2009 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix

seriously? what part? I want to go back and hear this for myself.

Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development said:
Tyre strategy should be very difficult and this is the desired outcome. We have heard drivers say that the super soft is too soft for here and the medium is too hard, and that is by design. In conjunction with the desires of the FIA to enhance overtaking opportunities, we are not bringing optimum tyres here in terms of their performance, instead we are bringing tyres which make the teams and drivers think hard before they use them.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73981
 
Well, perhaps we customers think hard before using Bridgestone tyres, too...

Unfortunately, the general public is not that well informed.
 
Hamilton is the total opposite of Webber, his F1 experience is probably by far the luckiest and the easiest in the history of F1.
 
So if Trulli has lost his 3rd place spot, does he have to hand the actual trophy over to Hamilton? I think i'd take issue with that, lol. "No! This is my shiny plate! They gave it to me!" :p
 
^ i would imagine so

at a recent competition my team came 2nd overall and then a few days after the fact the organisers realised they hadnt marked one of the incidents properly, they had marked them equal when one should of been worth double the other. once they corrected that, we came out 3rd. we have been told to return the medals.
 
I agree with the lack of Bridgestone love, but do we really want to go back to the days of two suppliers? We'd probably be having the same debate but instead of hard/soft comparison we'd be saying the same between the manufacturers. As much as the super soft tyres suck, all teams have to deal with the same issue and I'd rather have it that way.
 
The case with tires is that since we have only supplier they (FIA @ Bridgestone) are only thinking about new "brilliant" ideas. Ok, for me one good and one crappy (on specific circuit) isn't that bad idea because teams have to work out the best solution for them.

Before you'll say I'm mad look at this.
In Australia Kubica, Hamilton, Massa, Kimi, Trulli and Bourdais had different tyre strategy then "classic" one with softer tyres in the end. Thanks to that we had Kubica able to fight for podium places, Trulli and Hamilton had good tyres when they needed them. Ferriari turned out as not so tyre friendly like in last season. I'm pretty sure, if they had the same tyres in the and Kubica couldn't catch Vettel.

But...

It would be better if there would be more tyre suppliers. It' would be interesting without stupid situations like unusable tyres.
 
We need another tyre supplier in Formula 1 so bridgestone would dear pull their antics.

It is not bridgestone's fault, the FIA stipulates that they must have a two grade difference in tyre compounds to bring to any race. This means rather then bringing medium and soft to the race, they have to either bring soft and hard, or medium and supersoft.

It's not their fault, that's what the FIA wants them to do.
 
The whole 'problem' of this new rule is probably being magnified by the fact that the first time we've seen it in use is with the super soft tyre, which is obviously going to be the worst as far as degradation goes.

In races where the softest is just the regular soft, I don't think it'll be as much of an issue. Sure there will still be a big difference between the two, but we won't be looking at a 10 lap tyre.
 
I don't think the tire issue is such a big deal, as all the teams have to deal with it, it just adds another aspect of strategy to the race.
 
Barrichello: Despite the final results, even with the best car so far he managed to screw up in the starting and the second place was handed to him on a silver tray, thanks to the Vettel/Kubica crash.

Keep messing up and you'll be placed as wingman to Button and we'll have to hear him whinning about the same shit when he was in Ferrari regarding "I don't have the same preparation/car as him".

Goddamn it, man, that's your chance!!
 
After having a few hours to digest all of the events of the opening weekend, my thoughts are this:

Braun GP- What can I say but "Wow!" What a performance. Doesn't hurt to have a absolute genius in charge.

Button- Amazing what happens to a driver when given a good car to drive. Does anyone know if he ever actually lost the lead at any point? Seems like he had no drama at all.

Barcheillo- Got lucky, but deserved a good finish for the weekend.

Hamilton- I don't care what anyone says, to go from starting 18th to running 6th before the Vettel/Kubica incident and the Trulli penalty and to do it in a crap car is a very impressive drive. I sense that if he can just hold it together until the European rounds begin, he will still be a strong contender for the championship.

The Vettel/Kubica incident- Vettel called himself an "idiot" on the team radio after the crash. While I truly appreciate his honesty there, he's not the only idiot in this case. Vettel did everything possible to avoid crashing short of running in the grass. I don't see what else he could've done except come to a dead stop.

As for Kubica, he needed to show a touch more patience. There was no need to force the issue right then. The chance of him catching Button was slim to none. But because he decided he had to go right at that moment, he lost at least 6 points and probably 8.

