663 replies to this topic

[Red Ronin]

We can hope that someone will crash the Ferrari/McLaren party, but it looks like BMW-Sauber have gone backwards, Williams and Renault, though having well balanced cars, lack grunt and no-one else from the middle pack has made any sort of strides forward.

Most annoying thing is that little prick Hamilton and his puppet master arsehole Dennis are still there at McLaren, tainting the image of my team. Guess I'll be backing Heikki Kovalainen this term. Secretly, I hope Alonso gets involved in the title race.

<RR lights the fuse and stands to admire his work>

[Red Ronin]

there's a lad in my work who takes time off work went necassary so as not to miss a second of a race
lunacy

Is formula 1 a sport?

Not really, its a spectacle though. Thinking about going to the Spa race this year.

[gerrardsitchyear]

there's a lad in my work who takes time off work went necassary so as not to miss a second of a race
lunacy

Is formula 1 a sport?

Jeez, Shanks there isn't much you do like is there. You're like ebeneezer scrooge.


It's about time Honda and/or Toyota made a mark. Toyota are the best financed and highest spending team in F! and have been for a while.

[The Spider Mastermind]

First practice times from Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park, Melbourne:

1. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari one minute 26.461 seconds
2. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1:26.948
3. Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari 1:26.958
4. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1:27.114
5. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:28.263
6. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:28.360
7. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:28.579
8. Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:28.913
9. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:28.957
10. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:29.014
11. Jenson Button (GB) Honda 1:29.124
12. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India-Ferrari 1:29.230
13. David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault 1:29.301
14. Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:29.363
15. Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 1:29.533
16. Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:29.561
17. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Ferrari 1:30.155
18. Nelson Piquet Jr (Brz) Renault 1:30.357
19. Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda 1:31.048
20. Anthony Davidson (GB) Super Aguri-Honda 1:31.771
21. Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota 1:35.053
22. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota no time


Second Session

1. Hamilton 1:26.559
2. Webber 1:27.473
3. Massa 1:27.640
4. Kovalainen 1:27.683
5. Coulthard 1:28.037
6. Raikkonen 1:28.208
7. Trulli 1:28.292
8. Rosberg 1:28.352
9. Fisichella 1:28.469
10. Glock 1:28.582
11. Button 1:28.632
12. Heidfeld 1:28.731
13. Alonso 1:28.779
14. Barrichello 1:28.849
15. Kubica 1:28.860
16. Nakajima 1:29.077
17. Sutil 1:29.161
18. Vettel 1:29.193
19. Piquet Jr 1:29.581
20. Bourdais 1:29.605
21. Sato 1:30.663
22. Davidson 1:31.527



Could be an interesting season. BMW Sauber are equally rumoured to be excellent and gone backwards over the summer. Red Bull look strong. Alonso's head's going to be right this year. And Fisi is back doing what he's always been best at, getting good performances out of an average car. He's already nearly a second quicker than Sutil who's no slouch. He'll pull a few good performances out of the bag this season.

[Chrissie]

Im backing Lewis and Jenson

[chriskamara]

there's a lad in my work who takes time off work went necassary so as not to miss a second of a race
lunacy

Is formula 1 a sport?

as much a sport as driving to the shop imo

still, each to their own

[The Spider Mastermind]

Im backing Lewis and Jenson

Honda's new car is only slightly less of a truck than the last one, though. And I dislike McLaren, so I'm backing Kimi.

[Chrissie]

I'm backing Lewis too Chrissie

And hoping that big crybaby Alonso has a dire season

Alonso has already said that the Renault is not good enough to win this season .

[polymerpunkah]

First corner, things go higgeldy-piggeldy.

Safety car out, but no spectacular crashes, and no injuries.

Seems like it's going to be an interesting season once again.

No traction control any more; I can't wait for the first rainy race!

[Crouchy Crouchy Coo]

Lewis Hamilton steered clear of the chaos at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix to get his title campaign off to the best possible start.

The Englishman dominated from the start in his McLaren to beat Nick Heidfeld's BMW Sauber and Nico Rosberg's Williams.

World champion Kimi Raikkonen threw away a chance to take a sensational win with a mistake while challenging Hamilton's team-mate Heikki Kovalainen.

Kovalainen would have been second but for bad luck with the safety car.

It came out for the third time in a dramatic afternoon at exactly the wrong time for the Finn following a high-speed crash involving Timo Glock's Toyota on lap 44.

Kovalainen had to pit for fuel and tyres while the safety car was out, and dropped to the back of the pack.

He recovered to finish fifth, losing out in an exciting battle with Fernando Alonso's Renault in the last two laps.

Kovalainen passed the double world champion spectacularly towards the end of the penultimate lap, only to lose the place as they crossed the line for the start of the last lap when the McLaren appeared to stutter on the pit straight.

Heidfeld and Rosberg both drove unobtrusively excellent to take the final two podium positions. Heidfeld held a watching brief in the early laps and stayed out of trouble to benefit from Kovalainen's late problem. Rosberg's third place was the best result of his career in his third full season. Rubens Barrichello was sixth for a more-competitive-than-expected Honda, ahead of Kazuki Nakajima's Williams, which was the final finisher in seventh.

Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais was classified eighth on his debut, despite retiring with engine failure while running fourth ahead of Alonso and Kovalainen with three laps to go.

The race was littered with incident, but Hamilton steered clear of it all on the way to a largely untroubled fifth victory of his career.

The 23-year-old made a perfect start, stayed calm during the first deployment of the safety car following a series of incidents on the first lap, and built an advantage over Robert Kubica's second-placed BMW Sauber in the early laps.

He appeared to be cruising to a comfortable win until the second safety car came out to raise concern over Raikkonen's progress.

The Finn fought his way up the field from 16th on the grid.

The Ferrari leaped up to eighth on the first lap, but was then held up behind Rubens Barrichello's Honda for 19 laps.

But once he had past the Brazilian, Raikkonen became a major factor for a while in what appeared to be the fastest car in the race.

His Ferrari had been fuelled heavily at the start, so he moved up the field as those in front of him made their first pit stops.

Raikkonen was up to third, behind the two McLarens, when the safety car was deployed following a collision between the Ferrari of Felipe Massa and David Coulthard's Red Bull on lap 26.

The safety car put him right behind the McLarens on the track, and a serious contender for victory.

It stayed out for four laps while Coulthard's damaged car was moved from a dangerous position.

Raikkonen, light on fuel, was much faster than Kovalainen as the race resumed, but he braked too late as he tried to pass the McLaren into turn three and speared off into the gravel.

He rejoined the track, and made his single stop for fuel at the end of the lap, putting him to the back of the field.

He was seventh when he retired after several laps of his car sounding sick.

It was a disastrous race for world champions Ferrari, with neither car scoring points. Massa retired shortly after his collision with Coulthard with an engine failure.

Positions after 58 of 58 laps:
1. L Hamilton (McLaren)

2. N Heidfeld (BMW Sauber)

3. N Rosberg (Williams)

4. F Alonso (Renault)

5. H Kovalainen (McLaren)

6. R Barrichello (Honda)

7. K Nakajima (Williams)

[Chrissie]

Well done Lewis, keep it going lad

[The Spider Mastermind]

6 finishers?

Hasn't been that sort of carnage in years.

[Red Ronin]

6 finishers?

Hasn't been that sort of carnage in years.

I remember the one in Brazil a few years back, in the torrential down pour. They kept on aquaplaning to crash in the same corner. I think a Jordan was in for the result that day. Don't think they managed 6 finishers.