Australian GP thread - Will Contain Race Spoilers

[Fernando]

Spoiler:

Will Sebastian Vettel dominate again? Are McLaren in better shape this year? How bad are things at Ferrari? Will Kimi Raikkonen have a car capable of podiums? Can Michael Schumacher challenge for wins in 2012? By Sunday evening in Melbourne we should be one step closer to answering these questions … or there could be a whole bunch more to answer. Either way, the long wait will be over and the 2012 season will be underway.

On Form
After a disappointing 2011 season, Lewis Hamilton has vowed to refocus on Formula One this year and the early signs suggest he is approaching the season in a much better state of mind. It's almost impossible to read anything into the times he set in pre-season testing, but his general demeanour was much improved. He was more like the Lewis of old, and if he can transfer that confidence onto the track he should have a serious shot at the title.

Out of form
Much has been written about Ferrari's struggles in pre-season testing, but the true extent of the problems (or lack of problems) won't become clear until Sunday evening. Mixed messages have come out of Maranello, but the team appears to be targeting the Spanish Grand Prix to get back on track. It just has to hope that Red Bull and McLaren don't make significant improvements of their own over the next four races.

One to watch
The Force India looked quick in testing and Paul di Resta proved last year that he is a safe pair of hands. Melbourne is often a race of attrition, with the new cars taking a pounding on the bumpy surface, so if di Resta can keep it all together he will stand a good chance of scoring some decent points.

Talking points
Six world champions Never before have six world champions lined up on a Formula One grid, so assuming they all make it to Sunday's race, 2012 will kick off with a new record. Some of the champions stand less of a chance of adding to their title count than others, but they are all in top teams and even Michael Schumacher at Mercedes and Kimi Raikkonen at Lotus could have an outside shot at race wins this year.

Tyres Last year's on-track action was much more exciting than previous years and that was mainly thanks to Pirelli. This year the Italian tyre manufacturer has vowed to keep things interesting by reducing the performance gap between the compounds and making the whole range softer. Last year most drivers tried to limit their time on the harder compound during races, but this year the decision won't be so clear cut. Pit walls will have a hard time working out strategies as the races unfold and that should make for more overtaking as the drivers find themselves on different compounds in different states of wear. The softer rubber should also provide a boost to the midfield teams that often struggled to bring the hardest tyres up to working temperature last year due to their lack of downforce.

The Concorde Agreement While we are all hoping for a tense battle on the track, there will also be an intriguing scrap developing off it. In 2013 the current Concorde Agreement which binds the teams, the FIA and Formula One Management (FOM) together will expire and it is in interest of all the sport's stakeholders to replace it - especially if CVC Capital Partners, F1's current majority owners, is considering selling. The Concorde Agreement determines how the sports profits are distributed and naturally everybody wants a little bit more. Since 2006 the teams have been getting 50% of the pot, which is divided between them as prize money. Bernie Ecclestone and FOM are naturally opposed to giving them any more money and the first signs that they are ready to put up a fight came last week when Ecclestone suggested the teams should cut their spending instead. During the last negotiations in 2009 the teams were united under the Formula One Teams' Association, but since Ferrari and Red Bull left last year it appears as though Ecclestone is going to have an easier time playing his old game of divide and conquer. Either way, it should provide for some thrilling background stories if the racing fails to live up to expectations.

Melbourne's future There's not a single member of the F1 paddock who doesn't like going to Melbourne for the first race of the season. Yet the Australian Grand Prix could be under threat when the current contract runs out in 2015 as FOM wants more money and the local government says it is already stretched. Ecclestone has said turning event into a night race would help matters, but that in itself is an expensive undertaking.

