The Australian GP was everything some hoped for and everything some feared.

If the new owners of Formula One could have scripted their first race it probably would have ended with redemption for the once great team, recently crushed by the might of the Mercedes behemoth.

The first Australian GP win in 10 years for Ferrari, the return of "the Finger" for Vettel,  everyone's happy,  even the vanquished Hamilton seemed chill  on the podium.

And that's not all, the new cars are beasts to drive,  they move around much more that you would think given bigger tires and added downforce, they even sound pretty decent.

The new Pirellis are good for more than three laps, people had been wondering what that would look like in F1, they got their answer:  Drivers can push, Vettel was a hammer as he steadily pulled away from Hamilton.

But,   and of course there is a but...

People did not get to see a real battle for the lead....again.

Before people start to pull their hair out and tell everyone who would listen how WEC and MotoGP are way better than this horrible corrupt F1, yadda yadda.  let's add some perspective,  Melbourne has never been a track where there is a lot of passing.

But Vettel never tried to attack Hamilton you say?

Well, to be clear, Vettel is there to win and he's a professional,  the right call in the first part of the race was to sit just outside Hamilton's wake and wait to see who would blink first.

Hopefully Hamilton will have a better sense for designing sneakers or writing songs than he seems to have for calling tire strategies.   On Sunday ha once again bullied his team into stopping earlier than the pit wall wanted and this gave Ferrari the opening it needed. No wonder Toto Wolff was punching tables, Lewis gave up track position on a track where passing is hard, passing Max Verstappen, impossible.

La que nos ha liado Toto Wolff en un momento... #F1 pic.twitter.com/tKFKm6uHSv

— MrAlexF1 (@MrAlexF1) March 26, 2017

The next few races will show if it's like everyone, logically thinks, wider cars with bigger tires and more downforce just make it harder to see any wheel to wheel action past lap one.

There is a saving grace,  these care are absolutely harder to drive and that will produce fatigue and errors.   In other words, the human element is more important than ever.

To that end, one would hope moving forwards F1 will work to keep that human element alive.
Hamilton lost the race because he made a wrong call?  Great,  make it so making call on tires, is up to the drivers, not 100 computer banks a half a world away.   Eliminate some of the sensors that feed every little detail back to the pits,  enhance the role of the sensor implanted in the driver's seat!

Naturally, manufacturers would like to eliminate every surprise. F1 should make it harder for them.

Well Played Ferrari, well played

In the "good old days" Ferrari used to wield so much political power those on the receiving end renamed the FIA,  Ferrari International Assistance .

In recent years this has certainly not been the case, what with the sport bending over backwards to please Red Bull and Mercedes.

Don't have the player, hate the game right?

Well it looks like someone at Ferrari remembered to play the game again in a clever, rather than overt way.

What happened?  You can read all the fine details elsewhere but, in simplest form, Mercedes and Red Bull developed suspensions systems which they claimed were doing one thing while in fact were doing another, namely they influenced aerodynamics.

Ferrari had been aware of this since last season (see some of Sergio Marchionne's comments) and in the off season wrote to the governing body declaring their intention of utilizing a similar system in 2017.

"Just checking to see if it's legal..."

Right, on.   The FIA clarified suspensions are not to be designed so as to influence aero and now Mercedes and Red Bull who had set up cars around that concept are forced to a more conventional system.  Ferrari saves the development time and cost.

Don't hate the player...  Mercedes and Red Bull would/will do exactly the same.

What's this about Ferrari using Diesel technology in their F1 engines?

Following the Grand Prix in Melbourne, there was a bit of a buzz on the internet about what might have been the secret behind Ferrari's rocket start.

No, no, Ferrari's not rolling coal

It was suggested the Scuderia might have used a page out of diesel technology to get the extra boost which allowed Vettel and Raikkonen to get away from  Rosberg and Hamilton.

Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) is a system that, like diesel, relies on compression rather than a spark for ignition.   The thought over at Reddit was that this allows for the faster engine response.

Now, objectively, Vettel did get a great start but he jumped Hamilton because Lewis had a lousy one. It is far more likely the Ferrari clutch system (software included) is better.  On the dirty side of the track, Rosberg and Raikkonen were pretty even down the straight.  Kimi was clever in placing his car in the right spot to take advantage of Rosberg and Hamilton tripping over each other and got ahead.

