2018 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne, 22 -25 March

[foxmulder_ms]

Biggest disappointment: Renault.

I had the feeling that Renault had moved up a bit, but not in the top3 yet. Were you expecting them to be mixing with the top 3?

I was expecting them to be a solid 4th.

[foxmulder_ms]

Got to remember how much cost Mercedes sink into engine development as well. It may not be as clear cut as you think.

So you think Ferrari spent less for engine development?. The fact is no one can know, period. I bet Honda spend the most in last couple years hahaha...

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Looks like another WDC/WCC for Mercedes. The biggest budget wins yet again.

And Toyota won so many championships, having had the biggest budget! Just saying.
https://www.autoblog.com/2008/09/22/f1- ... -the-most/
https://www.racefans.net/2008/09/22/toy ... get-4456m/

[LM10]

No they didn't.
They just said that Mercedes was ahead (which they seem to be). They also said it was close between them and RedBull. Hell they even hinted at Ferrari sandbagging and that Mercedes may need to keep an eye on that when Vettel randomly popped in a fastest speed trap time.

Oh, my apologies then. I actually didn't watch Sky. Just reacted to what was being written here.

That's fine. TBH however that's the problem with second hand info.

That's true.

[iotar__]

Looks like another WDC/WCC for Mercedes. The biggest budget wins yet again.

And Toyota won so many championships, having had the biggest budget! Just saying.
https://www.autoblog.com/2008/09/22/f1- ... -the-most/
https://www.racefans.net/2008/09/22/toy ... get-4456m/

- Toyota doesn't compete in '18, just saying. Reason - spending money = not a good example.

- Red Bull can whinge about the engines all decade long but they were also outspent and outdeveloped including engine costs they were not willing to cover. Mercedes changed F1 and Ferrari followed but too late with big changes after '13-'14 fiasco (remember how Domenicali complained about budgets?).

- Look where Renault and McLaren are, gaps like that don't disappear over the season. All five teams are btw unfairly fuelled by Ecclestone money distribution which ties nicely to out of F1 Toyota becuase even big manufacturers can't burn money like that forever. Big ones like hmmm Honda.

[LM10]

Does somebody have a go-to-place for lap times from FP? Or do I really have to replay the whole F1 app coverage and write them down? I just don't like the "Sky Sports said...".

Try here
https://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula- ... nformation

Looking at these numbers, I don't really see a domination of Mercedes. The lap times in the long runs among the top 3 teams look quite similar. You can see slightly faster laps of Mercedes, but this is nowhere near a big margin.

[Monster Hesh]

MotoGP & Dorna need to educate F1 & Liberty Media on how to design on-screen graphics and the wealth of information it should/needs to display. F1 2018 presentation is absolutely shocking.

Can someone explain the DRS counting?

[Big Mangalhit]

Force India's success over the last couple of seasons has been the highlight of the sport for me. Nothing like embarrassing a team with three or four times your budget.

Totally agree, but I would also add Williams. They were just a position below Findia the last two years and the two years before they were above them. Furthermore they were even beating Ferrari in 2014 and Red Bull in 2015. They also beat McLaren in every year of the new formula. they also did this making a profit every season, quite an underrated team

[tranquility2k4]

A word of warning for those thinking it may be close at the front (forgetting about rain i'm on about raw speed here if it is dry). Several times last year after Friday practice Red Bull and or Ferrari were ahead of Merc on 1 lap pace and/or on the long runs an then Merc were similar to them or ahead when it came to quali and the race. As it stands everything looks very close from Friday so if that normal pattern emerges I would expect Merc to have quite a bit in hand.

I recall often seeing Merc and RB close on long run times on Friday but then Merc way ahead in the actual race and thinking why didn't that show in the Friday long runs. It's either fuel or engine usage in one way or another.

It's likely that Merc can turn up their engines a lot more compared with RB. Remember Baku last year? Merc were behind in short and long run, by quite a bit and looked average. On Saturday and Sunday they dominated.