Trivia
Albert Park staged two non-championship Formula Libre Australian Grands Prix in 1953 and 1956, although the cars ran around the circuit anti-clockwise
The 1953 event was made up entirely of Australian drivers but the 1956 race was timed to coincide with the Olympics and attracted big names such as Sir Stirling Moss and Jean Behra, who were both entered by Maserati in 250Fs. Moss won the race by over two minutes from Behra and by a lap over the rest of the field
In 1991 Adelaide hosted the shortest grand prix ever when the race was stopped after just 14 laps due to heavy rain. It was just 32.883 miles long and lasted less than 25 minutes. However, in terms of laps it was still longer than some of the old German Grands Prix at the 14-mile Nurburgring, which were often just 12 laps long
Three Frenchman will be on the grid this year after three years without one. Romain Grosjean returns and Jean-Eric Vergne and Charles Pic will make their debuts. The last Frenchman to score points at the Australian GP was Sébastien Bourdais, with seventh place and two points in 2008. The last Frenchman on the podium down under was Olivier Panis, who was second for Ligier in 1995

Fast facts
This will be the 28th Formula One Australian Grand Prix; the race was first staged in 1985 at Adelaide
There have been 48 retirements at the Australian Grand Prix from 132 starters in the last six years
Drives make 60 gearchanges per lap at Albert Park and spend 66% of the lap on full throttle
There have been nine safety-car periods during the past six races at Albert Park

Circuit
Built around a man-made lake and using public roads, Albert Park is the perfect place to kick off the new season. While overtaking is limited mainly to turns one and three, there should be more this year with two DRS zones occupying the preceding straights. An abundance of gravel traps rather than concrete run-off areas restrict the margin for error and any weaknesses in the cars will be exposed over the bumpy track surface.

FIA driver steward
Johnny Herbert returns to the stewards' panel at the Australian Grand Prix for the second year in a row. He last sat on the panel at the inaugural Indian Grand Prix last year.

Weather
Rain is expected on Friday afternoon, which could be frustrating for drivers still trying to find a set-up in their new cars. The rest of the weekend should be dry, although thunderstorms have been circulating in the local area this week and could threaten to turn the racing on its head. Sunday's main event starts at 17:00 local time so temperatures will start to dip, which could cause some head-scratching for the teams with Pirelli's new tyres.

Source: Espn

[Guest]

Nice thread. If practice is interrupted with rain then there's going to be some very nervous drivers going into qualifying with a lack of car/tyre information and I expect some interesting results and possibly a few crashes. It will be interesting to see if the back-to-back DRS zones result in similar overtaking patterns to that of Korea & Abu Dhabi during the race. I'm hoping that the stewards are strict upon cars leaving the track and overtaking illegally at turn 4 going into 5 because Vettel got away with it last season and that annoyed me.

Can't wait for the Sky F1 adverts to stop and the action finally begins. Sky are treating it like there the main event instead of the actual race, I don't see why there's an 1.30hr introduction before the race, just so they can bore us to death while they use their gadgets and hi-tech equipment.

[Fernando]

I figured we would need one over the weekend i personally don't care about sky cos i wont get up til 5 55am anyway.

What i have noticed is that in the interviews many are mentioning sauber and force india a lot so could be worth a watch over the weekend.

Unlike most im actually a fan of the DRS provided it doesn't make things too easy, They've have a years experience so should be able to judge the distance well enough now.

[sportform]

Not being able to watch the race live, for the first time I can remember, I haven't really had the interest I have had in previous seasons.

Whether that will change when the BBC races start, I don't know. With some of my favourite races not live on BBC such as Australia, Canada and Japan I don't see that changing much.

Most other sports on Sky only seem to get a 1/6th of the viewers, at best, that free tv gets and I presume there will be many more like me with waining interest.

[Fernando]

Rumor News

According to a few source close to Mercedes their hard work has paid off and during qualifying they may get what's being referred to as a "super DRS"

[Fernando]

I have been searching about this super drs.

According to what ive seen their front wing f duct is activated by their DRS which means their be super stable through high speed corners which could very much come to an advantage during qualifying

[Critical_mass]

So Merc have an F duct??

Im itching im itching.. cant wait for it to all kick off.

[Fernando]

it's a front wing f duct CM so only works when the drs is open

[Critical_mass]

hmmmmm....... this has made me a little nervous now. BUT...

Will the F duct cover the gap to the front runners or will it mean merc overtake a couple of them... hmm this will be interesting. I think Ferrari could be losing 3rd place.