Piquet- WTF are you doing in this series? Seriously.

Ferrari- You know you're in Oz when the prancing horse can't do shit. Maybe this is why Bernie is being so hard on Aussie GP organizers to make it a night race. More favors to Ferrari.

KERS- changes nothing. No idea why it's even around.

Trulli penalty- I don't get it, dropping him to 12th. Drop him one position if you must. Or give him a grid spot penalty for Malaysia. Unfortunately, I highly doubt this will be overturned.

Overall, a great race and if this is a sign of things to come; we are in for a wild year.
 
winning in formula 1 does take finesse, it takes Brawn ;)

Yeah, and writing off a whole season and taking taking more than a year to develop the ultimate car.

Ferrari- You know you're in Oz when the prancing horse can't do shit. Maybe this is why Bernie is being so hard on Aussie GP organizers to make it a night race. More favors to Ferrari.

What the fuck are you on? That Grand Prix has been held in Albert Park for 14 years, and out of the fourteen, Ferrari has won 6 of them, more than any other team.

The reason Bernie was being so hard on Albert Park was that the government here can't be fucked funding an event which continually has seen a loss of ~40 million dollars. And Bernie would be getting way more $$$ if it was held in some other country.

And a night race favouring Ferrari? Did you even watch the Singapore GP last year? :rolleyes:
 
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Ferrari:
Another year, another abysmal Albert Park performance from the Prancing Horse. Their pace is not a disaster, Kimi and Massa were matching Button for a few laps, however they don't have the pace in qualifying and over long runs to challenge at the front yet. Interesting that Ferrari won't admit what Massa's problem was, I would put money on KERS. I didn't see Kimi's incident (neither did anyone else in Australia) so not sure what happened there but considering there was a chance of a podium it was a bad time to throw away points. Their tyre problem could help or hinder them in Sepang, if they can't get heat into them like last year they should do well, if its the opposite (which I suspect it is given the massive graining of the super softs) they are in big trouble. KERS system should help them on the long run to turn 1 though.

McLaren:
The world champions have made a dud! The positives are that the car is nicely balanced and their KERS system works well, it was certainly a sovereign boon to Hamilton in his early charge through the field. All those waxing lyrical about Hamilton's drive lets keep some perspective here! He carved through Force India's, Toro Rosso's and Renaults then drove a consistent race before some well timed pitstops vaulted him up the field. I think his tyre strategy worked very well despite it copping some flak. He had a couple of laps to clear the backmarkers before his tyres went off and still had great rubber at the end of the race. Kovaleinen seemed to have Lewis' measure for most of the weekend until he got involved in the first corner fracas. The long straights of Sepang should suit their KERS system and there are rumours they have a twin tier diffuser on the way!

BMW:
Kubica showed his class by completely blitzing Heidfeld despite a theoretically inferior car. Quali pace seems to be a struggle as he was lightest of everyone from memory but his race pace was certainly very strong and of course he never gives up pushing every lap to the maximum. All came to naught as he had a rush of blood to the head. Had he given Vettel another half a metre all would have been well. Yes Vettel braked early but did Kubica really think that his whole car had cleared Vettel by the time he turned in?? That said he seemed to take it pretty well. Heidfeld didn't trouble the top of the timesheets all weekend, he only seems to deliver when he is about to run out of contract so should wake up about Belgium.

Red Bull:
Newey has done it again with the fastest of the non diffuser cars. This was a surprise to me as Webber was talking down the speed of the car. Reliability seems to be present as well however Webber's luck as usual is appalling. Also of bigger concern is the fact that Red Bull have almost no capacity to install a twin tier diffuser if (when?) they become officially legal. That combined with the fact they usually fall behind in the development race means it could be a case of making hay while the sun shines. At the moment they have a podium capable car and two podium capable drivers so hopefully we see some....errr podiums! At least they have started from a strong base though.

Toyota:
Finally Toyota's bazillion dollars are bearing some fruit. Unfortunately their car (along with Force India's) looks like it needs a visit to the orthodontist, those "teeth" are ghastly. Sepang will show if their new inflexible rear wing costs them any speed, kudos to Toyota management for putting their hand up for blame though. Truilli and Glock both fell off the road of their own accord which is a bit of a concern but both also showed excellent pace. Has the Truilli Train finally been de-commissioned? I expect some strong results from Glock this season, he seems to be maturing well as a driver and his pass on Alonso was brilliantly ballsy.