So, not so sure about this Ferrari "Magic Bullet"  theory.

Still, intrigued, we put the question to our friend currently working in an F1 engine department.

Without giving away more than he had to, he confirmed the theory is, if  not quite right,  somewhat on the right track:  Mercedes have had an super clever ignition system, certainly in 2015 and possibly even in 2014 and Ferrari have implemented a similar system this year.  

What precisely that system is he would not reveal (maybe it involves... "lasers"?)  but it's not HCCI.   Ferrari spent the majority of its engine tokens to implement it and presumably Renault, who has used almost none so far,  will do the same by early summer.

Let's see what Bahrain will bring.

2016 Australian GP Executive Summary

(photo: Ferrari)

After the disaster Formula One served up for qualifying on Saturday, many expected the 2016 Australian GP in Melbourne to be more of the same dreaded, predictable procession the series has anesthetized us into.

But, while the podium was uncomfortably familiar,  the race itself was quite interesting, with several points boding well for the rest of the season.

The most obvious change are more varied race strategies now possible with the extra Pirelli compound available to the teams.  The top drivers all started on the softest compound but as the race unfolded, there were at least three distinct strategies at play.   A big improvement on what could be done with just two compounds.

With both Mercedes on the front row, not many would have bet on two red cars leading after one lap.   Vettel made an astounding start and when Nico gave Lewis some of his own medicine at turn one, ol' Kimi was brilliant sneaking through.  Great stuff.

Vettel was making like his old Red Bull self, building a lead in clear air on the delicate super soft tires.

Surprising everyone, Ferrari chose to keep him on  super softs for the second stint and Seb was able to stay ahead of a charging Rosberg who had stopped for softs a lap earlier and had a brilliant out lap.

After Alonso and Gutierrez's brutal crash and subsequent red flag,  the crucial question of the race:  did Ferrari make a mistake starting Vettel on the super-softs for effectively a third stint?    

On the face of it  yes, but I'm not sure that at that point Ferrari were not doomed to be passed by the Germans anyway.

(photo: Mercedes AMG Petronas)

Mercedes were amazing on the medium tires,  it was the same last year and it looks like that hasn't changed.  Ferrari had saved a set of super softs in qualifying (that's why they did not run at the end) and they rolled the dice.   Had they used mediums, Rosberg and Hamilton would have caught Vettel for sure.  With the risky strategy, Vettel had a good chance to get second but the slow pit stop was crucial.

So if it was another Mercedes 1-2,  it was not a cakewalk for the Silver Arrows, it's not a given Rosberg would have caught the red German without the stoppage.

Does it mean Ferrari has caught up?    I would be very careful, Melbourne is atypical and temperatures were not very high.  Very tough to make any intelligent predictions other than Ferrari's clutch works very well!

Alonso had a brain fart moment,  possibly in the excitement at the prospect of actually passing someone with his McHonda.      One of the scariest accidents ever and he walks away,  out of the car in seconds.   Amazing.   I hope Nando, played lotto and went to light a candle somewhere after that.

There was a lot of excitement about Haas scoring points  the first time out.  They caught a lucky break with the red flag but I don't think there was a single person out there who resents it in any way, great for the team, great for Grosjean and great for the sport.

Also a hat tip to Renault who did not score points but brought both cars home first time out.  Bodes well.

Finally Verstappen.   His fights with Sainz are going to be very entertaining.  Without a doubt Max is the better racer of the two (proof? I took forever for Sainz to find his way past Palmer while Verstappen dispatched the renault driver in three corners)   But the Spaniard, to his credit did not give up or give in, frustrating the hell out of his teammate.   I predict a racing dad on racing dad brawl before the end of the season!

Let the spectacle begin!

Formula One starts a new season today in Australia and 2016 will be the year fans will remember as that time when the series took yet another step from sport to spectacle.

Yes because,  faced with their own inability to come up with technical regulations capable of providing close racing, the FIA and FOM have increasingly resorted to creating artificial obstacles to trip up teams and drivers.

This started years ago with track designs ( the trademark Tilke hairpins) and has now progressed to the latest qualifying format,  one that will substitute the notion of the car turning the absolute fastest lap starting on pole with a musical chairs game designed to create chaos.

