2014 Australian Grand Prix Thread - A New Dawn?

[Ferrim]

The pace of progress at Red Bull is scaring, more so given that they seemed to have progressed barely if at all during the second Bahrain test.

I guess Ricciardo's performance at the second day of that test was the give away. They were still having problems (and I guess they are still more likely to run into trouble than other teams), but at this rate, I can see no one apart from Mercedes + some Alonso miracles giving the Bulls a run for their money...

BTW, my ROTR and serious candidate to ROTY is the disappearance of sectors times from the live timing service. *... *.. Bernie!!!

[DanielPT]

So, apparently Red Bull is in better shape than anyone expected. And Caterham in worse. It still is going awful back at Enstone and Toro Rosso is in their anonymous self. A little better is Marussia, who are still behind the established teams nonetheless and Sauber, who at least can produce some laps, although at a slower pace than their competition. Further ahead, Force India seem to be on their own behind McLaren who look to be behind Ferrari and Williams. Mercedes still lead or so it seems.

[go_Rubens]

Well, Red Bull certainly surprised me. Although what was Vettel being called to scrutineering at the end of FP1 all about?

[CoopsII]

Well, Red Bull certainly surprised me. Although what was Vettel being called to scrutineering at the end of FP1 all about?

They noticed it was last years car with this years nose on it?

[SgtPepper]

So, apparently Red Bull is in better shape than anyone expected. And Caterham in worse. It still is going awful back at Enstone and Toro Rosso is in their anonymous self. A little better is Marussia, who are still behind the established teams nonetheless and Sauber, who at least can produce some laps, although at a slower pace than their competition. Further ahead, Force India seem to be on their own behind McLaren who look to be behind Ferrari and Williams. Mercedes still lead or so it seems.

Think I'm the only one unsurprised by Red Bull's pace. Am really disappointed/shocked to see Caterham floundering so badly though, and I thought Lotus would be able to pull something out the bag and surprise everyone. Ah well, only 2 sessions completed yet (both of which I slept through ), so it's early days.

[Jocke1]

what was Vettel being called to scrutineering at the end of FP1 all about?

I think they were going to check the weight.

[dr-baker]

Wait, what? So we have just had FP1 & 2 of the first race weekend of the year - no FP3, qualifying or race yet, and people are already making ROTY nominations? And I thought after round 15 was early for that...

[Jocke1]

Wait, what? So we have just had FP1 & 2 of the first race weekend of the year - no FP3, qualifying or race yet, and people are already making ROTY nominations? And I thought after round 15 was early for that...

Premature rotylators.

[DanielPT]

So, apparently Red Bull is in better shape than anyone expected. And Caterham in worse. It still is going awful back at Enstone and Toro Rosso is in their anonymous self. A little better is Marussia, who are still behind the established teams nonetheless and Sauber, who at least can produce some laps, although at a slower pace than their competition. Further ahead, Force India seem to be on their own behind McLaren who look to be behind Ferrari and Williams. Mercedes still lead or so it seems.

Think I'm the only one unsurprised by Red Bull's pace. Am really disappointed/shocked to see Caterham floundering so badly though, and I thought Lotus would be able to pull something out the bag and surprise everyone. Ah well, only 2 sessions completed yet (both of which I slept through ), so it's early days.

I am not sure if it is early days. I guess it depends on the perspective. For those who actually tested and not repaired the cars, it is early days. But I think that for Lotus, Caterham and those whose reliability is a bit shaky, it might already be a bit late!

[Faustus]

Well, Red Bull certainly surprised me. Although what was Vettel being called to scrutineering at the end of FP1 all about?

I still can't believe how silly most of the established F1 journalists were whenever they wrote off Red Bull. I have £10 on Vettel to win the championship. I got 5/1.

[Ferrim]

I hope it suffers the same fate as my bet on Massa at 6/1 in July 2008.

To this day I still curse Glock...

[Aerospeed]

Well, Red Bull have somehow managed to pull off good times, and if they manage to score points this weekend, then I'll definitely call their pre-season the ultimate sandbagging stunt. Anything in the Top 10 will now seem like a brilliant luck of pace for them.

To be honest, I don't blame them, because it's fairly obvious they don't have the best car on the grid, but their sandbagging has made everyone lower their expectations substantially. Now people don't expect championships out of them, and they get surprised if they (let me say this!!!) win podiums or races.

I have to say, their PR department made some huge improvements from last season.

[Jocke1]

Not saying it's good or bad, but when watching the onboards the engines sound like bumblebees on crack.

[wsrgo]

I wonder if Kobayashi is till convinced that spurning a full factory ride for a year of crapoid was the right decision.

Knowing him, he probably is.

[good_Ralf]

BTW, my ROTR and serious candidate to ROTY is the disappearance of sectors times from the live timing service. *... *.. Bernie!!!

