Post-Qialifying observations [Archive]

truefan72

17th March 2007, 04:39

Well here we go
1. Hamilton proves his worth. I am really rooting for this kid now. With all the nay sayers saying he wouldn't be as competitive...then again a bunch of people picked him in the Fantasy F1

2. Toyota's as I mentioned would be usually better in Quali and the race, just not top tier yet and still disfunctional. Imagine how they would perform if they got their act right

3. Alonso, doing well; has his eye on kimmi ahead and firmly on Hamilton behind.

4. BMW - very impressiver car and driver

5. Massa - they are screwing with him already

6. Honda - just a total disaster, expect Barrichello to be replaced mid season

7. Williams - seem to be game. Both Rosberg and Wurz doing well

9- Renault- solid not spectacular, Kovaleinen needs to up the ante

10 SUPER AGURI- well SUPER Congrats Sato, a bunch of people who mocked you will have to eat some crow

11. Red Bull- Webber doing a good Job, Coulthard, ready for retirement

12. Torro Rossi- Liuzzi showing us all why the team has faith in him, just completely horrid

13. Spyker - nothing rally to say, I guess the car looks nice

jens

17th March 2007, 05:13

Hamilton impressed me a lot. I didn't expect him to be that close to Alonso already at the first event. We'll see, how he can endure during the race, but on one lap he is fast.

Renault sadly is not as good as in previous years and has a half-decent car at best. Fisichella has always been quick at Melbourne and IMO it's quite evident that this kind of uncompetitiveness is not driver's fault. Kovalainen has had a very tough and troubled weekend - hopefully he can prove himself better in the races to come.

Btw, during Q1 Speed was third at one moment and I thought that maybe he'd qualify into Q2. :p : But alas STR turned out not to be that good.

aryan

17th March 2007, 06:21

1. Ferrari: Well they have the fastest package right now, and Kimi still is complaining over their 1-lap speed, so I would expect them to be the fastest car in race as well. There is the question over reliability though, we will see if it was all Ross Brown all along the way...

2. McLaren: They should be happy were they are, alonso says he is still learning the car, so maybe he can squeeze a couple of tenths out of it still. Hamilton is sensational, you are watching a future WDC here guys, this guy is the real deal.

3. BMW: Pretty impressive start of the season for BMW, quick nick is finally proving to be real quick.

4. Renault: They have gone back to be sure, but I am not sure if it's all down to the car, let's face it, GF was always some tenths down on FA, and HK is just a rookie.

5. Toyota: They were always better in quali than race, so to me they are still an unknown quantity.

6. Super Aguri: How many people made fun of this team when it was launched and of Sato? These guys are beating the works Honda team on a much smaller budget and resources. Davidson has had a great start, he is no longer young, but if he continues like this...

7. Williams: Just exactly where I thought they would be, AW made a horrible mistake in quali, but then again it was he is new to this quali system.

8. RBR: MW did good, DC spoilt it again. Can he last till the end of the season?

9. Honda: They keep insisting that 2007 is not still lost, but in fact they know that it is. It is going to be a depressing year for Honda.

10. Spyker: Not much to say really, other that CA, with two years driving experience in F1, is being beaten by a rookie.

11. Torro Rosso: Liuzzi made a terrible mistake there, but even if he didn't, would have actually mattered?

Final Note: Ferrari is proving to have the quickest package, but Hamilton and Super Aguri were sensational.

wacked

17th March 2007, 06:24

the most amazing was Super-Aguri.. they were always last 2 cars on the grid for most of the time last lear.. now they are 10th and 11th.. even faster than the Honda team.. i'm gonna be cheering for sato..

Great drive by Heideld and Hamilton.. hope they can do well in the race also..
overall BMW looking good..

disappointed with Massa, also the Honda team..
Coulthard.. nothing left to say..

should be an interesting race though tomorrow.. gonna be lots more surprises im sure..

Hawkmoon

17th March 2007, 06:43

Well here we go

5. Massa - they are screwing with him already

Bollocks.

They have a self destruct button linked to Massa's gearbox do they?

Ferrari want a 1-2. Even if, as you believe, they favour Raikkonen, giving Massa a dodgy car for qualifying is hardly the way to acheive that, is it?

