1440 replies to this topic

[BillyWhizz]

Qualifying's important, but there ain't no points handed out on a Saturday!

 

With less than .3 of a second between Lewis and Sebastien on the front row, first hopes are high for a contest worthy of the name this year, but will it be so? Can Ferrari really carry the fight to Mercedes throughout the season? Do they have the racecraft to overcome their nemesis, or will they still lack strategy in the heat of the fight?

 

Will RBR be far away or might we see a three team/three engine shoot out?

 

Vettel has closed in from an almost .8 sec deficit in 2016 to separate the Mercs, so how will qually form convert into race pace over the distance?

 

Will Bottas be up to the task in his first term at Mercedes to deliver the podiums and points which will keep his team ahead of the pack in the Constructors chase, or does his arrival provide a (temporary) chink in the silver armour?

 

Are Force India really behind Haas, Williams and STR as they fail to make Q3 with either driver this year? Who among them will finish stronger?

 

Will McLaren's rocky marriage with Honda survive the course?

 

Well, we'll just have to wait and see how the season pans out, but it all starts here in Albert Park. With only a few hours before the lights go out, now seems like a good time to focus on the main event.

 

Fat tyres, phat wings and slinky, lap record smashing cars, it's time to go racing in 2017!

Edited by BillyWhizz, 26 March 2017 - 02:08.

[tomisumi]

Can't wait for - lights out and away we go!

[Riverside]

I look to Vettel getting a better start and maintaining a gap for the win.    Ahhh,  but that would be my wet dream.... and for the benefit of f1.     

 

 

   

[gowebber]

Loving Webbers commentary on Ten HD here in Australia. Funny how they reckon beer sales are up 20% this year at the Oz GP and Webber reckons he has been a fair contributor to that lol. A chirpy Aussie larrikin he is as we well know but also great value with some insightful ex drivers point of view stuff. Particularly this morning where he had a steering wheel and he was going over the race start procedure and how difficult it is and easy to get it wrong. This resulted in some funny comments about him having a shocker once at Germany where the whole field off the line basically swallowed him up!  He tended to have a fair few ordinary starts tho anyway! The commentators including James Allen seemed to agree Alonso is probably the best starter and that Hamiltons poor starts could have cost him the world title last year.

 

So pumped for this race. Hope Ricciardo can get a good start and at least get some decent points.

Edited by gowebber, 26 March 2017 - 01:50.

[MikeV1987]

Pumped

 

I think we will see lots of driver errors.

[thegamer23]

So how many hours till the race? Just came back home and thinking about postponing my sleep till after the gp

[BlackGold]

So how many hours till the race? Just came back home and thinking about postponing my sleep till after the gp

3hrs till start

[BuddyHolly]

Too excited to sleep.. staying up dosing myself with coffee and playing a game or three to pass the time.

[BuddyHolly]

Gearbox Penalty for Danny boy.  shame

[MikeV1987]

Edited by MikeV1987, 26 March 2017 - 03:41.

[Mandzipop]

I managed an hour and a half of sleep. Now it's breakfast tea time.

[MikeV1987]

11:44 pm here, the night is young 

[SilverArrow31]

An hour to the race and today of all days Sky go decides to pack in on the computer. Going to have to watch the race on a 5 inch screen. Im very jealous of all you lucky people with 4k tvs 

[RandomG]

track parade cracked me up.

 

FOM get Adam Gilchrist to interview Daniel Ricciardo in the one place of the circuit where all the Max Verstappen fans were!   

 

Adam Gilchrist to Max "I'm glad that they don't play cricket in Holland or this crowd would have my head". Max goes to throw a cap to the crowd and immediately fails   

[turssi]

So how is the final look of the grid with RIC dropped to 15th and STR to last?

Edit: Found it!

