[Official] Australian Grand Prix 2017 - Round 1 of 20 - Grand Prix Weekend Thread

[GT6]

An interesting race that perhaps bodes well for the season

[calderra]

To my eye:

Lewis lost the strategy game. He's trying to drive a qualifying lap every lap, and this formula just is not set up for that. I have no doubt he was honest about his tire wear, because Vettel was probably driving a little under his max while Lewis was overheating to get a lead going. Stupid of Lewis. Even worse that he burned his Soft tires following Max. It's all his fault, and he should learn where that gets him. Sadly, thanks to a good car, that's currently 2nd.

Bottas showed me that he learned the Rosberg lesson. Drive a good race, be gentle on the car, and he's looking as a solid Top 3 finisher for the season. He might even a championship contender if Lewis ends up breaking his car with the extra wear I can guarantee Lewis is building up lap after lap. Bottas doesn't have to be faster, just smarter.

Good job Vettel. He's got Lewis' number. Ferrari are eyeing this race and high-fiving each other that they can gut Lewis on strategy if he keeps driving like this. Can Ferrari keep up with updates through the season?

As for the rest of the field: Good spirit from Verstappen threatening to put on a qualifying lap at the end. Good on Alonso for retiring that piece of crap car. I'm going to love if he pulls it over every time he's out of the points, they're going to need to keep a sun chair ready for him.

[Beryl]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

Vettel was happily dominating in the V8 days when you could plant your foot and the car just stuck (relatively speaking). He struggled when the cars became more throttle sensitive. Now they have big fat rear tyres, maybe that's played to Vettels strengths again - maybe now it's easier to apply the throttle, which something that seemed to suit Vettel.

I think you're overthinking this and finding something that's not there. First off, Vettel is one of the best wet weather drivers on the grid and rainy conditions are when the cars become extremely throttle sensitive. You're also overstating his struggles in the 2014-16 era: yes, he struggled in 2014, but was arguably the driver of the season in 2015 and, despite some qualifying issues, had plenty of great races in 2016. The difference between 15-16 and the V8 era for Vettel was mostly car pace related; he simply didn't have a car capable of competing for the championship in 2014-16.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by calderra

To my eye:

Lewis lost the strategy game. He's trying to drive a qualifying lap every lap, and this formula just is not set up for that. I have no doubt he was honest about his tire wear, because Vettel was probably driving a little under his max while Lewis was overheating to get a lead going. Stupid of Lewis. Even worse that he burned his Soft tires following Max. It's all his fault, and he should learn where that gets him. Sadly, thanks to a good car, that's currently 2nd.

Bottas showed me that he learned the Rosberg lesson. Drive a good race, be gentle on the car, and he's looking as a solid Top 3 finisher for the season. He might even a championship contender if Lewis ends up breaking his car with the extra wear I can guarantee Lewis is building up lap after lap. Bottas doesn't have to be faster, just smarter.

Good job Vettel. He's got Lewis' number. Ferrari are eyeing this race and high-fiving each other that they can gut Lewis on strategy if he keeps driving like this. Can Ferrari keep up with updates through the season?

As for the rest of the field: Good spirit from Verstappen threatening to put on a qualifying lap at the end. Good on Alonso for retiring that piece of crap car. I'm going to love if he pulls it over every time he's out of the points, they're going to need to keep a sun chair ready for him.

I watched the race live and on reflection, that's a very good synopsis. The one thing I got from this and I know it's early days, is I just thought Vettel/Ferrari got the measure of themselves and Mercedes in this race, whether that can be maintained remains to be seen. Raikonnen, may not have featured much in the race but he was there.

[bella]

Originally Posted by ascarracinguk

Only problem with that logic is daddy bought prema power team for him, he had the best kit and his teammates had to play second fiddle, and were given team orders on several occasions

in defence of that situation, if a driver signs to a team owned by a drivers dad, especially if it's on a good or free they're naive if they don't think there won't be some shenanigans. heck if it's a free drive you're not there for yourself and your career, you're there to do a job. it's not necessarily unfair, it's more of a culture clash between professional motorsport and the driver funded customer focussed junior series.

having said all that, this is all very embarassing and i'm not sure it has a place in post-bernie formula one. let's hope it becomes obsolete in the next few years.

on a way more positive note, giovinazzi did a great job considering in reality it's unlikely he had f1 level fitness and was thrown under the bus to save wehrlein from looking a bit pants.

