1275 replies to this topic

[ConsiderAndGo]

We're back in Aus! Whoop!

 

 

Circuit (Modified, with four, yes FOUR DRS zones!  )

 

 

Tires

 

 

2019 Qualifying

 

 

2019 Race Result

 

 

 

[Risil]

[PayasYouRace]

I’m very excited. I love the Australian Grand Prix and have missed it. I’m looking forward to the new track layout too. I never could get that T9-10 chicane right.

[messy]

I bloody love Albert Park. The new liveries, the vivid colours, the leaves scattering as the cars pile into turn three, the accidents, the attrition, the surprises, the atmosphere. 

 

I've really, really missed it. I most suck at that fast chicane though (11/12). The first apex is so hard to judge turn-in to get the second right. Argh.

[yolo]

Thanks for the new thread.

 

FOM released a "top 5 dramatic moments at the AusGP" video today on Youtube and it's crazy to think that in almost 30 years racing at Albert Park, only 3 out of 5 moments took place at Albert Park. It's a fine city and it served as a great season opener in years' past, but the racing has always been dull. Let's hope that the new layout changes things.

 

Edited by yolo, 05 April 2022 - 14:52.

[PayasYouRace]

I bloody love Albert Park. The new liveries, the vivid colours, the leaves scattering as the cars pile into turn three, the accidents, the attrition, the surprises, the atmosphere. 

 

I've really, really missed it. I most suck at that fast chicane though (11/12). The first apex is so hard to judge turn-in to get the second right. Argh.

I suck at that chicane too but at least it’s fun. The previous one didn’t even have that going for it.

[KWSN - DSM]

Watching a Grand Prix as God wanted Grand Prix's to be watched - Afternoon local time, which ever time of day around the world - A 01:00AM live watch for me. The correct and proper way, darn those pesky Night races.

 

[KWSN - DSM]

We're back in Aus! Whoop!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What happened? Ricciardo at Red Bull? Does that mean Perez isd back at McLaren?

 

I think we should be told.

[TomNokoe]

Got my eye on Alpha Tauri after their pace seemed to disappear as soon as the sun had set in Bahrain and Saudi.

[Jovanotti]

How I've missed this race!!

[Anja]

FOM released a "top 5 dramatic moments at the AusGP" video today on Youtube and it's crazy to think that in almost 30 years racing at Albert Park, only 3 out of 5 moments took place at Albert Park. It's a fine city and it served as a great season opener in years' past, but the racing has always been dull. Let's hope that the new layout changes things.

 

One moment I'll never forget is the ending to the 2009 race with Kubica and Vettel crashing out of podium positions. 

Edited by Anja, 05 April 2022 - 15:21.

[gowebber]

Can't wait. So stoked for it to be back in Melbourne after 2 loong years! It's a fantastic event. Missed out on getting Saturday tickets unfortunately. Who would have thought Sat and Sunday would be 130k crowd sellouts! Apparently they said they could have got 150k but personnel capacity and Covid restrictions meant it was capped at 130k.

Oh well got Friday booked off from work and can enjoy a 3 day F1 couch marathon much to the Mrs annoyance! 🤣

Can't wait to see how these new changes to the various corners and resurfacing goes. Roll on Friday!

Edited by gowebber, 05 April 2022 - 15:22.

[thegamer23]

Australia is always one of the best races to watch for me.

The early morning start (europe), nobody around, just you watching the GP with a cup of coffee.

Kinda magical! 

Also i find the track one of the most spectacular of the calendar: the new changes should make it even more exciting & fast.

 

What's not to like?

 

 

Edited by thegamer23, 05 April 2022 - 15:35.

[yolo]

One moment I'll never forget is the ending to the 2009 race with Kubica and Vettel crashing out of podium positions. 

 

Good one. That 2009 was definitely an eventful race from start to finish (besides Brawn 1-2). Surprised it didn't make the cut.

[ConsiderAndGo]

Good one. That 2009 was definitely an eventful race from start to finish (besides Brawn 1-2). Surprised it didn't make the cut.

