The 2012 Australian Grand Prix Thread

[jido]

My predictions for Australia:

Ferrari to top the time sheets in first practice, for the show, then hover in the mid-pack for the rest of the week-end.

Raikkonen to break something.

McLaren to compete with Red Bull, and win the fight.

Mercedes to be generally impressive.

HRT to struggle to qualify - just.

What I won't predict is the weather in Melbourne

Can't wait for it to start!

[Axey]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO its almost here *excited dance*


I think were gonna have an odd podium hell everyone is pondering whether ferrari are bluffing or not hell i think HRT are the biggest bluffers and will shock us all with a 1-2 or shock us by actually turning up and qualifying

in all seriousness i think it will be a red bull mcclaren and lotus renault podium (webber button and grojsean) i think then it will be the saubers 4th and 5th with rosberg 6th di resta 7th vettel 8th (after incident) raikkonen 9th and senna 10th

[Ed]

Thanks Jido for creating the thread, we were a bit late!

The first practice has ended, it started under wet conditions but the track dried out and dry times were set.

Button was quickest from Hamilton then Schumacher and Alonso.

Raikkonen only went out in the dying minutes while Karthikeyan in the HRT stopped on the track before setting any times and de la Rosa in the other HRT didn't make it out at all.

Massa spun off into the gravel and got stuck there

Too difficult to read much from the times although it looks ike McLaren and Mercedes are quick!

For the full results of the session, click here
For the commentary during the sssion click here

[Thaddeus]

Aye, I agree with the consensus that the Mercedes looks good, and it'll be fascinating to see if they can manage to get a podium.

McLaren are looking strong, and Vettel's apparently unhappy with his car. I think I read that Christian Horner was whining about the Mercedes sort-of-but-not-quite-F-duct which has been ruled legal.

It'll also be very interesting to see how Force India do. Their car looks pretty good and I think Di Resta and Hulkenberg have great potential.

[Ed]

The second practice session was nearly a copy of the first just a bit more wet at the start. It took a while for the track to dry out

Once the track got dry, many drivers focused on long runs and heavy fuel while others did shorter runs. As usual, it is difficult to read the times and all will be revealed during qualifying tomorrow.

No major incidents although a few drivers went off but recovered. Pedro de la Rosa in the HRT has yet to set a timed lap in Melbourne having stayed in the garage in P1 and only completed an installation lap in P2. His teammate Karthikeyan got to complete 16 laps in P2


For the full results of the session, click here
For the commentary during the sssion click here

[Ed]

Well done to Lotus, Mercedes and McLaren. They have all made a step or two forward. Lotus and in particular Grosjean have impressed in Qualifying today meaning that their pace in testing wasn't a bluff.
Mercedes have also made a step forward while McLaren appear to have replaced Red Bull as the dominant team

Red Bull seem to have been caught out and their conservative approach allowed the others to catch and pass them. It also shows that the banning of the blow diffusers has affected them the most

As for Ferrari, they have gone backwards and it will be interesting to see how they react now. Well done to Alonso though having qualified more than a second quicker than Massa despite going off and having just one run in Q2

Raikkonen made a mistake on his flyer in Q1 and didn't make it to Q2. Doubt though he would have made P3 in Q3. Raikkonen will need time to get back to his best

Will be interesting to see the race pace and the tyre degradation tomorrow as that would give us a more complete picture.

For the full results of qualifying, click here
For the commentary during the qualifying click here

[Ed]

Also worth noting is the big improvement from Williams. Maldonado's Q3 time was just 0.24 seconds off Vettel's time

[Thaddeus]

Aye, Senna had a decent qualifying as well, so the car's clearly a huge step forward from the 2011 horror show.

Not sure if Grosjean will be able to hold onto third. As well as being a bit rusty in F1 terms I remember reading that the Lotus was quick over a few laps but on longer runs was a bit slower.

Be interesting to see whether the Red Bulls can make progress, or end up going backwards, and the McLaren-Mercedes battle could be pretty exciting.

[jacfan]

Fascinating!!! and that is putting it mildly.
McLaren seem to be the team beat this weekend. They are looking very strong.
Mercedes look good too but not sure if there is a protest from Red Bull and someone else... had a migraine while watching yesterday.
While I agree that the banning of the blow diffusers seem to be causing problems in the Red Bull camp it appears (to me) to be affecting Seb worse than Mark.
As for Grosjean.... what the?? Was not expecting that. Will be interesting to see how he does over race distance.
Senna was another surprise. Good to see him doing well. Hopefully we will see him in the points more this year.
Kimi didn't do much for his first time out but that is not really unexpected. I think he will do better as the year goes on.
The two Ferraris look like crap at this stage and I would not have wanted to hear what Alonso had to say when he returned to the pits...

It should be a great start to the year!!! Am looking forward to todays race and seeing which cars are good over race distance as opposed to being a one lap wonder.

[Ed]

The race starts shortly. You can follow our coverage here

It will be an exciting race

[jido]

The race was really exciting.

I am specially happy to see how several midfield teams are competitive, like Williams, Toro Rosso and Sauber.

Also nice that Alonso went all the way up to fifth.

Hope to see more of this!

[Ed]

Jenson Button won the first race of 2012 ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. Mark Webber was fourth ahead of Fernando Alonso.
Kobayashi, Raikkonen, Perez, Ricciardo and di Resta make the top 10.

An exciting race from start to finish. McLaren showed that they are the team to beat this year and now Red Bull would have to catch up. The safety car period certainly helped close the gap and made the race more exciting but it has made the Red Bull look stronger than what they actually are.
Mercedes seem to have built a car for qualifying! It is fast on a single lap but when it comes to long runs, the tyre degradation is high. Both Rosberg and Schumacher struggled very early in the race.
Ferrari also seem to be using tyres more that the 2 front running teams and Massa just couldn't race today and that just highlights the superb driving by Alonso who actually managed to get the car in 5th

Grosjean was unlucky, first he gets a poor start then is pushed off. Given that Raikkonen managed to score points from far back, Grosjean should have been on the podium

Williams are certainly making a comeback. Pity that both their drivers are error-prone. Maldonado seems to be quick but makes many mistakes. We saw that last year and he continued that trend this year.
Senna had too many bumps with others today

Perez was impressive starting last and going for a single stop. Kobayashi did well too.

The rivalry between Ricciardo and Vergne is exciting to watch and those two will push each other hard

Force India looks strong in testing but they didn't really make an impression today. Hulkenberg retired early while di Resta fought hard and managed to score the last point on the last lap!

While Caterham promised to mix it with the midfielders, they really didn't and failed to finish either car. Hopefully they can recover.

Marussia did well to be classified, afterall they didn't get to test this car

That said, the Australian track is not a typical F1 circuit and we really need to wait until next week to see who is better on the Malaysian track

For the full race result, click here

[jacfan]

Great race!!!
Congrats to Jenson on his fantastic move on Lewis and then going on to take the checkered flag.
A great result for Mark.... not exactly the position we all hoped for but considering that he was sandwiched early in the race it could have ended in tears very early. I would have loved to see where he would have ended up if that hadn't happened.
A great race for Daniel ... hopefully a taste of things to come.
Looking forward to the rest of the season.

[Thaddeus]

Pretty exciting race. I considered Perez Driver of the Day, with his trademark one-stop strategy getting him from 16th to 8th. Bit unlucky/sleepy to get passed by Raikkonen on the last lap. Di Resta did well to sneak 10th.

Real shame Schumacher's gearbox exploded. A Schumacher-Vettel battle would've been very interesting.