F1boat

17th March 2007, 06:58

Well, I am impressed with Kimi's brilliant performance and with the amazing pace of the Super Aguri team. Congratulations for them and I really feel for poor Jenson whi again will be unable to show his talent with the factory car. I was disappointed with the accident with Massa and hope that it is a small issue and not something really dangerous for the cars.
About the starting grid, the absent of Massa is the only surprise. McLaren showed than in one-lap pace they are wonder (check Q2), but with fuel Ferrari ate them - exactly as showed in winter testing. BMW confirmed that they are as quick as expected and Renault, sadly, confirmed that they are a little bit off the pace. Webbo's good time was pretty impressive, especially compared to DC and I am not surprised with the Toyotas - we knew that teams like Honda and RBR will have trouble. Maybe it is a bit surprising that they bested Williams, but it may be because of the drivers, I don't really know.
Tomorrow it'll be difficult race for the top-drivers. I hope that everything will be OK with Ferrari, Kimi deserves a reliable car and hopefully will be able to fight for victory. Alonso I think will be closely behind him and the battle for 3rd will be very intense, i predict that Fisi might be able to get it.
The best thing in this qualy is that teams are really close, which will make the season quite exciting.

Roamy

17th March 2007, 07:06

'massa will drive up bmw will fall down

pino

17th March 2007, 07:16

Pole for Kimi, Bravo to him, but I am not surprised :p :

Hamilton, he's the one who surprised me, yes he's driving a McLaren, but still he's a rookie, so congrats to him :up: Can't wait to see how he will perform in the race.

Also great performance by BMW drivers, especially Heidfeld, as I consider Kubica a great talent, he only need some more experience.

Delighted to see Jarno on 4th row :D let's hope he can stay on pace with the others for the race and maybe score a couple of points. It will be a huge boost for the whole Team. Nice to see Ralf there too...

But the surprise of the Qual must be the Aguri Team, I would love to know what they think at Honda about their amazing performance.

Nice to see Webber closer to the top Guys, considering the car he's driving...

Not very satisfied, with Fisi pace, and disappoiting start for Heikki. I expected a lot more from both-

NO comment on both Hondas :s

Finally don't count out Massa, he still can win ;)

Valve Bounce

17th March 2007, 07:41

But the surprise of the Qual must be the Aguri Team, I would love to know what they think at Honda about their amazing performance.

NO comment on both Hondas :s

;)

Well, well, well!! Honda had a great test driver in ant and they did the wrong thing by hiring Rubens instead of letting ant be their second driver. Ant provided invaluable feedback from testing which helped develope the car and help set the car up for bunsen's races.

Now all Honda have left are wedges and beans, beans, beans!! :D

jens

17th March 2007, 08:15

What do you think is gonna happen tomorrow? Probably the order of the race won't be very different from quali.

Räikkönen the favourite to win, Alonso being his biggest challenger. BMWs and Hamilton fight for the last podium place with maybe Fisichella and Massa getting involved. Webber, Toyotas and maybe Kovalainen and Aguris fighting for the last points. Maybe also Williams can find its practice form and snatch a point?

F1boat

17th March 2007, 08:27

Well, well, well!! Honda had a great test driver in ant and they did the wrong thing by hiring Rubens instead of letting ant be their second driver. Ant provided invaluable feedback from testing which helped develope the car and help set the car up for bunsen's races.

Now all Honda have left are wedges and beans, beans, beans!! :D
You should be thankful that Honda gave the Ant to Aguri and did not ruin him in their poor excuse of a car.

jens

17th March 2007, 08:29

You should be thankful that Honda gave the Ant to Aguri and did not ruin him in their poor excuse of a car.

I think Valve means that if Ant was driving for Honda, then any excuses weren't needed and Honda would be in a lot better form. :p :

Civician

17th March 2007, 09:59

F1boat

17th March 2007, 10:39

I think Valve means that if Ant was driving for Honda, then any excuses weren't needed and Honda would be in a lot better form. :p :

Well, I don't think that this is the problem - even with Davidson "Honda" were very slow in 2005.