FINAL AUSTRALIAN GP STARTING GRID:
1 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
3 Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
4 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
5 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
6 Romain Grosjean (Haas)
7 Felipe Massa (Williams)
8 Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso)
9 Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso)
10 Sergio Perez (Force India)
11 Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)
12 Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
13 Esteban Ocon (Force India)
14 Marcus Ericsson (Sauber)
15 Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
16 Antonio Giovinazzi (Sauber)
17 Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
18 Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren)
19 Jolyon Palmer (Renault)
20 Lance Stroll (Williams)

Edited by turssi, 26 March 2017 - 03:59.

[Docc]

Perfect here in Arizona..

9:30PM start !

[Clrnc]

Come on Ferrari, Come on Bottas, Come on Ricciardo, Come on Mclaren. Don't disappoint us. 

[turssi]

For the T1 accident my prediction is Max and Romain.

[AlexS]

So race is in about 1 hour?

I am lost do to hour change.

[aray]

weather?

[septerra]

FFFFFUUUUUUUAAAAAAAKKKKK YEEEEAAAAAAAA

 

Chucked a sickie @ work. Still not going to the track though; streaming @ home. GOGOGOGO

 

[Docc]

So race is in about 1 hour?

I am lost do to hour change.

24 minutes..

[OvDrone]

Mornin' y'all.

 

Apparently, now that Ricc is my favorite dude after Webber retired, he's having horrid luck.

 

Everything is alright with the world.

[milestone 11]

Adam Gilchrist to Max "I'm glad that they don't play cricket in Holland or this crowd would have my head". Max goes to throw a cap to the crowd and immediately fails   

Little does he know.

[AlexS]

24 minutes..

So starts at half hour?

[Docc]

Yes

[SamH123]

So starts at half hour?

 

48 minutes until the race starts

[milestone 11]

It's been a while since I was this fired up!

[cotecine]

Good morning everyone.

[Docc]

Having a libation.. Makers Mark.. Hope this is great racing..we need it..

[EndlessMotion]

Stage 1 - Successfully wake up before lights out after the clocks go forward again. Completed

 

Stage 2 - Make a large pot of coffee. In Progress

 

No idea who will get the better launch off the line but if I had to have a guess then I'd go for the Ferrari. Mercedes haven't traditionally been strong starters relative to their pace in the hybrid era. Whoever leads into T1 I hope hasn't effectively wrapped up the win there and then but their race pace isn't a million miles apart.

 

Let's go!

Edited by EndlessMotion, 26 March 2017 - 04:20.

[OvDrone]

I'm here to see hype die.

[Stroudy9393]

Good think I've been preparing my body clock for the last couple of weeks, the early night and early start was easy.

[Dander]

 

This surely can't be the official photograph? If so it's utter rubbish.. Max fiddle with his hand, Hulk and Wehrlein looking away, Palmer is in the picture...

[STRFerrari4Ever]

Hoping and praying for a mega race

[TomNokoe]

Too tired to be bothered but I'm sure I'll feel better soon

[turssi]

Merc PU's boxed in by three Ferrari on one side and a Renault behind them. Hope they feel the pressure!

[thegamer23]

So it begins.

Have fun everyone

[milestone 11]

Gotta get the better half up now, she's as hyped as I am. That's me till it's over. Requires concentration.

[LiftAndCoast]

Ricciardo stopped on track. Clutch issue.

[FullOppositeLock]

Oh man Ric, the poor sod

[Docc]

Guess that Trans change went well//

[BuddyHolly]

Dan Noooo

[OvDrone]

Ricciardo truly is my new Webber.

[STRFerrari4Ever]

Ricciardo seemingly out of the race before its begun

[Freeze011]

And in his home race :/ man this sucks.

[milestone 11]

All over for Danny Ric. ****!

[HuddersfieldTerrier1986]

If he can't get going himself, then it's game over. Not allowed to be given help to get back round.

[EndlessMotion]

Anybody think we'll have a contact free T1 for the entire field? I suspect the drivers are really going to feel the width of these new cars when they're trying to find an empty bit of a track to slot into.

 

Oh jeez Danny Ric stopped on his out lap

[fZero]

Race is barely worth watching now