Add to this the new tire regulations which force teams and drivers to choose their tire allocations way in advance of the race ( and in the case of Australia, before the new qualifying format was introduced).

2016 Formula One is looking more and more to Takeshi's Castle  for inspiration.

While on the subject of tires,  it's important to remember F1, "the pinnacle of motorsport",  has for years  delegated to Pirelli the task of creating a tire designed to fail in order to create "a show"/

Radio communications have been further curtailed and two stage clutches have been eliminated.
The first will likely mean team and drivers just have to come up with more code words and the second might result in some errors at the start.

The question becomes a philosophical one, is the sport better served by creating more sporting regulations rather than technical ones?  Flavio Briatore has been saying it for years, there's no way he could be wrong, could he?

Or is it the leadership just throwing its hands up in the air and capitulating?    It's the key battle facing the future of the sport in the opinion of many fans.

Still, pass the popcorn.

Lewis can't even give pole away!

Hamilton is such a trendsetter,  he goes off on his final qualifying lap and Rosberg copies!

Lewis apparently can't even give the pole away this year.  Rosberg was right there, purple  up to the final turn complex and he goes off.



Anyone saying current F1 cars are easy to drive will have to re-evaluate because in the tricky conditions at the deceptively simple Red Bull Ring, everyone made mistakes.

The trick there is to carry big speed into the the tight, uphill approached corners while not overdriving the downhill off camber one.   Very tricky.



Mercedes are still 3/10th ahead of Ferrari in qualifying but race pace analysis from yesterday suggests the Silver cars will be under pressure.  There's at least a 50% chance of rain for Sunday so,  as they say, pass the popcorn.

The German ¨berteam will only have to worry about one red cars in their mirrors after Raikkonen failed to get out of Q1.

Raikkonen has said he thought he had another lap but that does not really jibe with him being in the pits with less than a minute to go in Q1 at times were dropping like flies.    There's obviously a communication issue there.   For sure, this second questionable episode in as many races will give ammunition to those who would like to see the Finn replaced at Ferrari.

"It was a shit Saturday so...mumble mumble mumble" said Kimi when asked what he expects for the race.  Because of the almost comical amount of grid penalties handed out this week end, Raikkonen will start from he outside of row7 despite qualifying `18th.

Auditioning for Kimi's seat will be Nico "Le Mans Winner" Hulkenberg  who dragged the Mercedes powered Force india to row 3, splitting the Williams of Massa and Bottas.

Both the Red Bull cars will get a 10 grid penalty for having too many Renault go poof but that's nothing compared to the sublimely ridiculous 25 grid spot (in a 20 car field, mind you) penalty both McLaren Hondas were hit with.

I'm not sure if F1 itself has figured out how Button and Alonso will have to serve that one,  they are too busy chasing hares at the moment.

2015 Australian GP: Win for Lewis, not so much for F1

When the drama around the race is more entertaining than the actual race, it's not a good thing for Formula 1.



The Australian GP was an odd race, so many mistakes, both technical and from mental.  McLaren, Renault, Button, Ferrari all screwed up one way or the other plus two drivers out with medical conditions.  Add lawsuits and teams not starting and teams threatening to quit.  it all made for a very weird start to the season.



The result was a foregone conclusion:  Lewis Hamilton controlled the pace from the front and Nico Rosberg, who seemed off all week end, had no answer for him.

Rosberg had a poor start and was never even in DRS range of Lewis.   He might have had a chance on the safety car restart following the first lap Maldonado crash but he again seemed asleep at the wheel, letting Hamilton get a four or five car length advantage by the time they got on the front straight.  

Rosberg smade a bit of progress towards the end of the race but the team started sending ominous fuel consumption warnings and that was that.

Mercedes simply crushed the competition and they seemed to be barely trying.



Third, for Ferrari, would seem as good as a win.  Best of the rest anyway, but still first of the losers.   Vettel had a bad start but muscled his way past Raikkonen in a way I'm sure they will have discussed afterwards.
Unlike Rosberg, Seb had the right idea on the restart, he was right on Massa's tail but he makes a mistake on the last turn, hits the curb and is forced to lift losing momentum.
Ferrari did get the pit stop strategy right with Sebastian overlapping a Felipe Massa  stuck behind Ricciardo for a lap.

