4137 replies to this topic

[A3]

Well, if no-one wants to start one.......

 

 

Bring it on!!

 

Edit:Don't want to look at those mugs all year, so here's a pic with some nice gorls:

Edited by A3, 24 March 2017 - 07:30.

[A3]

Max made a mistake in FP2 an commented they were "a bit too slow" at the moment while Ricciardo is confident they "will be allright".

 

Can't wait for qualifying!

[FullOppositeLock]

Shaky start for Max. Ric looked decent, but the car doesn't look like a Merc beater by a long way sadly. This team mate battle should be fascinating to follow. Can one of them establish themselves as the clear number one over the course of the season, or are we set for more swings and roundabouts like last year?

[DeVol]

This thread should be mightily amusing very shortly.

 

Edited by DeVol, 24 March 2017 - 08:40.

[Dan333SP]

Remember when some people thought this 2017 car would immediately be a title favorite just because of Newey? Yea, not happening.

 

Anyway, I hope something happens at the start between Bottas and one of the Ferrari drivers so Danny can get on the podium at home.

[rm7667]

Ric thinks 2nd is obtainable. While Max reckon balance was the issue for the slow times. Really hope a podium is there for the taking.

[DeVol]

Well Ferrari strategy is generally average, so RBR is always a show against them.

[Tony Mandara]

This thread should be mightily amusing very shortly.

Sorry, I overslept. Let me get a coffee, first....

[A3]

Where is the FP battle chart?

[Nobody]

Poor bastards had to take a boat ride down the Yarra for the sponsors, yikes

[Requiem84]

Didn't see the long runs or the FP, but based on the fastest laps looks like Ricciardo is a tad more comfortable in the car now. 

[V8 Fireworks]

Poor bastards had to take a boat ride down the Yarra for the sponsors, yikes

 

Who's that 12 year old in the... Oh. 

 

[RPM40]

Didn't see the long runs or the FP, but based on the fastest laps looks like Ricciardo is a tad more comfortable in the car now. 

 

Hard to say really, its just practice one. From what Ricciardo said he's not really very comfortable with the setup either.

 

Max went off track and damaged his car, so he didn't really get any comparable runs.

[FullOppositeLock]

Didn't see the long runs or the FP, but based on the fastest laps looks like Ricciardo is a tad more comfortable in the car now.

Max went off on his fast lap on ultras and had to come in. Didn't run afterwards because of floor damage.

[sopa]

One of the most interesting if not the most interesting battle this year. Can't really tell, what could happen. And what could even be each driver's strengths. Perhaps in Max' case incredible bursts of speed, while in Dan's case firm consistency. Last year Ricciardo marginally won on consistency. But it was marginal indeed. 2017 is a new season. And particularly in Max' case - as he is still pretty new - there is a feeling we might have not seen the very best of him yet.

[zanquis]

So far best sector times DR 1:24:65 vs MV 1:24:73

 

Not much difference again. Max surely didn't get all the running he wanted today in both sessions as drivers are trying to find their new limits. So sure there is more in there, dunno if this weekend we will get that all.

 

I think they can both still greatly improve if they just get the setup right. Which is where mercedes probably has their biggest advantage here now is that they could very fast get past the standard system checks and get actually test how the car responds to setup changes.

Edited by zanquis, 24 March 2017 - 10:06.

[Kao18]

Hard to say really, its just practice one. From what Ricciardo said he's not really very comfortable with the setup either.

 

Max went off track and damaged his car, so he didn't really get any comparable runs.

 

A bit unlucky also. Had to stay in the first half hour for some reason and when he finally did come out for his first run could not even set a time because of Palmers' crash. But yeah going wide later didn't help either, 8 laps is a bit dissapointing. At least Dan got in a reasonable amount but would have liked to see him do a couple more too.

 

They will have some work to do tomorrow in FP3 but I am still reasonably optimistic.

[Yamamoto]

This thread should be mightily amusing very shortly.

