The Official 2011 Australian GP Thread ****Spoilers!!****

Has anyone any further news on the Kers/RBR story? Only seen limited stuff on the James Allen and Ted Kravitz BBC pages.

Normally a reset should sort the system. The team can replace batteries too I believe. But yeah, the classic on-off fixes most problems :p

I got a feeling Ferrari will fare much better tomorrow. Well Alonso! Also, ive been trying to convince my friends that Kobayashi is the next big thing, but they wont have it, today's session went someway in helping my cause apparently :p

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

Kobayashi isn't the next big thing, but he provides epic levels of entertainment. He's a millions miles ahead of Sato, but he's not championship material. I'd put him on a level with Alesi... and everyone loves Jean too.

+1 on Alesi/Kobyashi comparison!

A driver with zero diva features, and mostly exciting driving eccentricity.


Jenson drives it like he owns it; Lewis drives it like he stole it

gav Wrote:
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> Kobayashi isn't the next big thing, but he
> provides epic levels of entertainment. He's a
> millions miles ahead of Sato, but he's not
> championship material. I'd put him on a level with
> Alesi... and everyone loves Jean too.


Yeah, you're right. The big difference between Sato and K.K. is that Takuma couldn't keep up with Button when he had a good car, and the '04 BAR was a good one. Kamui got his hands on a quite good car for just two races, in which he did amazing things, specially in Brazil. While in Sauber, he literally destroyed De la Rosa, and although Heidfeld was better, it wasn't enough.

One similarity beween them is their ability to get really inspired sometimes and make a bad car look like a RBR. Examples: Spain and Canada '07 (Sato), Japan and Europe '10 (Kobayashi)



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

I think (hope) Kobayashi will bag one of the Ferrari/Mclaren seats in a few years. Both Button and Massa will go soon, either by choice or not. atm I put Kobayashi at the top of the list to replace them... By then he will be experienced, and a good choice. I dont think he's Vettel/Lewis quick but I think he's got the potential to be able to match them over a season (similar to Button I guess). It would be a shame not to see him in a top car.

As for tomorrow, I hope F1 sorts out the live timing. I was pretty pissed this morning when it wasnt working! I guess it's not so crucial in the race, but I felt asif I was missing a great deal of information without it during qualifying. Best be sorted for the race!

I wonder what Rubens can do from where he is? I was very hopeful he'd shove it in the top 10 today, but even he can make rookie errors :p.

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

anyone else thinkin' that schumacher will have huge advantage tomorrow. he can start on the hard tyres and when there is more rubber on the track he can change to the softs. and everyone ahead of him is on used rubber.

dissapointed with Schumacher performance tbh evenif he has an advantage i doubt he'd be able to capitalize on it with his current speed...he needs to up his game... hopefully it was just a one off but based on how he started last season it could be the same this time. i was hoping he improved this time but it was just an average performance and it looked a bit nervous compared to his old days... i don't know his rection speed seems a bit slower and thats costing him a lot of time, if he nails the corner.. his speed is there, but if not it seems that it takes a lot of time to make corrections

truth be told, today is what counts, and hopefully we can see something better from a lot of drivers that dissapoint a lot yesterday, Massa and Jenson where also average compared to their teammates

and the tyres excuse is pretty old to use it now.. if they can't adapt to it, then they should just recognize they're just not as talented and stop cyrcling around on it

Considering the clocks go forward tomorrow, what time does BBC F1 start taking into account changing my clock at 1am to make it 2am?

On the bbc commentary today they said it starts at 5am, but the tv guide says 6am.

Im lost? Is it 6am taking into account the hour forward then?

DJSKYLINE Wrote:
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> Considering the clocks go forward tomorrow, what
> time does BBC F1 start taking into account
> changing my clock at 1am to make it 2am?
>
> On the bbc commentary today they said it starts at
> 5am, but the tv guide says 6am.
>
> Im lost? Is it 6am taking into account the hour
> forward then?

I'd say so. Program starts 6 am BST - Race starts at 7 am BST.

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I was reading about this RBR start only KERS, it is not banned but it is not in the spirit of what KERS is about.

Was a fantastic session today Vettel was just mind blowing, and what a great job by Lewis and Button seeing they had to get used to this car in a short amount of time. Webber massive let down blown away by his team mate and even let a Mclaren beat him.

No idea was is going on at Ferrari, some people seem to think they built the car to be easy on tyres and there was just no grip.

So yeah the start of the race will be fun, I will be shocked if Vettel is still in 1st place at turn one I think Lewis will jump him as will Button jump Webber. But I do expect a RBR 1-2.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2011 10:21PM by marcl.