Vettel 3

Not so clear was the thinking behind two stopping Raikkonen. Bad luck for Kimi with the technical issue with the wheel,  according to Autosprint the thread on the left rear hub was stripped when, during the first stop,  Kimi let go of the clutch while the wheel gun was still engaged.   In any case, rusty thinking at Ferrari releasing him with a wobbly wheel.

Massa was P4 but the team made a real mistake releasing him behind a very slow Ricciardo and allowing Vettel to pass him in the pits.    Bottas, what if?  Williams certainly missed out on points.

Speaking of points, Sauber of all teams scored with both cars!   Ok, granted only one team did not score any points Sunday but, still.   Nasr is obviously a very handy driver and the Sauber's no dog.

All the rookies did well, Sainz, Verstappen all.   Better, I would say than veteran Button who made that bonehead move on Perez.    Had the roles been reversed there would be much more murmuring in the press about it.

McLaren was just sad.  amazing everyone is finding excuses for them and putting all the blame on Honda.  Not sure that's entirely fair, takes two to tango.



Speaking of tango, there's the hoopla with Red Bull threatening to quit if F1 does not do something to equalize performance.   When Red Bull was not happy complaining about rules they were complaining about the unreliable and underivable Renault engine.    Again, takes two to tango.   RBR writes much of its own software and they do the installation so it's hard to know exactly where things really stand.  Without a doubt Ricciardo's car was coughing and stuttering a lot in the clip above.

Nobody's happy.

Renault is sick and tired of getting all the blame and none of the credit and is actively looking for new partners, if not a team to take over.
Formula 1 cannot afford to lose Red Bull and their deep pockets.  
Red Bull is in it only for the image so if they don't win it becomes a cost analysis game.  For sure Red Bull is not going to start building engines so a split from Renault can only lead to sale or a new partnership with a player of Mercedes, Honda or FIAT stature.  
There are not too many out there.  the obvious one is VW/Audi.   Perhaps if VW/Audi does not want to jump in all the way an RBR-Porsche engine might come to life?

Hamilton buries Rosberg in Australian GP Qualifying

Even as he tried to fall back on the ol' "I'm grateful to the team for giving me a great car, blah blah blah" mode, you could tell Rosberg was crushed under the weight of the 6/10th Hamilton bested him by in Melbourne.

In his first run in Q3 Rosberg had an issue in the second to last corner an had to abort the lap.  From his reaction at the press conference one might suspect Rosberg blamed that on a technical issue rather than a driver mistake but, either way, he was never faster than Lewis all session.

Of course everyone else got squashed too,   P3 Massa was 1.3 seconds down to Mercedes, still a huge gap and,  considering Williams have a the same engine, a testament to Aldo Costa's chassis.

Real close at Ferrari:  P4 and P5 with Vettel and Raikkonen only 3/100th apart,  The fight between the two Williams and two Ferraris should be very entertaining tomorrow.

Red Bull struggled with engine issues (or is it software issues?)  and were happy to be in Q3 at
all, at least with one car.

Revelations of the session have to be Carlos Sainz and Felipe Nasr.   Sainz put the Toro Rosso in P8 and Nasr came really close to having the Sauber in Q3, which is amazing considering the team could not run on Friday because of Van der Garde's law suit.

And then there was McLaren,  six seconds off the pace.  It's entirely possible Manor would wave been faster had they been able to start their cars (a whole other ridiculous story).

It's hard to picture Alonso, putting down the selfie stick and showing up to race a car that would be lapped after 15 laps of so.

But, as they say in Italy: "You wanted the bicycle? Now pedal"