We were spoiled with 2008/2009 and 2010 races All were excellent.

[Risil]

Thanks for the new thread.

 

FOM released a "top 5 dramatic moments at the AusGP" video today on Youtube and it's crazy to think that in almost 30 years racing at Albert Park, only 3 out of 5 moments took place at Albert Park. It's a fine city and it served as a great season opener in years' past, but the racing has always been dull. Let's hope that the new layout changes things.

 

You couldn't really leave out Mansell's tyre blowout and Hill's collision with Schumacher, those two would probably make a top 5 dramatic (televised) moments in F1 full stop.

[Collombin]

You couldn't really leave out Mansell's tyre blowout and Hill's collision with Schumacher, those two would probably make a top 5 dramatic (televised) moments in F1 full stop.

I'm astonished the top 5 Aus GP moments weren't all from Adelaide tbh, Albert Park is only a decent venue by modern standards.

[TauriJ]

Should be a dry sunday with heavy rain coming monday.

[Risil]

I'm astonished the top 5 Aus GP moments weren't all from Adelaide tbh, Albert Park is only a decent venue by modern standards.

 

Yes, they had to leave out Senna running into the back of Brundle in 1989, the spin-o-rama at the shortened but highly eventful 1991 edition, and David Coulthard hitting the pit wall in 1995. Good old Adelaide.

 

But then again they also left out Jacques Villeneuve battling for victory at his first Grand Prix and the abovementioned Vettel and Kubica crashing out of the podium in 2009.

 

They're both street circuits so you're likely to get a lot of eye-catching mistakes and chaos, but Adelaide produced better racing.

[JimmyClark]

It will be so nice to watch a daylight race again for the first time since Brazil last November, and the first early AM race since Japan in October 2019! 

 

I'm excited to see the new circuit too - these cars should look great around it. Track limits won't be much of an issue, and I'm sure there will be more overtaking opportunities now (although the promotors' plans of turning the 9/10 chicane into an overtaking zone are probably very optimistic, but I'm so glad that corner is untouched - the best chicane on the calendar, alongside Ascari and the Swimming Pool?). 

 

Roll on the weekend!

[ANF]

Australia is always one of the best races to watch for me.
The early morning start (europe), nobody around, just you watching the GP with a cup of coffee.
Kinda magical!

Also i find the track one of the most spectacular of the calendar: the new changes should make it even more exciting & fast.

What's not to like?

I wonder what the pole time will be. A mid 1:16?

[ARTGP]

One moment I'll never forget is the ending to the 2009 race with Kubica and Vettel crashing out of podium positions. 

 

Very painful. Kubica may well have won that race otherwise. 

[TomNokoe]

We were spoiled with 2008/2009 and 2010 races All were excellent.

 

I started watching F1 in mid-2007 thanks to the Hamilton fan rush, so my first Aus GPs were 2008, 09 and 10.

 

As you said, all brilliant, brilliant grand prix in their own right. The timezone difference and general atmosphere just added to the magic. As Murray used to say, "A Great Place For a Race!".

 

2008 has to be my favourite. Set against the angst and ire of the previous year, there were so many mini-stories. The banning of driver aids, the emergence of Kubica and his Q3 provisional pole (via a short trip across the gravel), Kimi's fightback through the field and late-race capitulation, Glock's crash, Bourdais' heartbreak, Alonso vs Kovalainen after swapping teams, Rosberg podium. Just a great, great race.

 

Even after 2010, 11-13 also produced watchable races, with 2013 in particular a really organic, strategic slow burner.

 

I think what has killed Albert Park in recent years, outside of the usual dirty air/big-heavy car complaints is that it has changed from a tyre-limited 2/3 stop into an easy 1 stop. If you think back to the 2009 and '13 races in particular, the Soft tyre would be absolutely useless, compared to the Hard that was slightly less useless, and it was all about being able to manage your stint on the Soft tyre to great effect. This element was removed in the Hybrid era and the move towards rock solid rear tyres that simply do not degrade, and the introduction of three compounds that removed the necessity of racing at least one stint on an unfavourable tyre.

