Grand Prix 2015 Austrian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

F1 is back in Austria for 71 laps of the 2.688 mile track. 9 corners, a giant metal bull and enough sugary caffeine drink to give you heart palpitations. This is the Red Bull Ring.

At this point in the championship last year Nico arrived here 22 points ahead of Lewis, and was hoping to increase that gap.

What happened next nobody expected. Williams secured a front row lock out in Qualifying giving Massa the teams first pole position since 2003. Nico could only manage 3rd and Lewis had a shocker down in 9th.

Qualifying pace and race pace are however different things, and the Williams couldn’t live with the Mercedes despite the Mercs nursing brake issues for most of the race. Nico secured the win doing enough to stay ahead of a chasing Hamilton in 2nd, a position helped by an amazing first lap from Lewis where he made up 5 places. Bottas fought valiantly for 3rd and his first ever podium. Massa came home in 4th.

Despite this being the home of Redbull, the team had a bit of a nightmare. With a Retirement for Sebastian (thank you boys) Vettel, and just an 8th for Dan. This home advantage thing isn’t as important as it would appear. With the year they are having (yeh no it’s Renaults fault I tells yah) its hard to see Dan and Dan doing much better this time round either.

So here we are 8 races into the season, just shy of half distance, and the Merecedes boys have, pending any cataclysms, got both championships sown up. Its hard to see anyone catching them at this point barring miracles.

Lewis has a 17 point lead and is back on top after Canada with Nico looking like he is running out of answers. If Nico is to stay in the fight he needs to win here. Otherwise the points gap and his mental doubt could build into an avalanche.

Ferrari upgrades bring them in closer to the Mercs but they still need to find at least half a second. Good result for Kimi last time out baring the spin (not my fault guv).

The thing I am most looking forward to is seeing if Williams can do the same as they did last year. I always enjoy seeing a smiley Claire Williams. Everything crossed for them to at least beat the Ferraris.

Hopefully McLaren can avoid another double DNF, but even if they do I'm sure they will say they are still improving. Alonso will be hoping to just finish after 3 DNF’s in a row.

Most people in the CTA pole scored this 7 out of ten last year. Lets hope it’s as good this year.

Highlights from last year.

 

[olegg]

Ideal Lap (sum best sectors) in theQual:
Qual – No – Driver – Qual Result –Ideal Lap – Flaw
2 – 6 – N.ROSBERG – 01:08,655 – 01:08,305 – 00,350
1 – 44 – L.HAMILTON – 01:08,455 – 01:08,455 – 00,000
3 – 5 – S.VETTEL – 01:08,810 – 01:08,810 – 00,000
4 – 19 – F.MASSA – 01:09,192 – 01:09,079 – 00,113
5 – 27 – N.HULKENBERG – 01:09,278 – 01:09,278 – 00,000
6 – 77 – V.BOTTAS – 01:09,319 – 01:09,319 – 00,000
7 – 33 – M.VERSTAPPEN – 01:09,612 – 01:09,563 – 00,049
9 – 12 – F.NASR – 01:09,713 – 01:09,626 – 00,087
8 – 26 – D.KVYAT – 01:09,694 – 01:09,694 – 00,000

 

[cider_and_toast]

God knows how many years of silly qualifying rules and I still can't remember how it works!!

Where did JJ Lehto qualify??

 

[Mephistopheles]

Obviously it isn't going to make any difference to McLaren's race but a 25 place grid drop plus a 10 second stop penalty just sounds like lunacy to me.

What if it happens to the leader of the championship come the end of the season and he actually loses the championship because of it, how will the FIA justify that?

 

[teabagyokel]

Hate sessions like that. The top 2 ballsed up and won. My single-lap soap box is coming out again.

 

[Mephistopheles]

loved the single lap format DC was totally rubbish at it..

 

[Mephistopheles]

God knows how many years of silly qualifying rules and I still can't remember how it works!!

Where did JJ Lehto qualify??

Just in front of Jenson Button

 

[F1Brits_90]

Hate sessions like that. The top 2 ballsed up and won. My single-lap soap box is coming out again.

I think this is the best qualifying version we've had but maybe there is a case for keeping Q1 & Q2 same knockout then Q3 going single lap in reverse order to Q2 standings. Only problem is wet weather as it would be unfair on teams if tgey dont get same conditions

 

[teabagyokel]

Give them an option of when they want to go then. Problem solved.

Two drivers totally failed to cope with the pressure and ended up off the road in the final session of qualifying, and they win. Isn't that not wholly unsatisfactory (cf. Monaco last year for a more egregious version).

 

[sushifiesta]

Alternatively we might have only seen the equivalent of their first laps and not the drama that unfolded at the end.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I don't like this qualifying format never have done never will do, 12 laps 1 hour suited me just fine, so what if sometimes nothing happened in the first 20 minutes the final 20 minutes without exception was always edge of the seat stuff Hill getting 3rd in an Arrows at Hungary for example, that could never happen under this knock out format we have now...

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

Give them an option of when they want to go then. Problem solved.

What if they all want to go first?

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

I think the current qualifying format is the best I can remember, well since qualifying started being shown on the telly & I could see what they were doing that is.

 

[Bushi]

Hoping for an excitement race. But suspect a lead from start to finish from Lewis.

 

[Jen]

Just hoping for a race!

 

[teabagyokel]

Chad Stewarthill - Under the proposal above - choose in Q2 order.

 

[Brogan]

I posted in the head to head thread that I think Rosberg will win this one due to a better race set up.

 

[FB]

We bow down at your powers of foresight oh great site God. Not the greatest race I've ever seen but Nico was on it all weekend and Lewis looked a bit lost and made mistakes which cost him. Shame for Vettel as he should have been on the podium but nice to see a Williams up there, even if it was the wrong one. I'm guessing Silverstone will be another Mercedes benefit but, hopefully, there will be some action down the field.

Note to Sky, even if Kimi Raikkonen comes to the mix zone for an interview don't bother.

 

[cider_and_toast]

As tracks go, Austria is a good one it's just a shame we are not in a position where we can see a real race on it. Rosberg has a strong race no doubt about that. I wonder why some drivers find a certain track harder to come to terms with than others? Vettel wasn't helped by his team but if that pit stop hadn't gone wrong he'd had finished a distant and untroubled third so at least we had a race for the final podium place.

Never mind, Silverstone will be better.

 

[Dash Racing]

I wonder why some drivers find a certain track harder to come to terms with than others?

I can't claim to have anywhere near the talent needed to be a pro, and most of my knowledge of racing as a driver comes from virtual racing, but a lot of it comes down how well your driving style matches the circuit. Each circuit has peculiarities that will suit one driving style better than another. A late braker and turner is going to struggle on a turn where the optimal racing line means an early apex, while someone who likes to take the early apex will struggle with a turn that requires a late apex for the optimal racing line. Similarly, if you struggle at timing your braking going downhill, turns like Mirabeau Haute are going to be very difficult for you, while if you struggle at uphill braking, Laguna Seca's got a lovely mess for you at the top of the Corkscrew. If most of the circuit doesn't suit how you're most comfortable driving, you're going to struggle to maintain the concentration to drive in a way that differs from your natural way of driving, and that means your lap time will suffer.

 

[RasputinLives]

I don't think the start accident was Kimi's fault. I think Alonso and Mclaren had decided the only way they were going to be quicker was to catch a lift on the Ferrari

Seriously though Kimi can you please retire whilst we still have good memories of you as a racing driver?

After this weekends performance Mclaren are considering getting Peugeot back to supply engines.