2012 Australian Grand Prix Thread - Official

**Knock-on** · 16th Mar 12, 09:14

First 'off' of the year of course goes to Massa so surprise there

Save of the year so far must be Koby at the end of FP2. Coming onto the SF straight, got well out of shape and somehow got it all going in the right direction again without nerfing the wall.

**The Black Knight** · 16th Mar 12, 09:17

No surprise to see Massa off in tricky conditions. He's just reaffirming my belief more and more every session that he is simply not good enough to be a Ferrari driver.

As Vettel said though, the pants come down in qualifying and everybody shows their bits. We'll see where everyone really stands tomorrow but I think Mercedes may very well be a force to be reckoned with.

**Knock-on** · 16th Mar 12, 09:28

Mercedes are right up there by the look of it. McLaren were treating FP as more of a shake down than an out and out pace session (I hope), Red Bull looked a bit off in terms of top speed but we don't know what revs they were running and Seb apparently wasn't using the DRS much. Ferrari were there or there abouts but the big question is how they manage tyres. Fource India looks tasty as well and the Renault (sorry, Lotus) could be a dark horse.

Hmmmm

**ArrowsFA1** · 16th Mar 12, 09:31

Nice to see a Caterham in 8th and a Marussia 12th. Least said about HRT the better.

**CavallinoRampante** · 16th Mar 12, 09:40

I think Ferrari can pull-off a respectable performance come race day.... can't wait till they get the car developed with the new bits in 4 races.

**Koz** · 16th Mar 12, 10:12

Is the 107% rule still in place this year?

**SGWilko** · 16th Mar 12, 11:09

Originally Posted by Koz

Is the 107% rule still in place this year?

For HRT - 107% is the amount of parts still left to fit to the car come qually!!!

**Valve Bounce** · 16th Mar 12, 11:30

Originally Posted by pino

As I am not allowed to take part on the pickems here are mine predictions for the race :

Alonso
Kimi
Massa
Lewis
Button
Di Resta

ps: Welcome back Valve

Hi pino,

If you had asked me, I would have voted for you to take part in pickems.

**SGWilko** · 16th Mar 12, 11:31

Originally Posted by Valve Bounce

Hi pino,

If you had asked me, I would have voted for you to take part in pickems.

...only so you can blame him if it goes belly up!!!!

**Valve Bounce** · 16th Mar 12, 11:32

Originally Posted by Mia 01

I like your prediction Pino.

If it raining during the quali and the race, anything can happen.

Clear for quals probably and definitely clear for the race.

**Valve Bounce** · 16th Mar 12, 11:34

Originally Posted by SGWilko

...only so you can blame him if it goes belly up!!!!

Actually, I do my pickems so that I don't fall asleep during the race.

**N4D13** · 16th Mar 12, 11:41

Originally Posted by Valve Bounce

Actually, I do my pickems so that I don't fall asleep during the race.

If you have problems staying awake during the Oz GP, what about us Europeans?

**Knock-on** · 16th Mar 12, 12:24

Interesting comment (think it was Hill that said it) about Britney. Apparently he's an AI (I assume Artificial Intelligence) driver in that he gets nothing but the maximum out of the car. I take this to mean he's very fast but not inspirational and can't get that minute edge which is just beyond what the car can do like Hamilton can or Schumacher used to do.

**schmenke** · 16th Mar 12, 14:15

Originally Posted by Rollo

Does anyone have a decent picture of Heikki's helmet out on track?

This is made of win:

If this is true, I can't ever look at Heikki on track ever again without humming that theme song.

Gotta show that to my kid

**wedge** · 16th Mar 12, 15:00

Doesn't appear any different to testing. Merc-AMG look more and more likely that they can break into RBR & McLaren territory.

With the track ramping up tomorrow, quali will be mega!

**odykas** · 16th Mar 12, 15:35

It will be an interesting race.
Many drivers / teams seem close to each other.

**The Black Knight** · 16th Mar 12, 15:41

Originally Posted by wedge

Doesn't appear any different to testing. Merc-AMG look more and more likely that they can break into RBR & McLaren territory.

With the track ramping up tomorrow, quali will be mega!

They have certainly made a big leap and I think they will probably be there or thereabouts. I'm still of the feeling McLaren will be fastest in qualifying but in race RBR will be quicker. Merc do look like the 3rd fastest team out there though from current evidence. You can never discount a car that has Ross Brawn's input.

Tyre wear might hurt Merc over the course of the race but certainly it wouldn't surprise me at all to see one of the Merc's on the podium this weekend.

**ArrowsFA1** · 16th Mar 12, 16:26

It would be great to see Merc up there challenging for the win, and it would be even better if Ferrari can make it a four team battle for honours this year with McLaren & RB who I think it is safe to say will be there or thereabouts again.

Still...early days!!

**ioan** · 16th Mar 12, 17:06

Originally Posted by AndyL

If I can offer a suggestion to anyone else who feels frustrated by DRS: try to forget about the effect it has on overtaking. Yes really

Instead focus on the positive effect: the guy who is fastest will probably win the race.

Are we talking about racing or about rallying here?

**ioan** · 16th Mar 12, 17:08

Originally Posted by schmenke

True, the Trulli-train was frustrating to watch, but when an overtake did occur at least there was the satisfaction of knowing that it was accomplished “un-aided”, with driver skill alone.

I can’t help but feel that the solution to overtaking has not been fully thought through by the sport, with gimmicks like DRS hastily introduced as a “band-aid” solution to keep the fans watching

.

The band aid solution was not brought in to keep the fans watching, it was brought in to bring clueless fans to watch F1. Marketing crap, that is.