Melbourne promises to put the spice back into F1
Even on the first day of the Australian Grand Prix meeting, Melbourne's Albert Park track has challenged Formula 1 in a way that the season's opener in Bahrain could never do.
It rained. And there was a series of incidents that if they'd happened during the race instead of practice would each have called for the safety car, a random element that can mix the field at a stroke.
This street circuit, with its temporary concrete walls ringing the lake, is unforgiving to those who stray off line - in stark contrast to the expansive run-off areas at Sakhir.
A forecast of further afternoon showers on Saturday and Sunday means qualifying and the race could provide the thrills that were in such short supply in the Middle East.
Button found more downforce than in Bahrain to post the second-fastest practice time
The changeable weather on Friday meant limited running and limited knowledge for the teams. The track is evolving, becoming grippier and faster, with every lap because it is used by F1 cars just once a year over the grand prix weekend.
The first session in Melbourne can be little more than preparing the track surface. The second session promised to be more meaningful until the shower bursts.
Those who went out early and fast on lighter fuel loads, like the McLarens of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, found the most benefit. Mark Webber's Red Bull, with massive home support, and Michael Schumacher's Mercedes only came close in the final minutes as the track continued to dry.
Without consistent performance markers, there's no clear picture of genuine movement in the pecking order. But both McLaren and Renault merit strong mention.
Certainly, the bounce was back in Button's stride after second practice.
"I've been happy in the car since lap one", the world champion reported as he posted the second fastest time of the day behind Hamilton. He had already outpaced Hamilton for the first time in the earlier session.
"The car feels better than Bahrain, we've got more downforce than Bahrain, and we will be better this weekend," Button said.
As a morale-booster to the team, shocked at their lack of grip at the first race, it appeared to do the job. It should encourage Button who, when he finds the groove so early, usually remains a contender for the whole weekend.
Hamilton, meanwhile, will have to refocus after his unfortunate evening meeting with Melbourne's boys in blue.
Having lost out in the tight, bumpy, low speed corners in Bahrain, both cars looked far more at home over the kerbs of the higher speed turns around Albert Park.
They also rode more comfortably over the bumps which can so easily throw a car off line while braking.
There had been little to choose between the pair in the first session, when completing longer, heavier fuelled runs which saw them near the front of the field. And they both reported good balance in the qualifying simulation which took them top of the timesheets.
But McLaren will be aware that this track will not expose their aerodynamic deficiencies as cruelly as the next two venues in Malaysia and China. This weekend could provide only temporary respite.
They'll also remember from Bahrain how Friday's optimism evaporated as Red Bull and Ferrari disappeared into the desert during Saturday's sessions.
It was noticeable how Sakhir's front-runners chose mostly to concentrate on longer runs on Friday in Melbourne. Sebastian Vettel found himself sandwiched between Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso in both sessions when there were only a couple of tenths of a second covering all three of them.
Mercedes admit they are still in the process of making up ground within the leading pack of four teams but just behind them Renault look to have built on their promise from the first race.
Robert Kubica could not hide his satisfaction at being quickest in Friday's first session and at his consistency on a drying track in the second. Renault's aggressive development policy has delivered updates for the next four races.
Unlike last year when the wind tunnel findings weren't always replicated on the track, this season's figures have been "gold dust", according to one team insider.
Kubica's something of a specialist at street circuits where he finds it "easier to find the limits than at modern tracks with their big run-off areas". The Renault went exactly where he pointed it.
A mistake in final qualifying and a first corner collision with Adrian Sutil in Bahrain cost him dear. Australia promises better.
As in Bahrain, the softer tyre is the favoured qualifying tyre, with none of last year's startling performance drop-off but there is a concern that the harder compound takes at least three laps to warm up to working temperature.
Nico Rosberg, for example, took five laps to match the times of his Mercedes team-mate, Michael Schumacher who was on the softer compound.
That sort of difference means that leading teams may not feel the need to react immediately to a rival pit stop because there could be an advantage in staying out on the faster softer tyre to gain track position.
With the pit-lane speed limit reduced for this race on safety grounds, pit stops themselves will take on average four seconds longer. That will mean drivers will take longer to build up a big-enough advantage to find clear road after stopping.
On a much shorter lap than Bahrain, that will not be straightforward. Slower cars caused problems throughout practice.
After the anti-climax of the opening weekend of the season, Melbourne feels like a re-start. Already attendances at Albert Park are up on 2009. Here's to Sunday's race following suit.
UPDATE AT 1100 ON SATURDAY:
Although Red Bull dominated qualifying, with only Alonso able to get anywhere near Vettel and Webber, prospects for an interesting race are still good.