1 Lewis Hamilton                  Mercedes 1m26.327s -
2 Nico Rosberg                      Mercedes 1m26.921s 0.594s
3 Felipe Massa                       Williams/Mercedes 1m27.718s 1.391s
4 Sebastian Vettel                   Ferrari 1m27.757s 1.430s
5 Kimi Raikkonen                  Ferrari 1m27.790s 1.463s
6 Valtteri Bottas                     Williams/Mercedes 1m28.087s 1.760s
7 Daniel Ricciardo                 Red Bull/Renault 1m28.329s 2.002s
8 Carlos Sainz Jr.                   Toro Rosso/Renault 1m28.510s 2.183s
9 Romain Grosjean                Lotus/Mercedes 1m28.560s 2.233s
10 Pastor Maldonado             Lotus/Mercedes 1m29.480s 3.153s
11 Felipe Nasr                        Sauber/Ferrari 1m28.800s -
12 Max Verstappen                Toro Rosso/Renault 1m28.868s -
13 Daniil Kvyat                     Red Bull/Renault 1m29.070s -
14 Nico Hulkenberg              Force India/Mercedes 1m29.208s -
15 Sergio Perez                     Force India/Mercedes 1m29.209s -
16 Marcus Ericsson               Sauber/Ferrari 1m31.376s -
17 Jenson Button                   McLaren/Honda 1m31.422s -
18 Kevin Magnussen             McLaren/Honda 1m32.037s -

2014 Australian GP

Formula One is supposed to be hard, hard to engineer and hard to drive. By that measure the new rules have succeed: the engineering is hard, only 15 cars crossed the finish line and drivers certainly had their hands full.

However, watching the Australian GP, you did not get the feeling these latest generation cars are hard to drive simply because of more torque and less downforce.  The complications of the drivetrain, the energy harvesting needs and particularly the brake-by-wire system make the cars look random and non-linear. That these cars are somewhat alien to drive may very well explain why rookies did so well this past week end: they are, in a sense, empty vessels for engineers to fill.

The "old" guard will certainly sit up and take notice, Alonso, Raikkonen, Button and to some extent Vettel, Hamilton and even Rosberg, will all be keeping and eye on Bottas, Kvyat and Magnussen. The two rookies had spectacular races, Bottas would would certainly have been on the podium had he not kissed the wall hunting Alonso in the open in laps. He came back to score more points than Willams scored in the whole of last season.

Mercedes confirmed expectations with Rosberg, who led flag to flag with ease, but also showed how fragile these cars can be with Hamilton only completing 2 race laps.

Ferrari was a disappointment, Alonso simply did not have the power to pass and Raikkonen looked like he was fighting the rear brakes the whole race. Small consolation having both cars finish.

But the most intriguing part of the race has to be "Flowgate". Ricciardo and Renault got screwed by Red Bull who, in turn, screwed themselves and made F1 look bad.

Boiling down a very technical issue, the FIA homologated fuel flow meters, manufactured in the UK by Gill Sensors, have been very inconsistent in pre-season development and testing, with variations of +/- 5% and more, to the point where there was talk of the season starting with teams running without them. This would clearly have led to chaos.
The FIA, aware of the issue calibrates each sensor and teams are given an "offset" tied to that specific piece. Applied, this calculation should insure the team falls within the legal limits.

Red Bull was not happy with the sensor readings on Ricciardo's car in qualifying and wanted to go back to one used in practice. The FIA agreed and gave Red Bull its matching "offset".
Red Bull could have gone with it but Newey refused to apply the calculation, which would have resulted in a loss of power, insisting his calculation model (via the injectors) was more precise.

Now you can argue Newey is a genius and his method is better all you want but,  but you cannot have each team run their own scales and police themselves. You certainly cannot tell a governing body you know better than them and think you'll get away with it.

 The FIA Stewards added unprecedented emphasis to their decision:

b. The Technical Directive goes on to state: “If at any time WE consider that the sensor has an issue which has not been detected by the system WE will communicate this to the team concerned and switch to a backup system” (emphasis added.)

Red Bull say they will appeal, they are wasting time.  They got away with getting the tires changed to their advantage last season, it's doubtful they will get away with changing another technical regulation to their advantage this year, can they?  Ricciardo. engine will be dynode by the FIA this week, stay tuned.

It is interesting to note that Red Bull had also written software to override Renault's  own on Vettel's car.  Clearly that did not work out so well either.

Both these events speak to a mix of desperation and arrogance, usually not the best tasting cocktail.