 

 

Might as well throw this out mate, we need the one with all the subjective criteria.

[sennafan24]

Verstappen is having a dreadful weekend so far. Very few laps under his belt and he is nowhere near Ricciardo's times. Looks like he has not found a working setup yet. Hopefully, for Max fans at least, it is not an early indication that the new regulations do not suit his driving style. Guess we'll find out soon enough.

Relax.

 

Max has been running harder compounds on his limited quick laps. He was also only slightly down on Danny in FP2 yesterday when he made an error. Both drivers are struggling with the car. Qualifying could go either way. 

Edited by sennafan24, 25 March 2017 - 04:10.

[HoldenRT]

If this was Max's first season, he'd be struggling but he has a few years experience now.. and should be fine.

[RPM40]

Verstappen is having a dreadful weekend so far. Very few laps under his belt and he is nowhere near Ricciardo's times. Looks like he has not found a working setup yet. Hopefully, for Max fans at least, it is not an early indication that the new regulations do not suit his driving style. Guess we'll find out soon enough.

Come on, they're just hunting for a setup that works and he made one small error. Have some faith. They'll be p5/p6 come quali

Although that is the best possible sadly

[TheRacingElf]

Really interested in this battle this season, especially how Max will deal with those new cars. In my opinion where Max often got his pace from was from squaring the car off really well, that's not the way to drive those new cars so I'm intrigued to see how he adapts. (fairly certain he'll be fine though after having him seen switch between KF and KZ in karting week in, week out).

[Requiem84]

So 1-0 already.

[MastaKink]

Well that's not a great start. 

[Freeze011]

So 1-0 already.

well if Max spins off too, it will be 1-0 for Daniel

[RPM40]

Yeah thats a rare error. Which is weird, he had looked so strong all weekend.

 

Q3 is all that counts.

[RiccardoPatrese]

Poor RIC...

[FullOppositeLock]

Poor Ric, overcooked it like Max did yesterday. Feel sorry for him this being his home race. Hope Max can get p5 at least, for the team. The all need to step up, as it looks like Ferrari is well ahead, almost up there with Merc.

[Requiem84]

Max was on pretty much a faster lap up to that point anyway.

27.7 vs 27.6
22.6 vs 22.5
Crash

First time DR has ever been outqualified in Australia.

[zanquis]

It's a shame that Ricciardo spun hate to see it happen, but yeah he pushed that bit too hard today. It happens.
Speed wise Verstappen looked to be on his pace and I think if Ricciardo would not have spun off he would have been faster that lap already.

It really would have boiled down to another final blasting lap from Danny which now we didn't get.

 

Verstappen seemed to be suffering a lot from being sent out to close behind Ricciardo a couple of times. I think what it did demonstrate is that the new rules are terrible. He needed a much bigger gap than normal, so this shows that we will probably see less racing cars during the race as they will suffer too much from it. Lets hope they rebuild Danny's car good enough. It is always a little bit different after a crash, which is why you really don't want to trash it on Saturday cause either FP3, or Qualy, the setup you get when you go out is what you doing the whole race with.

Edited by zanquis, 25 March 2017 - 07:24.

[BCM]

Shame to see Dan in the wall. Rare mistake.

 

Max did as much as possible in the car they have.

 

Bad start to the year for Redbull though - they are way off the pace.

[RPM40]

I'm still not completely pessimistic just yet. 

 

Red Bull were actually further off last year, behind both Toro Rosso's and only one car made Q3.

Sure P5 isn't optimal, especially since they were not challenging the cars ahead. But there is room for improvement.

[FullOppositeLock]

It's a shame that Ricciardo spun hate to see it happen, but yeah he pushed that bit too hard today. It happens.
Speed wise Verstappen looked to be on his pace and I think if Ricciardo would not have spun off he would have been faster that lap already.
It really would have boiled down to another final blasting lap from Danny which now we didn't get.