[Fernando]

i have a feeling Ferrari may lose more then 3rd place tbh CM the Mercedes device has been declared legal

[Fernando]

Aussie GP facts
• From 2002 - 2011, the winner of the Australian Grand Prix has gone on to become World Champion seven times
• DRS can be used over 56% of the lap distance in qualifying, a total of 2970 metres
• The Safety Car has been deployed in six of the last ten Australian Grands Prix on a total of 15 occasions
• Mercedes-Benz power has won three of the last four Australian Grands Prix (2008, 2009, 2010)

[Fernando]

Practice 1 Results - Spoilered for people who don't want to know

Spoiler:

Practice 2 - also Spoilered

Spoiler:

[Guest]

McLaren look very confident and very fast. The fact that both drivers are happy and not altering too much with car setup and wanting new parts says that there very settled and happy with their performance. Whitmarsh stated, 'The drivers are happy and it's everything we've got' on his overview of FP1 and his acceptance of few spare parts.

Mercedes must be dancing inside in my opinion. I know it's only practice but I said throughout the winter that a team of Brawn, Bell, Costa & Willis is a dream team of F1 knowledge.......and they haven't disappointed. The super DRS is an interesting concept to enhance their qualifying performance and an attempt to copy Red Bull's strategy of grabbing pole and then being able to control the race and repel attacks thanks to their supreme straight line speed. Schumacher & Rosberg fans maybe celebrating regularly this season.

Red Bull look worried. F1 is about cycles of dominance and there's may have truly ended. Banning the blown diffuser was a big blow and from FP1/2 there performance was extremely disappointing, however rumours of high fuel loads. The Renault engine is being outclassed on this power circuit by the Mercedes rival, however write them off at your peril

Ferrari are in my opinion in a world of hurt currently. The car is inconsistant, lacks downforce and they can't put down the power early enough as they exit the corners. The car is a complicated machine which needs multiple races to gain enough information in order for Ferrari to understand and know what direction they need to go in. Alonso's practice times are deceiving!

I know it's only practive and the sessions were interrupted but things are slowly starting to unravel. Force India look like they've found something and in PDR & NK they have two talented, hungry drivers. As far as Lotus is concerned, I'm hoping there testing times were not 'glory run's' and that we see improvement during qualifying.

[Critical_mass]

Pretty much my sentiments too John. Ferrari look in real trouble and Vettels 11th in FP1 - well im sure they havent dropped that far back, id go with the heavy fuel load - are they trying to hide something.

Will be great to see Mercedes fighting at the front!

[dyrewolfe]

The news about Merc's "Super DRS" comes as a bit of a surprise. Still it'll be a welcome development if it gets them in the mix over the first few races.

If its been cleared by the FIA you can bet the rest of the front-runners will be scrambling to develop similar systems.

[Fernando]

Alonso still reckons Red Bull are 0.5 a second faster then everyone else but that remains to be seen


Everyone enjoying the sky coverage so far? i like the helmet cam its pretty awesome

[Critical_mass]

looking forward to being able to choose which camera i view the action through

[Guest]

Alonso still reckons Red Bull are 0.5 a second faster then everyone else but that remains to be seen

There's no way Red Bull are 0.5 seconds than McLaren, 0.5 seconds + faster than Ferrari....YES! McLaren look so strong right now. Throughout practice the car was stable, consistant and more importantly fast. It also has a proven reliability compared to last years MP4-26 which was a complete unknown.

Ferrari at this point in time are in trouble and Alonso knows it. Qualifying will answer more questions!

Sky coverage is good so far but I'm not bothering with all these different camera angles, I just want to watch the race broadcast and listen to Brundle & Croft to see if there is some kind of commentary relationship that works, otherwise I will be off to BBC. I love it how they've just copied BBC and Jake Humphrey with holding the Ipad

[Fernando]

Sky coverage is good so far but I'm not bothering with all these different camera angles, I just want to watch the race broadcast and listen to Brundle & Croft to see if there is some kind of commentary relationship that works, otherwise I will be off to BBC. I love it how they've just copied BBC and Jake Humphrey with holding the Ipad

Id be surprised if they didn't work well tbh and im not a big fan of Ben Edwards as commentator never really seemed bothered or it might just have been the BTCC being rubbish

[Critical_mass]

i dunno the camera angles could be a good add on. There's been times when you want to see a different view (say behind) and the BBC havent shown it. i mean to be used when an incident or pass happens.