Renault:
Renault are in no-man's land. Even Alonso looked like he just couldn't be bothered, letting Glock and Hamilton pass with only token resistance. Going to be a long hard season, they are further back than they were this time last year. Piquet is a liability, way off Alonso's pace and while he managed to gain some places in the race threw it all away on turn one to the surprise of absolutely nobody. 6th could be the highest Alonso sees for a while.

Brawn GP:
If Honda does not race, there is no Honda.....no, wait.....If Honda does not race, the car wins?? In reality the only part of this result that should be surprising is that the car seems to completely reliable. A team with an enormous budget spends 15 months building a car under the direction of probably the best technical director the sport has ever seen then gets one of the best engines on the grid in the back. Nonetheless it is still a huge achievement for a team with next to no testing to come out and put their cars on the front row by half a second. I have long sung Button's praises and thankfully he finally has a car to show what he can do. Barrichello must have loved sticking it up Ferrari, he just needs to learn how to overtake again as his attempt on Kimi was the stuff of amateurs. Only a diffuser ban can derail the Brawn juggernaut.

Williams:
Rosberg was hailed as a race winner after topping all three practice sessions. We should have listened to wily old Patrick Head who was rather less optimistic about their chances. Rosberg did have a great chance at the podium until the botched pit stop, even so the amazing inadequacy of the Williams on the super soft tyres would have put paid to his chances I think. Nakajima I thought was pretty impressive, swapping times with Rosberg during practice and quali before blotting his copybook by sticking it in the wall unaided. A refreshing change of form for Williams, although as usual will get swamped in the development race.

Toro Rosso:
Car looked very twitchy, unlike the McLaren thats stable and slow, the Toro Rosso is a handful and slow. Buemi had an impressive debut not making mistakes under pressure, although he seems to have an aversion to certain apexes. Bourdais was decidely unimpressive, perhaps they should have gone with Taku. Should have fun battling with Force India's though.

Force India:
Fisichella, what a dichotomy. Was driving impressively mid race holding good speed, yet forgets to turn into his pit garage? About the silliest mistake I have ever seen any driver make, yet alone one with his experience. Again languished at the bottom of the time sheets. Time will tell whether this McLaren technical partnership leads to a higher rate of development.

The Race:
Australia always turns up wierd results so while Brawn are obviously the class of the pack, the rest are a lot harder to judge. Tyre management is obviously going to be a huge struggle this year with certain cars just flat out failing to work on a certain compound (see Williams). KERS is actually a pretty cool addition, whether it will remain this way once almost every car is running it is another question. It feels a bit "Need for Speed" but interesting that those who have developed it the most are not near the front. I think the driver is also going to make a lot more difference this year. The cars are all so ridiculously close that a bit of wheelspin or missing an apex will be the difference between 5th and 15th. Its going to be an immensely exciting season.
 
What the fuck are you on? That Grand Prix has been held in Albert Park for 14 years, and out of the fourteen, Ferrari has won 6 of them, more than any other team.

The reason Bernie was being so hard on Albert Park was that the government here can't be fucked funding an event which continually has seen a loss of ~40 million dollars. And Bernie would be getting way more $$$ if it was held in some other country.

And a night race favouring Ferrari? Did you even watch the Singapore GP last year? :rolleyes:

First, I don't think they'll ever do a night race in Australia so that wasn't my point. As you said, the organizers lose a ton of money on the race every year and it's expensive to put track lighting up.

My point is this- Yes, Ferrari has won in Melbourne, but it's usually feast or famine in Oz for Ferrari. Here's the results for them since 2002:

Year- Finish (start)

2002- 1st, 15th (1-2)
2003- 4th, 20th (1-2)
2004- 1st, 2nd (1-2)
2005- 2nd, 18th (11-19)
2006- 17th, 22nd (11-16)
2007- 1st, 6th (1-22)
2008- 8th, 13th (4-16)<--both had engine issues, but Kimi's was late enough to get him a point
2009- 16th, 17th (6-7)

Only in 2 of those years did both Ferraris get points and at least until 2007, it would be expected that both cars finish in the points.

And in 2006, it was not the first race of the season. It was Round 3 so we can't call this just a opening round thing.

For the record- the money loss issue might have to do with the race being scheduled for the same weekend as the opening of the Aussie Rules Football season and running the race just minutes from the sport's grandest stadium. You don't think there's a bit of a conflict there?
 
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