2016 Australian Grand Prix

[dr-baker]

Of course, the teams have had to select their tyre allocations many weeks in advance, so any decisions made now will influence the races in the mid-season, so it may not be until post-Canada where tyre choices and strategies become much more refined.

Very good point, I had forgotten the tyre choices were baked in for a while.

Which is a good thing, as far as I am concerned...

[Nuppiz]

I don't remember ever seeing flames coming out of the airbox quite like that before?

One of our heroes did experience that.

[mario]

I don't remember ever seeing flames coming out of the airbox quite like that before?

One of our heroes did experience that.

It's uncommon, but I can recall occasional incidents where flames have come back out of the airbox (I think that it happened to Kvyat a few years ago). You could already see a small fire burning within the intake when Kimi was entering the pits, so it must have started whilst Kimi was circulating out on track.

Kimi has commented that the engine still seemed to be running when he pulled into the pits but that he had lost power - I am speculating a little, but that suggests it may have been an electrical failure that set fire to the insulation within the air intake (if I recall well, Ferrari have relocated the MGU-K and some of the associated electronics to the front of the engine).

[Paul Hayes]

This is a British politics and current affairs joke. Please laugh, as I am terrifically pleased with myself for it...

"Of course, some people here in the UK will be unhappy that Romain Grosjean got so much more airtime in today's race than Leave Grosjean."

Thank you very much...

[CoopsII]

This is a British politics and current affairs joke. Please laugh, as I am terrifically pleased with myself for it...

"Of course, some people here in the UK will be unhappy that Romain Grosjean got so much more airtime in today's race than Leave Grosjean."

Thank you very much...

What would you have done with that gag if he'd crashed out first lap?

[CoopsII]

Just been watching Alonso going full Brundle-20th-Annivesary again and I have to wonder whether the halo would've impeded him trying to get out of the car at that angle. Which could've led to some old skool marshalling and the car being tipped over with him still in it (those were the days etc etc).

[Paul Hayes]

What would you have done with that gag if he'd crashed out first lap?

Not thought of it, I expect!

[AndreaModa]

Absolutely delighted to see Grosjean pull off quite a coup for sixth place. Massive result for Haas, and also F1 to some degree. Had they tooled around at the back 3 seconds off the pace like the 2010 new teams did for their whole existence then we'd might have never seen a new team in F1 again. So it's a good case study that will hopefully give encouragement to other prospective entrants.

It does vindicate the 1970s philosophy of buying in as much of the equipment as possible though doesn't it? The whole DFV, Hewland gearbox, Goodyear tyres and a chassis of your own design (based largely on the ones doing well at the time) was good enough for most teams of the period. So perhaps that idea isn't so bad, particularly in these more austere times? Forcing everyone to do everything themselves is clearly unsustainable - the last 20 years have proven that. So a relaxation of the rules in that area wouldn't be a bad thing in my view.

I do feel desperately sorry for Manor though. Sixth year of competition, and Haas walk in and score points immediately with a very impressive car. Yes, Manor are as competitive as they've ever been and could realistically score points with the right strategy and some attrition, but how galling must it be for the boys and girls in the team, some of whom may have been there from the start and the Virgin days. Still, plenty of races to go yet!

[dr-baker]

Lots of good stuff!

Definitely agree about the chassis/car construction rules. The Haas model would potentially work for Toro Rosso/Red Bull too - don't know why they haven't exploited this method yet.

And I am not just sorry for those at Manor, but also those who spent several years at HRT and Lotus/Caterham. Under this method of working, how many of those would have continued in jobs at those teams, I wonder?

[Miguel98]

Because they did a couple of years ago, and it got banned because of it?

[golic_2004]

And Grosjean became the first driver to win Driver of the Day Award
http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/grosj ... 81441/?s=1

[mario]

Lots of good stuff!

Definitely agree about the chassis/car construction rules. The Haas model would potentially work for Toro Rosso/Red Bull too - don't know why they haven't exploited this method yet.

And I am not just sorry for those at Manor, but also those who spent several years at HRT and Lotus/Caterham. Under this method of working, how many of those would have continued in jobs at those teams, I wonder?

In a way Red Bull and Toro Rosso are already working in a similar way to Haas, as the two outfits have a shared design team (Red Bull Technologies) and shared production facilities.

As Miguel98 notes, whilst Red Bull did push it quite far with Toro Rosso in the past, to the point where a number of components were effectively interchangeable between the two cars, the regulations have pushed the two outfits apart. To a certain extent, Toro Rosso seem to have started to move towards a slightly different design philosophy to Red Bull in recent years, with a slightly different balance between drag reduction and total downforce.