[Bull]

looking forward to the new season
hoping Ferrari have a good start but by the looks of things that wont happen for a couple of races.

[tunes666]

It is a cliche but its very hard to tell at the moment. as you do know what the teams are doing. But based on what I have seen so far ..

McLaren
Look strong and confident I can see them with a car very much strong enough to challenge this year... they look like they have caught up with Red bull now... Hope I'm wrong though.

Mercedes
Im not convinced yet that either driver is up to the challenge of winning a title firstly, I think Schumacher is not the driver he was and Rosberg still has to prove him self IMO. I think the car will be more competitive than last year though, It does not look as fast as McLaren though..

Red Bull Will still be strong and be there or there about's although I cant see them dominating like they did the last two years. This year will be a good test for Vettel where he should be put under more pressure by other drivers. If he is the driver some think then im sure he will be winning races this year again.

Ferrari They have not looked bad, just not the best. I get the feeling that they are down playing them selves allot and that maybe things are not quite as bad as they have hinted. Its a totally new design and build and they are still working things out, but with that they have still clocked up some decent race times so It would not surprise me if they come out stronger than people anticipate, and certainly come strong as the season goes on. Although Massa is not looking like he is going to return as the Massa of old and it may well be Alonso shooting on his own again.

I see McLaren leading from the start, with the other three all fighting it out for second. I see Ferrari and Mercedes both catching McLaren after a couple races and it ending up being a three horse race... I think Lewis will take advantage of a strong car, get a bit of a lead and make life hard for the other drivers to catch him.

But that could be all crud!

[Alessandro Ciambella]

Bonjourno!

It appears that all the front running teams are deploying engineers to the Mercedes garage to find out what this wonder gadget is that is giving them what appears to be some kind of edge.

They seem to have developed something special if other teams are jeprodising their preparation to evaluate Ross Brawns latest design.

Even Red Bull enhineers are swarming around outside the Mercedes garage.

Very intriguing.

[mystiroakey]

i am hoping mclarean and mercedes will be a real threat this year.. it would be nice to see lewis v button and the odd good race by schuy. if vettel cleans up again i am gonna start getting bored very quick.

[Fernando]

Don't go past here if don't want to know about Qualifying






































Well we're half way through Q2 and we've lost both Raikkonen in Q1 and Alonso to the gravel trap after putting a tyre on the grass with 8 mins to go in Q2, Currently making it to Q3 but many have to set a time so far and even so will not be allowed to partake in Q3

[Nay]

Morning Nando

Massa really struggling still, everyone seems to be having trouble with turm 1

[Uryu Ishida]

morning!

*listens on the radio*

James Allen sounds excited!

[Fernando]

morning guys

People out in Q2
Vergne
Alonso
Kobayashi
Senna
Di Resta
Massa
Perez

Joining Heikki Kovalainen, Vitaly Petrov, Timo Glock, Charles Pic, Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan back in the paddock to watch Q3

Well that was a major shock i wouldn't say their struggling with turn 1 its just they keep putting the tyre on the grass like idiots

[Fernando]

Well that was an awesome Q3

Mclaren 1-2 with Romain Grosjean 3rd on his return to F1

Schumi 4th with an excellent lap

RB 5th and 6th who don't look like very fast

Rosberg in 7th after lock up on flying lap

Maldonado,Hulkenburg and Ricciardo make up the top 10

[harryspiv]

Well that was quite brilliant, Red Bull are seriously lacking pace and Ferrari are in a deep hole, I'm sure a certain Alonso fan will still disagree though.

Raikkonen made a stupid mistake alas Alonso, they are my donuts of the day

HRT shouldn't be anywhere near the track, 3rd year in F1 and worse than the early Minardi years

Mclaren were well on the money with their pace but Mercedes have closed a significant gap which could see them win races in the future.