Rolex is F1's new timer so that may contribute to the fact that the sector times have gone. But I'm also annoyed about that. Conspiracy theory, anyone?

[RAK]

I'm actually not surprised to see the Red Bull cars going quickly - it's whether they survive to the end of the race that will be the real test.

[DanielPT]

Well, Red Bull have somehow managed to pull off good times, and if they manage to score points this weekend, then I'll definitely call their pre-season the ultimate sandbagging stunt. Anything in the Top 10 will now seem like a brilliant luck of pace for them.

To be honest, I don't blame them, because it's fairly obvious they don't have the best car on the grid, but their sandbagging has made everyone lower their expectations substantially. Now people don't expect championships out of them, and they get surprised if they (let me say this!!!) win podiums or races.

I have to say, their PR department made some huge improvements from last season.

I am unsure we can call it sandbagging. They went through real problems that prevented them from getting more meaningful runs. When they did got some laps, not only several other drivers said that Red Bull was really fast but it showed that on the lap times given their degree of preparation and the limited testing program made. The only doubt was how long they would be that unreliable. Apparently not much, but come race day we will see how they are running and how much those troubles are overcome. Imagine that, looking at today lap times, they are running restricted to prevent cooling problems to arise. Now that is a scary thought.

[Ferrim]

BTW, my ROTR and serious candidate to ROTY is the disappearance of sectors times from the live timing service. *... *.. Bernie!!!

Rolex is F1's new timer so that may contribute to the fact that the sector times have gone. But I'm also annoyed about that. Conspiracy theory, anyone?

Not a conspiracy, but them trying to align their web service with their smartphone service. They have launched a new app which has basic features for free, including laptimes (but not sectors). They are probably trying to move people into paying for the smartphone app features. The price is 10€ I believe.

About the noise on the TV, I think it's a cock up by FOM or whoever are producing the broadcast. I've watched the final minutes of FP2 and the engines sounded worse than they did at Jerez, and I was there in the first day of testing when they were running far away from full power. I think they have to retune the balance: in the past the engine sound had to be strongly reduced to allow the commentators to be heard, otherwise nothing but engine noise would have been heard.

[watka]

I'm actually not surprised to see the Red Bull cars going quickly - it's whether they survive to the end of the race that will be the real test.

This is what I was going to say. There were plenty of murmurings around testing that Red Bull had built a pretty fast car, particularly in the corners. Its getting it to last a full race at race pace that will be the test. It wouldn't surprise me to see a Red Bull or two in the top 5 in qualifying but I expect both cars to retire, or at least slide down the order as the drivers' have to go into preservation mode.

[KL-racer]

I still can't believe that both Caterhams still haven't turned in a single time lap yet even after FP2. Makes me wonder, will they even make the 107% rule at this rate? I knew that Lotus will be screwed especially after losing some of their key staff and having to hire Maldonado, a pay driver. I imagine that Marussia, may have a chance to finish races ahead of Lotus, if they just improve their reliability. In terms of Williams pace, the bigger concern is can they keep that form throughout the whole season, because they will not have the money to develop the car as quickly as Red bull, Mercedes or Ferrari. In addition, I was surprised that Toro Rosso and Sauber seemed to be falling slightly backwards in terms of overall pace. As for the top teams, I am still not sure that Mercedes can win the constructors championship. I really want Alonso to finally get a third title before he retires. Finally, as for Red Bull, finishing a race is the biggest concern for them and I imagine all of the other teams are most concerned about that as well.

[Peter]

Is there an elplanation as to why the cars are about 4 seconds slower than last year? Surely they don't have that much less downforce.

Not surprised by Red Bull's pace. The car is not aerodynamically flawed, Newey's designs are usually anything but, it's just the underpowered, unreliable unit they have. Even if they do well in qualifying, I still doubt they will complete the race.

[good_Ralf]

Is there an elplanation as to why the cars are about 4 seconds slower than last year? Surely they don't have that much less downforce.

Not surprised by Red Bull's pace. The car is not aerodynamically flawed, Newey's designs are usually anything but, it's just the underpowered, unreliable unit they have. Even if they do well in qualifying, I still doubt they will complete the race.

It's still very much possible that RBR will double-DNF but given that they completed as many laps as the other frontrunners they could well get both drivers to the finish. Their pace is ominous and it seems as though on ultimate pace they will score solid points.

On the note of the Live Timing at F1's official website, I've found to my annoyance that not only have the sector times (and they were only to the 1/10th of a second at that) disappeared, but also weather and speed trap info, which I'd be very much interested in. But no, it's almost entirely been taken away.