 

This year's track changes include a widened pit lane, which allows the pit lane speed limit to be raised slightly, and I also heard Australian journalist Michael Lamonato, speaking on The Race podcast, say that the resurfacing is actually quite abrasive, so maybe this will bring back some of the tyre limitations that made previous Aus GPs so fun, with less of a time penalty for a pit stop.

 

For the first time in forever, Pirelli are bringing a compound gap with C2-C3-C5, but I doubt it'll make a blind bit of difference considering there's no obligation to touch the C5 on Sunday. All I can hope for is that quadruple-DRS and ubersoft tyres will give us a qualifying order that doesn't quite correlate to race pace, which may help to mix up the grid. I also noticed the front pressures are a laughable 24.5psi this weekend!! Pirelli

Edited by TomNokoe, 05 April 2022 - 17:30.

[HuddersfieldTerrier1986]

A couple of uninteresting thoughts from me on this race weekend:

 

1: I miss this race opening the season

2: I miss this race starting at 2/3am UK time. Massively. I loved the race starting at that time.

3: I don't like the fact that the track will be quicker, but with the same number of laps, purely because I wish all races lasted at least 90mins (on a dry day, no SC periods, no red flags etc)

 

However, I'm looking forward to it.

[PayasYouRace]

Very painful. Kubica may well have won that race otherwise. 

Unlikely. He was hardly catching Button. It was Vettel dropping back between the two of them.

[FortiFord]

Aus was already a fairly high speed track. With the track changes, we are surely looking at one of the fastest tracks on the calendar (up there with Spa and Austria, but behind Monza). I think this will favour Red Bull over Ferrari. 

[Hellenic tifosi]

 

For the first time in forever, Pirelli are bringing a compound gap with C2-C3-C5, but I doubt it'll make a blind bit of difference considering there's no obligation to touch the C5 on Sunday. All I can hope for is that quadruple-DRS and ubersoft tyres will give us a qualifying order that doesn't quite correlate to race pace, which may help to mix up the grid. I also noticed the front pressures are a laughable 24.5psi this weekend!! Pirelli

 

You are right, since the Q2 rule was scrapped there is no reason for this gap in compounds. If the new surface is abrasive, probably nobody will touch the C5 during the race, and will go C3-C2.

[PayasYouRace]

In the grand RC tradition of keeping our own points tallies for various reasons, this year I've decided to keep track of what I'm calling the F1 Democratic World Championship, where I only count the races taking place in countries with a score of greater than 6 on the Democracy Index, that is, full or flawed democracies. So this is going to be Round 1 of what works out as a nice traditional 17 race season.

 

I've got my spreadsheet ready to go.

 

 

Monaco isn't in the index, but they have an elected government so I'd imagine they'd qualify. Mexico would have been there but slipped down into Hybrid Regime last year, so Mexicans, sort your lives out. The other missing countries are the usual authoritarian suspects.

 

I'll be keeping track of this until the "season finale" in Brazil.

[Izzyeviel]

2nd race of the season! Can't wait!

[AlexS]

2nd race of the season! Can't wait!

Are you sure  ?

[Izzyeviel]

Are you sure  ?

 Did I stutter? 

[TheAviator]

Finally! Kinda missed waking up early Friday morning to watch FP1.

[Amz964]

So good that the Aussie GP is back as others have said missed the early morning getting up (although probably won't be saying that when the alarm goes off haha). I just really hope we get a classic. As others have said since 2010 the GP has been pretty tame don't remember any massive classics since then. 2008-2010 was carnage and it was great.

[cjm321190]

For me the most iconic and best F1 moments revolve around an Australian season opener at 4am now 6am UK time with early morning snacks, drinks and duvet. That is F1 for me.

