Grand Prix 2013 Australian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Finally F1 is back! After three months without racing, waiting for car launches and testing, the first race of the 2013 Formula One season at Melbourne is just around the corner.

A quick look on what has changed compared to last year:

Teams:
HRT are not on the grid anymore.

Drivers:
- Lewis Hamilton replaces Michael Schumacher at Mercedes.
- Sergio Perez replaces Lewis Hamilton at McLaren.
- Sauber start this season with a completely new line-up as Nico Hülkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez replace Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi.
- Adrian Sutil replaces Nico Hülkenberg at Force India.
- Valtteri Bottas is Williams’ new driver, replacing Bruno Senna.
- At Caterham Vitaly Petrov and Heikki Kovalainen are being replaced by Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde.
- Marussia bring on Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton in favor of Timo Glock and Charles Pic.

For the complete line-ups please check this brilliant overview from teabagyokel http://cliptheapex.com/threads/2013-driver-by-driver-preview.6011/

Circuits:
- The German Grand Prix is being held at the Nürburgring instead of Hockenheim.
- There won't be a race in Valencia this year, as the Spanish Grand Prix will alternate between Barcelona and Valencia from now on, starting with Barcelona.

Pre-season testing suggests that (as almost always) it is almost impossible to predict which teams will be at the very front of the grid. Red Bull look as strong as ever. Ferrari look significantly better than at this stage last year. McLaren seem to be struggling a bit. Mercedes appear to have made some progress over the last weeks and might be able to surprise us all. Lotus look like they could be fighting at the top this year as well.

In the midfield battle it seems that Williams and Sauber could have the upper hand over Toro Rosso and Force India, who have waited a very very long time to announce their second driver, Adrian Sutil.

Caterham and Marussia will probably be at the back end of the grid again. It seems very unlikely that any of them is going to be able to fight for points consistently. What is interesting though is, since HRT aren’t on the grid anymore, there will now be six drivers eliminated in Q1, which means, that apart from the Caterham and Marussia guys, there will now be two drivers of other teams out of qualifying after the first part of it.

How will Lewis Hamilton do for Mercedes? Is Mercedes’ completely new structured team going to improve? Is Sebastian Vettel going to pave his way for a fourth consecutive championship? How will Sergio Perez settle in at McLaren? Is Jenson Button going to win for the fourth time in Melbourne? Will Ferrari be able to win races from the outset?

Many questions! At least some of them will be answered in two weeks’ time at the 2013 Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne!
Let’s get it on!!

 

[Bill Boddy]

I presume that since weather.com are forecasting a dry race (0% chance of rain) that the teams who went out in Q1 will all move over to a dry setup whilst the others will be left with a wet setup.

Second win for Maldonado?

 

[Mike]

Everyone should already be in parc ferme conditions, so even the Q1 dropouts can't change much.

 

[Kewee]

Hate to go against the general opinion but its better than shipping half a field of broken cars to Malaysia that can't be raced because they're unable to ship the necessary parts out from Europe to rebuild them in time. You also can't compare the current cars with the past. If they still raced on skinny tyres or more heavily treaded tyres I'm sure they would have run. Modern F1 cars have a far narrower operating window.

 

[Kewee]

Qualifying hasn't been completed so if it's dry tomorrow all the teams will be able to change their setups and tyres to suit the new conditions. The parc ferme ruling comes into effect between the end of qualifying and the start of the race.

 

[Jos the Boss]

Brundle said it's parc fermé as soon as they exit the pits in Q1

 

[Kewee]

Yes but they're allowed to change tyres to different compounds as conditions change as they have already been doing.
On the bright side, at least if the remaining two sessions take place in the dry we will get a better idea of which teams are the quickest.

 

[Fenderman]

I was just thinking about whether or not it matters very much if we are inconvenienced by this morning's events. Perhaps me being just one sofa bound TV output consumer means I don't count for much. Fair dinkum.. However, due to my being sucked into being a consummate consumer of the F1 product I am now suffering from sleep deprivation and my effect on those around me is likely to be somewhat less than desirable. If I persist in my addiction to F1, I will be even worse come this time tomorrow. Monday will be a write off as I will be of no use to anybody else let alone myself. Multiply this effect by the many thousands or even millions of other folk's around the Northern hemisphere and that's lost output for businesses, strained relationships in homes and possibly diminished contents in a very large number of wallets.

Just a thought.

