2011 Australian Grand Prix discussion thread

F1000X · Post by **F1000X** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:29

Petrov holding of up Alonso for the f***ing win ROUND 2!

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:30

COME ON LADA-RENAULT!!!!

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:34

YES! Petrov third! Unrejectified!

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:34

Well done Mr Petrol ! Well done Lada-Renault!

ADx_Wales · Post by **ADx_Wales** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:35

Top 6 in the same order despite webber and button mishaps, Vettel lead from lights to flag. Evidence enough that this race was dull.

And Brundle just said LOTUS renault..... PAPAYAS AT THE READY.

sswishbone · Post by **sswishbone** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:35

interesting from Webber, straight at the end of the pitlane, wonder what caused that? And big shout out for Petrov and Perez, two superb drives there

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:37

"Moskau, Moskau, wirf die Gläser an die Wand, Russland ist ein schönes Land, hahahahaha!"

Go Petrov. :mrgreen:

GwilymJJames · Post by **GwilymJJames** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:37

ADx_Wales wrote:Top 6 in the same order despite webber and button mishaps, Vettel lead from lights to flag. Evidence enough that this race was dull.
.

Petrov: 6th-> 3rd
Webber: 3rd -> 5th
Alonso: 5th -> 4th
Button: 4th -> 6th

Same order?

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:38

Petrov didn't park his car to the 3rd spot. Why?

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:38

And Vettel just gave us the finger. Grrr!

Ferrim · Post by **Ferrim** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:39

Shizuka wrote:YES! Petrov third! Unrejectified!

He already was

Well, so much of "extreme tyre degradation" and "four pitstops". These degrade more than the Bridgestones, but most people have gone on 2 stops and Pérez on 1 (!). Well done, Pirelli!

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:40

Shizuka wrote:Petrov didn't park his car to the 3rd spot. Why?

From the angle he came in there was no way in hell he would have made it without clouting the back of Vettel's car

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:42

And how in the name of HWNSNBM did Perez make it ON ONE STOP?

the Masked Lapwing · Post by **the Masked Lapwing** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:42

Wizzie wrote:
Shizuka wrote:Petrov didn't park his car to the 3rd spot. Why?

From the angle he came in there was no way in hell he would have made it without clouting the back of Vettel's car

And? What would be wrong with that?

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:43

Ferrim wrote:
Shizuka wrote:YES! Petrov third! Unrejectified!

He already was

Well, so much of "extreme tyre degradation" and "four pitstops". These degrade more than the Bridgestones, but most people have gone on 2 stops and Pérez on 1 (!). Well done, Pirelli!

Oh right. But now he's not even a lucky bastard!

Pirelli has done an amazing job, and it shows that the Sauber C30 is VERY kind on the tyres. If they can pull off one less stops, they will be fighting for points...
AND BRUNDLE SAID LOTUS RENAULT AGAIN GRRRR

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:45

Arise, Vitaly; this is your career. Great to see a new podium face.

Perez seemed very competitive, as did Buemi I thought, albeit in flashes.

Vettel clearly deserved the win, but was less dominant than I expected after qualifying. That Hamilton hung on to him extent he did despite his flailing floor shows the level McLaren seem to be at.

Regarding Sauber - who were the Pirelli test drivers? And who drove for Sauber last season? No wonder the car seemed tailor-made for the tyres.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:46

Brundle, it's a LADA-Renault, not Lotus!!!

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:46

shinji wrote:Regarding Sauber - who were the Pirelli test drivers? And who drove for Sauber last season? No wonder the car seemed tailor-made for the tyres.

I'm standing up.

ADx_Wales · Post by **ADx_Wales** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:48

Malaysia better be better than this, or thats it, I'm quitting F1 for good. They cant race, they cant entertain, and even when they try its mind numbingly dreadful.
Yes hooray for Petrov, but if the rules to help overtaking dont work, what is the bloody point.

patrick · Post by **patrick** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:51

"And what about perez, can he walk on water too?"
Great stuff. Obvious talent and good to see in F1.
I knew vitaly would end up on the podium, renaults always did have rocket starts

GroupLotusRenault · Post by **GroupLotusRenault** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:52

Dull race yet again, DRS hasnt work, the tyres are like last year and its just so boring, serious changes are needed straight away and fast.

F1000X · Post by **F1000X** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:53

A decent race. McLaren are easily the best of the rest. BMW Sauber look way more competitive than I think anyone expected. Petrov may earn himself a better seat if he keeps this performance up throughout the season. Congratulations on humiliating Heidfeld.