[Maustinsj]

In the grand RC tradition of keeping our own points tallies for various reasons, this year I've decided to keep track of what I'm calling the F1 Democratic World Championship, where I only count the races taking place in countries with a score of greater than 6 on the Democracy Index, that is, full or flawed democracies. So this is going to be Round 1 of what works out as a nice traditional 17 race season.

 

I've got my spreadsheet ready to go.

 

 

Monaco isn't in the index, but they have an elected government so I'd imagine they'd qualify. Mexico would have been there but slipped down into Hybrid Regime last year, so Mexicans, sort your lives out. The other missing countries are the usual authoritarian suspects.

 

I'll be keeping track of this until the "season finale" in Brazil.

 

Verstappen 

[sportyskells]

And cue for the 1st time in three years a social media blackout on Saturday and Sunday until I seen the recording

[PayasYouRace]

Verstappen 

 

Took me a moment to realise what you were getting at there. Thanks.

[milestone 11]

Is this the first time that we've jumped a compound, C2, C3, and C5, or do Pirelli have the chart wrong?

[SilverArrow31]

It has occured to me that for many new fans joining over the covid period this will be there first ever proper fly-away stupid early morning in europe race. We have had no Australia, no China, no Japan and no Malyasia the whole time. I have really missed them too.

 

To me the classic start to an F1 season is having Austraila, Mayalsia, China and Bahrain as the first fly-aways before the european season starting in Spain, its so weird having a race in the US and another european race before the Spanish Grand Prix, it was always a clear cut time when the cars would get the first really big updates. Looking forward to seeing what goodies Mercedes have brought to this one. 

Edited by SilverArrow31, 05 April 2022 - 20:13.

[PayasYouRace]

It has occured to me that for many new fans joining over the covid period this will be there first ever proper fly-away stupid early morning in europe race. We have had no Australia, no China, no Japan and no Malyasia the whole time. I have really missed them too.

 

To me the classic start to an F1 season is having Austraila, Mayalsia, China and Bahrain as the first fly-aways before the european season starting in Spain, its so weird having a race in the US and another european race before the Spanish Grand Prix, it was always a clear cut time when the cars would get the first really big updates. Looking forward to seeing what goodies Mercedes have brought to this one. 

 

No. It should be an early morning Australia, then a Sunday evening for Brazil (and maybe Argentina) and the European season can only rightfully start in Imola. Spain, if not ending the European season at Jerez, must be after Monaco, never before.

[ConsiderAndGo]

Is this the first time that we've jumped a compound, C2, C3, and C5, or do Pirelli have the chart wrong?

It’s correct.

It used to be common place in seasons past but hasn’t been seen for 4 or 5 years.

[Jellyfishcake]

Australia to me should be the season opener.

I'm glad we're finally back, very intrigued to see the new layout used properly. 

 

On the topic of crazy moments, I always think of Irvine's first win in 1999.

You had everyone slowing behind Mika at the restart to not overtake him, after the McLaren domination in 98 it looked set for a repeat but that didn't quite turn out to be the case. 

[milestone 11]

It’s correct.
It used to be common place in seasons past but hasn’t been seen for 4 or 5 years.

Yes, of course. As you say, a number of years since it was last done.

[HighwayStar]

I started watching F1 in mid-2007 thanks to the Hamilton fan rush, so my first Aus GPs were 2008, 09 and 10.

 

As you said, all brilliant, brilliant grand prix in their own right. The timezone difference and general atmosphere just added to the magic. As Murray used to say, "A Great Place For a Race!".

 

2008 has to be my favourite. Set against the angst and ire of the previous year, there were so many mini-stories. The banning of driver aids, the emergence of Kubica and his Q3 provisional pole (via a short trip across the gravel), Kimi's fightback through the field and late-race capitulation, Glock's crash, Bourdais' heartbreak, Alonso vs Kovalainen after swapping teams, Rosberg podium. Just a great, great race.

 

Even after 2010, 11-13 also produced watchable races, with 2013 in particular a really organic, strategic slow burner.