 

[Kewee]

Regarding parc ferme, exceptions are made allowing changes to setup etc. due to changes in climatic conditions. I'm sure this will be taken into consideration to make sure the first GP of the season is fair to everyone.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

Here is an extract from the Parc Ferme rules. Kewee I think the 'change in climactic conditions' clause only allows work to the brake and radiator air ducts. I don't believe wholesale set-up changes are allowed.

34) POST QUALIFYING PARC FERMÉ

34.1 Every team must provide the FIA technical delegate with a suspension set-up sheet for both of their cars before each of them leaves the pit lane for the first time during the qualifying practice session.

34.2 Each car will be deemed to be in parc fermé from the time at which it leaves the pit lane for the first time during qualifying practice until the start of the race. Any car which fails to leave the pit lane during qualifying practice will be deemed to be in parc fermé at the end of Q1.

Between these times, other than when cars are returned to the parc fermé overnight, the following work may be carried out:

n) The aerodynamic set up of the front wing may be adjusted using the existing parts. No parts may be added, removed or replaced.

o) If the FIA technical delegate is satisfied that changes in climatic conditions necessitate alterations to the specification of a car, changes may be made to the air ducts around the front and rear brakes and radiator ducts. These changes may be made at any time after the message “CHANGE IN CLIMATIC CONDITIONS” is shown on the official messaging system, from this point the choice of air ducts around the front and rear brakes and radiator ducts is free and pitot tubes may be covered or uncovered, subject always to compliance with the relevant Technical Regulations.

Edit: presumably, teams who qualified near the back could break parc fermé rules and start from the pit lane if they thought it would give them an advantage.

 

[mnmracer]

Well, at least everyone will be on a 'bad set-up'. It might be interesting to see if Marussia and Caterham decide to change set-up and start from the pitlane, who knows how close to the mid-field they could get.

 

[Bill Boddy]

Exactly, and if the difference between wet and dry setup is large it would pay the bottom teams to do so. Vettel notably used it last season to great effect.

If the teams had any sense they would all agree to do the changes once qualifying is over. Then they could all start from the pit lane which would be interesting to say the least.

 

[Kewee]

Chad Stewarthill.....It's possibly a cloudy area and I would imagine rule 34.1 is written assuming qualifying will be completed on the same day. To date no team has complained about qualifying being delayed until tomorrow and I'm sure everyone involved will make sure no team will gain an advantage from circumstances beyond everyones control. Qualifying has been delayed until the Sunday once before but never has been broken into two parts conducted on different days. I honestly believe with so much at stake they will ensure an even playing field for all the teams. As a precedent is being set they have the ability apply a little flexibility to the rules, especially as there doesn't appear to be a clause that covers the situation they have found themselves in.
Of course the weather forecast was always for a fine day on Sunday, or possible showers at worst so there's every possibility the teams were staying with a dry setup anyway.

 

[Brogan]

This is exactly why I hate set sessions.

Delay. Delay. Crash. Crash. Crash. Delay. Delay. Cancelled.

And to make matters worse, most, if not all of the cars won't be set up ideally for the race if it's dry.

 

[Kewee]

It's normal for teams to setup their cars for the conditions expected during the race then chose the tyres for the conditions they encounter during qualifying. It would be foolish and very unusual to setup a car for a wet race when the forecast tells them the race will be dry That would make no sense at all. It may give them a better grid position but that would account for little if the setups wrong on race day. Their initial advantage would be lost very quickly.

 

[Brogan]

Thank you for the lecture.

Make sure you inform Martin Brundle that his knowledge and opinion is wrong too.

 

[Kewee]

It wasn't a lecture. They may make a slight compromise but certainly not enough to put them on the back foot on a dry track on Sunday. I'll email Martin Brundle immediately.

 

[Galahad]

Looks like the big clash of the season won't be Hamilton v Rosberg or Button v Perez but Whiting v Mother Nature. As the locals might say, bloody ridiculous.

 

[Brogan]

Mate.

 

[Kewee]

Just a thought regarding wet setups and in particular suspension settings. The norm with a wet setup is to adjust the ride height and soften the settings a little. Similar settings are often used on road circuits and partial road circuits, which fits the description of Albert Park, so the suspension settings between wet and dry may not be as great in Melbourne as they are on most purpose built circuits, which is possibly why we're not hearing any complaints from the teams and drivers.

 

[sushifiesta]

Perhaps, but I guess by extension if there are bigger bumps there's bigger puddles.