Red Bull undoubtedly have an edge in low-fuel trim - just like they did in Bahrain two weeks ago. But, just as in Bahrain, the competition looks closer with race fuel loads.
If it stays dry, both the tyre compounds teams have to use are expected to be able to last the race without problem.
Weather and safety cars are set to play key roles in deciding the outcome. Red Bull's weather forecast suggests a 20% chance of rain at the start, which is at 0700 BST - don't forget to put your clocks forward! - and an 80% chance before the chequered flag.
Because of the proximity of the walls at Albert Park, a safety car period is always a good bet at some point - and that will complicate matters for the teams.
The temptation if there is one in the early laps will be for teams to bring their drivers in for what would be planned to be their sole pit stop for tyres.
But that calculation is complicated by two things - they cannot 'stack' their cars in the pits; and the possibility of rain later on means it might be worth gambling and staying out in the hope of making a 'free' pit stop when everyone else does to change to wet-weather tyres.
The bottom line is that history has proved that one should never underestimate the ability of Albert Park to throw up a wildcard - as Eddie Irvine and David Coulthard proved with their unexpected victories in 1999 and 2003.
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~13~RS~)
Jonathan Legard commentated on Formula 1 for the BBC in 2009 and 2010. He wrote regular blogs during that period, giving a behind-the-scenes insight into the grand prix weekends. Jonathan, previously 5 live's football correspondent and before that the radio station's F1 correspondent, is no longer part of the BBC's F1 team.
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Hello Jonathan,
Lets hope it is an exciting race on Sunday. Here are my Predictions.
1. Fernando Alonso
2. Sebastian Vettel
3. Felipe Massa
4. Mark Webber
5. Lewis Hamilton
6. Michael Schumacher
7. Nico Rosberg
8. Jenson Button
9. Rubens Barrichello
10. Robert Kubica.
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Australia always brings out some great racing. If Mercedes and McLaren sort out there qualifying pace, I'm sure they will mix with Red Bull and Ferrari, but as we saw in Bahrain, yes they can all stay together in a nice little train, but whether they can pass and get within the dirty air is another issue.
We're almost certainly guaranteed some raciness from Jenson and Michael to prove a point, as they have been eaten alive by the media in the last 2 weeks. Another thing they have to watch out for are the blind spots in Albert Park, with the walls and barriers close to the track, if they come across the newbies at the wrong moment, sparks will fly!
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Crikey, you'd think Hamilton would have enough opportunity to show off on the racetrack, without acting like a complete ****** while leaving the venue.
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I'd have to agree that this weekend generates more genuine expectation than at Sakhir. I always prefered Albert Park to be the season curtain raiser, just because it is more unpredictable and punishes mistakes arguably a lot more than its Bahrain counterpart.
The signs are looking good for Button, especially as he has seemingly found his rhythm early in a car that enjoys the circuit, which bodes well indeed.
However I think that we will need to wait for Saturday practice, or perhaps even Qualifying to see the true hands of Red Bull & Ferrari, having concentrated on longer runs so far.
Looking forward to it, and a good article, Jonathan.
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I honestly don't know what Bernie was thinking when he chose Bahrain as the season opener. The track is boring, the landscape featureless (and now artificial as well!) and the culture of the Middle East is to be reserved.
Somewhere like Australia, or Brazil, is perfect to kick off a new season after months and months of waiting. It has atmosphere, history and knows how to throw a party for their mainly western visitors. It helps having a track with the character of the two options mentioned, as opposed to the bland Sakhir offering.
F1's problem is all those that tuned in for the headlines that were promised might never return after the borefest season opener. Frankly, if that was the first F1 race I'd ever watched I'd wonder how this sport has survived for 60 years!
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Looks like Lewis Hamilton could do with his dad around to keep him in check!
Let's hope that FOM have fixed the graphics and pit stop timer issues so we can actually tell how long the pitstop itself takes as opposed to the time spent in the pitlane.
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OK, I am the last person to criticise things in F1 and I'm always the first to condemn those who moan. However, by chance folks, I am pretty drunk at the moment and what I say is...
..What makes Melbourne a better track than Bahrain (which, people, is by no means a bad track at all, it's actually very good) is the fact that the crash barriers are much much closer to the track. THIS IS MORE CHALLENGING and as a result, makes for better racing. Never mind your car-park sized run-off areas, for goodness sake, BARRIERS CLOSER TO THE TRACK MAKE THINGS MORE CHALLENGING.
For example, young Nico Hulkenburg would have been out of the race in Melbourne had he made the same early lap mistake he made in Bahrain. But he got away with it.