My biggest congrats to Grosjean who put in a quite brilliant performance and could very well be in the hunt for a podium

[mystiroakey]

cheers for the spoiler thingy fernando- but i know anyway-- my annoyance in not seeing it is matched with joy of the result!!

[Guest]

Well it seems to be all change at the front. The Ross Braun / Mercedes seem to have pulled out an unexpected trick which has taken them to the front, Ferrari seem to have "blown it" in terms of their accepted risky strategy to improve from previous years, and it's not clear how lotus-renault managed to get into third spot in qualifying. A communication mix-up plus Raikkonen's laid back attitude probably was the cause of him not posting a fast lap in the first qualifying session. McClaren occupy the front row, but it's not clear how all this will pan out in tomorrows race.

[mystiroakey]

well when you have two world champs in front(and two that are still getting better) then id back that one will win ... cant see other drivers troubling them in fairness, unless they mess up each others chances- but we never know its F1!!!

[Critical_mass]

What a very very exciting quali session. Ferrari struggling, merc doing brilliantly. Mclaren doing v well - lewis back to his best, button not far behind. Grojean getting 3rd - WOW!!!!

Tomorrow should be excellent cannot wait!!!!

Well done to the top three!

Has the blown diffuser ban - grip taken away, showen who the real racers are - Vettel looked a mere shadow of his former self. Lewis thrived in it, Button did well too. As for Ferrari, well putting driver stills to one side regarding Alonso, it looks like he's got a dog of a car. Massa well even with a good car would he struggle.

Sure its only the first quali session things can change, but you need a good start to the season/weekends.

PS - Grojeans grin in the press conference was great, im rather pleased for the guy.

[Critical_mass]

Watching the Sky show, i wish they'd get rid of Georgia - she's nice to look at pretty gal, but ads no value to the show. Id rather see just Davidson doing the lap analysis etc. Also id like to see the footage on full screen as opposed to just on the touch tv screen.

[Guest]

Fascinating Qualifying session it must be said. Quite brilliant lap time from Lewis. Typical Jenson straight on the radio complaining of oversteer or something along those lines costing him a tenth of a second.....can't stand the guy, always excuses.

As for Red Bull........0.7s off Mclaren, wow! Red Bull have been done by the FIA by banning the blown diffuser. Vettel looks like half the driver. All those people chirping up last season like Jackie Stewart & Moss stating, 'Vettel is the best thing since sliced bread' & 'Vettel is equal to Senna'.........embarrasing!

Ferrari.........oh dear! Massa won't last the season, can easily see them bringing in Bianchi from Force India. Will be a fantastic race, will be interesting to see how the Mercedes' car can come through with the DRS and challenge JB/LH!

Georgie Thompson........what is she doing there?????

[Bentyf1]

Gutted about Kimi, never mind these things happen sure he can make it up in the race providing he can get past turn one.

Big props go to Grosjean however, magnificent job. Another mention has to go to Michael Schumacher, 4th on the grid and ahead of Rosberg, sound lap and you just had a feeling Rosberg would get a little edgy but that cunning old fox wouldn't, darkhorse for the win tomorrow? but of course those Mclarens are going to be tough to beat.

Red Bull and Ferrari have some work to do!

Let the games begin! f1 is Back!

[Critical_mass]

Im confident one if not both mercs will get a pole and a win this season.

[mystiroakey]

yeah i think schuey is gonna have a massive impact on who wins races this year and maybe pull of a couple himself. he is so up for racing and will not roll for others, now he has a car and has abit of form its gonna be interesting- i can see a few driver bust ups with him this year!

[Bentyf1]

Im confident one if not both mercs will get a pole and a win this season.

They got the resources to be push on that's for sure CM and they are under pressure to perform big time! as for tomorrow, JB and Lewis are going to be having to watch their mirrors very closely if they see red or yellow helmet coming at them like a silver bullet in a DRS zone..

[dyrewolfe]

Well, well, well...

Looks like the "Return of the Mac" could be well and truly on.