Ian McC

17th March 2007, 11:04

5. Massa - they are screwing with him already

:rotflmao:

That isn't worth a serious response :rolleyes:

Ian McC

17th March 2007, 11:06

I think overall teams are where they are expected to be, apart from Super Aguri of course :D Be interesting to see how they manage tomorrow.

seppefan

17th March 2007, 11:33

I expected one Williams in the top ten. Well done Toyota,Hamilton, BMW,and Aguri.

Garry Walker

17th March 2007, 11:36

Honda had a great test driver in ant and they did the wrong thing by hiring Rubens instead of letting ant be their second driver. Ant provided invaluable feedback from testing which helped develope the car and help set the car up for bunsen's races.

LMAO.

the so-called super davidson beaten by Sato - awesome awesome awesome. I love it when hype gets destroyed.

Such a shame for Massa, he was clearly going to get the pole :(
Nice to see hamilton so close to Alonso, proving what hype FA is.

Hondas were awful. Shame, Rubens deserves better.

DC - time to retire.

Robinho

17th March 2007, 11:44

LMAO.

the so-called super davidson beaten by Sato - awesome awesome awesome. I love it when hype gets destroyed.

Such a shame for Massa, he was clearly going to get the pole :(
Nice to see hamilton so close to Alonso, proving what hype FA is.

Hondas were awful. Shame, Rubens deserves better.

DC - time to retire.

Honda were poor, i hope they've got a fast but tricky car rather than a plain slow one. i haven't seen Rubens doing anything to deserve better, at least beating his teammate would be a start.

Sato hardly destroyed Davidson, 1 place on the grid, i thought both did very well, why seek to put one of hem down.

when was massa clearly on for pole, he was 8 tenths of the fastest time on the 1st split on his lap before he had the problem, and Kimi was clearly faster all day, showing his pace when in mattered, not on Friday, besides aren't you happy that Ferrari and Kimi are on pole?

Garry Walker

17th March 2007, 11:56

Honda were poor, i hope they've got a fast but tricky car rather than a plain slow one. i haven't seen Rubens doing anything to deserve better, at least beating his teammate would be a start.

Sato hardly destroyed Davidson, 1 place on the grid, i thought both did very well, why seek to put one of hem down.

when was massa clearly on for pole, he was 8 tenths of the fastest time on the 1st split on his lap before he had the problem, and Kimi was clearly faster all day, showing his pace when in mattered, not on Friday, besides aren't you happy that Ferrari and Kimi are on pole?

Rubens didnt get a good lap in, he has to do better in future and he will. Both he and Button deserve a better car.

Davidson fans have kept on going about how awesome he is and how talented he is and how honda should have picked him. Now what happens? an average journeyman Sato easily beats him. Ok, he only got beaten by 0,151 seconds in qual 2, but you have to put it to context. Sato is no top driver, if you got beaten by lets say MS by 0,15 seconds it would be a great achievement, but losing that much to Sato doesnt reflect too well on ones CV

Massa had problems, there is no way he was 8 tenths slower than Kimi per sector without problems.

Robinho

17th March 2007, 12:07

on his lap before he had problems the split was 8 tenths down on the fastest time in Q2. he was still pushing, he didn't give up til the car suddenly broke halfway through sector 2.

he might not be that much slower, but he was under pressure and maybe made a mistake. they observed he went particularly hard over the kerbs just before the car gave in.

yes some Davidson fans have been getting a little excited, but he clearly showed he is quick and deserves to be there. Sato was excellent last season and is carrying on where he left off. he was alweays fast, but inconsisitent and a bit crashy, he seem to have put that behind him. i'd put him as above average on the current grid

Valve Bounce

17th March 2007, 14:56

yes some Davidson fans have been getting a little excited, but he clearly showed he is quick and deserves to be there. Sato was excellent last season and is carrying on where he left off. he was alweays fast, but inconsisitent and a bit crashy, he seem to have put that behind him. i'd put him as above average on the current grid

Give credit where credit is due - nobody here has so far commented that Taku outqualified both bunsen and Rubens. If he keeps improving, Aguri will finish the year ahead of Team Honda.

