can win too. Big chance for safety cars, too so that can throw up a result.

 

[Lightman]

Great job by McLaren! No doubt they are quick in a quali trim.
Tomorrow we will find out how they cope with race, but I don't think anyone except maybe Lotus and Merc will be seriously threatening them.

I'm looking forward to see both Kimi and Alonso fighting their lost positions back up a grid as well as what will happen at the front. I must say Webber looks very good and if they fix his KERS he might surprise and get on to a podium place. This of course will be possible if Merc tyre degradation will show it's ugly head and Grosjean lack of running on Pirellis somewhat affect his tyre management.

Can't wait really!

 

[Kaotik]

Wasn't McLaren quite heavy on it's tyres last season, at least when compared to red bull? It might hurt them in the long run.

Of course testing doesn't tell everything, but IIRC in at least Kimi's race simulation Lotus lost relatively less speed than McLaren over time, suggesting Lotus is gentler on the tires

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Seems like there isn't going to be much to cheer for this season as a Ferrari fan... Hopefully Mercedes will do good because I won't be able to stand the mclaren lovefest for a whole season.

Anybody knows a place where you can get good quality streams? The one I used for quali didn't exactly make me happy... couldnt even read the names on the timing on the left of the screen. The Dutch commentary is so terribly bad I can't stand to watch it. Thought about mixing it with BBC or Sky commentary but thats out of sync so thats not going to work either.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Even though I don't really follow F1 like I did in the 80's and early 90's, I'm glad that the better looking car ended up doing best in quali at least.

Regards,
SB

 

[Lightman]

And the RedBull is not that slow! This will be tight championship for sure. Consistency will be crucial!

Very impressed by Fernando drive

So now we know that McLaren, RedBull, Lotus have the best racing cars, closely followed by Mercedes, Sauber, Williams, Ferrari (at least 1 of them).

Good thing we have a race next weekend!

 

[Bludd]

Great work by Button. Hamilton was disadvantaged by the safety car while Vettel gained massively, but the Red Bull was good in the race. Webber got his best result ever in Australia. Alonso drove well, but the car has problems. Kimi did well, too bad he and Fernando couldn't go further in quali. Maldonado crashing must be sour for Williams because the car is good.

It was a good race, I want Malaysia to start tomorrow!