2012 Australian Grand Prix Thread - Official

[DexDexter]

My boring predictions are:

1.Vettel
2. Webber
3. Hamilton
4. Button
5.Rosberg
6.Schumacher
7. Kimi
8 Di Resta
9.Hulkenberg
10. Kobayashi


DNF- Alonso, collides with Grosjean
DNF- Massa, spins out.
DNF- Petrov, collides with Maldonado

[driveace]

Lewis has been in Sydney today racing a Go-Cart with young kids.No one could get anywhere near him !

[Knock-on]

The Red Bull is the fastest car but Seb gets mugged by Lewey at the start. He tries to fight bck but fluffs under the pressure.

Britney hands the Shoe his ass on a plate yet again and Kimi puts in a solid performance but retires or crashes out.

[odykas]

How long can Lewis stay on track?
This is the question :

[F1boat]

It will be Sebastian or Lewis. These are the two fastest drivers in the two fastest cars. Jenson will score 3rd IMO. The rest will be behind these three guys.

[wedge]

My enthusiasm for the sport has waned considerably in the last couple of years, mostly due to a variety of reasons:

Primarily because of the direction that the technical regulations have taken, introducing gimmicks in an effort to enable a more exciting “show”. Introducing the flappy rear wing to ease overtaking was the last straw for me. A purist at heart, I prefer to see drivers showcase their skill and experience on track and not having to rely on artificial gimmicks to provide contrived superiority over other drivers.

Every season I used to crave the new technological advances conceived and implemented by teams. This is (was?) a very big attraction of F1 to me. However, over the years the suppression of technical innovation has led to an almost “spec” sport. Severe restraints on car design, components, engine homologation, etc. have all limited innovative designs. I cringe now ever time a team manages to introduce a new techno-tidbit other teams cry foul and the FIA quickly declare it illegal .

The elimination of tire wars has contributed to more stale racing. Previously, a variety of tire manufacturers, not to mention tire selection, allowed for diversity in race setups and strategies, increasing the overall racing excitement.

New venues with sterile circuits diminishes the attraction to me, especially the proliferation of street circuits which I find provide little visual stimulation.

Although I likely will maintain a minimal interest, I foresee this season the culmination of my tedium with the sport

Sigh... you asked studiose :

Technology has mostly taken the purity out of driving a thorough race car for what are supposedly some of the world's best drivers.

I'm all for competition but tyre wars have a tendency to distort the competition.

Quite frankly the consensus is that Pirelli's deliberately soft compound have created better racing and DRS exaggerating things.

Ultimately its about the drivers and the cream rises to the top. The arguably the right deck of cards have been handed out: 2010 was arguably one of the greatest seasons of all time and the driver line for 2012 is similar (Kubica MIA). How can one not be excited?

[The Black Knight]

My enthusiasm for the sport has waned considerably in the last couple of years, mostly due to a variety of reasons:

Primarily because of the direction that the technical regulations have taken, introducing gimmicks in an effort to enable a more exciting “show”. Introducing the flappy rear wing to ease overtaking was the last straw for me. A purist at heart, I prefer to see drivers showcase their skill and experience on track and not having to rely on artificial gimmicks to provide contrived superiority over other drivers.

Every season I used to crave the new technological advances conceived and implemented by teams. This is (was?) a very big attraction of F1 to me. However, over the years the suppression of technical innovation has led to an almost “spec” sport. Severe restraints on car design, components, engine homologation, etc. have all limited innovative designs. I cringe now ever time a team manages to introduce a new techno-tidbit other teams cry foul and the FIA quickly declare it illegal .

The elimination of tire wars has contributed to more stale racing. Previously, a variety of tire manufacturers, not to mention tire selection, allowed for diversity in race setups and strategies, increasing the overall racing excitement.

New venues with sterile circuits diminishes the attraction to me, especially the proliferation of street circuits which I find provide little visual stimulation.

Although I likely will maintain a minimal interest, I foresee this season the culmination of my tedium with the sport

Sigh... you asked studiose :

Pretty much agree with all your post here. Now the FIA have informed us that the stupid DRS zone for this race is going to be on the pit straight and on the little straight on the run down to turn 3 as well. There will be one activation point at turn 14 so if a guy gets passed on the pit straight there is no hope for him to fight back. It's utterly retarded in my opinion. I wish they would throw DRS out.

[schmenke]

Technology has mostly taken the purity out of driving a thorough race car for what are supposedly some of the world's best drivers....

With all due respect, you are missing the point of F1, as I fear, are many current fans.

Technology is (at least was) integral to the sport. It’s what sets it apart from all other racing series.
F1 is more than just what the casual fan sees on track every fortnight. Unlike many other series F1 is, above all, a constructor’s series, the purpose of which is to solicit the most talented engineers and designers to leverage the best available technology to construct a race car to try to dominate the competition. This is the essence of the sport that is quickly being lost.

...2010 was arguably one of the greatest seasons of all time ...

To some perhaps, but to me the excitement was largely artificially created.

F1 is heading down the path of other series, e.g. Indy, NASCAR, where ballast, restrictor plates, and full-course yellows are used to create on-track excitement. No, F1 has none of these (well, perhaps with the exception of the latter), but the sport does have KERS and DRS both of which are cleverly disguised “push-to-pass” gimmicks.


Apologies for hijacking this thread for my personal rant... .

[ioan]

Apologies for sounding like a prude, but having followed the sport for over 20 years, I have never before felt such a lack of anticipation and enthusiasm for a season opener .

Well, the interest is getting lower with every year that goes by.
For me it's the gimmicky tires, DRS and KER rules who are ruining the racing.

[ioan]

My enthusiasm for the sport has waned considerably in the last couple of years, mostly due to a variety of reasons:

Primarily because of the direction that the technical regulations have taken, introducing gimmicks in an effort to enable a more exciting “show”. Introducing the flappy rear wing to ease overtaking was the last straw for me. A purist at heart, I prefer to see drivers showcase their skill and experience on track and not having to rely on artificial gimmicks to provide contrived superiority over other drivers.

Every season I used to crave the new technological advances conceived and implemented by teams. This is (was?) a very big attraction of F1 to me. However, over the years the suppression of technical innovation has led to an almost “spec” sport. Severe restraints on car design, components, engine homologation, etc. have all limited innovative designs. I cringe now ever time a team manages to introduce a new techno-tidbit other teams cry foul and the FIA quickly declare it illegal .

The elimination of tire wars has contributed to more stale racing. Previously, a variety of tire manufacturers, not to mention tire selection, allowed for diversity in race setups and strategies, increasing the overall racing excitement.

New venues with sterile circuits diminishes the attraction to me, especially the proliferation of street circuits which I find provide little visual stimulation.

Although I likely will maintain a minimal interest, I foresee this season the culmination of my tedium with the sport

Sigh... you asked studiose :

Same here.