[Gingers4Justice]

Anybody else notice that the "ambient noise" used in the background for the replays during the race wasn't the sound of F1 cars, but Porsche Supercup cars?

Really weird.

[Lancsbreaker]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Hope they have plenty of fuel (and a refuelling station) for the Safety Car, Medical Car & Recovery Tenders....

With hindsight, care to reconsider this? Sure there were a number of retirements, but none of the above

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by bella

on a way more positive note, giovinazzi did a great job considering in reality it's unlikely he had f1 level fitness and was thrown under the bus to save wehrlein from looking a bit pants.

Mr Webber and Mr Jones both called Mr Wehrlein soft...

It makes you understand a little why Mercedes didn't pick him to replace Mr Rosberg..

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

With hindsight, care to reconsider this? Sure there were a number of retirements, but none of the above

The recovery truck they used to get Mr Ricciardo's stranded car just before the race started had some kind of jungle juice aboard... probably purple sectored it to go get the #3 back to the pits

Thankfully the only need for the day...

[Lancsbreaker]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

If I may add here that it has not been unusual for Hamilton to "give feedback" to his team about the condition of his tyres, whilst his team-mate has had no problem. It seems to suggest that he is not very good at preserving his tyres, much in the same way that he hasn't, in the past, spent much time with his engineers to understand his car.

It could also be that he is missing the opportunity this season to copy Rosberg's setting up of his car.

Mike -we get it that you don't like Hamilton -that's a given, with all your previous posts - however suggesting that he previously copied Rosberg's settings, is a new low, even for you......

[Paradise City]

Hamilton seemed dominant for a time until Vettel outfoxed him on strategy -- and then Vettel demonstrated speed of his own. However Melbourne can be an anomaly and Ferrari may very well fade as the year goes on. I expect this unfortunately.

[johnh875]

It would be interesting to see how much Hamilton's times were dropping off when he moaned about his tyres (only joking! he reported about his tyres; potaeto potarto). My recollection is he was still comfortably ahead of Vettel. Perhaps the guys on the pit wall might not react so quickly again.

[mikuni]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

Anybody else notice that the "ambient noise" used in the background for the replays during the race wasn't the sound of F1 cars, but Porsche Supercup cars?

Really weird.

Umm... they are actual Carrera Cup cars in the background. The paddock interviews aren't conducted while the F1 cars are on track because the drivers need to be..... driving them...

[S griffin]

Caught the closing stages of the race down the pub. What a 3 abreast manoeuvre by Perez(?) and Hulk on Fred, shame Fred couldn't hold on, he did miracles to keep that car up there for so long

Anyway Vettel winning gives hope for a close fight this season

[mikuni]

Early in the race Hamilton's engineer was asking him to do 28 flat but Lewis said it wasn't possible, that the tyres "don't have anything left in them" which I took as meaning any more pace rather than longevity. Meanwhile Vettel was comfortably on his tail, even within a second for consecutive laps which I thought was really positive for this generation of F1. Sure passing may be difficult, it pretty much always has been, but as long as they can at least follow closely it can put pressure on the leader if nothing else.

In the early stages I actually thought Vettel was managing the race rather than Hamilton, and it showed when Hamilton bailed into the pits and Vettel was able to increase the pace to introduce the undercut.

I think perhaps my standards for a good F1 race may have dropped in recent years, but I really love the strategy, the technical race and the general feel of modern F1. I don't think I need to see GP2 passing to enjoy the race, but it wouldn't hurt of course.

[Sodemo]

What did people make of Lance Stroll's first race?

