2016 Australian GP Thread

[steveaki13]

Hi Guys

It must be time to open this thread and talk about the first race of the season.

Whats your expectation? Who will be awesome and who will be awful.

I expect one of the most reliable opening races ever. Maybe 20 cars of the 22 finishing?

[AndyL]

It's looking like a season of little improvements in lots of ways. A little more flexibility for the teams on tyre selection. The cars are a little louder. The Honda engine seems a little more competitive. We have a new team that is a step above some of the previous shoestring-budget new entrants. And most importantly, the F1 web site is a little more useful because they've brought back the feature that tells you all the session times in your local time zone.

So on that basis I'm expecting Ferrari to be a little closer to Mercedes - but not much

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I had a dream last night that Alonso got pole by 6 tenths of a second. The Mercs were in the lower reaches of the top 10.

Button only managed 4th because he couldn't optimise his tyres

[Tazio]

Six tenths!

[henners88]

I think i'll get up early and watch this one. I haven't done that for a few seasons.

I hope Alonso wins in a surprise McLaren return to form lol.

[AndyL]

Honda was only running on 3 cylinders and 2 'D' batteries in testing apparently, Alonso's nailed on for victory

I'll watch the race live too, as long as my alarm clock works. Can't wait!

[N. Jones]

Has FP1 completed or am I off on the start time?

[driveace]

Hamilton, thinks that Ferrari are talking down their chances and thinks they will be fast out of the box

[The Black Knight]

Hamilton looking comfortable out there in FP1 and FP2 but given the conditions on track it's too early to tell anything yet. Rosberg binned his car so no valuable information gained from the first free practice sessions, except that the Honda engine still sounds rotten! McLaren looking great though!

[N4D13]

Hi guys,

How should I put this? Imagine that I could travel anywhere in the world to watch their TV online, as F1 is no longer being broadcast in free-to-air TV in Spain. Which country would you choose?

(There's also Rojadirecta.me and such sites, but I always prefer to go to a TV channel's website instead because it usually has better quality and is more stable)