Because they did a couple of years ago, and it got banned because of it?

In the case of Haas, the FIA has already made some moves to introduce greater separation between Haas and Ferrari.

There were accusations that Ferrari were circumventing the restrictions on wind tunnel testing by effectively using Haas's wind tunnel development time to test some of their own components - although the FIA did not find any evidence that this had happened, they have introduced changes to the regulations that are designed to cut that sort of thing out in the future.

[Barbazza]

Am I the only one who finds these free pitstop under red flag rule utter bull How is allow teams to make pitstops under red without losing position remotely fair? Okay it got Haas some big points but they may have managed around 10th on merit given how things played out. And Vettel got screwed out of a win, Torro Rosso got screwed out of big points and Mercedes got handed an undeserved 1-2 just because the red flag came out at the best time for them.

I'm not sure what to make of it as it's the first red flag not related at least in part to weather (when you would expect teams too be changing tyres anyway) for absolutely ages, isn't it? I'm sure someone will come up with the next one.

One other point not mentioned, since it didn't really have any bearing on the end result either - did Magnussen 'unlap' himself in the pits as well? I was fast forwarding through the red flag period so didn't notice whether he unlapped himself on the track under the SC or not.

[andrew]

Am I the only one who finds these free pitstop under red flag rule utter bull How is allow teams to make pitstops under red without losing position remotely fair? Okay it got Haas some big points but they may have managed around 10th on merit given how things played out. And Vettel got screwed out of a win, Torro Rosso got screwed out of big points and Mercedes got handed an undeserved 1-2 just because the red flag came out at the best time for them.

I'm not sure what to make of it as it's the first red flag not related at least in part to weather (when you would expect teams too be changing tyres anyway) for absolutely ages, isn't it? I'm sure someone will come up with the next one.

One other point not mentioned, since it didn't really have any bearing on the end result either - did Magnussen 'unlap' himself in the pits as well? I was fast forwarding through the red flag period so didn't notice whether he unlapped himself on the track under the SC or not.

Before the red flag came in, K-Mag was allowed to the front of the queue next to the SC, he then left the pits before the Safety car train on gin his lap back

[MorbidelliObese]

Even if the tyres are frozen and the unlapping thing done away with, red flags (much like safety cars) will still always benefit/screw people in one way or another. Unless they go back to the old way of aggregate times. Which I personally would welcome with open arms but I get the feeling i'm in a small minority on that one...

[UncreativeUsername37]

Even if the tyres are frozen and the unlapping thing done away with, red flags (much like safety cars) will still always benefit/screw people in one way or another. Unless they go back to the old way of aggregate times. Which I personally would welcome with open arms but I get the feeling i'm in a small minority on that one...

Obviously that's true, it's just what set of rules will make races, on average, the least unfair.

And as for aggregate times, I have an even weirder solution with even more "only I would like it but I would really like it" value: do it like pursuit skiing. So release the leader from the pit lane whenever, then if the second-placed car was, say, 10 seconds back at the red flag, release them 10 seconds later, and so on.

[novitopoli]

Even if the tyres are frozen and the unlapping thing done away with, red flags (much like safety cars) will still always benefit/screw people in one way or another. Unless they go back to the old way of aggregate times. Which I personally would welcome with open arms but I get the feeling i'm in a small minority on that one...

Obviously that's true, it's just what set of rules will make races, on average, the least unfair.

And as for aggregate times, I have an even weirder solution with even more "only I would like it but I would really like it" value: do it like pursuit skiing. So release the leader from the pit lane whenever, then if the second-placed car was, say, 10 seconds back at the red flag, release them 10 seconds later, and so on.

That would be perfect. I'd add a 20-seconds time penalty for those who change tyres aswell (unless there's rain involved).

[dr-baker]

Even if the tyres are frozen and the unlapping thing done away with, red flags (much like safety cars) will still always benefit/screw people in one way or another. Unless they go back to the old way of aggregate times. Which I personally would welcome with open arms but I get the feeling i'm in a small minority on that one...

I am with you on that. I seem to remember enjoying the 1994 Japanese GP, which Damon Hill won on aggregate. But maybe that is just because I was a Hill fan perhaps?

And as for aggregate times, I have an even weirder solution with even more "only I would like it but I would really like it" value: do it like pursuit skiing. So release the leader from the pit lane whenever, then if the second-placed car was, say, 10 seconds back at the red flag, release them 10 seconds later, and so on.

