official F1 World Championship 2011 Thread

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

I've been trying to load the live timing applet since 15 mins before the race - no luck. Oh well.

Java is fully updated.

[PsYcHoKiLLa]

I updated mine by downloading the installer from ninite.com, Try that ;)

I think Red Bull is losing out with no KERS, Webber definitely.

[PsYcHoKiLLa]

I'm the one (so far) who backed Webber by the way, I think this could be his year because he's come so close in the last couple of years and been beaten by technical problems, hopefully they can not use the team tactics on him and actually give him a chance this year.

[ahmz]

Great drives by the top 4, and Perez finishing in 7th. Pirelli delivered and the DRS seems to work at just the right gap IMO.

Alonso (hard tyres) drove away from Webber (soft tyres), amazing.

[simonlang]

webber = clown and loser. as in abu dhabi today he did his best not to attack his friend alonso. glad vettel putting him into his place, the last thing a superior redbull team would need is webber lucking into 2 or 3 race wins agagin while vettels car fails and then forcing a team-internal battle.

vettel: what shall i say? bloody impressive, he matured a lot since last year, everything perfect.

mclaren: amazing comeback after the wintertests. i totally underestimated them. they are even reliable. without having done a single race distance in testing. nice.

ferrari: how low have they sunk? putting in fastest laps when its not counting anymore and giving their faster driver number 2 material. poor massa. that guy was fighting his heart out today in the first stint after something which has to be named the best start in formula 1 for ages. and what is ferrari doing? holding him back to prefer alonso. the latter one at least didnt luck into a podium today thanks to a brilliant driving petrov (what would kubi doing in that car is what im asking me right now).

keep in mind, ferrari would be nearly out of the points if renault had 2 decent drivers and not slowfeld, and if button and webber would have a normal race.

mercedes: :( no words. watching schumacher being unable to do anything is suuch a pain.

[MightyJordan]

I think the big surprise of the race is Petrov finishing in 3rd! It looks like Renault might definitely have a championship-contending car this season! :)

[PsYcHoKiLLa]

Anyone think Hamilton will get a rebuke for messing about with his car when it was in parc ferme?

Also, anyone else in the UK watched for the first time in HD? I didn't notice any huge improvement, except of course in the OSD

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Men of the race today:

• Vettel. Perfect race.
  
• Petrov. Excellent drive.
  
• Perez. P7 in a Sauber with only one stop - wow.
  

Reject of the race: Rubens Barichello. Stupid move against Rosberg.

Mercedes GP were unlucky with the accidents and apparently technical issues (Rosberg said he had no KERS at the start). Things can only improve for them.

Ferrari... somewhat disappointing. Luca di Montezemolo is going to tear several people a new one after this race I think.

Bring on Malaysia!

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Australian Grand Prix
Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia;
58 laps; 307.574km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h29:30.259
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +    22.297
 3.  Petrov        Renault                    +    30.560
 4.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +    31.772
 5.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +    38.171
 6.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +    54.300
 7.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:05.800
 8.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:16.800
 9.  Massa         Ferrari                    +  1:25.100
10.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
11.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
12.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
13.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
14.  Heidfeld      Renault                    +     1 lap
15.  Trulli        Lotus-Renault              +    2 laps
16.  D'Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth            +    3 laps

Fastest lap: Massa, 1:28.947

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
Glock         Virgin-Cosworth              50
Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth            49
Rosberg       Mercedes                     22
Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault                19
Schumacher    Mercedes                     19
Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth            10
Liuzzi        HRT-Cosworth                 1
Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth                 1


World Championship standings, round 1:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Vettel        25        1.  Red Bull-Renault           35
 2.  Hamilton      18        2.  McLaren-Mercedes           26
 3.  Petrov        15        3.  Renault                    15
 4.  Alonso        12        4.  Ferrari                    14
 5.  Webber        10        5.  Sauber-Ferrari             10
 6.  Button         8        6.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          1
 7.  Perez          6       
 8.  Kobayashi      4       
 9.  Massa          2       
10.  Buemi          1       

All timing unofficial

[simonlang]

Luca di Montezemolo is going to tear several people a new one after this race I think.

the more alonso is getting into the team, the slower they get! its like cancer...

button saying the same in the interview now he just cant believe how much slower massas car is than alonsos.

ferrari will be the big loser again after this year, they seem to be not interested in having the best car but only to make alonso look good compared to his team mate. as seen in 2007 alonso cant stand losing to a faster team mate.

for a quick fix i suggest ferrari should bring back baldisseri to the pitwall and making massa number 1. he is faster and doesnt wine always on the pitradio. :D

[Subject Delta]

Anyone think Hamilton will get a rebuke for messing about with his car when it was in parc ferme?

