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!!

 

[Brogan]

I think they are already quite a bit bigger and lift the car by 2 or 3cm.

5mm if I'm not mistaken.

12.4.2 Complete wheel diameter must not exceed 660mm when fitted with dry-weather tyres or 670mm when fitted with wet weather tyres.

http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/rules_and_regulations/technical_regulations/8712/fia.html

 

[Galahad]

It would be interesting to hear an explanation for the huge increase in these instances over the past four years compared to the previous period.

 

[Bill Boddy]

2001 Spa, the track was wettish at the beginning of qualy, towards the end there was no more rain and a dry line appeared, the two Williams drivers took the first two places as they were last out. The Arrows and Minardi drivers were outside the 107% limit due to their usual tactics of getting their laps done without interfering with the big teams.

Both teams were allowed to race, I always suspected that the fact that one of the Arrows drivers was Jos Verstappen and half Holland seemed to be there to support him could have played a part in that decision.

 

[jez101]

I think we are on a slippery slope Galahad . China / Malaysia 2009 was the start of it for me - I can't remember which race Button won after sitting on the grid for 2 hours. In that instance it was impossible to race but it kind of broke a taboo. Since then though we have had earlier and earlier use of the safety car and more and more outright stoppages. Shame. I think they have got the balance wrong now...

 

[no-FIAt-please]

jez101 It was Malaysia that Button won, I agree on that instance that it was undriveable. But since then...

 

[Bill Boddy]

It may not have made any difference this time but starting qualifying, and the race, at 17:00 with sunset around 19:00 does not give much leeway if there is heavy rain. If qualy starts at 14:00 and the track is too wet for running for 2 hours then there is still plenty of time before it starts to get dark.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Kewee - I see, no problem. Those fans with three-day tickets may not mind, perhaps, but those with qualifying tickets may have cause to feel aggrieved. This wasn't the worst example of over-caution we have seen, though, and I accept there will be sessions that have to be red-flagged for torrential rain.

That is exactly the point I was trying to make with my earlier posts it is just daft to wait until it is nearly bone dry before racing commences I even heard Lewis say something like, come on lets get on with it the track is nearly ready for inters, at one race which was being started behind the safety car I think Charlie is being far too cautious these days..

 

[Galahad]

The other side of the safety argument is that, while there is a greater likelihood of accidents in the wet, the accidents that do occur are generally less dangerous due to the lower impact speeds. I don't have figures to back it up, but thinking back over incidents in which drivers have sustained injury, I don't think wet races feature disproportionately?​

 

[Mephistopheles]

That is in fact true Galahad no doubt about it the drivers are very safe at the lowers speeds.

 

[Mephistopheles]

5mm if I'm not mistaken.

You are not....

 

[Galahad]

Risk is always relative, of course.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Yes it is but.

"Motorsport is dangerous."

It isn't.

"A knitting circle."

Or.

"A game of ping pong."

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Well, Rosberg is bossing it! Looks absolutely untouchable at the moment.

 

[Il_leone]

if I was Di Resta get yourself further up the grid in between the big boys

Force India's previous tactics were to never run in Q3 saving tyres

 

[Il_leone]

Mercedes 1 and 2

 

[Il_leone]

Seb appears in fron now

 

[Brogan]

That makes a nice change

 

[Westy]

Congratulations Seb on your fourth world title. You heard it here first.

 

[F1ang-o]

Oh no....Felipe next to Lewis..

 

[ZakspeedYakspeed]

Pits be busy on lap 2 or 3 with those super grained super sorts being discarded?