I see the whole thing rather like holding your tongue in England before you say anything, just in case you get accused of racism or fascism. Similarly in F1, things to make F1 as safe as possible have gone too far. TOO FAR!
Now...sorry about the caps lock...I will regret that looking at this later...I will now sober up. Thankyou.
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Good to see Great Briton win this
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It's disappointing that we have to wish for rain just to bring back the competition which has been lost due to the refuelling rule change.
I guess this means hoping for the next F1 season to feature tracks in India and Bangladesh during the monsoons?
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It's gonna be difficult to predict this race. Completely different to Bahrain, and possibly different weather. My predictions go something like this:
1) Sebastian Vettel
2) Fernando Alonso
3) Mark Webber
4) Lewis Hamilton
5) Robert Kubica
6) Jenson Button
7) Michael Schumacher
8) Felipe Massa
9) Adrian Sutil
10) Nico Rosberg
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1: Jenson Button
2: Lewis Hamilton
3: Michael Schumacher
4: Sebastian Vettel
5: Felipe Massa
6: Nico Rosberg
7: Fernando Alonso
8: Mark Webber
9: Vitantonio Liuzzi
10: Rubens Barrichello
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You can big this up as much as you like, F1 is going backwards. When you have so many drivers coming out and telling it what it was actually like during the race, then suddenly realising it's their own livelihoods they are impacting, does not mean racing is improving. We may get excitement in Melbourne, but it won't be down to natural racing unless its a down pour. Time to hit the record button and edit with the FF button accordingly. As Bernie would say, you can screw so many people some of the time, the rest you have to leave until another time. But when you take it this many times round the clock you will eventually get a reaction.
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ch_bristol - rain has been pretty much the only thing that has provided any action in F1 for about a decade! I never considered refuelling as an acceptable means of a driver improving or losing track position.
I really do hope the first 10 races are utterly boring because finally will they then take a decision for something like 2013 which would see the cars stripped of the futile aerodynamics which deny the possibilitiy of on track overtaking.
F1 is a tech formula, sure, but steer the development into powerful economical engines with bio-fuels, wider tyres to provide more mechanical grip. Ideally the delivery of all this power should be managed by the drivers right foot thus ensuring we get a driver's formula and not an areodynamically led procession.
Reduced aero will vastly increase braking distances as drivers battle to settle the car for cornering. This will leave gaps on the tightest circuits for overtaking.
Bernie was in charge when we had all this before. I can't believe he has presided over this areo arms race we have now. I love F1 and the concept it should be but not F1 racing as it is today.
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Schumi or a brit will win this one.
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gettin up early on sat and sun hope its worth it!!! hopefully lewis will win for GB my predictions are
1.lewis hamilton
2.f alonso
3.s vettel
4.m webber
5.j button
6.f massa
7.r kubica
8.m schumacher
9.n rosberg
10.v liuzzi
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
If it rains:
1) Hamilton
2) Vettel
3) Schumacher
4) Sutil
5) Button
6) Barrichello
7) Webber
8) Liuzzi
9) Rosberg
10)Alonso
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So Funny that people are predicting Alonso to be 10th...may be just because they dont like him...but bitter truth is that he is the best out there...better than both Mc Laren drivers....LH is good and will easily outperform overrated JB
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Hi, I don't know if this breaks the House Rules, but if Jonathan tells me one more time (let alone 20 times per GP) that the option tyre is the one with the green stripe I will scream, and he will hear it at whichever circuit he is at.
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Let's hope this weekend is more exciting than 2 weeks ago. What amazes me is the gap between 1st and 20th last year was under 2 secs whilst this year the gap between 1st and 24th is usually around 6-7 seconds.
My predictions for this weekend is:
1. HAM
2. ALO
3. VET
4. BUT
5. KUB
6. MSC
7. ROS
8. SUT
9. MAS
10. BUE
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With so many clever people in the f1 paddock ,has nobody watched a classic race 89 or before and noticed a fundimental difference with the actual racing and why ..Manual GEAR changing ..the semi auto box and fly by wire change has made F1 boring ..if you have the rules stating the gearbox is to be operated by clutch and manual shift H style box ..you will find that drivers will have a safer more close racing,for instance if a driver misses a gear hes overtaken ,if hes not quite on the bite of the clutch in or out of a corner hes overtaken...and so on ...cost effective for all teams too.
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I know F1 is the BBC's baby but the constant hyping up is wearing thin. It's always the next race. We'll see some real excitement now. !!!
Sure.
We're not complete mugs, you know ? I realize it's not your fault that F1 has gone belly up but at least call a spade a spade..
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fatClyde #22 don't be so negative! Melbourne has a good record for dramatic races.
