F1 2008 round 1 - Australian GP, Melbourne (14/03/08-16/03/08).

[REALIST]

What a farce. Hamilton the best of a very mediocre bunch, but no competiton for him. Don't dare have a driver of the race. None of them deserve it.

What were the earlier comments? 'Fluid fidelity'? Natural ability? What ********.

[Mod]No need to dodge the autocensor[/mod]

[andy_b]

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Graphics by moi

Watched a mixture of Speed and ITV coverage. Didnt think Martin was that bad actually. Top three were the only ones (+bourdais) who didn't appear to make mistakes, so fitting that they were 1-2-3, although the winner was F1, no traction control = interesting

[GolddustMini]

i think you got out of the wrong side of the bed about 4 hrs too early....

[Taprobane]

I'd have to say the driver of the day was Bourdais as far as I'm concerned!

[900 kg]

F1 can be very predictable at times.

Fantastic drive by Bourdais. It's a shame he couldn't finish in fourth. Impressive debut, nonetheless.

[clioracer]

Driver of the day? Hamilton!
at least he kept the bl**dy thing on the track!
and i was thinking of not getting up to watch, sheer brilliance, i loved it!

[RaiseYourFist]

So for Malaysia will kimi have to use up his free engine change or does that rule exclude engines broken during the actual race?

[andy_b]

Originally Posted by Taprobane

I'd have to say the driver of the day was Bourdais as far as I'm concerned!

Agreed, Excellent tactics by Giorgio Ascanelli and STR. Don't forget, Giorgio was Senna's enigneer for McLaren for the last couple of years. He's always been good

[GolddustMini]

my driver of the day has to be bordais as well, quietly got on with it, only to be let down by the engine right at the end. rosberg had a good run as well and a very good start.


heiki was unluckly to be let down mechanically on the second to last lap (gearbox glitch?)

[ezepze]

Bourdais set for 4th before the engine went has to be given credit for that.

[Gt_R]

Well, whoever said F1 is too boring?

What a roller-coaster race. There are changes everwhere up to the last lap. Only Hamilton seems stable enough without being really challenged. Good job to him.

based on Melbourne, Mclaren is definitely the best car out there now in terms of qualifying pace, race pace consistency and speed, and reliability. Ferrari is lacking in qualifying pace (abit) and reliability (alot). it seems like anything that can go wrong, went wrong

And i think Kovy has done pretty well. Some good racing from him, and i'm impressed with his improvement since this time last year.

Pity for Bourdais. 3 laps more and it'd be an almost perfect debut.

With the new regulations, of the top guys, i think Hamilton, Kovy, Rosberg looks set to excel. probably Kimi too. But i still have my doubts over Massa, every odd times he seem to lack the certain calm and solid mindset that even Kovy seems to have. (Good o'Ferrari seems to be heading towars the "passion"-driven mentality rather than the "clinical" approach.)

In any case, i can't complain. Placed a small bet on Hamilton taking the win, and it pays off.

[andy_b]

for a world champion, Kimi's mistakes and lock-ups were surprising. I'm not sure on todays evidence, I would agree with you Gt_R on the Iceman

[clioracer]

Originally Posted by RaiseYourFist

So for Malaysia will kimi have to use up his free engine change or does that rule exclude engines broken during the actual race?

So did it *break* then or was it just stopped?
guess we will be informed soon enough........
KR: "erm i mean i dunno what happened to the engine"

[GolddustMini]

heikis faulter was due to him accidentally hitting the speed limiter button in his cockpit

[Ralf's Girl]

I feel like my head is about to explode...

Great race - there really wasn't a dull moment. Very interesting to see drivers getting caught out by the lack of TC, and the amount of reliability issues surprised me. There are always teething problems at the first race, but I was surprised by just how many cars dropped out.

Bad luck for Heikki with the pitstop - great pass on Alonso, but he's just 'fessed up on ITV to hitting the pitlane speed limiter on the pit straight, which is why he got back through.

Fantastic drive by Hamilton - we barely saw him all race, but he kept his head when his rivals certainly didn't (Raikkonen was all over the place, I thought at one point that he was actually trying to put it in a wall).

I thought Coulthard was harsh on Massa after their incident - although I do love the panic on ITV when a driver swears in an interview. To me it looked like Massa pretty much had the position and DC just wasn't on the ball. I'd have expected an experienced driver like him to give the guy overtaking a bit of room.