Also, anyone else in the UK watched for the first time in HD? I didn't notice any huge improvement, except of course in the OSD

No. If his car was altered in any way whilst it was in parc ferme, it would have been with the permission of the FIA.

As for the GP... well apart from a couple of occasions, the promised overtaking fest never really materialised, and the cars still ended up getting strung out quite quickly. Although for me Petrov's performance was the one that really stood out I am amazed that Perez managed to run the race on a one stop strategy when there were some cars that needed 3 stops. At a higher wear track, I have a feeling the tyre performance will vary wildly.

As for Ferrari... Given how good they looked in testing, I believe they will be disappointed with their start. Although Alonso looked fast in flashes, the car never really looked capable of challenging McLaren and Red Bull all weekend. Will be interesting to see if that's a symptom of the cold track, or just that they have lost ground.

Red Bull... Given that they aren't even using KERS, the level of performance that they have is amazing. Whilst, as last year, the other cars are a bit closer to them on long run pace, overall their car is still dominant, and Seb looks very much at home in it. McLaren and Ferrari have a lot of work to do.

McLaren... Fantastic comeback from them given how slow they looked in testing, and given that his car was damaged, a very creditable performance from Lewis.

Mercedes... pretty much where I predicted them to be, way off the pace. Got a bit unlucky with the collisions though.

And finally, the new teams still continue not to impress me. Still slow, and still unreliable.

Should be an interesting season, and the jury still is out on whether the regulation changes will increase passing or not.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

^ Agreed - this season will be at least as interesting as the last one.

[starbearer]

It's looking ominous,isn't it?

Red Bull didn't even have to use their KERS system the entire race.They were pretty much blazing fast without it.

What a loo-loo for Mercedes GP.One shunted from behind by STR,the other tackled sideways by Barrichello.

What did come out this race was the wide difference between team mates.Clearly,Vettel has some sort of an edge over Webber,so has Hamilton over Button,despite the stop go.Massa eclipsed comprehensively by Alonso again.

Another surprise was Hiedfeld's poor performance.He's been a very good driver over the years,albeit slightly unlucky.But a 14th place for him is not a patch on the first podium for his Russian teammate.Hiedfeld with 10 years' worth experience,Petrov with 1.How odd.

Very well done for the Sauber team too,often the most invisible team on the paddock.

Go Red Bull.And buck up Mercedes GP.

[MightyJordan]

God, I love Sniff Petrol's tweets:

Result as I understand it: 1. BNDY 2. ANNYNG GRLFRND 3. BLDDY HLL HW DID THT HPPN?

:rofl:

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Sauber duo disqualified from Australia

Sauber drivers Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi have been disqualified from the Australian Grand Prix over a technical infringement.

Perez, making his grand prix debut, had finished in a strong seventh position, one place ahead of his Japanese team-mate Kobayashi.

After the race, however, the race stewards excluded both cars over the infringement of technical rules 3.10.1 and 3.10.2.

The infringement occurred in the uppermost rear wing element.

Article 3.10.1 reads: "Any bodywork more than 150mm behind the rear wheel centre line which is between 150mm and 730mm above the reference plane, and between 75mm and 355mm from the car centre line, must lie in an area when viewed from the side of the car that is situated between 150mm and 350mm behind the rear wheel centre line and between 300mm and 400mm above the reference plane. When viewed from the side of the car no longitudinal cross section may have more than one section in this area.

"Furthermore, no part of this section in contact with the external air stream may have a local concave radius of curvature smaller than 100mm.

"Once this section is defined, 'gurney' type trim tabs may be fitted to the trailing edge. When measured in any longitudinal cross section no dimension of any such trim tab may exceed 20mm."

3.10.2 states: "Other than the bodywork defined in Article 3.10.9, any bodywork behind a point lying 50mm forward of the rear wheel centre line which is more than 730mm above the reference plane, and less than 355mm from the car centre line, must lie in an area when viewed from the side of the car that is situated between the rear wheel centre line and a point 350mm behind it."

