[Official] Round 1 - Australian Grand Prix

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by NickoGP

This idea of running twilight so that Europeans can sleep in is a load of . If it was run at the normal time it would have been fine. If it was raining at the regular time at least there are more daylight hours to attempt qualifying.

Malaysia will be the usual shambles.

Fact is, with everything going over to pay to view, the relevance of timing the races for Europeans has disappeared.

Indeed it was much better making the effort to get up at some ungodly hour in order to watch Mansell and Senna duke it out in some godforsaken part of Australia (otherwise known as Adelaide) that made it all worthwhile. If the fans can't be arsed to watch then who cares? The TV companies will still get the revenues because the rest of the season is at a more convenient time.

Oh and the BBC used to show Le Mans or Grand Prix in the early hours just to keep us all awake.

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by maximus

Did the pair of you really just take the part of his post about 28,000 comments seriously!? It was blatantly meant in jest. To address your other comment James, just because Charlie Whiting has 20+ years experience doesn't mean he is above criticism or incapable of bad decisions.

I find that people with over 20,000 comments can be a bit jaded about opening themselves up to new ideas. No offense to Mr. Mallett, GTR-Magic, or Knowlesy, but they aren't past making mistakes themselves.

On the race - a little disappointing it's going to be raining but definitely an interesting way to start the season.

[Richard C]

As a remote observer via TV and having watched F1 for years, I am surprised about the qualifying decisions. But I also wonder if there may have been other discussions going on behind closed doors. Given the quick succession of the first two races, and likely weather, I wonder if some teams were thinking "Do we have enough spares on hand to have two straight rain races?" It seemed like I saw a good number of broken front wings. That they were watching a very unfavorable scenario play out early in Q1 in race #1 (granted nobody came remotely close to destroying a tub)

I know parts can be flown in, but given it is early in the season and they may already be working on wing specs for China (I am broadly assuming teams will likely use the roughly same spec for these first two races), i cant see them having many spares right now. So I wonder if there was pressure from the teams to delay in hopes of better weather and then eventually the multiple delays resulted in no choice but to move until tomorrow?

Richard

[JamesH]

Originally Posted by Richard Casto

As a remote observer via TV and having watched F1 for years, I am surprised about the qualifying decisions. But I also wonder if there may have been other discussions going on behind closed doors. Given the quick succession of the first two races, and likely weather, I wonder if some teams were thinking "Do we have enough spares on hand to have two straight rain races?" It seemed like I saw a good number of broken front wings. That they were watching a very unfavorable scenario play out early in Q1 in race #1 (granted nobody came remotely close to destroying a tub)

I know parts can be flown in, but given it is early in the season and they may already be working on wing specs for China (I am broadly assuming teams will likely use the roughly same spec for these first two races), i cant see them having many spares right now. So I wonder if there was pressure from the teams to delay in hopes of better weather and then eventually the multiple delays resulted in no choice but to move until tomorrow?

Richard

At last, someone talking sense. There was probably £0.5M if not more damage done in that Q1, probably the same in Q2 and Q3. The results would be pretty random anyway - depending on who was out at whatever time on whatever tyre when the weather did whatever. I have not problem with racing in the rain, but qualifying in those conditions is a pointless waste of time and in this case, a lot of money in a sport that is supposed to be saving it.

There is also the safety aspect to consider. Wet grass is like ice - one tiny mistake and it's the barrier - no chance of recovery - as was splendidly shown in that Q1. Why put drivers and cars at risk just for qualifying? I just don't get the aggression about the decision shown above.

Oh, and the decision is actually made by the stewards, not Charlie Whiting, although I presume (but I'm not there so I don't KNOW, unlike the people above) has quite a bit of input.

[JamesH]

Originally Posted by maximus

Did the pair of you really just take the part of his post about 28,000 comments seriously!? It was blatantly meant in jest. To address your other comment James, just because Charlie Whiting has 20+ years experience doesn't mean he is above criticism or incapable of bad decisions.

Yes. I did take it seriously. If meant as a 'joke' it went above my head, and presumably others as well. Still doesn't read as jest to me...if I wanted comedy, I'd watch Nascar. See, that was a joke...

But in order to keep on topic, it wasn't Charlie Whiting (my mistake) who made the decision, it was the stewards. So that's multiple people in a room deciding what to do. So were they all wrong?

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Raining in Melbourne...

Looks like the race at least will be dry today though.

[justracing]

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

Raining in Melbourne...

Looks like the race at least will be dry today though.

Bit of a shame I was looking forward to boat race to liven things up a bit

[JamesH]

Originally Posted by justracing

Bit of a shame I was looking forward to boat race to liven things up a bit

Well, it's a new season, so we don't yet know what liveliness levels are going to be experienced! Although I guess rain livens up even an already exciting race.

[andy666]

Got up this morning to watch 3rd practice a and quali so i was tired and confused , so i probably missed the reasoning , why could the race have not started with the results from Q1 ?

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by andy666

Got up this morning to watch 3rd practice a and quali so i was tired and confused , so i probably missed the reasoning , why could the race have not started with the results from Q1 ?