Great quali sessions and fantastic to see a McLaren 1-2 for the first time in ages, Hamilton and Button separated by just 1/10th.

Amazing and totally unexpected performance from Grosjean. Will be interesting to see if he can consistently outperform Kimi.

Was actually nice to see the Red Bulls down in 5th and 6th. Guess Seb's racing credentials will be fully tested tomorrow. Disappointed to hear Webber was suffering KERS problems yet again.

Mercedes improved as expected and I fully expect them to be regular podium contenders, depending on whether RB and Lotus' complaint about their DRS duct is upheld.

Absolute disaster for Ferrari! Evidently there wasn't any gamesmanship behind their reported problems. Poor Alessandro won't dare show his face!

[Guest]

Where is Ciambella????? I am majorly disappointed about Alonso though. Without doubt he's the most complete driver on the grid and not having him challenge in my opinion makes the championship much poorer. Kimi will not be too disappointed, it's just a plain mistake. He knows the Lotus is fast as Romain proved and Kimi knows he's faster than Romain, so in my opinion there are positives out of a bad day for the Iceman. Without doubt the Merc's are going to be winning races this year, however all eyes will be on Red Bull and their development game under Newey. The FIA have ****** with Red Bull, so I can see Newey pushing to the limit in design in an attempt to bend the rules and close the gap. What a start!

[mystiroakey]

well not having alonso but having having hamilton will make for better races than the other way round. ferrari i am sure will make the grade at some point- all the same alonso will still be overtaking the alsorans and make for interesting racing furthar back

[dyrewolfe]

Agreed.

Just like to make it clear I wasn't gloating over Ferrari's problems - just having a gentle dig at our resident Tifosi. I genuinely hope they can get the car sorted out in time for Alonso to have some say in the title race.

Also forgot to say congrats to Maldonado, Hulkenberg and Ricciardo for getting Williams, Force India and Toro Rosso in the top 10.

[Mad for Chelsea]

great result for the McLaren boys, very special first lap from Hamilton! Disappointing that Ferrari are as poor as they seemed to be, the season will be all the poorer if Alonso isn't challenging. On the positive side, the Lotus and Merc's form means we could be in for a cracking season as four of the five world champ teams look competitive. Shame for Kimi, but from a race perspective it'll be great to see him on the charge, and Australia offers plenty of overtaking opportunities.

Will be mightily interesting to see how Vettel goes in a car which isn't the best, but still competitive?

[Critical_mass]

How long will Mercs relative improvement last though - as soon as the other teams copy it, assuming they can intergrate it with their car. The the gap will widen. Remove the super DRS from the merc and replace it with a "normal" DRS system i think we'd see it slide down the field a little - they need to improve other parts of the car also - but im sure they can do that.

Rosberg and even Mac will be kicking themselves for not getting a 1-2... their time will come though im sure. Id particularly like Rosberg to get his first win.

AC - well he'll be keeping a low profile wont he, his ego and pride will be dented a little. Im sure he'll be back soon though. Ferrari really are going to have a tough season. By mid season they may have got their car up to the standard the other top teams have at the first race. Mean while the top teams have moved on by midseason so... really Catch up may not happen.

[SteveG]

Brilliant quali !! Don't know what makes me more happy - Hamilton on pole or Vettel not on pole. Either way the front cars seem alot closer this year and hopefully will make for a much better season. As a big Hami fan I'm still weary of Button though and just hope and pray Hami can match him in tyre management and race strategy this year as this is where Button always comes up smelling of roses. Then there's Schumi/Ross in what looks like a super fast Merc and the Lotus aint no slouch either - this isnt over by a long chalk.

Also looks like the blown diffuser has caused many of the drivers to get a bit too comfortable over the last couple of years judging by the amount of driving on the grass this weekend and it certainly seems to have hurt Red Bull - although I'm not counting any chickens just yet. They'll be back I'm sure, as will Ferrari - eventually.

In the meantime looks like Mclaren will take some stopping as this years car is fast out of the box and we all know the real race is the development one back at the factories where they are second to none.

Roll on Sunday.