There will always be pros and cons to each system. Under this system, after your example of 10 seconds, the lead driver will already be up to speed, while the driver about to be released will still need to accelerate up to race speed. But under the old system, you still had to form up on the grid with drivers 8 metres apart, you couldn't restart with all drivers alongside each other. So there will always be an element of unfairness to the drivers starting behind.

[DanielPT]

Even if the tyres are frozen and the unlapping thing done away with, red flags (much like safety cars) will still always benefit/screw people in one way or another. Unless they go back to the old way of aggregate times. Which I personally would welcome with open arms but I get the feeling i'm in a small minority on that one...

I am with you on that. I seem to remember enjoying the 1994 Japanese GP, which Damon Hill won on aggregate. But maybe that is just because I was a Hill fan perhaps?

If people rave about F1 "complex" rules (to be fair some of them are a bit complex), imagine explaining to casuals that it was Rosberg, back in 4th, that won in aggregate time instead of Hamilton, crossing the line first, after the race went through a red flag. The backlash would be huge.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

Even if the tyres are frozen and the unlapping thing done away with, red flags (much like safety cars) will still always benefit/screw people in one way or another. Unless they go back to the old way of aggregate times. Which I personally would welcome with open arms but I get the feeling i'm in a small minority on that one...

Obviously that's true, it's just what set of rules will make races, on average, the least unfair.

And as for aggregate times, I have an even weirder solution with even more "only I would like it but I would really like it" value: do it like pursuit skiing. So release the leader from the pit lane whenever, then if the second-placed car was, say, 10 seconds back at the red flag, release them 10 seconds later, and so on.

This. I like this. Only issue is what to do with lapped cars.

[MorbidelliObese]

Even if the tyres are frozen and the unlapping thing done away with, red flags (much like safety cars) will still always benefit/screw people in one way or another. Unless they go back to the old way of aggregate times. Which I personally would welcome with open arms but I get the feeling i'm in a small minority on that one...

I am with you on that. I seem to remember enjoying the 1994 Japanese GP, which Damon Hill won on aggregate. But maybe that is just because I was a Hill fan perhaps?

If people rave about F1 "complex" rules (to be fair some of them are a bit complex), imagine explaining to casuals that it was Rosberg, back in 4th, that won in aggregate time instead of Hamilton, crossing the line first, after the race went through a red flag. The backlash would be huge.

I'm assuming this is the very reason it was canned in the first place to be honest. Although I've always thought with modern timing and graphics it could be made less confusing than it was back then.

But when people are talking about wanting exciting races, close finishes etc. it's worth mentioning that Suzuka '94 is the only race I've watched live where I've literally been on my feet at the finish, not knowing who was going to win. The fact I was 11 years old and on something of a caffeine high in order to stay up through the night might have had something to do with it, but still.

[tBone]

Even if the tyres are frozen and the unlapping thing done away with, red flags (much like safety cars) will still always benefit/screw people in one way or another. Unless they go back to the old way of aggregate times. Which I personally would welcome with open arms but I get the feeling i'm in a small minority on that one...

Obviously that's true, it's just what set of rules will make races, on average, the least unfair.

And as for aggregate times, I have an even weirder solution with even more "only I would like it but I would really like it" value: do it like pursuit skiing. So release the leader from the pit lane whenever, then if the second-placed car was, say, 10 seconds back at the red flag, release them 10 seconds later, and so on.

This. I like this. Only issue is what to do with lapped cars.

Maybe release them in the same positions they were before the red flag? So, for example, if the leader passed the finish line after his 18th lap and the backmarker passes it 10 seconds later, after his 17th lap, just release him 10 seconds after the leader, but still one lap down.

What might be trickier to get right is battles. What if a group of drivers passes the finish line within 0.5 seconds? That will surely cause mayhem if you release them after the red flag, won't it?

[UncreativeUsername37]

Maybe release them in the same positions they were before the red flag? So, for example, if the leader passed the finish line after his 18th lap and the backmarker passes it 10 seconds later, after his 17th lap, just release him 10 seconds after the leader, but still one lap down.

What might be trickier to get right is battles. What if a group of drivers passes the finish line within 0.5 seconds? That will surely cause mayhem if you release them after the red flag, won't it?

Just release them simultaneously if it's below half a second or whatever. Whatever the reaction time to the car in front starting up would make up for. Or maybe stagger them by a second no matter what, which would be similar to what safety car restarts do to close battles.