Australian GP 2012 - Albert Park

[NathanOlder]

not that many in the race.

[foxmulder_ms]

Great race! Enjoyed a lot.

Really good timing with safety car for Vettel and not so much for Hamilton

Nice race for Raikkonen, too. Happy about that!

Mercedes and Lotus will be on podium this year, I think.

All in all, niceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee start

Ohh, I forgot, Button rulezzzz!

[Adrian Newby]

He also forgot how close you can follow another car, lost downforce, and took a drive on the lawn. 1 good pass cancelled out by almost binning it in my view.

Yeah, that's it, he "forgot"...

Or could it be that a back-to-back world champion might know a thing or two about when and where to take a chance, so that even if it doesn't work out he still isn't into the wall?

[Pup]

Here are the gaps for the main players...



To me, it shows quite a few things...

1. Despite qualifying, this year looks like another McLaren & Red Bull show.
2. McLaren's big mistake was in putting Hamilton out in traffic after the first stop.
3. The RB's are easier on their tires, as I think was obvious.
4. Vettel was losing time to the McLarens even when he was catching back up to Schumacher, so we can probably say that on fresh tires, the McLarens are faster.
5. Mercedes has big bad race pace problems. Tires?

[munudeges]

Very impressed with Jenson today, mind. I've never been massively convinced by him in the past but that race did it more than any other for me.

[Adrian Newby]

4. Vettel was losing time to the McLarens even when he was catching back up to Schumacher, so we can probably say that on fresh tires, the McLarens are faster.

To go into more detail, I would say that Vettel was being held up by Schumacher, then Vettel went off the road, followed by a couple of laps when he was out of the DRS. Then Schumacher went off the road and Vettel immediately started gaining on Button, at a time when Button's tires were going off.

[Pup]

So you're saying that Vettel could only match the McLarens when using DRS? (or when the McTires go sour)

Possible, but as a McLaren fan I won't take too much comfort in that.

I just hope that Mercedes can continue their qualifying form. If Schumi hadn't gotten knocked out, then Hamilton probably could have had a comfy 15-20 second lead over Vettel before the first stop.

[Adrian Newby]

So you're saying that Vettel could only match the McLarens when using DRS? (or when the McTires go sour

Not at all, I was just saying that is what was happening at that time.

But, also at that time, Vettel wasn't trying to catch the McLarens. He was getting settled again after his off, catching Schumacher, trying to set up the timing for a pass at the corner of his choosing, etc. It was only two laps, immediately after having gone off the track, and there were also tactical considerations, so I wouldn't read too much into it.

I think the McLarens and the Bulls are pretty evenly matched. The Macs do better on fresh tires, the Bulls on older ones...

If that holds, then colder temps should favor the Macs, warmer temps, the Bulls.

[radosav]

toro rosso drivers let red bulls overtake them too easy

[Adrian Newby]

I sure wouldn't be holding up the Red bulls if I were driving a Toro Rosso!

[djos]

toro rosso drivers let red bulls overtake them too easy

They obviously saw what happened to the last two TR drivers that didnt get out of the way fast enuf!

[Earnard Beccelstone]

Great race, I'm so glad the season is upon us again.

Random musings on various drivers;

Button - Chuffed to see him win in Australia again. His form looks quite good - consistent, controlled and racing well within the limits of his ability, he reminded me of how Vettel won most of his races last year. I wonder what the Hamilton fans will say if he beats Lewis two years in a row?
Vettel - Seemed a little ragged through practice/qualifying but had a better showing in the race. Last year's magic not quite there, but its early days yet. Got a little lucky with the fall of the safety car, but also earned his position with some nice early passes.
Hamilton - Great qualifying and solid all round result. Pipped by Button to the first corner and then a little unlucky to be done over on strategy in the race.
Webber - Good qualifying, bad start. Got lucky that his car wasn't damaged in the first corner madness, but there is no excuse for qualifying 6th and then battling against the 10th to 14th qualifiers into the first corner. Needs to sort that out. Got a little lucky with retirements and the safety car, and finally beat his 2002 best placing of fifth at the Aussie GP.
Alonso - Man, that Ferrari looks unsteady! Binned it in quali with a simple driver error, made up for it during the race with a determined, if unspectacular performance. Lucky that so many drivers fell off in front of him
MaldonadNOOOOOOOOOOO! - Bugger, Williams actually looked good. Car looked very positive through the corners and near the front runners in terms of straight line speed. Maldonado definitely had pace and I may have to eat my earlier words about being worried about his performance. Crash was so reminiscent of Nakajima in 2009, binning it off the T4 curb while in 4th...
Kobayashi - Great result for Sauber out of the box and he maintains place as the most exciting driver in F1 at the moment, if only for his FP2 recovery. Sauber didn't look quite as fast as I'd hoped, but I expect another solid season for them
Raikkonen - Horrible quali, what were he and Lotus thinking? Car looked good in his hand, if not really spectacular. Similar story to Alonso in the race - nice recovery drive but nothing spectacular. I can't wait to see him in Malaysia though.

Drive of the race: Button
Surprise of the race: Grosjean and Williams pace
Disappointment of the race:

1. HRT - Just terrible
2. Maldonado - A slightly more level head and he would have scored more points in the first race than Williams did all last year
3. Massa - What's going on here? The gap between Alonso and Massa is getting worse it seems.
4. Caterham - Not as fast as testing seemed to indicate and I'd hoped they'd be. Looks like they'll be occupying the middle ground between the mid-pack and the two back marker teams. Could score points in a wet/atritted race though...

Good on Riccardo for scoring his first points at his home GP! Well done Dan!

[CHT]

Here are the gaps for the main players...

To me, it shows quite a few things...

1. Despite qualifying, this year looks like another McLaren & Red Bull show.
2. McLaren's big mistake was in putting Hamilton out in traffic after the first stop.
3. The RB's are easier on their tires, as I think was obvious.
4. Vettel was losing time to the McLarens even when he was catching back up to Schumacher, so we can probably say that on fresh tires, the McLarens are faster.
5. Mercedes has big bad race pace problems. Tires?

Mclaren main weakness is they have to run the car heavier than RBR due to Renault superior fuel efficiency, while their strength will be the extra horsepower from the merc engine.

So my guess is this year will be an exciting YO-YO season where Mclaren will shine on track which requires high horsepower, while RBR will shine on track which has more fast flowing corners.

[Dann]

If that holds, then colder temps should favor the Macs, warmer temps, the Bulls.

Next race in Sepang should reveal this...

[raymondu999]

I wouldn't really count on that happening. Since 2010 McLaren seem to have (bar a few anomalies) hit every sweet spot in terms of tyre warmup - hot or cold.