Pos  Driver             Team/Car                  Time/Gap
 1.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1h32m58.710s

DQ 2.Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault        +24.525s
 3.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes          +26.777s
 4.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes          +30.027s
 5.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari                   +35.284s
 6.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes         +47.639s
 7.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes      +50.718s
 8.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari                   +57.675s
 9.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault      +1m00.441s
10.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault      +1m03.585s
11.  Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes    +1m25.916s
12.  Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari              +1 lap
13.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari              +1 lap
14.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari           +2 laps
15.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari           +8 laps*

* Not classified

Retirements:

     Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault              43 laps
     Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault              29 laps
     Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault           27 laps
     Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault            3 laps
     Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes                    2 laps
     Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault            0 laps
     Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes           0 laps

Somewhere Mark Webber is smiling.

New rules, new names in the top ten.  Huge day for Red Bull, not just with Daniel Ricciardo's P2 after many thought they would never make the top ten, but also with  their young driver program:  Ricciardo, Kvyat, Vergne all in the top ten.

Ron Dennis too was beaming at Magnussen's row 2 result,  it's like he saw another young Lewis.

Not so good for some of the "old guys",  Vettel not making Q3 is shocking.  Seb can claim it was a software issue all he wants but when your teammate gets on the front row, that's just not going to wash with the fans.   I'm sure with new quiet engines, Vettel heard how the crowd felt about it in Melbourne.


Alonso and Ferrari made yet another inexplicable tire choice in Q3, going out on intermediates on a clearly flooded track.  Raikkonen, put it in the wall at the end of Q2 but he did not look to have the speed anyway.   Button also failed to make the final session.

For anyone thinking Newey blew it with the RB10, Ricciardo set his time on intermediates while Hamilton and Rosberg were on full wets.  That car has grip, if the engine runs, look out.

Tomorrow we;ll find out how much fuel consumption will play into this year's F1.

Pos  Driver             Team                  Time      Gap
 1.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes              1m44.231s
 2.  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault      1m44.548s  +0.317s
 3.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1m44.595s  +0.364s
 4.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes      1m45.745s  +1.514s
 5.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari               1m45.819s  +1.588s
 6.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault    1m45.864s  +1.633s
 7.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes  1m46.030s  +1.799s
 8.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault    1m47.360s  +3.129s
 9.  Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes     1m48.079s  +3.848s
10.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes     1m48.147s  +3.916s*

Q3 cut-off: 1m44.331s       
11.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes      1m44.437s  +2.173s
12.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari               1m44.494s  +2.230s
13.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault      1m44.668s  +2.404s
14.  Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari        1m45.655s  +3.391s
15.  Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault      1m45.867s  +3.603s
16.  Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes  1m47.293s  +5.029s

Q2 cut-off: 1m34.274s      
17.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari      1m34.293s  +4.118s
18.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari      1m34.794s  +4.619s
19.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari        1m35.117s  +4.942s
20.  Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault      1m35.157s  +4.982s
21.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault         1m36.993s  +6.818s
22.  Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault

Teams are keeping revs under 12000 rpm

The 15000 rpm limit imposed by regulations this year is just theoretical, most teams in FP2 never wound their "Power Units" much past 11,500 rpm.   The need for fuel savings and reliability coupled with the amount of torque from the turbo and the electric components make squeezing every last rev pointless.

That's a shame.

Security guard asks Hamilton for his pass...

It's you first day here, yeah?

The paddock security guard asks Lewis Hamilton, who was walking back to the pits after his Mercedes stopped on track, for his access pass.  "I'm a driver" says Lewis.  

Facepalm.

On the other hand, maybe this might be a new ply for fans to gain paddock access!
(Courtesy of NBCSports)

Alonso tops first practice session of the new F1 Turbo era

The first practice session of the 2014 Formula 1 season did not follow the script.   In the weeks leading up to Melbourne, all the talk was about the speed and reliability of the Mercedes and the disaster at Red Bull.
But it turned out to be Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes W05 who claimed the dubious honor of being the first car to pull off the side of the track,  just  a lap into the session.

By the end, Alonso scored the best time,  the only driver in the 1:31s with 20 laps.  The biggest surprise was Red Bull,   not so much with their speed but that they managed 26 laps with Ricciardo and a more modest 10 with Vettel.   Given the pre-race reports that has to be...an improvement anyway.

Not everything deviated from script,  both Lotus' spent most of the session in the pits. When Maldonado finally went out on track, he almost put it in the wall.   Grojean never made it out of the garage.