tinchote

17th March 2007, 15:22

From my part, the main observation about the qualy is that in the 5 months I had almost completely forgotten how boring it was. Luckily this one was at 9pm here :)

Good thing is that I already know I won't be waking up early every other Saturday ;) :p :

Ian McC

17th March 2007, 15:57

If I remember correctly qualifying was not Hamilton's stong point last year, will see if he can improve on his position tomorrow.

truefan72

17th March 2007, 17:44

my point about Massa will come to fruition. Just watch throughout the year at the number of "technical issues" "poor pit stops and strategy" and "gearbox/hydraulkic failures" his car will receive, when it becomes clear than Kimmi is in the title contention these probles will somehow clear up and he can dutyfully support Kimmi in winnig his WDC. Rubens went through the same thing and it will be interesting to see how Massa will reacts to such tactics. I'll bet you guys that he will have issues in the first 10 races

It may not be an outright screw job, but more of an obvious indifference and lack of care towards his needs, strategy, and set up as all eyes are focused on kimmi

race aficionado

17th March 2007, 18:02

1. Hamilton : good show, cool helmet. I'm rooting for him and also have him in my fantasy team

2. Toyota: sad really - in the sense that the largest $budget cannot show the results per investment.

3. Alonso: clean cut haircut - hopefully he will start looking ragged again soon and drive RD mad. I'm rooting for him too and am looking forward to see if the car is actually reliable this year.

4. BMW: can't figure them out yet . . . .

5. Massa : Go Massa!

6. Honda : I am one that actually like its new livery.
Funny comment from one of the Speed commentators yesterday. Because of it's lack of pace (1 second and 1/2 slower than last year)Honda would have done better by adding a 10 lb load of lead on the car-cost; $10.oo - instead of spending 300 million dollars to make the car slower.

7. Williams : I'm rooting for Frank

9- Renault- I like their new car livery - hopefully they will be fast so that we can have a competitive series.

10 SUPER AGURI- : good for Sato-

11. Red Bull-: still waiting for something good to happen with this team . . .

12. Torro Rossi: who?

13. Spyker - agree with the nice car look . .

14. Kimi and Ferrari: OK Kimi, this is your time to show us the money.

:s mokin:

Sleeper

17th March 2007, 18:03

Biggest surprise of Qualy was Toyota, were the bugger did that come from. The drivers have been complaining that its a poor car for the last few weeks and trackside viewers have said it looks a real handfull, yet there they are in the top 10 :s

VkmSpouge

17th March 2007, 18:05

Good:
Ferrari clearly on top at the moment but McLaren are just behind them.
Hamilton pretty quick.
Super Aguri living up to their name. Both Sato and Davidson did exceedingly well.
Mark Webber did very well in front of his home crowd.
BMW doing very well.
Sutil beating Albers and only just behind Liuzzi.

Bad:
Honda.
Massa very unfortunate for his car to fail, he'll have to fight his way up the field in the race.

Ugly:
Heidfeld's beard.

kalasend

17th March 2007, 18:19

Davidson fans have kept on going about how awesome he is and how talented he is and how honda should have picked him. Now what happens? an average journeyman Sato easily beats him. Ok, he only got beaten by 0,151 seconds in qual 2, but you have to put it to context. Sato is no top driver, if you got beaten by lets say MS by 0,15 seconds it would be a great achievement, but losing that much to Sato doesnt reflect too well on ones CV

This is disappointing to see. I am no fan for the Japanese drivers (in fact I've always criticized the Jap corps for burning $$$$ just to put some Japanese names on the grid), but clearly Sato's done a great job so far and has proven that he isn't lack of speed at all.

Yet you use him as reference to put down on Ant? I think if there is no racial descrimination in you, then you may call that racial preference.

ioan

17th March 2007, 18:27

Toyota beating both Honda teams!

Ferrari have to get their act together, One car is not enough to win the constructors title with McLaren, Renault and BMW in good shape!

Shalafi

17th March 2007, 18:37

Toyota beating both Honda teams!

Ferrari have to get their act together, One car is not enough to win the constructors title with McLaren, Renault and BMW in good shape!

