Grand Prix 2023 Australian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

After our mini-tour of the Middle East the F1 circus is off to Australia with the 25th race at Albert Park, Melbourne. Toward the end of the last race in Saudi Max Verstappen ignored his team and set the fastest race lap to make sure he went to Australia leading the World Championship. Since then there has been lots of rumours about problems within the team between Perez and Verstappen, following on from the very clear message Max gave the whole world in Brazil last year.

We can expect Red Bull to be quite a way ahead in qualifying, and even further ahead in the race. So let's talk about the race for third amongst the division two teams. Fernando Alonso has been given a car which comes close to matching his ability, if not his ego, and Lance Stroll is acquitting himself well in the Aston Martin. Mercedes are still a way off the pace as they still struggle to get their car up to speed. Ferrari are there amongst the top three or four, but certainly not as fast as they were last year.

In the third division are Alpine, Alfa Romeo and Haas. All the different drivers appear to be there or there abouts and all will take points at some point during the season but will need some significant retirements to get on the podium. And then we have division four, with Alpha Tauri, Williams and McLaren all desperately trying to avoid the wooden spoon for 2023. Currently in pole position to be the F1 equivalent of Southampton are McLaren. With two very talented drivers the orange cars are absolutely woeful. One assumes all the time spent by Zak Brown looking for a new engine supplier during the off season distracted the team from the job in hand, making a car that works for the 2023 season.

Here is details of the track and DRS zones
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For those in the UK, here are the timings.

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Enjoy the eraly start.
 
i nearly replied to this saying that ill go out on a limb & say verstappen


The Milton Keynes overspenders are going to win the race.

yeah it more by how much. but heres a question i think red bull are being flattered by their dominant car as their lightweight chassis is good but i think its more red bull have found half a second & ferrari have gone backwards that has caused this big gap
 
here a question that we forget to ask at this historic races. what a peoples favourite Australian gps as we had some good ones.

for me i always comeback to 2002. controversy, alot of action. high attrition & that shot of mark webber standing on the podium (half hour after the proper ceremony) with paul stoddart after getting 5th in the minardi. which is strange to think that was the only time he would stand on that podium at his home gp
 
2009 Brawn Gp win on their debut with Button. The man was written off and little did we know we were about to have one of the greatest F1 stories ever
 
not the greatest of weekends for him chucked away a certain victory & didnt he choose to go to mclaren that weekend which he regrets choosing money over trying to win the 1996 world title
No he had already signed for McLaren for 1995 and 1996 because Mansell suggested Williams wanted him and Hill...until Williams argued to the CRB that they had an option for 1995 on DC
 

Westacott's comments come as he embarks on his final Australian GP in the top job before he steps down from the role in June.
"For the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, the preference is in the race happening in sunshine," said Westacott of the potential for a night race. But what I would also say is, as you evolve the one thing that Victoria does well is innovate in major events. You've got to look at the 15-year horizon now and that's why the Victorian government saw that this was important to secure [the new deal] – you can actually do things into the future. The great thing is we've had a partnership with Formula 1 since 1996 and therefore you can do these things with a very strong relationship. So be open minded is probably the simple answer."
 
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Get your tinfoil hats out, Sergio's car was still in pieces only a few minutes before the start of Qualie, and he was less than happy with the team over the radio after he nurfed the barrier.
 
Get your tinfoil hats out, Sergio's car was still in pieces only a few minutes before the start of Qualie, and he was less than happy with the team over the radio after he nurfed the barrier.
So much for getting full team sabotage ...I mean support
 
Are Mercedes this quick and they have found the magic key or more the other teams have lost theirs especially Max and RB?
 
Are Mercedes this quick and they have found the magic key or more the other teams have lost theirs especially Max and RB?
must be the cooler conditions. as it was 17ish instead of in the 30's . but the red bull was certainly struggling it seemed to have front end struggles like in FP3, because perez had full lock on nearly & the car just went straight on. Max must have been struggling because for the 1st time this season he had to properly push this season. because he did have the half a second advantage

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for the 1st time red bull have come back to the pack & arent in there own different league. proof that budget cap is working before max returned to normal & blew everyone away LOL but with a minute to go we had 5 cars separated by a tenth. & at the end of qualifying we ended up only 4 tenths between 2nd - 7th (wouldve been 8th if perez was involved)

good to see the mercedes back up there also this must be as toto wolff was saying between the lines it was conditions & found something set up, red bull troubles. but it will be interesting come imola to see any upgrades to this car or will it be the B car thats not a B car that's in the windtunnel
 
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