[GwilymJJames]

On the note of the Live Timing at F1's official website, I've found to my annoyance that not only have the sector times (and they were only to the 1/10th of a second at that) disappeared, but also weather and speed trap info, which I'd be very much interested in. But no, it's almost entirely been taken away.

Bernie thought process: People like this information we provide for them for free, but they'll like it EVEN MORE when we make them pay for it.

[Wallio]

Is there an elplanation as to why the cars are about 4 seconds slower than last year? Surely they don't have that much less downforce.

They have about 30-40% less downforce I believe, but the tyres are harder, the engines make less bhp, and the cars are much heavier. Its sort of like how much slower the cars were from '04-'05. They'll catch up a bit by mid-season.

[mario]

Is there an elplanation as to why the cars are about 4 seconds slower than last year? Surely they don't have that much less downforce.

They have about 30-40% less downforce I believe, but the tyres are harder, the engines make less bhp, and the cars are much heavier. Its sort of like how much slower the cars were from '04-'05. They'll catch up a bit by mid-season.

You're right that the tyres will be one big differentiator - not only are the compounds themselves more conservative than in 2013, Pirelli have also leaned towards a slightly more conservative tyre choice for the opening few rounds.
Last year, Pirelli opted for the supersoft and medium compound tyre, whilst this year they went for the soft and medium tyres (although the soft tyre this year is similar to the medium tyre from 2013 and the medium is closer to the 2013 hard tyre) - the much harder tyres alone will probably account for a second or more of the laptime difference over a single flying lap. The increase in minimum weight will also have a major impact too, not to mention the reduced rear downforce.

That said, there is some dispute over the power output - theoretically the peak power output of the 2013 power train might be higher (in the order of about 850bhp if full engine power and KERS could be used at the same time), but the indication is that, especially under partial throttle conditions, the current powertrain would probably be producing more power than the 2013 spec V8's.

I still can't believe that both Caterhams still haven't turned in a single time lap yet even after FP2. Makes me wonder, will they even make the 107% rule at this rate? I knew that Lotus will be screwed especially after losing some of their key staff and having to hire Maldonado, a pay driver. I imagine that Marussia, may have a chance to finish races ahead of Lotus, if they just improve their reliability. In terms of Williams pace, the bigger concern is can they keep that form throughout the whole season, because they will not have the money to develop the car as quickly as Red bull, Mercedes or Ferrari. In addition, I was surprised that Toro Rosso and Sauber seemed to be falling slightly backwards in terms of overall pace. As for the top teams, I am still not sure that Mercedes can win the constructors championship. I really want Alonso to finally get a third title before he retires. Finally, as for Red Bull, finishing a race is the biggest concern for them and I imagine all of the other teams are most concerned about that as well.

Well, if the teams can at least set a lap time in FP3 there is a good chance that they will be allowed to race - Charlie Whiting has said that the stewards are likely to be "very sympathetic" towards teams that at least attempt to set lap times in the practise sessions, although he has cautioned that the stewards may invoke the 107% rule if the teams do not set a single lap time in any session (since there would be no way of proving that the driver would reach the 107% minimum lap time). http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/03/1 ... formulaOne
Realistically, I think that most outfits could set a lap time comfortably within 107% if they can manage at least one flying lap in FP3 - if we took Hamilton's 1m29.6s FP2 lap time as a benchmark then 107% of that would be a 1m35.8s lap time, and all of the drivers who set lap times are comfortably within that.

[Wallio]

Is there an elplanation as to why the cars are about 4 seconds slower than last year? Surely they don't have that much less downforce.

They have about 30-40% less downforce I believe, but the tyres are harder, the engines make less bhp, and the cars are much heavier. Its sort of like how much slower the cars were from '04-'05. They'll catch up a bit by mid-season.

You're right that the tyres will be one big differentiator - not only are the compounds themselves more conservative than in 2013, Pirelli have also leaned towards a slightly more conservative tyre choice for the opening few rounds.
Last year, Pirelli opted for the supersoft and medium compound tyre, whilst this year they went for the soft and medium tyres (although the soft tyre this year is similar to the medium tyre from 2013 and the medium is closer to the 2013 hard tyre) - the much harder tyres alone will probably account for a second or more of the laptime difference over a single flying lap. The increase in minimum weight will also have a major impact too, not to mention the reduced rear downforce.

That said, there is some dispute over the power output - theoretically the peak power output of the 2013 power train might be higher (in the order of about 850bhp if full engine power and KERS could be used at the same time), but the indication is that, especially under partial throttle conditions, the current powertrain would probably be producing more power than the 2013 spec V8's.

The ERS does boost it up, but if its not working (cough Renault cough)

[F1000X]

I don't know if it was the television I watched it on, but I found the sound of the engines extremely underwhelming. I'm going to the race tomorrow, so I hope it's better in person. As exciting as a wet race might be, I'm praying to HWNSNBM that it stays dry.