The only times the others had a chance last year was when another team looks quite dominant on a specific track or when Merc have a really poor Friday. Neither looks the case here so I think business as usual. If you want to see the real performance look at the average time on the 2nd stint they did in the long runs in Practice 2. Hamilton and Bottas far ahead of competition on the SS and S tyres respectively. They were clearly nursing the US tyres in stint 1 and unleashed potential in stint 2.

What's most surprising is the cars are not any faster than last year, in fact in the long runs especially Merc were quite a bit slower. Either this is because of the track temps or Merc really have their engine on mode 1 out of 10.

[Jambier]

So far for me,

Biggest nice surprise: Haas
Biggest disappointment: Renault.

I'm also disapointed for Renault.

I still think they have done a good job.
But the hard truth of the F1 is that:

- They were 4 fastest last year
- Now they seem to be 6 or 7 fighting with FI

It is very sad.
But then be behind McLaren is not a surprise. And behind the Ferrari 2017 as well.

I hope Renault can progress, I'm sure they will, to finish P5 as close as possible of McLaren.
I think Ferrabis will not be able to stay this good, last year, GRO qualy P6 already

[santos]

So, i've been Reading some predictions for qualifying. And many people talk about some "Party Mode" of Mercedes, and that mode will give them (maybe) the front row. Does Force India and Williams have that "Party Mode"?

[f1316]

A word of warning for those thinking it may be close at the front (forgetting about rain i'm on about raw speed here if it is dry). Several times last year after Friday practice Red Bull and or Ferrari were ahead of Merc on 1 lap pace and/or on the long runs an then Merc were similar to them or ahead when it came to quali and the race. As it stands everything looks very close from Friday so if that normal pattern emerges I would expect Merc to have quite a bit in hand.

I recall often seeing Merc and RB close on long run times on Friday but then Merc way ahead in the actual race and thinking why didn't that show in the Friday long runs. It's either fuel or engine usage in one way or another.

It's likely that Merc can turn up their engines a lot more compared with RB. Remember Baku last year? Merc were behind in short and long run, by quite a bit and looked average. On Saturday and Sunday they dominated.

The only times the others had a chance last year was when another team looks quite dominant on a specific track or when Merc have a really poor Friday. Neither looks the case here so I think business as usual. If you want to see the real performance look at the average time on the 2nd stint they did in the long runs in Practice 2. Hamilton and Bottas far ahead of competition on the SS and S tyres respectively. They were clearly nursing the US tyres in stint 1 and unleashed potential in stint 2.

What's most surprising is the cars are not any faster than last year, in fact in the long runs especially Merc were quite a bit slower. Either this is because of the track temps or Merc really have their engine on mode 1 out of 10.

Several times last year Ferrari looked behind on a Friday and then came in extremely strong in Q3, dropping back slightly vs Mercedes in quali. That was the general pattern of 2017 practice.

Hungary was a prime example of where the gap was big enough in Q3 for them to maintain a lead despite Mercedes closing up - but they were a clear third on the Friday.

Not saying it’s necessarily going to happen but it was a pattern

[ENGINE TUNER]

So, i've been Reading some predictions for qualifying. And many people talk about some "Party Mode" of Mercedes, and that mode will give them (maybe) the front row. Does Force India and Williams have that "Party Mode"?

Yes, and they always have.

[ENGINE TUNER]

MotoGP & Dorna need to educate F1 & Liberty Media on how to design on-screen graphics and the wealth of information it should/needs to display. F1 2018 presentation is absolutely shocking.

Can someone explain the DRS counting?
https://www.formula1.com/content/fom-we ... 601701.png

I think they may have numbered it as such because they claim that they don't expect DRS to help much passing into 13, but instead to help the driver get closer to help passing into T1. But that seems like nonsense to me as the turbulence from the leading car will disadvantage the following car from 13, 14, 15,and 16 so I don't see much improvement. The new DRS ZONE 3 will help drivers catch up sooner, but I don't see it helping overtaking any.

[Gothrek]

Looks like another WDC/WCC for Mercedes. The biggest budget wins yet again.

How do you even know that?? Why do you think they spend more than Ferrari or RedBull.

They spend more than double as Ferrari or Renault on the engine by 2015. Just google it. You will find it.