2012 Australian Grand Prix Thread - Official

Now about this race, what a disappointing start by Ferrari and their drivers, I am afraid that it's going to be a very difficult year for all tifosi...especially here on the forum :s The only positive note for me is my FGP driver Grosjean :p :

It pains me to say it, but what is the point of HRT as a Grand Prix team? I firmly believe they shouldn't be allowed to race, as a means of sending out a message if nothing else. Why does the 110 per cent rule exist if not to be enforced? In fact, there are six cars at the back of the grid I believe F1 would be no worse off without, but that's another debate.

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Originally Posted by BDunnell

It pains me to say it, but what is the point of HRT as a Grand Prix team? I firmly believe they shouldn't be allowed to race, as a means of sending out a message if nothing else. Why does the 110 per cent rule exist if not to be enforced? In fact, there are six cars at the back of the grid I believe F1 would be no worse off without, but that's another debate.

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Agree about HRT, but six cars, so this includes Caterham? I'd say Caterham is perfectly fine in belonging to F1, they are merely ~3 secs off the lead (still long way off midfield, but that is due to the whole field being very tight!). A team like Caterham would play a perfect role in being the rear gunner of F1, being a modern day Minardi and showing, how difficult it is to be highly competitive.

The main concern for me is that Fernandes may get fed up of having no progress, despite him having put in a fair amount of effort for that - new sponsors and personnel.

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Originally Posted by jens

Agree about HRT, but six cars, so this includes Caterham? I'd say Caterham is perfectly fine in belonging to F1, they are merely ~3 secs off the lead (still long way off midfield, but that is due to the whole field being very tight!). A team like Caterham would play a perfect role in being the rear gunner of F1, being a modern day Minardi and showing, how difficult it is to be highly competitive.

The main concern for me is that Fernandes may get fed up of having no progress, despite him having put in a fair amount of effort for that - new sponsors and personnel.

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My view pertains less to Caterham than the other two teams, admittedly, but even so I would hardly miss them. One of the things about Minardi was that there existed at least the chance of scoring the odd point here and there. With reliability being what it is today, that chance has been diminished for Lotus/Caterham. They do little for me, I have to say.

HRT not allowed to race in Australia after failing to qualify - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com

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Although the Spanish squad requested permission to race, the stewards said the team will not be allowed to take part in the season opener.

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The right decision, I feel.

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Originally Posted by BDunnell

My view pertains less to Caterham than the other two teams, admittedly, but even so I would hardly miss them. One of the things about Minardi was that there existed at least the chance of scoring the odd point here and there. With reliability being what it is today, that chance has been diminished for Lotus/Caterham. They do little for me, I have to say.

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The positive of these teams, though, is that they increase the number of seats that are available, and thus often give youngsters their first taste of F1. Ricciardo who managed Q3 today is a good example, as is Bruno Senna.

I like having these lesser teams around, so long as the 107% rule is enforced as it has been today.

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Originally Posted by jens

Yeah, actually reminds a bit of what happened to Honda. They sacked Geoff Willis in 2006 thinking that he was at fault for the car not being good enough for winning. But as a result the team found themselves from hell in 2007.

How to halt the down-ward spiral? Looking at the past examples, Honda hired Ross Brawn in late 2007. Ferrari hired Jean Todt for 1993. I'm intrigued to see, what will be Ferrari's next step/decision, because they cannot continue with current policy for long. Remember, what Williams did last year. They kept going with their conservative policy for long until they realized enough is enough and hired a whole new design team for 2012.

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Ferrari's problems are reminiscent of Honda's but please remember that individuals like Willis or Costa do not make that much difference.

Honda's problem was that their best mid-level engineers were poached by rivals after their 2004 car performed so well, especially by BMW. This was the cause of their fall from grace. It took them years to recover and that was also the result of poaching from other teams.

Ferrari did lose a fair few number of engineers over the last years especially under the Italianisation process under LdM. This probably has been the biggest factor underlying their fall from grace too.

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Originally Posted by studiose

The positive of these teams, though, is that they increase the number of seats that are available, and thus often give youngsters their first taste of F1. Ricciardo who managed Q3 today is a good example, as is Bruno Senna.

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A fair point, but I'm not sure Senna is where he is now solely as a result of having shone in the HRT, while Lotus/Caterham has hardly used its two race seats to promote hot young talent.

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Originally Posted by BDunnell

It pains me to say it, but what is the point of HRT as a Grand Prix team? I firmly believe they shouldn't be allowed to race, as a means of sending out a message if nothing else. Why does the 110 per cent rule exist if not to be enforced? In fact, there are six cars at the back of the grid I believe F1 would be no worse off without, but that's another debate.

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What's the point of any GP team? I suspect they, like others, believe the big sponsorship deal that will propel them to the front of the grid is just around the corner. There was a time when SFW was known around the paddock as '****er Williams' only just getting his team from race to race and season to season before things all came together for him.

That said I don't think F1 needs to be charitable to teams like HRT. If they don't make the qualifying cut-off they shouldn't be extended special favours to race. After a few missed races their sponsorship will drop due to clauses and they'll disappear.

If anything I'm more disappointed with Caterham. Its their third season and they have resources at least on a par with teams like FI and STR and yet they were still 1.5 seconds a lap slower than the worst midfielder.