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!!
 
Click to expand
They do the same every year and it's not really a secret.

They always run in testing with a minimum of 70 litres or so of fuel to hide their true pace.
I'll see if I can find a link.
 
Race 1 of 19 ... let's not get overly down in the mouth girls and boys... :( tyre deg will play a large part in determining who wins on Sunday... if it is RBR who take the chocolates... that only paints a bigger target on their backs for the next race at Water World in Sepang... :yes:
 
you guys are making me really sad about the mclaren situation, i wasn't expecting this, but after readind a few post here, man im really worried!!!
and a really dont want to see a 4th DWC for Vettel, i hope red bull not to be so dominant! damn!
 
Because Red Bull was so dominant last year...
The FP1+2 gap was significantly smaller than which McLaren had last year, yet everyone's being overdramatic before the first session that counts has even started.
I'm glad I've learned to appreciate F1, regardless of the drivers at the front.
 
mnmracer said:
Because Red Bull was so dominant last year...
The FP1+2 gap was significantly smaller than which McLaren had last year, yet everyone's being overdramatic before the first session that counts has even started.
I'm glad I've learned to appreciate F1, regardless of the drivers at the front.
Click to expand

I think people are just excited. They have passion.
Grats on appreciating F1 for err...being F1!
 
The supersofts are going off very quickly which means we could see some early stops in the race. If there's a safety car on the first lap we could see some drivers ditch the supersofts straight away. I think it could be a good strategy to use 1 set of ss in q1,2 and 3 leaving 3 new sets of mediums for the race.
 
I wonder if any teams or drivers are going to gamble on not using the SS in Q1?

With two steps between the compounds that could be risky.
 
A rare look under the shell of the Red Bull. Can't shed much light on the components, they don't give anything away.

BFUANwhCYAARVMR.jpg:large
 
liloyster do you think perhaps that some might even gamble on ditching the supersofts at the end of lap one even if there isn't a safety car?
Or perhaps trying to do Q3 and most of the race on the mediums and using the supersofts for Q1/Q2 and then leaving them for a one or two lap stint right at the end of the race, when the fuel load is at its lightest and the track is fully rubbered in?
 
Chad Stewarthill said:
liloyster do you think perhaps that some might even gamble on ditching the supersofts at the end of lap one even if there isn't a safety car?
Or perhaps trying to do Q3 and most of the race on the mediums and using the supersofts for Q1/Q2 and then leaving them for a one or two lap stint right at the end of the race, when the fuel load is at its lightest and the track is fully rubbered in?
Click to expand

I don't think so as the supersofts should be faster for a few laps which would mean someone pitting straight away could be leapfrogged by a lot of cars who stayed out on ss.

With your second point that could be an option but it could all fall apart if a safety car comes out with 15 laps to go meaning the car who had yet to use the ss would have to do 15 laps on them or pit again which would screw their race. I remember Melbourne 2009 where the supersofts were used. If I remember correctly Rosberg and Vettel opted to use the ss later on in the race whereas Hamilton and Kubica used the ss from the start. By the end of the race Hamilton finished 4th in a dog of a Mclaren and Kubica was just about to take 2nd until Vettel took him out whilst Rosberg was falling back rapidly. This tells me the supersofts should be used early in the race.
 
Mephistopheles said:
The super soft tyres are only going off in terms of ultimate lap time not in terms of race pace they will still be good for 16 laps or so...
Click to expand

Yet Paul Hembury from Pirelli said the super soft tyres were going to last 5 - 10 laps? I don't know where you've got 16 from. To add to the information, he said the Mediums would last 20 - 22.
 
Listening to the commentary in FP2 but what do they know... Paul Hembury also said that it would only be a two stop race which doesn't signify with the tyres only lasting 5 - 10 laps and 20 - 22 laps
 

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