Verstappen seemed to be suffering a lot from being sent out to close behind Ricciardo a couple of times. I think what it did demonstrate is that the new rules are terrible. He needed a much bigger gap than normal, so this shows that we will probably see less racing cars during the race as they will suffer too much from it. Lets hope they rebuild Danny's car good enough. It is always a little bit different after a crash, which is why you really don't want to trash it on Saturday cause either FP3, or Qualy, the setup you get when you go out is what you doing the whole race with.

No idea where you got that from. Must have missed it completely.

Edited by FullOppositeLock, 25 March 2017 - 07:55.

[tearitup]

Car is very nervous. They'll fix it

[tearitup]

No idea where you got that from. Must have missed it completely.

He said it on the radio.

[RPM40]

Does anyone know how close to his optimals Max's lap was? 

[Requiem84]

What I saw on love timing, Max did his best sectors in his final lap.

[Radstaker]

[Archer]

To me what happened today doesn't count to the qualy battle between them, even if it was a Ricciardo's mistake and Max was faster in the first lap in Q3. I'm only going to consider when both drivers can complete the qualifying.

Edited by Archer, 25 March 2017 - 07:52.

[FullOppositeLock]

To me what happened today doesn't count to the qualy battle between them, even if it was a Ricciardo's mistake and Max was faster in the first lap in Q3. I'm only going to consider when both drivers can complete the qualifying.

Up to you mate. As far as I remember such allowances were not made for Monaco last year for example, so officially this goes down as a Max win I would have thought.

[rfamans]

To me what happened today doesn't count to the qualy battle between them, even if it was a Ricciardo's mistake and Max was faster in the first lap in Q3. I'm only going to consider when both drivers can complete the qualifying.

Driver vs Rule rewriting 2017 now started ...

[Carrinthe]

Archer is really trying to ignite this thread,..... 

[v@sh]

To me what happened today doesn't count to the qualy battle between them, even if it was a Ricciardo's mistake and Max was faster in the first lap in Q3. I'm only going to consider when both drivers can complete the qualifying.

 

1-0 to Verstappen, DR's mistake so he should pay for losing the battle irregardless of both not getting in lap times to compare. May be a different story if it was mechanical related but it isn't.

Edited by v@sh, 25 March 2017 - 08:04.

[tearitup]

Hahaha mechanical issue i can understand, but a driver messing up? Anyway it doesn't matter, Danny never makes these mistakes.

[Marklar]

Nah, it's 1-0 for Max in the quali battle. Fair and square. If Ricciardo would have suffered a failure then yes, I wouldnt count it either, but it was his own mistake.

 

What is inconclusive though is the pace, even if Max looked quicker until that point, this counts for me just in Q3.

[sennafan24]

Aye, a clean win for Max. 

 

Hope Danny doesn't get a gearbox penalty. Horner sounded optimistic on SKY. 

[gowebber]

On the train on the way back from watching qualli at Albert Park. Ya should have heard the collective sigh from the crowd when Dan hit the wall. Pushing too hard to compensate for the car being off the pace it seems. In hindsight he may have been better off just binning it in the kitty litter, but you could see he was trying to give himself the chance to get thru the gravel back onto the track. Unfortunately it didnt work. Rare mistake from him. Looking forward to a blinding start from p10 tomorrow.

Edited by gowebber, 25 March 2017 - 08:13.

[Carrinthe]

Nice to see Vetel very close but I hoped RB would be within 0.5 from pole. It's a bit disappointing  and if RB can't make a serious step forward they will be in no man's land just like Williams was 2 years ago. No pressure from behind and too slow for the first 4 cars. That would be very boring. 

[tearitup]

I think occasionally messing with Raikkonen is far as it goes the first few races.

[SenorSjon]

Verstappen on Ziggo says that the car is very unpredictable. Oversteer in one corner and understeer the next. Seems random. Setup changes cost a lot of time and all kind of small problems kept him from running in FP's. Expects a lonely race.



Riccardo could have been caught out, just like Verstappen yesterday if the car is working against them.

Edited by SenorSjon, 25 March 2017 - 08:36.