Official 2017 Australian Grand Prix **SPOILERS with added HONDA UNCERTAINTIES**

Here we go again! Let the uncertainty begin!





Free practice starts in less than 24 hours!

Track guide:


Predictions anyone?



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/2017 02:30PM by madotter.

I don't mind Mercedes winning again. What I want is at least Ferrari and RBR giving them a very hard time, and by the looks of it, it's likely.

Haven't been this hyped in years, Sunday can't arrive soon enough.



Stats: 139 Starts / 7 Wins / 9 Poles / 5 Fastest laps

Let's get this party started!

Through all the pondering of who's fastest, Mercedes have got by far the most detailed car and I'm fully expecting them to be a good 0.3-0.5 seconds quicker than Ferrari when the dust settles. We've been here before so many times.

For the first time ever I've entered a fantasy F1 league (just a freebie). Damn it's hard who to pick from the lower reaches. Renault are suffering with relatively poor reliability (at least they were in testing), so do I go for Toro Rosso, Renault or take a punt on Stroll hitting the ground running...

I'm cautiously optimistic that Mercedes will not have it all their own way, although they must be overall favourites.

I'm looking forward to it even if I have lost the overpowering excitement I once felt.

Not that I'm gonna root for it, but I think Mercedes will drive circles around the other cars. Maybe even Bottas will be ahead of Hamilton who didn't seem to be that happy with the car.

I expect Ferrari to have the edge over RB, as long as Verstappen keeps his calm. If not the start may be mayhem and the unexpected might happen.

Since Mika retired I have been in the comfortable position of watching races with no real favorite team or driver. I have my preferences though, but I can appreciate every one winning a race. In 56 hours we'll all know more. Let the best win and may they all return to the pits after the race safely.

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REHAB IS FOR QUITTERS

I've not looked into FP1 and FP2 in detail yet, but that already looks frustrating, and we know how much Mercedes sand bag throughout practice! #ominous

Seems everyone is still sandbagging, as they barely matched last year's pole. There's still hope

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used to be GPGSL's Nick Heidfeld

Quote
n00binhio
Seems everyone is still sandbagging, as they barely matched last year's pole. There's still hope

I'm not sure how much is sandbagging. Apparently the Ferraris were extremely nervous in turns 1 and 2 while Hamilton's Mercedes looked like it was on rails.

I still haven't found FP1 or FP2 to watch myself though.

nothing special, average season ahead, with hamilton winning easily, if no technical (engine f.e) problems again.
last great season was 2008, with 2 top teams being even (mclaren-ferrari), with bmw being really close behind them, and with alonso sneaky winning twice (even tho with cheating at singapoore, which was epic and pure f1 greatness for my taste, big to briatore for doing crazy stuff like that honestly)... such great times. don't expect anything like that this year, but hopefully changes may happen in 2018 or later with the new engines maybe. anyway, ross brawn playing a big role in the governing body is a perfect choice. he is a wise man and i hope he can figure out something without introducing the things that feels like forced. i mean i really hate surrogates like kers, drs, exploding condom-thin pirellis, all the other bullshit like sparks coming from the bottom of the car . all this stuff introduced since 2009 to satisfy some lazy retarded casuals sitting in front of tv killed all the joy of the natural feeling of formula 1. yes it was already half killed with the senna's death (regulations changed big time after that to decrease the speed of the cars, which is obviously the most unnatural intention about racing) and even before that (stuff like lotus 88 case in 1981 and others), but the recent practice of pandering to the viewers with some bullshit like starting the race as late as possible in melbourne and suzuka f.e. to satisfy lazy bastards who cant wake up a bit earlier (yes, part of this killed bianchi by the way), or with refusing to release a safety car when needed (yes again, this is what killed bianchi - the race directors know that average f1 viewer seem to be bored looking at the cars being held up behind the safety car, and that's why they refuse to deploy it as much as possible), and all other stuff like holding the race at night (singapoore, adu-dhabi, and bahrein recently). i don't f-kin need the god damn night gps, i do not care if the race surroundings look great or not, all i need is interesting layout, not another average tilkedrome... it seemed to me like bernie was ready to equip the cars with some bond-movie like devices like oil and glass coming behind them just to entertain some lazy viewers... gosh sparks... or now everyone seem to be bitching about so-called "shark fins"... i mean w t f? the shark fin helps the car to be faster, so what you are complaining about? if adrian newey finds out that the giant dildo placed over the car is effective to make it faster i do not have problems with this at all... i dont need sparks, i dont need the cars decorated with neon laser beams producing the giant fireworks to entertain me. the interesting and challenging layouts, not another average tilkedrome (even if it looks avesome at night), and the fast and challenging cars (even if they look ugly as hell) is what makes me feel entertained... jeez, sorry for the rant, i guess i'm a bit behind the times, or is this the thing that's called "aging"