Now, we just need this DRS business sorted. It's 4am, time for bed.

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:56

What kind of race have you people watched? It had a number of good overtaking maneuvres, although unfortunately, FOM missed some of them, especially the good ones by Barrichello before the murdered Rosberg's car.

Post by **mario** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:57

Shizuka wrote:YES! Petrov third! Unrejectified!

And when it comes to it, he's started this season in style - he made it onto the podium on merit and with respectable pace (only around 8 seconds off Hamilton, although Hamilton was almost certainly taking it a bit easier with that broken splitter). Something tells me that the Captain might be very happy at that...

Looking beyond the headlines, there are some interesting sidenotes to this race. Firstly, it was interesting to see that Ferrari were less competitive than expected, and what was surprising was that their tyre wear was not that good. Three stops when everybody else could make do with two is not a good sign, and both Massa and Alonso were sliding around a surprisingly large amount.
Perez, meanwhile, was a big surprise - getting away with just one stop is impressive when everybody was expecting two stops as a minimum, and his pace was very strong. It looks like Kobayashi is going to have a fight on his hands if Perez can continue pulling out performances like that.

And trust Horner to casually throw that bon mot into the post race interview when he revealed that they'd stripped the KERS out of the car during practise because of reliability problems. As they say, Newey probably didn't design that car around KERS (instead, he designed the KERS around the car) - but it makes you wonder how much additional performance Red Bull might have in their pocket if they did have a reliable KERS fitted to the car.

f1-gast · Post by **f1-gast** » 27 Mar 2011, 07:58

WOEHOE PETROV !!!!

It was a great race to see.
Enough action, the flap on the back wing works quiet well and also the kers great to see those 2 used at once.
Great race for Alonso he fighted hisself up to P4 the same counts for Button, and don't forget PEREZ !!! P7 for his teammate Kobayashi, and buemi P10 =)
But Petrov P3 !!! he's my new favorite F1 driver after Schumi was it for all those years.

Only i still don't get it why Ferrari don't listen to his fans and let Massa go, and for sure ffs barrichello what are you ? a clown ?

Ferrim · Post by **Ferrim** » 27 Mar 2011, 08:04

*this could be you*

Ferrim · Post by **Ferrim** » 27 Mar 2011, 08:06

Shizuka wrote:AND BRUNDLE SAID LOTUS RENAULT AGAIN GRRRR

If he says "Vodafone McLaren", "Petronas Mercedes" and "Telmex Sauber" then I'm okay. But he won't.

shinji wrote:
Regarding Sauber - who were the Pirelli test drivers? And who drove for Sauber last season? No wonder the car seemed tailor-made for the tyres.

About Heidfeld, maybe. I don't think De la Rosa gave them too much info after being sacked :lol:

GroupLotusRenault wrote:Dull race yet again, DRS hasnt work, the tyres are like last year and its just so boring, serious changes are needed straight away and fast.

Have you seen the same race as me? :shock:

Tealy · Post by **Tealy** » 27 Mar 2011, 08:21

Is it just me who thought the DRS worked quite well? It's a small assist, not a "push to pass" device and I thought it did it's job well.

Overall for me it wasn't an exciting race but it was an interesting one and I enjoyed it.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 27 Mar 2011, 08:25

DRS on its own didn't work. DRS with KERS did work. However, I think we should wait until we go to a Tilkedrome to decide if it works. This race wasn't atrocious (it picked up after halfway), but I think it's pretty clear that F1 drivers need more balls when passing people, and to make Senna/Fernandez/Tracy passes is the way to go, otherwise you won't make the pass.

Notch one against the drivers who chickened out of a pass.

Tealy · Post by **Tealy** » 27 Mar 2011, 08:30

Cynon wrote:DRS on its own didn't work. DRS with KERS did work.

Actually you might be right there but I don't understand the calls to make the DRS much more powerful when everyone was complaining about the potential for articficial overtaking before. I'll be happpy if they leave it as it is for now.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 27 Mar 2011, 08:34

Tealy wrote:
Cynon wrote:DRS on its own didn't work. DRS with KERS did work.

Actually you might be right there but I don't understand the calls to make the DRS much more powerful when everyone was complaining about the potential for articficial overtaking before. I'll be happpy if they leave it as it is for now.

