2017 Australian Grand Prix

[pino]

Giovinazzi deserved a point, so my Fgp...

[steveaki13]

I enjoyed the race and the fact we had a different winner and seemly a battle for this title. However it wasn't a classic. I thought Vettel and Bottas did great jobs.

Massa was impressive too. 6th all race pulling away from the rest of the midfield however almost a minute behind the Red Bull.

Otherwise Grosjean was good most of the weekend until his sad retirement. Ocon did well and Giovinazzi did well also. Hope he gets another crack soon. (If Werhlein is OK to carry on)

[yodasarmpit]

Ive been watching F1 for more than 30 years, and that has to have been one of the most boring races I've ever watched.
I can only hope that was not an indication of things to come.

[journeyman racer]

Rain in Melbourne came 24 hours too late to please F1 fans.

Ive been watching F1 for more than 30 years, and that has to have been one of the most boring races I've ever watched.
I can only hope that was not an indication of things to come.

You've seen heaps of races more boring than that.

[zako85]

This was a fantastic race. Note that Hamilton lost not because of "the bad strategy", like some people say, but because Vettel was able to put enough pressure on Hamilton to make Hamilton complain on the radio that his tires were overheating. This forced the Mercedes team to pit Hamilton at the most inconvenient time, the time when he came out of pits behind Verstappen. The rest is basically history. Anyone who understands F1 knows that overtaking Verstappen will be near impossible while Vettel is doing qualifying laps before coming for his first pit stop. The win is entirely deserved by Vettel and the Ferrari team. He was the driver of the day.

[zako85]

Ive been watching F1 for more than 30 years, and that has to have been one of the most boring races I've ever watched.
I can only hope that was not an indication of things to come.

Considering the exciting things that happened in this race, I really doubt you understand the basics of F1 racing, despite watching it for 30 years. See my post above.

[zako85]

He should have stayed out, the tires would have lasted.

His tires wouldn't have lasted. I don't remember which lap, but Hamilton complained on the radio around the lap 7-10ish, that his tires were overheating. So the team basically had no choice but pit him early. In retrospect, Hamilton probably would have done better if he pitted at the moment where he would not be stuck behind Verstappen upon exiting the pits. But given the information his race engineers had at the moment, they probably made the most logical decision for those circumstances.

[Bagwan]

Except for Stroll, who was quite dismal. No comparison to the last Canadian to make his debut with Williams in the Australian GP

Lance didn't have that bad a race , considering he was in 13th when his brake disc failed .
I saw at least one overtake from him during the broadcast , and those were pretty rare to see .

I'm not saying he did great , but "dismal" is a bit harsh .

[Storm]

Giovinazzi deserved a point, so my Fgp...

considering he found out he was racing only on friday or saturday, it was indeed impressive. no mistakes. finished the race. good way to debut.

[Whyzars]

Ive been watching F1 for more than 30 years, and that has to have been one of the most boring races I've ever watched.
I can only hope that was not an indication of things to come.

These V6'ers are still proving to the world that the "brown note" really does exist!


I went into the weekend with high expectations but this was a very disappointing "race" for a few reasons.

Firstly, there was a lot of talk about fast laps and how race records would be under threat with the new regs. Nope, not even close. Maybe if these monsters were actually allowed to rev and re-fuel with as much as juice as they want to burn or if they weren't worried about blowing up an engine or making a race engine last 10 races. I miss the old days when the skill was to have a thrashed engine breathe its last in the pits immediately after the race.

Secondly, giving them an extra mowers drum of fuel made no difference to the farcical 7/10ths of the past few years. Even that concession was only because of the extra tyre width. I groan when I hear commentators say that driver A is catching driver B - Driver A never challenges Driver B - ever!
Once the first round of pit stops is over there is no further racing and maybe those decisions are made even earlier. The teams cannot risk pushing because of the penalties for engine failure or running out of fuel. It is all so artificial.

Thirdly, I couldn't get past the nagging feeling that the early pit stop was a promoters dream to save the 2017 season and the overall future of the sport.