Grand Prix 2016 Australian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Strewth, Bruce! The Australian Grand Prix is nearly here, ahead of a 2016 season build-up suffering from staggeringly low expectations and the people who are paid handsomely to promote Formula One seemingly trying to kill it with their media comments. So...

Well, the good thing with low expectations is that they can easily be bettered. Although Mercedes may be miles ahead of the field, it is quite possible that Ferrari have closed the gap and actual racing may occur there. The midfield looks rather tighter this year. We have a new team (Haas), Renault are returning and Manor are having a proper go of it!

Add to that a great big unknown with the tyre rules, and a selection of tyres made by each team that will probably look quite daft given that it was made before the new elimination system of qualifying was announced. So tyre strategy and qualification strategy are still rather unknown, which could add some insanity unpredictability.

Melbourne is often a race of high attrition, with the walls too close to the track for those unused to new cars, and unreliability also raising its ugly and seldom seen head. Daniil Kvyat, Valteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen and Manor will be hoping to actually get to the start this year! Chances of attrition are hit by the exit-stage-left of Pastor Maldonado amid the complete collapse of the economy of Venezuela, but you never know .

Despite the existance of Stoffel Vandoorne, the debutants are Mercedes' youth product Pascal Wehrlein, Indonesia's first ever F1 [pay-]driver Rio Haryanto and Jolyon "son-of-Jonathon" Palmer. It seems unlikely any will match Kevin Magnussen's 2nd-on-debut in 2014, however (which was, allegedly, the last time Ron Dennis smiled).

The last five Australian Grand Prix have been won by different drivers - Vettel, Button, Raikkonen, Rosberg and Hamilton. I'd be surprised if Raikkonen won it this year and mystified if Button did. Those same drivers (minus Rosberg) have monopolised pole position here since Giancarlo Fisichella stuck his Renault on pole in a rain-storm in 2005.

Sit back, and lets hope there's something to enjoy. There's life in the old dog yet, despite you, Bernie.

 

[Greenlantern101]

I don't like it.

I don't think you're alone in that.

 

[Il_leone]

a bad advert for Formula One

Who ever made this hasty decision did not think it through properly. They should hold their heads in shame

 

[Il_leone]

the old system was good but they want to go back to it because everyone knows its a Merc 1-2 but its got to better than this .

Maybe they could change Q3 to a superpole because most of the criticisms is actually based on what happened in Q3 because Ferrari decided not to run and there was basically no competition for Mercs

 

[Incubus]

the old system was good but they want to go back to it because everyone knows its a Merc 1-2

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Well yes actually. Because it's only right that the fastest cars and drivers should be in front. It's up to the others to catch up. That's racing. If the end result is another Merc one-two, so be it.

I'm fed up with seeing all these endless gimmicks they constantly trying to enforce when what the fans want is really astonishingly simple. Cars and drivers that can follow each other through the corners, attack, defend during races without any DRS-type gimmicks, and teams that don't start the season so well not being restricted in their efforts to try and catch up.

And as they used to say, may the best man win. Or is that just too old-fashioned a concept?

 

[The Pits]

Well, the best man is winning, and has for a number of seasons now, as long as that is the team and driver combo.

The problem is, that what fans say they want is likely impossible to achieve.

 

[Greenlantern101]

F1 drivers prohibited from throwing visor tear-off strips on track

So they've to stop and put them in a bin?

 

[Il_leone]

Greenlantern101 You know this has been happening since F1 began and tearing off visors was part of a driver's routine in the race to get rid of muck and oil from his tear off

and you'd have a mechanic wiping the dirt off at pit stop time but that is impossible now that pit stops taking 2 seconds

You will get an unlucky situation where a tear off might get stuck in a car's radiator and overheat.

I get the feeling some teams have complained more because cars are bullet proof these days unlike back then where reliability was

 

[FB]

Maybe they can mount one of these in the cockpit for the tear offs.

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

Perfect for the boiled sweet wrappers too.

 

[Galahad]

Seems like Mercedes may be a long way from finding diminishing returns an issue. I thought there was going to be convergence somewhere along the line? Perhaps the qualifying farce is another Ecclestonian diversionary tactic. F1 is in a bad way.

 

[The Pits]

Too many opposing forces and vested interests.

 

[The Pits]

Interesting read, an insight into the machine.

Imho, the teams themselves are as entrenched in the problem as anybody.

Niki Lauda: “Nobody is thinking globally what is the best for the sport…”

 

[Speshal]

F1 drivers prohibited from throwing visor tear-off strips on track

So they've to stop and put them in a bin?

When I used to race MotoX we had what was essentially an old camera motor mounted on one side of the goggles and a roll of clear film t'other, et voila clear vision all the time (or until the second corner when it got filled with mud and then jammed!)

 

[Shogun]

Ok, I admit it: qualifying was a disaster. I was willing to give it a chance but not allowing a time unless you complete your lap is stupid, they need to at least change it so that any lap which you start before time expires is allowed.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Many years ago I raced class 5 land yachts. We had to wear helmets and mine was open faced. Wearing goggles was pointless because the amont of sand that flicked up when following another land yacht would have meant tear offs would have last about ten seconds. The way I got around it was to look slightly to the left or right depending on what tack I was on and while one eye was covered in sand the other was slightly protected by the bridge of the nose. If things got too bad we used to look for a puddle of water or run the yacht close to the water line and wash off.

Maybe this is another cunning rule change to bring in closed cockpits.

 

[Slyboogy]

I missed it, because I was having a shit.

 

[Kewee]

All the other drivers were crapping too trying to keep up with Lewis.

 

[cider_and_toast]

I doubt that. They were almost certainly crapping all over the poorest idea to shake up qually ever.

 

[RasputinLives]

Maybe F1 should run a different comedy version of qualifying every race weekend. Keep the drivers on their toes.

I propose quali is run by newly invented format 'musical pit box'. Basically all drivers go out on track and at random times a siren sounds and the last one back to the pit is eliminated thus deciding grid order.

I foresee a lot of controversy around cars going slowly around the pit lane area.

 

[Greenlantern101]

Who's up and fancies a chat?