Here's my prediction: Safety Car to come out on opening lap, and, as Martin Whitmarsh suggested in the Bahrain forum, everybody will pit to ge tthe tyre change out of the way. Everyone except Lewis Hamilton that is, who will stay out (Remember he can start with new tyres of whatever compound he likes), and as such automatically gets to the head of the queue for the restart. Then, while all the pitters are dawdling round having to look after their tyres for another 50 laps, Hamilton can 'give it the full banana' as Mr Brundle would say, and pull out a decent lead before his pitstop around laps 20-25. He should jump a few cars with his quicker lap times in that first stint, and will also have fresher tyres than everybody else for the last 10 laps, so he might be able to benefit there too. I reckon he's on for a top 3 if that works out.
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'expect the unexpected'
You don't by any chance have a vested interest in F1 being exciting do you Jonathan?
After the first race I will believe it when I see it but until then the suspicion remains that the BBC has vastly overspent on a damp squib.
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So long as race is exciting enough to justify a 6.00am alarm call then I shall be happy. My predictions are:-
1. Webber (+1)
2. Vettel (-1)
3. Alonso (0)
4. Massa (+1)
5. Hamilton (+6)
6. Button (-2)
7. Rosberg (0)
8. Sutil(+2)
9. Schumacher (-2)
10. Barrichello (-2)
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The Red Bulls are going to storm away and the only action will be between Button, Massa and Rosberg.
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CNW0429 I agree with the safety car idea. However, the Mercedes (i think) finished qualifying on the harder tyre so I think they are planning on doing something similar.
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I think that the question is that most people dont want Rain at Albert Park but Jonathan is correct, it gives the chance to show Australia as a race that will put the doubts of the new rules to rest.
Bahrain was always a boring race, never had any character at all and now Australia will show why we dont need any refuelling.
The refuelling ruined Races and the Australian GP always brings up the unexpected.
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The lovely folks who think F1 is boring should try it some day. If the spectator has any clue of what it takes to see the flag with the black and white boxes on it, and place themselves in the mindset of the driver (your favourite one or Lewis Hamilton) then they will see that it is not in the slightest bit boring. Having said that, I think the "bring back turbocharging" campaign is one that I would definitely put my name on, and I would like to see fuelling return with a maximum fuel tank capacity of 40 litres or so. No refuelling rig, just plug in fuel modules. No more fires. :)
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We will see what happens next
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I expect it to be
Webber
Vettel
Button
Massa
Alonso
Rosberg
Schumacher
Hamilton
Barrichello
Liuzzi/Kubica/Sutil
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IF THE SAFETY CAR DOES COME OUT NEAR THE END OF THE RACE, IT MIGHT BE A GOOD CHANCE FOR WEBBER OR ALONSO TO TAKE 1ST POSITION.
1.WEBBER
2.VETTEL
3.ALONSO
4.MASSA
5.ROSBERG
6.BUTTON
7.SCHUMACHER
8.HAMILTON
9.SUTIL
10.LIUZZI
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#23, CNW0429
You're obviously not Spanish, then.
Mentioning Hamilton and bananas in the same sentence isn't allowed!
Tut, tut....
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My predictions are:
1. ALONSO
2. WEBBER
3. VETTEL or BUTTON
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After the snooze-fest that was Bahrain I am not expecting too much to change in Oz.
If this turns into another procession some serious head scratching by the top brains in the sport will be required
Compare the Bahrain race with the world superbikes held in OZ a few weeks ago 24 laps & the top two split by less than half a second, & great overtaking all through the race
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Hate to be downbeat but this has the potential to be a real disappointment.
The lack of re-fuelling and limiting the pit-lane to 60 km/hour will mean it is a race of attrition.
I think the powers-that-be are forgetting this is motor racing. Soon we might just see overtaking banned because it is dangerous.
Too much business and not enough passion - let the drivers and the teams race. Nobody wants reckless but this season shall be a pale shadow of the last.
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No idea why Hamilton was so off the pace
The Qualifying comments suggested he had been in LA too long, and was distracted, hence the car distraction....
Makes for a more interesting race, though, especially if it rains
If it rains any result is possible
I wish Lewis well, as he is my favourite driver
Get your race head on though......
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Re. slainte #33
Haha that never even crossed my mind. That particular '-gate' was along time ago anyway. Would 'Hamilton can throw the kitchen sink at it' been better?
By the way wouldn't it be ironic to see Lewis get too much wheelspin off the line tomorrow and cause some tyre smoke...
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Who won the I can say lewis Hamilton the most this week????????????
I love Fernando
DREEN
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Can we have the 3rd practice session on BBC iPLayer please?
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