The exclusion of the Sauber drivers means Ferrari's Felipe Massa is elevated to seventh, ahead of Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi, and Force India duo Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta.

REVISED RESULTS AND STANDINGS

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      
 1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes
 3.  Petrov        Renault
 4.  Alonso        Ferrari
 5.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault
 6.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes
 7.  Massa         Ferrari
 8.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari
 9.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes
10.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes
11.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari
12.  Heidfeld      Renault
13.  Trulli        Lotus-Renault
14.  D'Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth

World Championship standings, round 1:

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Vettel        25        1.  Red Bull-Renault           35
 2.  Hamilton      18        2.  McLaren-Mercedes           26
 3.  Petrov        15        3.  Ferrari                    18
 4.  Alonso        12        4.  Renault                    15
 5.  Webber        10        5.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          4
 6.  Button         8        6.  Force India                 3
 7.  Massa          6
 8.  Buemi          4
 9.  Sutil          2
10.  di Resta       1

All timing unofficial

[MightyJordan]

Damn, that sucks for Sauber. :( On the bright side, it does mean Paul Di Resta picks up his first championship point on his debut. :)

[vanx]

Also, anyone else in the UK watched for the first time in HD? I didn't notice any huge improvement, except of course in the OSD

The on-board cameras certainly didn't look to be showing images in HD. While the differences weren't radical on the 720p image -- provider of BBC's coverage upgraded their facilities to HD last year -- I would like to see it in 1080i. Then again, BBC has often been criticised for the quality of the HD signal they provide. FIA provide the feed at 42 Mb/s, but BBC's encoders probably butcher it to the max. If Formula 1 was on Sky Sports, I am certain HD would look better. It does for other sports already.

[ahmz]

The on-board cameras certainly didn't look to be showing images in HD. While the differences weren't radical on the 720p image -- provider of BBC's coverage upgraded their facilities to HD last year -- I would like to see it in 1080i. Then again, BBC has often been criticised for the quality of the HD signal they provide. FIA provide the feed at 42 Mb/s, but BBC's encoders probably butcher it to the max. If Formula 1 was on Sky Sports, I am certain HD would look better. It does for other sports already.

720p is much better than 1080i. An interlaced image is rubbish, especially for sports.

[vanx]

720p is much better than 1080i. An interlaced image is rubbish, especially for sports.

A lot depends on what kind of sports we are talking about. And it's not always a given. Football (soccer) that is broadcast on Sky Sports HD here in the UK looks gorgeous when they do broadcasts themselves and they broadcast in 1080i.

[Subject Delta]

And the BBC's 1080i feed is broadcast at 1440x1080 which isn't even 16:9

[vanx]

And the BBC's 1080i feed is broadcast at 1440x1080 which isn't even 16:9

It's anamorphic widescreen.

[ahmz]

[TheLegendOfMart]

Kids got some balls throwing the car into corners and hoping it will stick like full throttle at turn five.

[Subject Delta]

That really was just a mind blowing lap. Seb and Red Bull make an fantastic combination at this moment in time

[san.W10]

:rofl:

one of the best PS so far

LOOOOOL

from - http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?showtopic=135088&st=880&start=880

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Pirelli predicts four stops in Malaysia

Pirelli says this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix is likely to see teams choosing between three and four pitstops, as it admits that higher temperatures will result in more dramatic degradation than was seen in Melbourne.

Winter predictions of four or even five tyre stops per race did not come true in Melbourne, where only a few driver pitted three times, most stuck to two stops, and Sauber's Sergio Perez surprisingly completed the distance with just a single tyre change.

But Pirelli's motorsport boss Paul Hembery says tyre wear is set to be a bigger factor at Sepang.

"We were absolutely thrilled by our grand prix debut in Australia, but we're aware that Malaysia should be a very different proposition, with higher temperatures and increased degradation," he said.

"We said all along that we would be seeing two to three pitstops in Australia, but in Malaysia I think that figure is likely to increase to three to four."

Pirelli will also again take advantage of its dispensation to test additional tyres during Friday practice, and will give each driver two extra sets of a revised hard compound.

"We never believe in standing still at Pirelli, which is why the teams will have two extra sets of slick tyres available to them during Friday's free practice sessions for evaluation purposes," Hembery said.

"With testing not allowed during the season, this gives us a valuable opportunity to gather more data and feedback, while it also gives the teams an interesting taste of what could be coming in the future."

Source: Autosport