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!!

 

[mjo]

True, although Red Bull are consistently one of the slowest cars in the speed traps, and Ferrari are usually quite fast in terms of top speed, but of course we will never know.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

mjo It was a tactical strategy, which worked perfectly.

 

[ramilas1]

Mclaren officially slower than Force India. Shocker.

No, not really.

Diresta beaten by his team mate. Shocker.

No, definitely not. ........ enjoyed the race, btw!

 

[mjo]

mjo It was a tactical strategy, which worked perfectly.

Ferrari still could have brought Massa in the lap after Alonso, and maybe he could have beaten Sutil out of the pits.

 

[Kewee]

mjo......they needed to bring Massa in to give Alonso clean air so he could jump Vettel. They pitted them in the right order to beat Vettel.

 

[Andrea_Moda_Rules]

Kewee, I'm not really talking about what Ferrari should or sohuld not of done, but how Massa will take it. especially with what mjo expanded on and weather that will stick in his head

People forget Massa was leading the championship in 2010 albeit more consistency then outright speed. it seemed as those famous words in Germany was what sent his form/pace into freefall rather then his bang on the head in 09.

Has well their relationship doesn't seem what it used to be either.

Maybe im reading too much into the past, however the decision to keep him out for those extra laps does seem a bit of a boo boo.

 

[mjo]

mjo......they needed to bring Massa in to give Alonso clean air so he could jump Vettel. They pitted them in the right order to beat Vettel.

We might be talking about different things. If I remember rightly, Alonso was brought in to cover Vettel. But instead of pitting Massa the lap after, Ferrari waited a couple more laps before bringing him in (around lap 23 I think, when Massa was sounding rather peeved on his radio). That is what I can't fathom.

EDIT: Alonso was brought in before Vettel on lap 20, FOUR laps before Massa.

 

[Kewee]

Andrea_Moda_Rules......I think Massa will be just fine. He's one of my favorite drivers but his form was in free fall long before Germany 2010 which is what led to the team orders. By the time they reached Germany Massa had 67 points, Alonso had 98. Massa has always needed a well sorted car to give his best. He has that now so I'm sure he'll be very happy and give his best at every GP. He knows his teammate is not only a class act but also ruthless, but he's also been with him long enough now for them to work together for the team.

 

[ATL11]

Wow great race didn't expect that result, things to take from the 1st race:

Lotus show they are better on the tyres with decent race pace
Red Bull have the pace but are terrible on the tyres
Ferrari somewhere in between the 2, could have been a better race for Massa but for Team Orders
Mercedes look good in damp cold conditions, have pace, will be happy with Hamilton's 5th but reliability issues
Force India, good race except for the strategy muppet to put SS on with 10 laps to go for Sutil
McLaren, Oh dear, what have they been doing this Winter?

Oh anyone hear the booing from the Aussies when Brundle introduced Vettel on the Podium, though not unexpected.

 

[Kewee]

ATL11.....Ferrari.....What team orders, they can't pit them both at the same time. Do you think it would have been better to pit Alonso first so neither one of them could have jumped Vettel?

 

[Hamberg]

Ferrari brought Alonso in before Massa as Alonso couldn't do it on the track. Clear favouritism once again despite Massa being stronger.

Massa was pissed off and they thought they'd have a go at a 2stop but realised quickly that wouldn't work. As soon as Alonso was brought in first Massa was never going to come out ahead. Massa is still the sacrificial bitch boy.

 

[MCLS]

We could be on for another 2009 scenario at McLaren it seems

 

[Kewee]

Hamberg... Vettel pitted lap 7, rejoined in position 10, Massa pitted on lap 9, rejoined in position 10 behind Vettel, Alonso who had done two very good in-laps pitted lap 11, rejoined in position 7 having leapfrogged both of them. That was the order of their pitstops and put Alonso into the position of being able to pass them both, not through any imagined favoritism but simply the ability of being able to turn on a couple of very quick in-laps, something thats not a strength of Massa's.

 

[GermanF1]

Kewee Don't you take your love of Ferrari a bit to far? You might be right with everything you say, but it still doesn't make any sense at all, that Massa had to wait four laps to have his tyres changed, apart from Ferrari making sure, that he will be behind Alonso.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

Kewee I agree with Hamberg, Massa, having out-qualified his teammate and leading him in the race, could have expected first call on the tyre stop. The fact that he wasn't, and that Ferrari effectively took the opportunity to switch their drivers a third of the way through the first race of the season, speaks volumes. Alonso didn't need that kind of help to pass Vettel, I think he had him beat anyway. If Ferrari had played a better strategy for Massa as well rather than just for their team leader, both Ferraris might have been on the podium instead of just one.

Great race overall; a popular win for Raikkonen, who drove superbly throughout, not the expected (and feared) Red Bull runaway, good to see Massa on top form again so early in the season, and I suspect a quiet satisfaction for Hamilton to have beaten both drivers in his former team quite comprehensively, as well as his team mate. Sorry for Nico though, who was awesome in the wet on Saturday and didn't deserve a mechanical DNF for such a good weekend's work.

 

[snowy]

Felipe pitted lap 8 and Fernando pitted lap 9.
Massa

5 1:34.369

6 1:34.855

7 1:34.635

8 P 1:51.726

Alonso

6 1:34.791

7 1:34.816

8 1:34.696

9 P 1:51.303

 

[GermanF1]

snowy That's right. But we're talking about the second stops.

 

[siffert_fan]

KIMI!

 

[Hamberg]

Hamberg... Vettel pitted lap 7, rejoined in position 10, Massa pitted on lap 9, rejoined in position 10 behind Vettel, Alonso who had done two very good in-laps pitted lap 11, rejoined in position 7 having leapfrogged both of them. That was the order of their pitstops.

Errr no

Vettel pitted lap 8 and came out in 5th, Massa pitted lap 9 and came out in 6th, Alonso and Raikkonen pitted lap 10 and came out 7th and 8th.

First round of pit stops Massa pitted first. Second round Alonso pitted first and did the jump. Knowing he who pitted first would get the position.

Now you can see it's favouritism.

 

[snowy]

Hamberg... Vettel pitted lap 7, rejoined in position 10, Massa pitted on lap 9, rejoined in position 10 behind Vettel, Alonso who had done two very good in-laps pitted lap 11, rejoined in position 7 having leapfrogged both of them.