Quote
chet
I think (hope) Kobayashi will bag one of the Ferrari/Mclaren seats in a few years. Both Button and Massa will go soon, either by choice or not. atm I put Kobayashi at the top of the list to replace them... By then he will be experienced, and a good choice. I dont think he's Vettel/Lewis quick but I think he's got the potential to be able to match them over a season (similar to Button I guess). It would be a shame not to see him in a top car.

He's got as good a shout as anyone at replacing Massa at Ferrari (and let's face it, Massa is going to be replaced in the next season or two). He'd make a great number two... and to be honest, in the right car at the right time, he's the sort of guy who could strike it lucky - just as Alesi might have done had he kept with his original agreement of Williams. It's hard to imagine, but Webber nearly managed a World Championship as a disadvantaged driver (I won't go as far as to call him a number two) last year, so it's very possible. I'd certainly pay to see him in a top car.

As for Button... as long as Hamilton stays at McLaren and as long as Button is happy there, I can't see them changing. It's perfect for both. Button gets to stay in a top team, Hamilton gets a slightly slower teammate who keeps his head in the right place and keeps him focussed, and McLaren get a driver who can't quite match Hamilton but is very consistent and will bring home a shed-load of points for the Constructors Championship. So long as they stay towards the front, they'd all be mad to part to be honest.

Quote
marcl
I was reading about this RBR start only KERS, it is not banned but it is not in the spirit of what KERS is about.

You haven't quite grasped this motor racing thing yet, have you? You make a car that goes quickly within the regulations. In the past 2 and a bit years, when has spirit come into it?

Double-decker diffuser? Blown diffuser? Flexi wings? Flexi foors? Where's the line? If it's legal, it's legal.

If it's true, then Red Bull aren't exactly bending the rules - they've chosen a path between using KERS and not using it (just as the teams at the back aren't). If that makes the car faster, then you've got to hand it to them...

...unless of course you're one of those who wants a Toyota Prius, just to pretend you're doing your bit for the environment, while you're actually covering just 50 mile per gallon (which is worse than any decent diesel), and your F1 car does 2 mile per gallon and the plane which carries you to all these exotic venues probably does even less. Yeah... it's against the spirit.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2011 10:22PM by gav.

Does the pole position side have the inside line into turn one?

Also could see Kobi being a good number 2 driver for one the top teams one day. Would be be great stuff.

___________________________________________________________________
Waiting for March.

Quote
nvooght
Does the pole position side have the inside line into turn one?

Nope, as with all circuits of this type (where the racing line is clearly on one side) the pole is on that racing line - the outside.

There's no advantage to the inside line at Melbourne. It's dusty and it's too tight into turn one - the guy on the outside will just turn in on you as 1) he won't know you're there and 2) the guy on the inside has to slow down a heck of a lot due to the nature of the corner.

That's why Hamilton could breeze around the outside of Alonso in 2007.

its going to be a hell of a battle for P1, the top 3 drivers are all impetuous and they all have something to prove

now techincally Red Bull ain't using a KERS right?, more like some recycled battery which gets charged on pit lane and not with the braking... the thing is, apparently all KERS are charged previously on the pit lane so they ain't doing anything wrong... well that's if it's true that they are using a mini version of it

but either way they are still kicking ass in every area, that''s why they¿re being dominant, and that's why they make everybody look amateurish

and compliments to Mclaren, they've done it, i know race is what counts and they still have the reliability test coming up but still, they're looking a lot better than they did just 3 weeks ago, whereas Ferrari and Mercedes are the biggest loosers of the weekend... at least for now..

crikey, anyone think speed trap data is worth much?

[www.formula1.com]

Kobayashi credit once again!


Jenson drives it like he owns it; Lewis drives it like he stole it

It's worth something in that it shows how good each team has the DRS working. We also know it works better with the higher torque engines, so the Renault engined cars struggle, whilst Ferrari and Mercedes engines should enjoy it.

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This is where the prediction stops.

Just one question, just how fast is that RedBull?! I hope there are some sort of tyre issues, they've held up pretty well so far! Should be a interesting first stint though, I reckon the softs should last no more than 15-18 laps but you have to assume, everyone below 10th will start on the hards? Can the guys up front build a gap?

Vettel? Yes. The rest? We'll see!

edit - Agree with Jordan about DRS in qualifying. Why bother? It's designed to bring overtaking not to get more performance.

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



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2011 07:29AM by chet.

edit - Agree with Jordan about DRS in qualifying. Why bother? It's designed to bring overtaking not to get more performance.

Well only Red Bull and Renault didn't want to use it, because they don't get as much of an advantage as the Mercedes and Ferrari powered cars. So I guess they got a bit out voted.

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Seems ironic that the Fduct was banned on saftey reasons yet they allow drivers to press (or hold) a button every corner for the wing. Always amazes me just how awful the FIA can be sometimes.

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