Oh, and Chilton ran over one of his pit crew but at least he put a time on the board which is more than Hamilton, Kobayashi, Ericson, Maldonado and Grojean can say.

Pos  Driver             Team/Car              Time       Gap       Laps
 1.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari               1m31.840s            20
 2.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes      1m32.357s  +0.517s   23
 3.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes     1m32.403s  +0.563s   27
 4.  Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes     1m32.431s  +0.591s   19
 5.  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault      1m32.599s  +0.759s   26
 6.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1m32.604s  +0.764s   17
 7.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault      1m32.793s  +0.953s   10
 8.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes      1m32.847s  +1.007s   28
 9.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari               1m32.977s  +1.137s   18
10.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault    1m33.446s  +1.606s   30
11.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes  1m33.533s  +1.693s   23
12.  Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes  1m33.855s  +2.015s   24
13.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault    1m34.272s  +2.432s   27
14.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari        1m35.578s  +3.738s   7
15.  Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari        1m36.445s  +4.605s   13
16.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari      1m40.859s  +9.019s   6
17.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari      1m46.922s  +15.082s  4
18.  Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault                           1
19.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes                                   1
20.  Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault                           1
21.  Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault                              2
22.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault                              2

Onboard Highlights From The Austalian GP

I'm not sure how long this will stay up on YouTube so enjoy while you can!   The Axis Executive Summary of the race HERE

Kimi Gets Down Under GP

You got to love Kimi,  just give him a car that works, he'll take care of the champagne at the end.    Fantastic to see Lotus on top in the first race,  they are the underdog everyone likes to cheer for and for them to do it on a risky two stop strategy and from P7 on the grid makes it that much sweeter.

Great result for Ferrari too with a second and a fourth,  what a difference from last year. Alonso right on the money from P4,  passing his teammate and Vettel with an early stop gamble.  Massa a solid fourth place.

Red Bulls were just average but remember Melbourne is an odd track.  Still, starting from the front row and finishing third and sixth does not give you wings.


Winners:

• Lotus-Renault/Raikkonen:What can you say when Kimi said it was easy!
• Adrian Sutil: Seriously, the guy just shut down all the haters.
• Alonso/Ferrari: Great heads up driving in his duel with Hamilton.  Ferrari gets a car        right, finally.
• Hamilton: If he had stuck with Mclaren he would have been worse off! Heads up driving all race
• Massa:  Still the emotional guy Smedley has to manage but solid now.

Losers

• Webber:   Another crap start from the front row,  really?   Later team blamed the car but his race was crap from the moment he let the clutch out.
• Mclaren:   Now they know how Ferrari felt last year.  They blew qualifying for Perez insisting he go out on slicks when it was obviously wet then thanked Button for telling them to put the damn intermediates on.  Does not compute!
• Grosjean: He drove like he was concerned about not hitting anyone
• Mercedes:  Not good enough,
• Williams: Wow
• Sauber:  Wow

Executive Summary after the break

leavemealoneicantseeshit: Australian F1 Quali Washed Out

Formula 1 started with a cold shower in Melbourne. They managed to get Q1 in somehow but nothing more. Q2 and 3 are set for Sunday morning 11 AM local time.

Here are the q1 results

Pos Driver                Team                    Time        Gap   
 1. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes                1m43.380s
 2. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                 1m43.850s + 0.470s
 3. Romain Grosjean       Lotus Renault           1m44.284s + 0.904s
 4. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes        1m44.300s + 0.920s
 5. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault        1m44.472s + 1.092s
 6. Felipe Massa          Ferrari                 1m44.635s + 1.255s
 7. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault        1m44.657s + 1.277s
 8. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1m44.688s + 1.308s
 9. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m44.871s + 1.491s
10. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes                1m45.456s + 2.076s
11. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault           1m45.545s + 2.165s
12. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes    1m45.601s + 2.221s
13. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari          1m45.930s + 2.550s
14. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m46.450s + 3.070s
15. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault        1m47.328s + 3.948s
16. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes    1m47.330s + 3.950s
17. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault        1m47.614s + 4.234s
18. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari          1m47.776s + 4.396s
19. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth       1m48.147s + 4.767s
20. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth       1m48.909s + 5.529s
21. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault        1m49.519s + 6.139s
22. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault        1m50.626s + 7.246s

107% time: 1m45.301s

2012 Australian GP Executive Summary

Here we go, start of the longest Formula One season ever, Melbourne as a low grip street circuit is notoriously not representative of how the rest of the season might unfold so let's dispense with big pronouncements in favor of a simple winners and losers list

WIN:

Jenson Button: flawless, showed Lewis again why he carries number 3 and not 4.