[Critical_mass]

If Grojean and particularly Mac can put pressure on button then tyre management may go out the window for button. Who knows.

[Alessandro Ciambella]

Bonjourno!

Having watched the qualifying it is time to share what I noticed throughout the session that people may or may not have picked up on. Alessandro will share it all with you right now: -

OBSERVATION 1 - DOCTOR DIAZ

Qualifying was over for Monza as soon as Ferrari pulled their trousers down and revealed to the world what they had underneath their garter. It is always sad when the Greatest Driver of his Generation has to drag yet another poorly designed car around the track.

People are saying that it was his mistake that caused the car to spin. BUT with the tyres 6% wider, it was clear in the replay that the extra 6% on the grass was what sent him into a spin. Had he been driving an engineering masterpiece like he was promised then there would have been no need to take the wide aggressive line just to make the corner.

Mr 6 Tenths also became Mr 1 Second today. His highly regarded team mate Massa managed an impressive time in the same awful machinery, but El Nando managed to extract over 1 second more. That is absolutely astonishing. Had he got another run with the track rubbering in all the time then who knows how much more he could have extracted from the package.

His race should be interesting with all these new sets of tyres he has remaining. But, I would not be surprised if he were to DNF whilst trying to extract the maximum data for the team from this flawed machine.

The people of Monza believe that the new Ferrari and the rule change on tyres are to blame and NOT our beloved 2xWDC. Senior Diaz is still THE best driver on the grid.

And if I were him getting out the car then I would of punched Matilda the Marshal on the nose for not pushing him back on the grid after the spin. They used a crane for Hamilton in 2007 at the Nurburgring to get him back in the race and again in China they tried pushing him out of the gravel trap after some poor pit lane Management.


OBSERVATION 2 - VETTEL

Well, with no upgrades brought through to Australia both Red Bull Racing drivers were on equal footing and what a surprise... Mark Webber out qualified his team mate with his one and only run.

Just imagine the dominance of Mark Webber last year had he been given the latest parts, equipment and strategy instead of Helmut & Horners golden child.

Vettel was untouchable last year, but this year we are going to see what he is really made of. It’s like the Mclaren and Red Bulls have swapped positions... the question is whether Red Bull can develop quicker than Mclaren.

OBSERVATION 3 - THE RETURN OF RON DENNIS

Now there is no doubting that if Ron Dennis grew some stubble and was painted yellow that he would look like Homer Simpson, in fact I would say that is scientific fact. But, another fact is that this man should be banned from the grid for his involvement in spy gate where he brought the whole of F1 into disrepute.

Not only that, there is the way he has his favourite drivers and gives preferential treatment and parts over the other team mate. He did it with Mika, Kimi and Lewis before he was removed from power to work on the Mclaren road cars.

His return today coincidently enough ties in with Hamilton taking pole position. There is no doubt in my mind now that he will be pulling strings to make sure that Hamilton gets all of the updates, set up data, strategy and mods before Jenson Button MBE in a bid to make sure Hamilton signs a new contract with Mclaren. Today was a glimpse into the future and I fear for Jenson Button MBE. The Frome Fox is on a hiding to nothing now Ron Dennis is back. Jenson Button MBE can ask Fernando Alonso about the favouritism as he has experienced if first hand. I can't believe it looks like it is going to happen all over again.

OBSERVATION 4 - THE FROME FOX

Jenson Button MBE is not the greatest qualifier in the world, we all know that but he will be overjoyed to be only 1 tenth off the pole position time. We know he will get the less favourable strategy now but I believe Jenson Button MBE will make what ever he is given work.

He is the epitome of modern racing drivers. His smooth silky style, natural raw pace, amazing reflexes and amazing car management make him the number one contender to Alonso's throne as the most complete driver on the grid.

OBSERVATION 5 - MERCEDES

I expect the race winner to be one of these drivers tomorrow… but I can’t decide which one will do it. Their car looks very special.

[Bull]

not a good start for Ferrari , hoping they do better in race

well done to Grojean did not expect that.

Kimis got a lot of work to do from 17th

one of the Mercs i think will win the race

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