2013 Australian GP - Albert Park

[kris]

its not possible to change rear wing in two minutes, unless it's constructed and complete seperate from gearbox on who is going beam wing and rear wing. Rear wing is not front wing. Also his rear wing was not damaged that way that rear wing broke completly, it looked after kick in wall as one plate of rear wing was just loosen off and started going left-right.

Their rear wing IS completely separate from their gearbox. There was a nice shot of one of the mechanics running to the garage carrying the new rear wing.

I believe we have lots of similar pics of the williams car in the car thread which shows the gearbox on the car without the rear wing.
After the statement the interviewer also expressed surprise..but the mercedes guy re-said that again..

[SiLo]

Great to see Rosberg at the top, but did Hamilton do a time on the inters? Wouldn't expect him to be 2 seconds slower than his teammate.

[RicerDude]

Great to see Rosberg at the top, but did Hamilton do a time on the inters? Wouldn't expect him to be 2 seconds slower than his teammate.

He was purple in sector 1 but had to slow in the final 2 sectors because of gutierrez.

[SiLo]

Great to see Rosberg at the top, but did Hamilton do a time on the inters? Wouldn't expect him to be 2 seconds slower than his teammate.

He was purple in sector 1 but had to slow in the final 2 sectors because of gutierrez.

Thanks Got a feeling the Mercedes is pretty handy in the wet.

[RicerDude]

Great to see Rosberg at the top, but did Hamilton do a time on the inters? Wouldn't expect him to be 2 seconds slower than his teammate.

He was purple in sector 1 but had to slow in the final 2 sectors because of gutierrez.

Thanks Got a feeling the Mercedes is pretty handy in the wet.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/106080

[Juzh]

Great to see Rosberg at the top, but did Hamilton do a time on the inters? Wouldn't expect him to be 2 seconds slower than his teammate.

He was purple in sector 1 but had to slow in the final 2 sectors because of gutierrez.

Vettel went fastest in S1 and S2 before having to lift of for yellows, so nothing is guarranteed.

[hollus]

Although I pulled a whole nighter to watch FP3 and then qualifying and it didn't fell good on me, it was the right decision to delay and then cancel Q2 and Q3.

Heavy rain, wind, poor visibility (+the fact that it was dark because of the clouds and that is a "dirty" kind of darkness), debris brought by the wind on the track and the birds flying too close around the cars were dangerous conditions. Q1 was full of incidents and it was some kind of a mayhem on the track with some spinning, going off, front wings flying all over the place, dirt on the track etc.

People trashing the FIA for today's (because today I feel that they were actually right) decision are simply ridiculous and probably never did any racing apart from Play Station or Xbox.

In my opinion, the fact that that in one session that was actually run, the best times were set with inters, says it all.
It is dangerous, for sure, but who did we have actually crashing the car at (not so high) speed? Massa, who is like a cat and can't tolerate any water, a rookie, a rookie and a rookie, all in their first race. Hamilton kissed the wall, but one could argue that he is also in his first race. Crashes are a skill discriminating factor, which is what a race is supposed to be. And most of those crashes were as the track started to dry. There is a wet tire for a reason, and once visibility will be OK, the drivers should be allowed to use it.

[Vasconia]

Charlie should retire, he is killing the sport, so much security is sometimes annoying, we have had enought minutes for the q2 and q3, but if you dont let the cars run because it could rain it is imposible. Q3 could have been awesome,thanks Charlie...

About the teams, well Williams is really in trouble, what a terrible surprise, Maldonado´s face and comments have explained quite clearly what the situation is. Button could have saved the day with rain, now he and Perez will struggle.

I think the pole will be between Vettel, Hamilton and the Lotus, I am waiting more from Ferrari, I think they are hidding some pace.

[fiohaa]

Although I pulled a whole nighter to watch FP3 and then qualifying and it didn't fell good on me, it was the right decision to delay and then cancel Q2 and Q3.

Heavy rain, wind, poor visibility (+the fact that it was dark because of the clouds and that is a "dirty" kind of darkness), debris brought by the wind on the track and the birds flying too close around the cars were dangerous conditions. Q1 was full of incidents and it was some kind of a mayhem on the track with some spinning, going off, front wings flying all over the place, dirt on the track etc.

People trashing the FIA for today's (because today I feel that they were actually right) decision are simply ridiculous and probably never did any racing apart from Play Station or Xbox.

well you clearly don't remember a time when F1 cars used to race in the wet, pre 2009.
but no, not anymore, can't let drivers use skill can we - can't have the danger of cars breaking because that would upset the sponsors wouldn't it?

sorry, this has been another example of teams wanting to protect their assets by not racing, its pathetic.
there have been plenty of times in the 00's and before where conditions have been bad and its up to the drivers how much they want to push. Thats like....part of their supposed skill.
Unless cars are literally aquaplaning at 50mph, then its fair enough (malaysia 2001).

