2013 Australian Grand Prix ***SPOILERS***

Epic drive by Kimi. If you wanted to see the ultimate race drive, that would be somewhere near it - a great start, perfect racecraft, brave and ballsy whenever he had to be, great tyre management, perfect control of the race once he was in the lead, and above all, stunning pace and great consistency throughout. I enjoyed that one. :D

Good to see Ferrari starting the season strongly this time, and so many car/driver combinations so evenly matched over a race distance. Strong start to the season from Massa too, which is good - he gave Alonso a decent push. Alonso was his usual strong self, think he'll be happy to collect P2 in the first race and with clearly having a better car this year.

Great drive by Sutil on his return - looks like the break from racing has done him good. Don't think di Resta will be very happy about being outdriven though - especially given what's potentially riding on it.

Lewis did a good job on his Merc debut, don't think he could've done anything more with the car. Mercedes still not really managing to keep up with the other top teams - they've just maintained their record of mediocrity.

---

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2013 06:21PM by EC83.

Not one of the better Aussie races because the race itself lacked it's usual randomness.

But and it's a good but, an excellent result and a massive boost of hope that Red Bull won't have it all their own way with genuine competitiveness by Lotus and Ferrari and to some extent Merc who look up for it even if the machinery still ultimately falls short.

Supreme drive by Kimi who delivered the kind of virtuoso victory that Lotus so often threatened early last year. I thought Alonso would make it a tighter finish but Kimi was so silky smooth and unflustered and the Ferrari couldn't quite make it's tyre last which makes Kimi's stints even more impressive.

Red Bull have taken a warning shot across their bows Dry practice pace suggested they were going to run and hide. But I had a feeling that Webber would have his customary poor start, and he never recovered whilst Vettel was his usual epic self but his Alonsoesque drifts towards the end of his stints seemed to kill off his tyre life.

Good effort by Merc, wrong strategy though yet massive leap forward. Hamilton looked really up for it, Britney had great pace in the wet but he needs to close that gap in the dry otherwise he'll get routed before he can say "hit me baby one more time".

Good effort by Massa, he's carried his end of season form through but I sense his heart sunk when Alonso did the undercut and from then on his charge seemed stunted. But not the shocker it could have been and he's helped Ferrari to the lead of the constructors.

Very impressive comeback drive by Sutil. He may have had benefit of the optimal tyre strategy due to his grid slot but to take net track position over Vettel after the stops... Was eye opening to say the least. He's effectively put a megaphone to Di Resta's ear and yelled "Pull your finger out and up your game."

Poor effort by Grosjean to be light years away from Kimi who was supreme. Maybe he was too busy concentrating on not being a first lap nutcase and took the mindset on for another 58 laps.

McLaren... Wow. 2009 levels of wtf? But fair job by Button to score points. He needed to get begin as team leader and so far he is.

Williams... Devastating. I kind of feared it was either going to be epic fail or epic win with nothing in between but even I didn't think they'd fall back that far. I don't know it the lack of pace is fundamental or if there is some magic switch which was stuck in the wrong position this week but I fear another season of high pain. Solid job by the #BOTTAS under the circumstances. Maldonaldo = lol.

The rest? Impressive start by Bianchi... It seems he could drop the GP2 tag of hot favourite turned nearly man and take it up to the next level.

Rather than Kimi going out and winning the race, I get the feeling Ferrari (Alonso) and Vettel were covering each other at the expense of letting Kimi getting away. By the time they'd finished playing each other, Kimi was in the distance.

Don't get me wrong, it was a great win, and perfectly executed, but I do think they played into his hands.

I was completely fooled by Sutil's strategy. Where he was setting fastest laps, having made zero stops to Vettel's 2 stops, I was convinced that he'd be battling for the win! Was a bit disappointed when I realized that he wasn't I was surprised to see Di Resta so close to Sutil at the end, actually. I thought he'd be miles behind.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You know you want to. [judgegrudge.mybrute.com]

Williams awful and Mclaren awful.

I've got so used to seeing Button up there it was painful to watch. Likewise Williams were terrible. After a fair amount of promise I expected a lot this year.

I hope both teams can fix their issues soon. Malaysia will give us a clear picture of the order though.

Only good thing today was Kimi won and not Alonso or Vettel! Likewise I saw some satisfaction in seeing Mercedes not being as quick as I initially thought.

