2015 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne

[ChrisM40]

It seems McLaren are suffering from not having the packaging genius that is Newey. Sure they have the Aero now, but they dont seem to know how to package it all up and make it work.

Rons interview was more dignified than Horner, who always comes over as entitled and childish, but I do wish he would actually answer the questions asked and make sense doing it. His waffle is sometime so thick you cant actually tell what hes trying to say.

[Sevach]

Something very wrong with Nico's S1, since he screwed his banker that's what he deserves, lucky for him he has a supercar.

I think Ferrari edge's Williams despite the fact that Massa is front of them both.

[Lasse-E]

Edit: Added Link

K-Mag, seemed surprisingly upbeat and confident about his own performance when interviewed by Danish TV3 Sport after qualifying, Saying that he would have been faster then Button, if he hadn't had extra problems with the engine on his last run in Q3.
And when asked about the time frame for recovery on the engine performance, he was more straightforward than any thing I have heard from Mclaren/Honda so far, simply replying: I don't think that it will happen this year.

Don't know if this will be available outside Denmark, and it is all so in Danish.
http://www.tv3sport.dk/motorsport/nyhed ... nd-button/

Is this mentioned in the video? I can see it. I understand some parts of the text but I havent seen where he says that they will not recover during this season. Anyway, its good to know the reality, por Alonso and Button, this season will be terrible for them and we all know how Alonso reacts when the situation is so bad.

Yes it is in the video. Did not read the text before now but there they do not mention it instead they focus on the part where he speaks about his pace relative to Button.

[Jonnycraig]

Manor called to the stewards to explain themselves..

[Raleigh]

Something very wrong with Nico's S1, since he screwed his banker that's what he deserves, lucky for him he has a supercar.

I think Ferrari edge's Williams despite the fact that Massa is front of them both.

Nah, Williams edging Ferrari. Valteri would be up there on row 2 with Massa if he hadn't caught some grass on the way out of turn 15 and got just a little sideways on the backstraight. Lap was still good enough for 6th though.

[Unc1eM0nty]

It seems McLaren are suffering from not having the packaging genius that is Newey. Sure they have the Aero now, but they dont seem to know how to package it all up and make it work.

Rons interview was more dignified than Horner, who always comes over as entitled and childish, but I do wish he would actually answer the questions asked and make sense doing it. His waffle is sometime so thick you cant actually tell what hes trying to say.

I thought Newey was still pretty much full time at the moment, last I read he'd not done very much work on other projects at all.

I've never seen less assured interview performance by Ron, he's sounded off balance and totally lost to me. Still miles better than Horner last year though when he total burned Renault.

[Waffle]

It seems McLaren are suffering from not having the packaging genius that is Newey. Sure they have the Aero now, but they dont seem to know how to package it all up and make it work.

Rons interview was more dignified than Horner, who always comes over as entitled and childish, but I do wish he would actually answer the questions asked and make sense doing it. His waffle is sometime so thick you cant actually tell what hes trying to say.

I think that's because he was trying to say nothing!

[stuartpengs]

I know it's not a very technical appraisal (apologies for this), but I can't help but get the feeling there's something unique to the McLaren that both the team and Honda feel quite bullish about. Reading between the lines it just appears they're having issues with it all working together, rather than any fundamentally flawed design or architecture.

I think McLaren will get it together soon, and when they do I just get the feeling they may surprise a lot of people.

Stellar Mercedes domination at the moment!

[Juzh]

the Mercedes looks so good in the high speed corners it´s insane. Front end just sticks and the rear end just deals with it.

2012 pole - 24.922
2015 pole - 26.327

They are not that far off the V8 days now, but we´ll have to see a couple more dry races to get a better picture.

2012 was a slow year
2011 23.5
2010 24.0
But yeah, they're getting there slowly.

[Sevach]

Something very wrong with Nico's S1, since he screwed his banker that's what he deserves, lucky for him he has a supercar.

I think Ferrari edge's Williams despite the fact that Massa is front of them both.

Nah, Williams edging Ferrari. Valteri would be up there on row 2 with Massa if he hadn't caught some grass on the way out of turn 15 and got just a little sideways on the backstraight. Lap was still good enough for 6th though.

The gap between Ferrari/Williams to RBR/STR is also pretty hefty, even a bad lap is enough.

Ferrari had more potential, sector time analysis show that, they just didn't put it together.
http://macofan.com/en/index.php?page=re ... s=7437&p=3

[thomin]

Ferrari: I'm glad they're back. Their engine apparently has made the biggest improvements among the three manufacturers. While I'm no fan of the rigidity of the engine rules, it's good to see that there is still enough room for different approaches that come to similar results.

McLaren: I wonder what exactly the problem with the engine is here. It looks as if it's an overheating issue first and foremost. Maybe McLaren has a similar problem to the Renault teams last year when real life numbers turned out to be hotter than initially thought. I could see them going for an extreme solution with their tight packaging is something that now simply doesn't work. And instead of doing what Red Bull did last year when they sacrificed some aero points in order to pump up cooling, they simply detuned the engine.

[Just_a_fan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqY1WqRH65Q#t=59
Jeez, i can't remember the last time i've seen Ron Dennis like that

So the strategy is: try not to destroy the engine. It's not racing, it's still testing, and it smells like it's still testing what should have been tested in the first pre-season test. This won't be a long season, it's starting to feel like it will be a lost season.

Indeed so, but does anyone think that Honda don't know how to make a decent engine and thus know how to develop what they've got now? Even if McLaren have to suck up a lost season in order to get the engine and systems sorted then that might be a price worth paying if it gets them back to the front next year.

[tranquility2k4]

the Mercedes looks so good in the high speed corners it´s insane. Front end just sticks and the rear end just deals with it.

2012 pole - 24.922
2015 pole - 26.327

They are not that far off the V8 days now, but we´ll have to see a couple more dry races to get a better picture.

2012 was a slow year
2011 23.5
2010 24.0
But yeah, they're getting there slowly.

Remember though that in 2011 - 2012 they had free use of DRS in qualifying (in any corner), which may equate to 8 tenths per lap or so. They also had super EBD with off-throttle in 2010 - 2011 (double-diffuser in 2010), still reduced EBD in 2012. Then they had the beam wing, and wider front-wings for more front downforce. You then have to consider that these new cars are much heavier - I believe about 1.5 - 2 secs per lap slower due to weight compared with 2013. They tyres have been made more conservative and slower to cope with the torque of these new engines.

If you consider all of this it's pretty remarkable, the times they're doing. Imagine however a car with the current V6 (Merc) engine, with a double diffuser, exhaust blown diffuser, off-throttle mappings, beam wing, and free use of DRS in qualifying. That would be a true beast!

Also what's a little surprising is that normally you would expect the field to get tighter after the 1st year of new regulations - what has actually happened is much bigger gaps. Large gap from Merc -> Williams/Ferrari -> RB/Torro Rosso/Lotus -> rest -> Manor (really?) -> Mclaren...

[Chene_Mostert]

I wonder if Massa will be allowed to challenge the two Merc's should the opportunity present itself?
If Williams are considering to challenge they will have to make their move very early, I see Ferrari taking them after the first 25% of the race.

[ChrisM40]

I seriously doubt the Manor is faster than the Mc. Id be willing to bet its a couple of seconds off and outside the 107%.