2015 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne

[efuloni]

I agree. Its always an extra that the guy leading the race may just retire for an engine failure, for example. Bad luck is part of all sports.

The race was not boring for 11 cars finishing it. It was boring for 15 cars starting!

It was not boring because two cars were way better. It was boring cause almost the entire race we had a gap between many of the few cars left.

I repeat: Nasr's overtake after the Safety Car was the only 'cool' moment of the race, the only nice maneuver, I guess.

It doesnt mean, necessarily, that all the races will be bad and the year is gone. But we need 20 cars (at least) starting the race to make it fun. Then, we might se battles between Ferrari vs Williams and RBR vs STR vs Sauber vs Lotus. This seems to be the first scenario.

[ChrisM40]

Yes, cars used to break down a lot, but there also used to be 25+ cars starting, or even more. They had to start knocking some out in qualifying. In 1989 there were 38 at the first race. This years 18 is the lowest its been for 40 years.

When teams are spending hundreds of millions on the cars in the flagship series, that should be a demonstration of bleeding edge design, engineering and driving, you dont expect the shoddy show we got.

[dans79]

One stop races are always boring. The most interesting races seem to be the ones when it's a borderline 2 or 3 stop race.

I know people keep blaming the engines for the super high cost, but really I think it's the aero and chassis development more than anything else. I think we should allow customer cars again, as thats one of the many reasons the grid used to be so big.
Williams for example started out using a customer car.

[f1316]

Encouraging for Ferrari fans and fans of multi team racing alike:

http://m.autosport.com/news/report.php/ ... -race-trim

"I believe in the race, we are not far from Mercedes," said Raikkonen. "I'm sure we can be up there and fight at the front.

I don't think kimi is one for wild optimism so I tend to trust anything positive that comes out of his mouth. Here's hoping anyway:)

[andartop]

The main difference to past boring races (and seasons) is that with such strict limitations on car and engine development and hardly any testing allowed, chances are (realistically) that the order in which teams finish in the first race of the season will be very similar to the order in which they finish the last race. They took away our Hope!

For the record, I don't think Australia 2015 was anywhere near as boring as some other races of recent (or past) years I've watched, but then again it's been such a long long time since the last race of 2014 that I would even enjoy watching a single Caterham doing rounds in Valencia by itself..

[efuloni]

The main difference to past boring races (and seasons) is that with such strict limitations on car and engine development and hardly any testing allowed, chances are (realistically) that the order in which teams finish in the first race of the season will be very similar to the order in which they finish the last race. They took away our Hope!

For the record, I don't think Australia 2015 was anywhere near as boring as some other races of recent (or past) years I've watched, but then again it's been such a long long time since the last race of 2014 that I would even enjoy watching a single Caterham doing rounds in Valencia by itself..

Exactly. Unless Ferrari, RBR or Williams make the best job ever done and, in the meantime, everyone at Mercedes suddently starts doing the worst job ever, there's no realistic chance of reaching a gap that's near 1sec (maybe more).

[PlatinumZealot]

Having to adjust brake balance so many times over a lap is a bit scary for me. As are many other things F1 drivers have to worry about these days. Playstation indeed. Don't know how these guys manage, KERS and DRS buttons on top of all the 'normal' F1 controls were too much for me on PS3's F1 2012. The current path the sport and FIA have chosen is a bit dangerous for the drivers. Could we find ourselves in a situation similar to 1994 if for some reason they have to drop some of all these buttons at some point? Say, the FIA finds out that 1 team is somehow cheating and has no way to prove or control it, will they not be tempted to make a knee-jerk reaction and ban entirely something they shouldn't, rendering the cars unsafe in the process? It's not like they haven't done something like that in the past...

Back in the seventies, video games were a joystick and a button or two.

[Artur Craft]

In quali, Raikkonen was 5 tenths slower than both Mercedes in S3. The rest ? From 8 to one second slower.

Ferrari was fast in S1, then slower than Mercedes AND Williams in S2, but only mercedes was faster than Ferrari in S3.

For me, Ferrari have more downforce than Williams, but Williams is faster as soon as there is a power sector.

Only Rosberg. Kimi was 0,3s slower than Lewis and 0,5s from Rosberg

Mercedes has lower top speed than Ferrari, despite better PU, so, it's no surprise they will have quite more downforce.

For me the race was utterly boring, but nothing that surprised me as I didn't expect any different. There was a time F1 had no overtakings and very few battles, but, at the very least, you had drivers punching one fastest lap of the race after another. It was a speed contest. Now, there are no real battles, as well(the DRS/tyre kind of pass is nothing to me), and they give me the impression of pretty much everybody just being on cruise mode to the finish line.