That would mean no Red Bull near the front row of the grid, can't let that happen...

[andy666]

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

That would mean no Red Bull near the front row of the grid, can't let that happen...

Funny you should say that , my first thought was if Vettel instead of Rosberg was quickest the result would have stood and Q2 and 3 cancelled . I put it down to tiredness !

[bella]

Originally Posted by Flavio Galtieri

I must have attended more than 250 events in my life, club, national and international and the only road course one I can personally ever remember being cancelled due to rain was at Donington Park in 2009. It was raining and had been for days.

That was during the notorious Simon Gillett attempt to get the British GP and part of the track collapsed between McCleans and Coppice as a result of a drain being overwhelmed, probably due to ongoing track "improvements".

Even then the drivers I was with (FF1600) pleaded that they could change their line a little to take account.....

The only other time I've experienced a cancellation has been NASCAR, where at least I got a "raincheck".

was that at the superleague? i was there too wasn't the hole about the size of a superkart? awkward since either they were out on the track, or due to go out at the time...

i can understand calling it off say, if it's at spa or monza where the speeds are uberhigh and spray hangs in the trees. it doesn't go away and if someone spun in front of you there really would be no chance of seeing them until it's too late. spa wsr was like that last year, it was insane.

but this is melbourne, and... well. i didn't see any of the conditions, but i do think there needs to be some mtfu pills distributed equally amongst those in charge of making the decisions.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by andy666

Got up this morning to watch 3rd practice a and quali so i was tired and confused , so i probably missed the reasoning , why could the race have not started with the results from Q1 ?

There is apparently no rule in the book regarding washing out a qualifying session part way thru... it was at the discretion of the Clerk of the Course as to the next appropriate action.

The running of the Q2 & Q3 today is a better outcome for the spectators who have paid their not inconsiderate sum to watch the best drivers in the world...

Arguably the boys and girls who qualified and were eliminated in Q1 may be a little unhappy, and may have/should have requested a whole reset of qualifying on the same day...

Presumably now the rulebook will get a rewrite/addition..

[andy666]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

There is apparently no rule in the book regarding washing out a qualifying session part way thru... it was at the discretion of the Clerk of the Course as to the next appropriate action.

The running of the Q2 & Q3 today is a better outcome for the spectators who have paid their not inconsiderate sum to watch the best drivers in the world...

Arguably the boys and girls who qualified and were eliminated in Q1 may be a little unhappy, and may have/should have requested a whole reset of qualifying on the same day...

Presumably now the rulebook will get a rewrite/addition..

Thanks , from a paying spectators point of view yes it was the correct decision . Those eliminated in Q1 would they have much of an argument ? The drivers through to Q2 would probably see it as unfair . It will be interesting to see how they get round this one !

[Nicholosophy]

Originally Posted by andy666

Thanks , from a paying spectators point of view yes it was the correct decision . Those eliminated in Q1 would they have much of an argument ? The drivers through to Q2 would probably see it as unfair . It will be interesting to see how they get round this one !

If they had delayed Q1 til today the results may well have been different. But I guess it is the same for everyone.

[jedrinck]

Originally Posted by andy666

Funny you should say that , my first thought was if Vettel instead of Rosberg was quickest the result would have stood and Q2 and 3 cancelled . I put it down to tiredness !

So Vettel is the new Prost? What makes you think the above?

[andy666]

Originally Posted by jedrinck

So Vettel is the new Prost? What makes you think the above?

No not at all , I was tired and over cynical . I have nothing against Vettel i have alot of respect for him and do not think that way at all .

[Pingguest]

Just an interesting thought: since the 2003 Australian Grand Prix the FIA have been tweaking the qualifying format, apart from the introduction of the post-qualifying parc fermé that very race. If the pre-2003 qualifying format was still in place, we have a starting grid already.
I think this should provide food for thought.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

There is currently light rain at the track and qualifying is in less than an hour. Rain for hours likely and more importantly looking at the BOM Melbourne zoomed out radar a large rain system is forming out at see and if it continues it's path will hit Melbourne later in the day.'

For now, LOTS of off and on light rain coming.

[deeks6]

Originally Posted by Marbot

hmmmm......not sure which practice sessions you were watching.

But if you say it's a done deal, then I'll hold you to it.

McLaren, on the other hand, may as well treat the rest of the weekend as a test session.

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/2...-in-melbourne/

After Q1, I'm looking more and more like a genius
(and without 28000 posts)

The Merc looks the best all-round car in the field, stable, balanced, obviously good in all conditions ... Hamilton must have had some inside info because the McLaren looks like a total dog. Mind you he still has to cure his habit of over-driving and he might make up the difference between himself and Rosberg.

In unrelated news, the Williams sounds the best and IS a total dog.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Timing WTF?!

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Perez eliminated.

[Dixie Flatline]

Qualifying two complete. No rain during the session and they'll be able to proceed with qualifying three with no problems. Thank goodness for that. Ricciardo, Verne, Sutil among those who missed out and Rosberg topped the time sheets.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Rosberg is VERY fast.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

About as boring a grid as it could have been.