2016 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne, March 18-20

[mrluke]

Maybe because they dont have a need for 7 sets of the S or SS so might as well try the M out on friday for additional data?

[Sevach]

I'm pretty sure this one 1 medium is forced on the teams by Pirelli.

And given that last year teams only used the medium because the rules forced them too, it seems logical to me.

[BanMeToo]

M and S are the 'primary' tires that Pirelli chose for this GP. It means that the drivers must show up Sunday morning with at least one unused set of M and at least one unused set of S. Then, during the race, each driver must use at least one of those two tire sets.

edit: it is semi-redundant with the 'two compounds during race' rule. If you start on SS, you must stop at least once and grab an S or M set. This is just enforcing it from the 'tire selection phase' area of the rules. You must have one of those two sets available otherwise you cannot meet the 'two different compound during race' rule.

[nevill3]

Do they have to be unused? I thought that as long as they were available the rule is satisfied. The only time a tyre becomes unavailable is when they are used during the FP1 & FP2 because they have to be handed back I think or has this rule been abandoned. I will have to revisit the Ted Kravitz explanation of the new tyre rules

Edit, just checked and it appears Pirelli have stated the tyres they nominate must only be used in the race so they have to be unused

[Nathanael F1]

Is there an online site where I can watch the GPs (preferably not live)?

[nevill3]

I have just worked out Lewis's probable tyre usage for the weekend.

FP1 2 sets of softs which will be handed back
FP2 1 set of softs + 1 set of supersofts Also handed back
FP3 1 set of softs + 1 set of supersofts Also handed back


Q1 1 set of softs
Q2 used set of softs and a new set of supersofts (to start the race on)
Q3 2 sets of supersofts one of which must be handed back

This leaves him with the two sets Pirelli mandate are for the race 1 Soft and 1 Medium with a used supersoft to start from Q2 (fastest time set on this), 1 new supersoft a used soft tyre set from Q1/Q2 and used supersoft set from Q3

This leaves him a race option of

SS-S-SS (new tyres at each pitstop) using the SS in the final stint when the car is at it's lightest and the track has rubbered in to get the maximum amount of laps possible.

Rosberg has 1 less set of softs so will probably run a set of mediums on the FP1 or FP2 as will Ferrari too.

Williams, Mclaren, RedBull, Torro Rosso and Haas have possibly expected to run the supersofts in Q1 so have asked for 7 sets each

Manor are doing their own thing and obviously trying to save money by only using 1 set of mediums all weekend or maybe trying a one stop race to try and jump Haas and Sauber

Sauber and Force India are probably doing the same as Mercedes so are confident of getting out of Q1, or they were before the new qualifying format was sprung on them after they had made thier tyre choices!

[djos]

Most cars didn't have much degradation last year on the Soft-Medium allocation, so perhaps some will attempt a more aggressive two-stop going Soft-Supersoft-Supersoft?

Depends on the weather, if its cool, the teams will have a hard time keeping the SS in their operating window, and just burn through them.

It's been damned hot here in Melbourne for the past week (mid 30c's) and not sure it's going to get much cooler by the time the GP comes along.

[Chuckjr]

Do we know yet how heat affects different cars and how their tires respond to hotter weekends?

I didn't see much in testing about tire appearance when the cars were in the pits during race sims.

[ARF1]

I have just worked out Lewis's probable tyre usage for the weekend.

Yet we banned helmet livery changes because it was confusing the casual fans...

Even as a "hardcore" fan I don't particularly care who's selected what tyres. All of the teams have basically followed the same selection, because they were always going to converge on the fastest solution. Did anyone in F1 really expect wild differences?

Looking forward to the race, I just hope I can understand it!

[giantfan10]

Do we know yet how heat affects different cars and how their tires respond to hotter weekends?

I didn't see much in testing about tire appearance when the cars were in the pits during race sims.

during testing both Ferrari and Mercedes were graining the soft tire due to lower temperatures.

[bauc]

Is there an online site where I can watch the GPs (preferably not live)? I used to watch the BBC's coverage using Hola, since I'm in the US.

Lucky for me, I can see every race & all practice seasons for free since we have 2 TV channels here in our standard 5 EUR per month cable service with the rights for F1. One is national broadcaster and the other TV channel one is regional sports channel. If you want to watch the races (not live) you just download them from torrent sites few hours after the race is done, and you can find quite good ones in HD as well.

P.S. I do not to advocate illegal actions but everyone does it so its just like in F1, everyone cheats its just a matter or who gets caught.

Apologies for OT post.

[AnthonyG]

Is there an online site where I can watch the GPs (preferably not live)? I used to watch the BBC's coverage using Hola, since I'm in the US.

Lucky for me, I can see every race & all practice seasons for free since we have 2 TV channels here in our standard 5 EUR per month cable service with the rights for F1. One is national broadcaster and the other TV channel one is regional sports channel. If you want to watch the races (not live) you just download them from torrent sites few hours after the race is done, and you can find quite good ones in HD as well.

P.S. I do not to advocate illegal actions but everyone does it so its just like in F1, everyone cheats its just a matter or who gets caught.

Apologies for OT post.

[Mansell89]

What would be a suitable gap for thr chasing pack to be behind Mercedes for the season to be remotely interesting?

The way I read testing makes me wonder whether they have something like a second up their sleeve BUT I also felt that Ferrari were pretty coy with what they were doing and am hoping they too have time in their pocket.

I just hope the race gives us hope of a good seasonal battle between at least two teams. But we will see.

[godlameroso]

If Ferrari is ~.3 sec per lap slower than Mercedes, then Mercedes cannot afford to make ANY mistakes. That's the type of season I'm seeing, who ever has the strongest team, and makes the least mistakes will win the championship. On some slow twisty tracks Ferrari will be faster, in most Tilke tracks, Mercedes will be faster, but with such a small margin, any mistakes will cost a postition, and again, with such a small margin passing will be nearly impossible.

[Fulcrum]

Rain now being forecast for Friday and Saturday. Weather here changes faster than people change clothes, but at the very least I will interpret this as an elevated chance of rain and lower temperatures.

I guess the chances of SS usage have diminished.