What racing should be is a subjective thing and for me it involves real genuine battles and the seek of the limit(for most of the race, if not during all of it).

It's pretty sad that, albeit the 2004 race was pretty boring, the fastest lap was 1.24.1 while in 2015 they were cruising, in a equally battle-less race, for a best of 1.31

I'll never like this current regulation where the tyres are fragile and can't be pushed all the time, as well as the use of any sort of overtaking aid device.

I would suggest people to stop complaining, after each race, that F1 is boring, though. I realise that there are quite a few people that share the same views as I do and there is no point in repeating it every F1 weekend. Don't expect the current "show" to present what it's not intended to.

I watch it for the engineering side more than ever, nowadays. It's just not good to spoil the fun of those who are enjoying the races.

The drops on tv ratings are more than alarming, though:
German RTL
Australia GP
2014: 3,12 Millions.
2015: 1,72 M.

Sky Germany
2014: 0,26 M
2015: 0,18 M

Spanish TV
2014
'Fórmula 1' "GP de Australia" (Inicio de temporada): 1.438.000
2015
'Fórmula 1' "GP de Australia": 343.000

[Regle]

In quali, Raikkonen was 5 tenths slower than both Mercedes in S3. The rest ? From 8 to one second slower.

Ferrari was fast in S1, then slower than Mercedes AND Williams in S2, but only mercedes was faster than Ferrari in S3.

For me, Ferrari have more downforce than Williams, but Williams is faster as soon as there is a power sector.

[…]

The drops on tv ratings are more than alarming, though:
German RTL
Australia GP
2014: 3,12 Millions.
2015: 1,72 M.

Sky Germany
2014: 0,26 M
2015: 0,18 M

Spanish TV
2014
'Fórmula 1' "GP de Australia" (Inicio de temporada): 1.438.000
2015
'Fórmula 1' "GP de Australia": 343.000

Wow. I knew it was bad, but… this is a desaster. Especially considering Germany has one driver being the current vice champion driving around in a (let's say THE) winning car and another 4 times world champion in his first season for Ferrari (!).

If Bernie isn't interested in fans and Formula 1's legacy, he surely must understand this language?
But, eh, it's nothing a German Grand Prix 2015 couldn't fix…

[efuloni]

I also cant stand the notion of drivers driving like cabs. Saving fuel, tyres and now the PU. I guess they push to the limit in 4, 5 laps and the rest they are somehow taking car of the car.

I know that take care of tyres and car was always part of F1. But you know what mean. Its pointless to give any further explications, you all understood, I think.

[djos]

I also cant stand the notion of drivers driving like cabs. Saving fuel, tyres and now the PU. I guess they push to the limit in 4, 5 laps and the rest they are somehow taking car of the car.

I know that take care of tyres and car was always part of F1. But you know what mean. Its pointless to give any further explications, you all understood, I think.

yeah it really sucks, Mark Webber was part of the ch10 broadcast team and was asked about the WEC tires and basically said they were bomb proof and could be raced hard on from beginning to end, he was then pretty scathing of the pirelli tires.

[FW17]

I was going through the lap time chart for OZ GP

LH lap times through the whole race was a flat line between 92 and 90 seconds. That was through 56 laps, new tyres old tyres, fuel loads and all that.

How boring was that. I really miss refueling.

[djos]

I was going through the lap time chart for OZ GP

LH lap times through the whole race was a flat line between 92 and 90 seconds. That was through 56 laps, new tyres old tyres, fuel loads and all that.

How boring was that. I really miss refueling.

I miss refuelling + decent tires too. [-o<

[zeph]

I think it is good they got rid of refueling, and with the hybrid formula it would make no sense!

The tires, yeah, that is a tough one, but it is not as bad as it was a few years ago.

I do think the teams should be given all compounds for every race weekend and be allowed to use them as they see fit.

No more phony compulsory tire changes.

If you want to use only the hard compound for the entire race, go ahead. If you want to do a three or four stop race with only the supersofts, go ahead. May the best strategy win.

I'd also get rid of the fuel flow limit. They have 100kg of fuel on board, and if they want to burn half of that in the first ten laps, that's okay. With a finite amount of fuel you'll have to do some sort of fuel management anyway, so no need to micromanage that with the rules.

[f1316]

I was going through the lap time chart for OZ GP

LH lap times through the whole race was a flat line between 92 and 90 seconds. That was through 56 laps, new tyres old tyres, fuel loads and all that.

How boring was that. I really miss refueling.

I miss refuelling + decent tires too. [-o<

Yeah, you only need tyres engineered to produce a certain amount of stops when you don't have refuelling. Bring back refuelling and you can have better tyres.