[TimmyB]

Does anyone remember what happened at the first race of the 2010 season in Bahrain? This was the first race after the refuelling ban, and everyone thought that everybody else would run out of fuel so we saw all the teams run a conservative (and boring!) race.

I have a feeling that Sunday will be similar. All the teams are saying that they just have to finish in order to score points, so everyone will be driving conservatively and the race could be pretty mundane as a result (unless it rains!).

Also, the chance of one driver or team being significantly faster than the rest is more likely, so I'm not expecting a good race for the lead.

I'll certainly be pleased to be proven wrong though.

[go_Rubens]

I don't know if it was the television I watched it on, but I found the sound of the engines extremely underwhelming. I'm going to the race tomorrow, so I hope it's better in person. As exciting as a wet race might be, I'm praying to HWNSNBM that it stays dry.

My TV probably goes up to 80-90 in terms of volume, but I had to turn it up to 25 just to hear the onboards clearly with the commentary going on. But the NBC commentators were smart and occasionally shut up when an onboard came on. The sound is great in my mind. Great doesn't always have to mean loud.

[Jocke1]

FP3 starting. Track looks nice and dry but it seems quite windy and some looming dark clouds in the distance. No surprise if rain comes within the hour.

Magnussen and Button has the exact same off at T9.
And both Caterhams are out on track.

What was it that Rosberg threw out of the cockpit, at around the Waite grandstand?
It looked like a piece of silver cardboard.

Interesting to see that Bottas is not even dressed in his racing overalls, with only 27 minutes left of the session.

It is great to see how nervous many cars are out of T10, so many right rear tyres are only inches from the wall, from the lack of grip.
Especially Massa has been close on numerous occasions.

Grosjean is furious on the radio

Doesn't look like there is going to be any rain after all, 6 minutes to go.

The session is over and Max Chilton is 0,037 seconds ahead of Maldonado !!
Maldonado had to stop out on track, and Grosjean didn't set a time at all.
Lotus are in deep trouble.

[AndreaModa]

To answer a few questions:

FP3 starting. Track looks nice and dry but it seems quite windy and some looming dark clouds in the distance. No surprise if rain comes within the hour.

Magnussen and Button has the exact same off at T9.
And both Caterhams are out on track.

Tailwinds were a big problem for most drivers at T9. I think most ran wide there at least once - the gravel and grass looks like its been ploughed!

What was it that Rosberg threw out of the cockpit, at around the Waite grandstand?
It looked like a piece of silver cardboard.

Apparently according to Sky it was an elbow support or something similar from inside the cockpit. Not external bodywork.

Interesting to see that Bottas is not even dressed in his racing overalls, with only 27 minutes left of the session.

Williams found debris in his gearbox and have had to change it, meaning he'll take a grid penalty and explained his absence from FP3.

[sswishbone]

50% chance of rain in qualifying! This could get quite crazy, with the wind issues there could be some real shocks in Q1, let it begin!!

[Jocke1]

Before qualifying starts, here are the number of laps FP1 - FP3 combined:


1. Kevin Magnussen - 84
2. Jean-Eric Vergne - 81
3. Daniil Kvyat - 80
4. Sergio Perez - 77
5. Daniel Ricciardo - 77
6. Jenson Button - 76
7. Nico Hulkenberg - 72
8. Felipe Massa - 70
9. Valtteri Bottas - 67
10. Adrian Sutil - 65
11. Sebastian Vettel - 65
12. Kimi Räikkönen - 63
13. Nico Rosberg - 63
14. Fernando Alonso - 59
15. Lewis Hamilton - 51
16. Jules Bianchi - 50
17. Max Chilton - 48
18. Esteban Gutierrez - 35
19. Marcus Ericsson - 23
20. Kamui Kobayashi - 20
21. Pastor Maldonado - 17
22. Romain Grosjean - 16

[sswishbone]

Lotus have to be careful they don't suffer a double Q1 failure this weekend

Magnussen lighting up the track along with Riccardo interestingly.

Lotus are in deep deep deep trouble! Maldonado is driving like a total amateur!

[FullMetalJack]

[sswishbone]

Lotus have said they are behind schedule but this is unbelievable!

[Stareagle]

OK, who had a Caterham surviving Q1?

[Jocke1]

Grosjean 21st and Maldonado has not set a time yet, 2½ minutes remaining.
I think even Perry McCarthy in his Andrea Moda would be ahead of the Lotuses.

[FullMetalJack]

Chilton missing Q2 by 0.02s

Saying that, he's half a second quicker than Bianchi.

[sswishbone]

I thought Kobayashi had a chance but not at the expense of both Lotuses, that really is an absolute shock, Grosjean 1.8 seconds slower than Ericson! Are Lotus really that far behind?