I was worried that the race would turn out to be a huge anti-climax, but it was well worth the early start.

[wannab-aracer]

Ferrari

[andy_b]

Originally Posted by Ralf's Girl

I thought Coulthard was harsh on Massa after their incident - although I do love the panic on ITV when a driver swears in an interview. To me it looked like Massa pretty much had the position and DC just wasn't on the ball. I'd have expected an experienced driver like him to give the guy overtaking a bit of room.

No way Massa didnt have the position, he hit DC on the sidepod, he wasn't in front (and the next corner was DC's line)

However, Massa did really have the inside line prior to that, so DC was more to blame. He could have given more room and still had a good chance for the next bit

[mjstallard]

Originally Posted by wannab-aracer

Ferrari

The weather doesn't look like it'll be as hot in Malaysia next weekend, so perhaps those Ferrari engines will be back inside their operating envelope.

http://www.myforecast.com/bin/expand...8&metric=false

Lots of thunderstorms predicted though!

[nickyf1]

Although he probably didnt see him, I dont think he had any idea that MAssa was on his inside.

[Ralf's Girl]

Originally Posted by andy_b

No way Massa didnt have the position, he hit DC on the sidepod, he wasn't in front (and the next corner was DC's line)

However, Massa did really have the inside line prior to that, so DC was more to blame. He could have given more room and still had a good chance for the next bit

That's what I meant, really - obviously Massa wasn't through or DC would have seen him, but he was well up the inside and Coulthard just didn't seem to have a clue that he was there. I know it's nigh-on impossible to see a thing in the mirrors, but it surprised me that somebody with Coulthard's experience wasn't able to avoid that accident.

[Gt_R]

Quote: "Kimi's mistakes and lock-ups were surprising. I'm not sure on todays evidence, I would agree with you Gt_R on the Iceman"

Yes, i agree that Kimi made too many errors today. The SC gave him a chance to get back into the game, but his move on Kovy was a mix of optimisim and caught out by Kovy braking a little bit earlier (according the commentators). And the other spin was jus carelessly putting the car on the grass.

But still, Kimi's start was fantastic (15 up to 8th), and watching the in-car footages, his reflexes was not too bad. But he seriously need to weed out the errors. In 2007, he did make some errors that loses him good points. In 2008, he simply can't make such errors anymore if he wants to fight for the WDC.

What Hamilton and Kovy have an edge on is seemingly their way of driving. And what Massa lacks is this sensitivity. Massa can handle a wild horse, but he can't coax it to get the most out of it.

[Born Racer]

Personally I'm delighted to see that all this "spying" stuff hasn't affected McLaren's preparations one jot.

The cars looked scarier to drive than last year. The lack of TC bodes well visually. It is with a note of caution that I say this as Albert Park is a "green" circuit by nature of course, but it was much more enjoyable to watch. Watching a car not in a battle position but just for the pleasure of watching was more enjoyable. I've never been one to subscribe too much to the idea that cars should be opposite locking all the time; this is not rallying, but I must say things looked better. More importantly, regardless of the visual effect, we now know the cars must be harder to drive, and that's nice to know when you watch the world's best and highly paid drivers doing battle.

I was having a conversation yesterday saying that I just don't think Massa is championship material. I think for the last few years he has worked hard and made the best of his talent. Unfortunately his talent is not from the absolute top drawer, and without TC he looks messy again. I'm referring to the first corner here particularly rather than the incident with Coulthard, which was if we have to apportion blame (and I don't think we do), Coulthard's fault.

[Gt_R]

And i agree with Ralf Girl on the Massa and DC incident.

Massa was well on the inside. DC may not yet lose a place, but the way he close the door on Massa almost suggested as if DC didn't even know Massa was there at all. And if that's the case, it's pretty bad awareness from Coulthard. He can't expect Massa to sound the horns, can he?

[Dutton]

Massa was half on the grass, wailing over the kerb, and all that.

I would ultimately say it was a racing incident, but Massa was more dubious than DC to my mind.

[NAC]

Originally Posted by Gt_R

Well, whoever said F1 is too boring?

What a roller-coaster race.

Nice description, but I think someone forgot to put the wheels on the back carriage.

The one bit I was a little put out with was DC's attitude towards Massa. He admitted he knew Massa was there, Massa's front wheel was defiantly up along side DC he must have seen it but didn't not give him room. What did everyone else make on that move??