[mikuni]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Caught the closing stages of the race down the pub. What a 3 abreast manoeuvre by Perez(?) and Hulk on Fred, shame Fred couldn't hold on, he did miracles to keep that car up there for so long

Anyway Vettel winning gives hope for a close fight this season

Was Ocon, but yeah. It was cool actually, Ocon took his time and that pass really could have gone pear shaped a couple of times, but they held it together.

The general standard of driving here was impressive I think. First corner no crashes. Even the one off they did have was more clumsy and accidental than malicious.

Obviously Stroll feels (and kind of looks) like the new Maldonado, but I think we should give him a couple of races before jumping on the poor boy.

[mikuni]

Can we talk about the on screen visuals? What a joke! It was embarrassingly poor all weekend, no timing or telemetry, honestly, how difficult can it be to get that right? Imagine a football game where you can't see the score. It drove me crazy.

It got so bad at one point they didn't even know who was in which car

Edit: sorry about the rotation, but you get the idea!

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

Mike -we get it that you don't like Hamilton -that's a given, with all your previous posts - however suggesting that he previously copied Rosberg's settings, is a new low, even for you......

Richard, in my defence, it is a commonly acknowledged fact that Hamilton often changed his set-ups to emulate Rosberg in the last couple of years. In particular, after Rosberg had that winning streak in last year, Hamilton admitted that he was now using a set-up that Rosberg had initiated.

I freely admit that I don't like the bloke anymore - when he arrived in F1, I thought that he was a breath of fresh air - but I do admire his driving ability. But he does tend to give the impression that he is somewhat workshy, and he is not noted for spending much time with his engineers. That though is the opposite of Rosberg, who like Michael Schumacher, used to spend hours with his engineers both to understand his car and to help in developing it. And they both were prepared to put in hours of testing, unlike Hamilton who has appeared to find every excuse under the sun so as not to participate in the testing during the last couple of years.

[F1Guy]

Lewis Hamilton seems very happy about a Ferrari win.

https://www.motorsportweek.com/news/id/14147

Something's not right here.

[Greem]

I got chance to watch the race yesterday afternoon.

It wasn't the most interesting I've ever watched, TBH.

The new cars look like they've taken a 4:3 photo of the old ones and displayed it 16:9

My overall impression was that it just wasn't very "race-y". We didn't get lots of close running so didn't get to see drivers having to deploy decent defensive skills very often , and as a result it just felt... flat.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by F1Guy

Lewis Hamilton seems very happy about a Ferrari win.

https://www.motorsportweek.com/news/id/14147

Something's not right here.

Don't worry normal service will be resumed once he gets beater for a second or 3rd time!

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

What did people make of Lance Stroll's first race?

He did ok, bit 'laary' at times and there was an awful lot of steering input but he didn't crash and if he can keep improving he could net a fair few points for the team judging by Felipe baby's performance.

[old man]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

What did people make of Lance Stroll's first race?

I have just traced back through this thread the discussion about his performance in the junior formula and as regulars will know I question that we are always getting the best drivers in F1. Ross Brawn made comments about the pay drivers in certain teams in his first interview on SKY during the testing. I feel that the new owners have to work to a point where all teams are in a position to chose on driver merit. That is big mountain to climb

The major problem is the driver funded junior formula. Talking to someone who has daily dealings with father / son combinations he is of the opinion that in 80 or even 90% of cases it is the father that has the real ambition. When that ambition is with someone as wealthy as Mr Stroll it can override a logical view of ability but Jnr is eventually the one who has to actually deliver.

For a truly ambitious driver to make it to any top level international role as a pro in our sport takes guts, self sacrifice and a singular determination .

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by mikuni

Can we talk about the on screen visuals? What a joke! It was embarrassingly poor all weekend, no timing or telemetry, honestly, how difficult can it be to get that right? Imagine a football game where you can't see the score. It drove me crazy.

It got so bad at one point they didn't even know who was in which car

Edit: sorry about the rotation, but you get the idea!

I noticed it as well. It made it very hard to follow the race. I wasn't sure if they were having technical issues or this is a new look for 2017. I hope the idea is to not push people to the timing and scoring app. I record and then watch races later so live info in an app is useless to me.

Richard