Overtaking scares people, it's okay. :roll:

We needed the 107% rule abolished, because HRT needed to peddle around like two big wedges of Delecheese.

jackanderton · Post by **jackanderton** » 27 Mar 2011, 08:35

BBC embarrassing Martin Whitmarsh over the drive-through incident.

eytl · Post by **eytl** » 27 Mar 2011, 08:47

OK, so we didn't get the "last lap some guy's shredding his tyres going 5s slower and some guy's charging up to steal his spot" action, but I thought there was enough promise for the new rules. Obviously I will elaborate more in the race review, but there are a couple of points to note already:

* DRS on front straight and not on the run to turn 3 in Melbourne is stupid, that's why it didn't really work. Turn 1 has never really been THE passing zone at Albert Park.

* Tyre strategy IS mixing things up, + Melbourne is relatively low-wear.

* The new graphics are inadequate - having a rolling gap at the bottom is fine, but we also need the order on the left + an indication of what tyre they're on an when they last stopped.

* What about the symmetry to Abu Dhabi? Vettel clearing out untouched, Webber struggling, Hamilton putting in manly effort to 2nd, Petrov driving the race of his life, Alonso unable to pass him ...

* If yesterday was not bad enough already, how must Webber feel - worse tyre wear and slower than Vettel.

* PETROV!!! PEREZ!!!

Glennerz · Post by **Glennerz** » 27 Mar 2011, 09:01

I was literally shaking when Petrov crossed the line for his podium, I am so happy for him.

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » 27 Mar 2011, 09:23

So just to check, is Hamilton's car definitely legal? I was kinda worried about it once I knew he had the problem. How long do these sort of things usually take to iron out?

GwilymJJames · Post by **GwilymJJames** » 27 Mar 2011, 09:26

Some one was asking about Webber / Vettel pit times, I don't have the averages for last season but today's times were;

Webber: 23.426, 22.520, 26.230
Vettel: 22.603, 24.036

Stand up or sit down at those results as you wish.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 27 Mar 2011, 09:34

GwilymJJames wrote:Some one was asking about Webber / Vettel pit times, I don't have the averages for last season but today's times were;

Webber: 23.426, 22.520, 26.230
Vettel: 22.603, 24.036

Stand up or sit down at those results as you wish.

They had trouble with the right-front at Webber's thrid stop which cost him atleast 3 seconds. Then he compounded the issue and nearly went rallying at turn 3 on his out lap.
EDIT: Incidentally Renault had exactly the same problem at Petrov's 2nd stop which made the difference between getting out ahead of Alguersuari and behind him.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 27 Mar 2011, 10:10

Can't really fault Vettel, he did all he had to do to win today. I was surprised that Hamilton was able to keep up as well as he did - perhaps Vettel had backed off a bit, but even if he didn't, it's still ominous. 10/10 for Vettel.

Hamilton did all he could to keep up with Vettel, and was able to manage the broken floor rather well. He and McLaren are not quite on the pace of Red Bull/Vettel, but they can definitely get there. 9/10.

Petrov was sublime, easily his best performance so far. For him, the question has always been marrying his raw pace to consistency, and he did it beautifully in the race. 11/10.

Alonso was a bit unlucky with the first lap shuffles, although I think some of it can be put down to him being a bit cautious after what happened last year. Did well to recover, though. 8/10.

Webber had a shocker. 'Nuff said. 3/10

Button was completely shafted by Ferrari there, but it was some of his own making - he certainly could've backed out, but I don't blame him for being frustrated - if it was me, I'dve likely pulled a Rubens on Massa. Again, though it was a good recovery, and I chuckled a bit when he squeezed Massa when he caught back up. 7/10

Perez was brilliant, given the Pirelli's wear rate. 6 very well-deserved points for him, and he confirms Sauber's line-up as one of the most exciting, I think. 11/10.

Kobayashi was a little bit disappointing for me, but maybe that's because I expect him to be constantly overtaking and putting up a fight, and he was overtaken a few times. Still, he read the race well and produced a mature, consistent drive, scoring more valuable points. 8/10.

Massa can block. That's about it, really. 5/10.

Buemi has redeemed himself a bit here, I think. He need to drive more like this and less like what he did in 2010. 7/10.

What were you doing, Rubens? Really? 2/10.

Nickfeld was racing today? News to me. 1/10.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 27 Mar 2011, 10:13

Come to think of it Force India deserve some credit for finishing 11th and 12th considering the team is probably 7th or 8th in the pecking order at best.

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » 27 Mar 2011, 10:20

I'm going to say a big thumbs-up for Pirelli too, I think they got the balance just about right. While we didn't want to see unbelievably durbale soft tyres lasting a full race distance so people could pit on the last lap, neither did we want it so there were so many pitstops that it became really hard to follow (I'm thinking of races like the 1997 Spanish GP for example), and seeing lots of different strategies playing out was good. Nice one Pirelli!