Add that to the fact that now full wets are redundant in races, because it brings out a safety car until conditions are good enough for inters, and this 'motorsport' is turning into a joke.

[Websta]

In my opinion, the fact that that in one session that was actually run, the best times were set with inters, says it all.
It is dangerous, for sure, but who did we have actually crashing the car at (not so high) speed? Massa, who is like a cat and can't tolerate any water, a rookie, a rookie and a rookie, all in their first race. Hamilton kissed the wall, but one could argue that he is also in his first race. Crashes are a skill discriminating factor, which is what a race is supposed to be. And most of those crashes were as the track started to dry. There is a wet tire for a reason, and once visibility will be OK, the drivers should be allowed to use it.

Esteban and Massa both had very high velocity and energetic crashes (and thus very concerning crashes), and the many "skilled wet weather drivers" also had big offs in the fastest part of the circuit, but they were fortunate to avoid a collisions because of the run off. I feel they made a reasonable call to postpone Q2 further after the massive downpour right after Q1 forced an initial postponement.

I feel Massa's and Esteban's crashes are what caused Q2 to be postponed repeatedly, even though the track conditions appeared to settle at around what they were at the start of Q1. The fact that this is a street circuit lined with concrete barriers and not an open circuit like Silverstone or Hockenheim where there are much wider run-off areas forced them to postpone following the carnage of Q1. Guys, get over it. They made the correct decision.

Hamilton kissed the wall, but one could argue that he is also in his first race.

By that logic, all the drivers in the field were in their first race.

[stefan_]

In my opinion, the fact that that in one session that was actually run, the best times were set with inters, says it all.
It is dangerous, for sure, but who did we have actually crashing the car at (not so high) speed? Massa, who is like a cat and can't tolerate any water, a rookie, a rookie and a rookie, all in their first race. Hamilton kissed the wall, but one could argue that he is also in his first race. Crashes are a skill discriminating factor, which is what a race is supposed to be. And most of those crashes were as the track started to dry. There is a wet tire for a reason, and once visibility will be OK, the drivers should be allowed to use it.

You are right, but this happening in qualifying nobody could really make their flyer (which would have been tricky enough to do in the rain without cars & debris on the track) and what is qualifying for if you can't make a proper lap? Gutierrez was sideways on the track, Pic's and Massa's wings were all over the place, dirt was on the track, rain was pouring. Plus the fact that Albert Park has a lot of parking/traffic marking lines that are slippery in that conditions.

Of course in the last few years there were some retarded decisions to stop the race when spits of rain came down the track or to deploy the safety car when an empty bag of chips was on the racetrack, but you have to look at today's situation and conditions.

well you clearly don't remember a time when F1 cars used to race in the wet, pre 2009.
but no, not anymore, can't let drivers use skill can we - can't have the danger of cars breaking because that would upset the sponsors wouldn't it?

sorry, this has been another example of teams wanting to protect their assets by not racing, its pathetic.
there have been plenty of times in the 00's and before where conditions have been bad and its up to the drivers how much they want to push. Thats like....part of their supposed skill.
Unless cars are literally aquaplaning at 50mph, then its fair enough (malaysia 2001).

Add that to the fact that now full wets are redundant in races, because it brings out a safety car until conditions are good enough for inters, and this 'motorsport' is turning into a joke.

Yes, I do remember that time and I am not a safety freak or something like that. I'm quite the opposite for that matter.

After all, we want to see racing, speed, excitement and adrenaline, 2m Euros cars being ridiculous by sailing and just trying to stay between the white lines. Brazil last year was one of the most exciting races in the last few years and nobody complained about the fact that it was raining, drying, pouring or drying agian.

[Lorenzo_Bandini]

Massa said the problem was not the amount of water, but the black line all over the track, it's why him and Gutierrez spun at the same place.

[Nando]

Apparently some lines have been painted black. Good luck staying off the painted areas lol.

[GrizzleBoy]

Great to see Rosberg at the top, but did Hamilton do a time on the inters? Wouldn't expect him to be 2 seconds slower than his teammate.

He was purple in sector 1 but had to slow in the final 2 sectors because of gutierrez.

Vettel went fastest in S1 and S2 before having to lift of for yellows, so nothing is guarranteed.

Glad somebody else noticed. Was looking at the live timing waiting for Crofty to start screaming, but luckily it never came :p

Vettel is still showing huge pace imo.

[lukeaar]

Apparently some lines have been painted black. Good luck staying off the painted areas lol.

Half of the track is usually a public road, with accompanying center lines. Get rid of those.
Also, a section of the track (corner 4 from memory) goes through what is usually a parking lot. You can imagine the amount of painted lines through there!