---

"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

Relieving race as a Hamilton fan. I don't think we can really draw many conclusions overall from today, and I doubt Malaysia will help.

Regarding Williams form at Melbourne, Maldonado did a Frentzen '97 - but without the brake failure. :P

---

Also without being quick at all.

Sutil ran a very clever strategy that got him to the front, however there was no way that he was going to make the super soft tyre work at the end of the race for that many laps, and all it proved was that ultimately it was no faster that Di Resta's strategy after starting on used Super Softs.

Great race from Kimi, Alonso & co. Hamilton showed promising pace but that lock up while fighting Alonso cost him his chance of making a two stopper work. Merc seem to have solved their tyre issues from last year...

Roll on Malaysia,

i still cant answer mysself this question:

why did sutil pit while leading and pulling away from vettel ??

Maybe the tyres were about to fall off the cliff?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You know you want to. [judgegrudge.mybrute.com]

He was also reacting to Webber's stop a lap or so earlier.

---

Sutil's race only being slightly quicker than Pauls is a non-topic.

He lead the race for a fine period. The guy is quick and although I would have preferred another guy in the car, FI certainly made the right decision. He's talked about making the most of the chance, and I have no reason to doubt he will.

Paul is going to have to step up, big time.

I am a huge fan of Paul, I like his attitude and approach but I more so like how he is very much grounded. I really hope he can give some more. Truth is, with Sutil out for a year di Resta should beat him.

---

"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

Good race just for the fact that it produced a new winner ( and I'm no Kimmy fan that's for sure.)

Ferrari looks strong and look up for it against the 'Bulls'. Strong drive from Renault but I really don't expect that to last forever. Good opening run on the come-back of Sutil, Di-resta needs to pull his finger out or he'll be having the De Resta de season on the bench .... seriously can't see it though. Not the most Charismatic of creatures and his driving has not done anything to complement that fact either.

Mercedes?? Well, ..... I really don't see any step forward and I'd be very careful before we start spouting about how they have the tyre problem under control. Hamilton did what Shumey or Rosberg would have done last year nothing special there .... and poor Rosberg seems to have inherited shumies engineers from last season ..................???

Mclaren ....... He .. hee. Got to laugh W>T>Hell? Waaaaaaaaaaaaa....zzzzzzzz...uup! with that team?

Loved Massa's opening stint, looking forward to seeing how quickly Mclaren can get their act together and how the 'Bulls' are going to fair against a very competetive Ferrari this year ..............


" Perfection is not a gift ....... it comes with practice."

Member of R.S.C.T Group



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2013 05:23PM by Isaint.

I don't think Kimi nor Toleman are new winners to be honest

Isaint Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Good race just for the fact that it produced a
> new winner ( and I'm no Kimmy fan that's for
> sure.)
>
> Ferrari looks strong and look up for it against
> the 'Bulls'. Strong drive from Renault but I
> really don't expect that to last forever. Good
> opening run on the come-back of Sutil, Di-resta
> needs to pull his finger out or he'll be having
> the De Resta de season on the bench .... seriously
> can't see it though. Not the most Charismatic of
> creatures and his driving has not done anything to
> complement that fact either.
>
> Mercedes?? Well, ..... I really don't see any step
> forward and I'd be very careful before we start
> spouting about how they have the tyre problem
> under control. Hamilton did what Shumey or Rosberg
> would have done last year nothing special there
> .... and poor Rosberg seems to have inherited
> shumies engineers from last season
> ..................???
>
> Mclaren ....... He .. hee. Got to laugh W>T>Hell?
> Waaaaaaaaaaaaa....zzzzzzzz...uup! with that team?
>
> Loved Massa's opening stint, looking forward to
> seeing how quickly Mclaren can get their act
> together and how the 'Bulls' are going to fair
> against a very competetive Ferrari this year
> ..............

Nope. Rosberg's got his own engineer as last year.

Hamilton's got Schu's team with Bono etc.

Yeah... Same engineers etc as last year... They just gave Nico Michael's side of the garage this time.... Poor move

Who is going to make the Malaysia thread? We need it in a few hours!!

---

It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.

Well volunteered that man!

Something not mentioned yet, and I completely forgot about it after the race. Alonso sensing that Hamilton had locked up and kept well out of his way... I know the mirrors have improved, but surely Hamilton must have been in his blind spot?