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

To be fair, I was surprised at how quick Liuzzi was. I'm not expecting miracles, but I thought both cars would be further back given the mess they were in. The 107% mark should be achievable if they actually do some meaningful practice laps.

It relies on others sand bagging. If 107% was done on the actual pole time, then Virgin would have DNQ'd.

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Liuzzi will probably qualify, but I think Narain won't.

Ironic isn't it, considering he holds most of the cash.


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

It is quite funny actually.

If Vettel/Webber were having a "bad day" and wanted to make someone else's day worse, they could technically go out in Q1 with options and f*ck up the HRT's, the Virgins, and maybe the Lotus's :p

It would be mean but very funny at the same time :p.

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

chet Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It is quite funny actually.
>
> If Vettel/Webber were having a "bad day" and
> wanted to make someone else's day worse, they
> could technically go out in Q1 with options and
> f*ck up the HRT's, the Virgins, and maybe the
> Lotus's :p
>
> It would be mean but very funny at the same time
> :p.

Lotus probably wouldn't be too far off though so chances are they would be voted in to race. HRT on the other hand ...

chet Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It is quite funny actually.
>
> If Vettel/Webber were having a "bad day" and
> wanted to make someone else's day worse, they
> could technically go out in Q1 with options and
> f*ck up the HRT's, the Virgins, and maybe the
> Lotus's :p
>
> It would be mean but very funny at the same time
> :p.

As soon as the one of the backmarkers make a nuisance of themselves by getting in the way, maybe Red Bull or others will take revenge at the next race!

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X (@ed24f1)

Here are the photos from my weekend at the Grand Prix:

Friday Practice 1 - On the way to Turn 3


At Turn 3


Run from Turn 3 to 4. Chandhok invented a right turn here at the start of the session.


Never too late to use Flo-vis!


Great viewing area to see the cars flat out through here with no fence


Screaming through the parkland


Entering Turn 5


Through Turn 5


Friday Practice 2: Turn 13


Vettel at Turn 14


Not surprisingly, Newey and Horner arrived very early.


Whitmarsh was understandably in a good mood, and people in the crowd were joking with him about a picture of him in the Ferrari garage, cue references to spying, new job etc. There was a nice moment afterwards when him and Domenicali shook hands after both finished signing.


Senna


Vettel was fantastic, taking about 10 minutes to sign something for absolutely everyone. Other drivers like Alonso started speeding up half way through, or used the alternate entry point to avoid signing autographs (Hamilton).







"Australia hates you," someone yelled out, but he still signed some autographs.


The Alain Piquet stand at Turn 3


Now I'm on my quick paddock/Virgin garage tour at about 2pm on Sunday. The Melbourne paddock is very nice with gardens and lots of green space.


Virgin spares/supplies/tools


They keep a few spare engines and gearboxes (which we couldn't take photos of) running and 'alive' at all times so they can be quickly substituted. Here is the car's jack.


Crew helmets and more spares


Used to start the car


Fuel supplies. You can just see the fuel machines beneath that automatically program certain fuel loads into the car.








The garage (including back rooms and corridoors) was much bigger than I expected. Considering that this was the team in F1 with the smallest budget, it was a reminder of the insane money in F1.


Looking back towards the V8 Supercars pits


In-garage telemetry


Looking back down the paddock


Renault getting ready


My view for the race. Not the best view unfortunately, compared to last year. Decided to go towards Turn 1 to get a better view of the corner, but that meant less visibility of the cars. Still, good screen and audio access.


Podium


Goodbye Seb

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X (@ed24f1)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/05/2011 08:01AM by SchueyFan.

Nice set of pics Ed.

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[www.mediafire.com] Some say you should click it, you know you want to. [www.gp4central.com] <----GP4 Central

So I went on Sunday and I must say I had a @#$%& time during the race.

I was down at Turn 9 aka Bogan Hill.
Got there before gates opened and waited so we could get a spot down the front.
Later on in the day a guy from Italy (i think) came over and joined us (Massa fan) and we chatted and got on.
Race started and the whole hill was standing up. Well about 5/10 laps in everyone around us decided to start sitting down (WTF?) So we stayed standing as we actually wanted to see and gave a crap.
Well that's when it all started, had cans and bottle thrown, guy came up to me and shoved me, had a smart ass little @#$%& come up and try to be logical, he failed when i told him "if i wanted to sit down i would've stayed at home on the couch or bought a grand stand ticket"... Then his drunk ass mate decided to wack my hat and wig off my head. I was about 2 seconds away from knocking him out.
At the middle of turn 10 everyone was standing, entry to turn 9 everyone was standing but no, everyone around us had to sit down. Oh well, we pissed them off for a good 40+ laps.

Such a let down as i had been looking forward to the F1 (as had my new mate). He made the funny comment "if this was the italian gp, and you told someone to sit down, well, you work it out" hahahaha



GPGSL WDC Season 4

I was a bit further along at T10 - I cant understand why people would sit - especially in the first part!
I get too excited to sit on my arse!

This was the first time I went for 3 days - usually only go for 1 or 2, but was great on Friday, jsut walked around the track, watched from different spots.

Was it just me or was there a LOT less large screens this year?

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2013 - Nando must come through..

"Ferrari’s deputy technical director Pat Fry revealed earlier this week that the team had since conducted a thorough investigation into their car’s performance at Albert Park, and identified improving its single-lap qualifying pace as the overriding target."

Doubt if improving single lap pace will help, won't negate the advantage that Red Bull have. Seems Ferrari are not sure whats wrong with the car and hope they don't keep chasing Redbull and McLaren.

Depends. When RB are in front of the Ferraris they'll just disappear into the distance. When Ferrari can get their cars in front of them, they may be able to hold them back. Especially with the tyre wear apparently being higher over at RB, Ferrari might be able to stay ahead during the pitstops.

Ferrari's race pace wasn't at all bad (in Alonso's hands), and Red Bull's possibly not as quick as expected (though as has been said, it wasn't expected to be a particularly strong Red Bull circuit).

If Ferrari rectify any issues they had in qualifying, then they may be clearly second fastest and not all that far from Red Bull.

Edit: Oh great, I see the media are trying to stir up the already old 'well, they're quicker, therefore it must be illegal' in regards to Red Bull again. Give it a break. It was legal last year. It must be legal this year. They're fastest because they've don the best job. Again. Now @#$%& off and do some reporting for once.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/2011 06:03PM by gav.

Horner repeated what we use techy geeks have been saying. The wing doesn't bend any more than any other car. They've just found an way of running an extreme amount of rake on the car, which others haven't.

And Vettel said the same as Gav. They said it was illegal last year. It wasn't. They say it's illegal this year, and every test disagrees. Neweys cars are always the best, and it shouldn't be a case of "it's illegal", it should be a case of "he's awesome. Why?"

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it's funny, 10 years ago people started complaining on Ferrari claiming it wasn't legal and stuff when Michael would qualify 8 tenths ahead of everyone... history repeats itsel doesn't it?

nice quote form Horner.. the guy always haves good comebacks

Quote
Horner
"We don't have to pass a McLaren test, we have to pass an FIA one, and it complies fully with that,"