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For a list of EVERY download for GP4, look here:[docs.google.com]

Noticed for the first time since 1996 different camera angles at Albert Park were used. Also after sitting down and watching the cars for a good period I would have preferred the rear wings to be the 2016 height but wider (pre 95). But looks like Mercedes have this all the way. Redbull have more pace it seems on red rather than purples


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Shame Honda have already said a new spec engine for around Monaco is needed to up the power but after testing as a McLaren fan the fact they might actually finish the race is a minor miracle!

So Ferrari were a bit of a tease in the end but certainly looks like it could be a good battle at least. Might need to see how they go on other tracks.

Great jobs from Grosjean and Giovinazzi! On a personal note strange to be following Massa and not having to worry about a team-mate! So hard to know the quality of his lap without a benchmark but 7th seems about right. Didn't help that he missed most of FP2 and didn't get to do a qualifying run in FP3 due to Stroll.

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X (@ed24f1)

gav schrieb:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Seems everyone is still sandbagging, as they
> barely matched last year's pole. There's still
> hope
>
>
> I'm not sure how much is sandbagging. Apparently
> the Ferraris were extremely nervous in turns 1 and
> 2 while Hamilton's Mercedes looked like it was on
> rails.
>
> I still haven't found FP1 or FP2 to watch myself
> though.

Let's settle on a draw. Merc is still fastest but the top teams were sandbagging indeed I would say

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used to be GPGSL's Nick Heidfeld

Well, good qualy overall. Grosjean impressed me the most.

Ferrari seems to be up there with Mercedes. First front row since singapore 2015 and only 3 tenths behind Hamilton, who is probably one of the best qualifiers ever.

Also Ricciardo starting 10th will add some emotion.

Should be a good race.

I was dishearted by the grid, but then I remember something Sean Kelly said a few days back - Ferrari have not qualified with 0.8 seconds of Mercedes at Albert Park since something like 2012, so there's still hope that as the season evolves we may get some battles.

As I said over the winter though, Ferrari won't challenge for either title unless they sort out their consistency (something they've been terrible for since 2011 or so) and eliminate strategic mistakes. They still look like their car needs to be peaking to be challenging Mercedes, otherwise they look miles away.

bottas had a visible mistake at turn 3 (and a mistake with exiting from the last corner on his quick lap before that which was 3rd fastest again), so normally he might be ahead of vettel (i think), not to mention that it was his first qualy for the new team, so he will improve further the season. on the other hand it looks to me like kimi already have problems with the car not fitting his style, and that can't be changed much during the year. anyway hamilton 0.3 ahead of vettel... looks like ferraris can win something like 3 races again like it was in 2015, maybe more with a bit of luck. money still on hamilton obviously for this year.

___________________________________________________________________________
For a list of EVERY download for GP4, look here:[docs.google.com]

10mins roughly till the start. Really hoping for another driver to take the victory, but still feel it'll end up being another Mercedes whitewash. Just have to wait and see what goes down.

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Ricciardo's race is over. Shame that it had to go downhill for him. Now the hope of an Australian winning their home race will have to wait till 2018.

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FORZA FERRARI, FORZA SEB #5!!

Well, that was an absolute borefest.

Nice to see a different winner but it is very clear to me that the cars are struggling to follow others and can't get close.

Needs fixing ASAP.

Ferrari very quick, better in traffic than Merc. Kimi way behind Seb.
Merc also v. quick, Ham already moaning about tyres.
Red Bull - difficult to tell quite where they are atm :/
McLaren - LOL
Williams - decent pace but nothing to set the world alight.
Haas - decent pace, bad reliability
Renault - very disappointing
Toro Rosso - pleasant surprise, seem to have produced a really quick car this year.
FI - see TR
Sauber - slow