 

I think what has killed Albert Park in recent years, outside of the usual dirty air/big-heavy car complaints is that it has changed from a tyre-limited 2/3 stop into an easy 1 stop. If you think back to the 2009 and '13 races in particular, the Soft tyre would be absolutely useless, compared to the Hard that was slightly less useless, and it was all about being able to manage your stint on the Soft tyre to great effect. This element was removed in the Hybrid era and the move towards rock solid rear tyres that simply do not degrade, and the introduction of three compounds that removed the necessity of racing at least one stint on an unfavourable tyre.

 

This year's track changes include a widened pit lane, which allows the pit lane speed limit to be raised slightly, and I also heard Australian journalist Michael Lamonato, speaking on The Race podcast, say that the resurfacing is actually quite abrasive, so maybe this will bring back some of the tyre limitations that made previous Aus GPs so fun, with less of a time penalty for a pit stop.

 

For the first time in forever, Pirelli are bringing a compound gap with C2-C3-C5, but I doubt it'll make a blind bit of difference considering there's no obligation to touch the C5 on Sunday. All I can hope for is that quadruple-DRS and ubersoft tyres will give us a qualifying order that doesn't quite correlate to race pace, which may help to mix up the grid. I also noticed the front pressures are a laughable 24.5psi this weekend!! Pirelli

 

The 2008-10 races were my first three Australian GPs as well, as you say the 2008 GP was a tremendous start to the season. The attrition rate was extraordinary for the era, even allowing for the first corner accident which eliminated five cars it was stunning to see the field thin out to leave so few cars running at the end, especially as the race took place in sunny conditions without a drop of rain. I believe it is the most recent race with fewer than 10 classified finishers. Even if you include Rubens Barrichello's Honda, which was subsequently disqualified, only seven cars crossed the line to finish the race, with Bourdais and Raikkonen also classified despite dropping out near the end. I vividly remember Martin Brundle exclaiming at one stage 'They're dropping like flies out there!'. If we get a race like any of those three this weekend I'll be delighted.

[JimmyClark]

For me the most iconic and best F1 moments revolve around an Australian season opener at 4am now 6am UK time with early morning snacks, drinks and duvet. That is F1 for me.

Yep, for me I'm feeling the excitement of a season opener. Bahrain felt like a legitimised end of a test session and Jeddah, being so soon after, was a blur. But this feels like "2022 is starting", and any other season opener is wrong.

Then again, in 1996 it felt wrong we weren't opening in Brazil and Melbourne was a poor man's Adelaide...

[Ruusperi]

Feels like it's been decades since the last race here in 2019. The world has changed since, hasn't it? And so has Albert Park circuit. I'm a bit skeptical whether racing will be improved, but at least they haven't "sanitized" the track. It is still unforgiving due to close proximity of walls and gravel traps.

So indeed, looking forward to the weekend and that special feeling of getting up in the middle of night. As a kid that was just magical: I and F1, alone in the dark with headphones on, hearing V10s roar for the first time. Oh how I miss those carefree times.

 

In the grand RC tradition of keeping our own points tallies for various reasons, this year I've decided to keep track of what I'm calling the F1 Democratic World Championship, where I only count the races taking place in countries with a score of greater than 6 on the Democracy Index, that is, full or flawed democracies. So this is going to be Round 1 of what works out as a nice traditional 17 race season.

 

I've got my spreadsheet ready to go.

 

 

 

Great idea, and what a lovely calendar. Definitely doesn't need extra races, whatever Domenicali keeps saying.

 

 

[PitViperRacing]

Managed to snag a ticket for all days. Can't wait to go, should be a belter!

[TheWilliamzer]

bring back Adelaide

[JimmyClark]

Managed to snag a ticket for all days. Can't wait to go, should be a belter!

I would say of all the races I've been to, Melbourne by far has the best timetable in terms of constant track action. I hope that's still the case! Enjoy!

Edited by JimmyClark, 05 April 2022 - 23:11.

[gowebber]