Toyota was a real surprise. About Ferrari, if no disasters happen tomorrow, Kimi wll win and Massa will get top-6... Kimi wasnt even happy with car and said that it will be much stronger in race so based on that, Ferrari is clearly easily fastest car and Massa should get very high in the end.

ClarkFan

17th March 2007, 18:47

Ferrari have to get their act together, One car is not enough to win the constructors title with McLaren, Renault and BMW in good shape!

Ioan, you have doubts about Ferrari? I am shocked, shocked, I tell you! ;)

Seriously, Massa will probably be carving his way up through the field in the race. And Ferrari has a better record than the other teams of having cars stay fixed during the race after something goes wrong in practice. Massa's main risk will be getting stuck behind someone like Trulli.

ClarkFan

pino

17th March 2007, 18:49

Ferrari have to get their act together, One car is not enough to win the constructors title with McLaren, Renault and BMW in good shape!

Are you saying that Ferrari is already focused in one (Kimi) car ? :confused: they are not that crazy, believe me...

pino

17th March 2007, 18:51

... Massa's main risk will be getting stuck behind someone like Trulli.

ClarkFan

Oi :mad: ;)

ClarkFan

17th March 2007, 18:55

Oi :mad: ;)

Sorry, pino, but that has been a common pattern the past couple of years. :( Trulli has made some remarkable runs in qualifying, but just can't seem to keep the stick to it during the race.

Is it him? Is it Toyota? Don't know, but the pattern has been remarkably consistent.

ClarkFan

pino

17th March 2007, 19:02

It is Toyota :p :

ClarkFan

17th March 2007, 19:33

It is Toyota :p :

If you say so, it must be true. ;)

ClarkFan

jens

17th March 2007, 20:22

tinchote

17th March 2007, 20:32

Am I the only one, who likes Trulli trains? :p : For me it's always a pleasure to watch a weaker car fighting and refusing to give way for faster ones. :) And after that some guys get mad and insist that Jarno should move over and let everyone through. :laugh:

I don't mind "Trulli trains" per se, but when they are caused by this stupid thing of qualifying on race fuel, I find it annoying.

jens

17th March 2007, 20:53

I don't mind "Trulli trains" per se, but when they are caused by this stupid thing of qualifying on race fuel, I find it annoying.

Who prevents others to go lighter to try and outqualify Trulli? ;) And definetely Toyota won't create trains on purpose. It's everyone's own task to find the right strategy. "Train" is the problem for those, who fail to find the right strategy and get stuck behind someone, not the problem of "defender". I find that kind of excuses unconvincing that "Oh I would have done miracles, but I got stuck behind someone."

I remember 2000 United States Grand Prix, when Mazzacane blocked Häkkinen for several laps and after the race one friend was mad: "It's unfair!"

jens

17th March 2007, 21:13

One more post from me. I tried to edit the previous post, but just got over the 15-minute limit. It's gonna be about fuel loads.

Probably Top4 (RÄI, ALO, HEI, HAM) have the lightest cars, pitting between 10 and 20 laps, probably somewhere in the middle of them.
KUB and FIS are more likely "medium light", pitting a couple of laps later than Top4. If they can keep the pace of the front-runners early on, then later on they might get mixed into podium challenging group as well.
WEB, TRU, RSC and SAT are probably running the heaviest cars among those, who have qualified into Top10. But probably that won't help them too effectively to interfere Top6, more likely they'll have to struggle together.. Probably they won't be notably lighter - if at all - than the drivers starting from 11th to 22nd. So for the last point positions it's gonna be an interesting 'scrap'.

Let's see, how right they are going to be. Safety car sessions might create some mess in the rankings.

truefan72

17th March 2007, 23:06

This is disappointing to see. I am no fan for the Japanese drivers (in fact I've always criticized the Jap corps for burning $$$$ just to put some Japanese names on the grid), but clearly Sato's done a great job so far and has proven that he isn't lack of speed at all.

Yet you use him as reference to put down on Ant? I think if there is no racial descrimination in you, then you may call that racial preference.

agreed,

If you look at Sato's F1 career as a whole, he has a few accomplishments to his name with more to show than a good number of this years F1 drivers.