Mclaren, looks good went fast. will it continue to grow?

Fernando Alonso: showed why it is he's paid the big bucks and he's the best driver in the field. Especially impressive, how towards the end of the race with his tires gone he controlled Maldonado pushing only in the last section of the lap to get away from DRS range.

Kimi Raikkonen: he's been away for two years? I'd hate to think what will happen when they wake him up on time for qualifying.

Kamui Kobayashi, Sergio Perez, Sauber: Just check the starting and finishing positions.

Williams: yes Maldonado was helped by the safety car shuffle but great to see a Williams do something.

New Safety car rules: perhaps it was not a factor today but finally lapped cars will not decide the race.


FAIL

Lewis Hamilton: Starting from pole and getting thoroughly dusted by your supposedly slower team mate shows it takes more than a green liner in a yellow helmet.

Mercedes: Clever aero is not too much use if your car breaks and eats tires fast.

Rosberg: not so happy to have to chase "grandpa" Michael's times?

Force India: expected more out of Di Resta.

Mclaren: you blew the fuel calculations, seriously?

Massa: why postpone the inevitable, Indy car is calling.

Maldonado: could have scored points for the team, oh wait, he bought the team so he can stuff it in the wall if he wants to. Or maybe that voodoo doll Grosjean was playing with actually worked.

Check out our Australian GP Executive Summary after the jump

2012 Australian GP Qualifying

Photo: Topazzar/Flickr

Fernando Alonso said on Friday to expect a surprising starting grid come Sunday morning but I'm not sure anyone quite expected this. Granted Mclaren were know to be fast and both Hamilton and Button put in a spectacular laps but Romain Grosjean in third? I'm not sure Romain had ever driven in Melbourne before Friday!

You know it's Grand Prix time when....

They break out Thor's station wagon....

2011 Australian GP Executive Summary

photo: Alex Comerford

The 2011 F1 season starts off where 2010 left off, with domination from Red Bull and with the best drivers still Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso.

I don't want to get bogged down too much about it: it's a long season and 2010 taught that early domination means little, but I'm not sure I'm a big fan of how Red Bull is behaving with regards to their obviously flexing front wing and, especially, with their not running KERS at all.

While it's perfectly legal for them not to use KERS, it seems to me that if there was an agreement among the major teams to run this expensive green technology fig leaf with all the packaging and reliability compromises it entails, Red Bull stuck it to everyone by choosing to run without it. That means less cooling, and more flexibility in balancing the car. Clever... again.

The movable rear wing seems to only kind of work, certainly it's not as dramatic as advertised. What I did notice was that, at least on this track, cars were able to run much closer together in the turns.

A big thumbs up to Mexican rookie "Checo" Perez for his excellent driving in the opening lap chaos, shame Sauber were later excluded on a technical infraction.

Big thumbs down to Barrichello who, in his 308 GP start, drove like you might expect a rookie pay driver might: he went off in qualifying, in the race he went off in the second corner and later managed to destroy the only remaining Mercedes of Rosberg with a divebomb maneuver usually seen at local arrive & drive kart tracks.

Finally the question everyone is asking, Petrov did a great job finishing third but what if Robert Kubica had been there?

Pass of the race? No contes:, Alonso's outside pass on Kobayashi on the fasters turn on the track. Brilliant.

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h29:30.259
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +    22.297
 3.  Petrov        Renault                    +    30.560
 4.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    31.772
 5.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +    38.171
 6.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +    54.300
 7.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:05.800
 8.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:16.800
 9.  Massa         Ferrari                    +  1:25.100
10.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
11.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
12.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
13.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
14.  Heidfeld      Renault                    +     1 lap
15.  Trulli        Lotus-Renault              +    2 laps
16.  D'Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth            +    3 laps

Fastest lap: Massa, 1:28.947

Link to the song used


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