Australian Grand Prix 2012 - Albert Park - Race 1

**Forzi** · 15th March 2012, 15:58

Originally Posted by T van R

You can sleep until Australia qualifying, Because practice sessions are for testing at this stage of season.

To be honest, hearing the noise of the engines, seeing our car doing laps with the new updates LIVE for the first time this year is more than enough to let me not sleep (and i bet it's far from being only me here with this kind of excitement).

BRING IT ON!!!

**Rob** · 15th March 2012, 16:50

Australian GP - Alonso: “We are prepared, united and we trust one another”3.15.2012

Albert Park, 15 March - A new season involves new car designs, new liveries, new team kits, new drivers even, but one thing that never changes is the drivers’ Thursday meetings with the media and, at the very first race, the atmosphere at these meetings, at least in the Scuderia Ferrari camp, seemed very convivial, with drivers and press apparently pleased to see one another again.

Fernando Alonso was the first Scuderia Driver to face the press in the grassy Albert Park paddock this afternoon. He began by reprising past statements that the F2012 is not yet fully battle-ready. “We need to keep working and developing the car,” he began. “Our progress with the car is quite innovative compared to the past at Ferrari, so six days of testing is not enough to change from black to white. It’s not a continuation from last year’s car, so we need more time, more time than other teams to maximise our potential. I think we are progressing well and we will see how competitive we are when we see what happens in qualifying not only here, but also in Malaysia and China, because this circuit is quite special as it is a stop and go track with heavy braking, so no long corners that prove the aerodynamics of the car. It will be good to put all the best parts of the car from winter testing together, as we never did this over the tests. That is what we will do for tomorrow’s free practice for the first time.”

Asked about technical director Pat Fry’s post-testing comment that currently the F2012 was not good enough to secure a podium finish, the Spaniard took a more human approach to his chances. “Engineers always look at the data, look at numbers. Maybe we did not reach the targets or the numbers we were expecting from this car, but that does not mean the actual numbers we see are not enough to fight for the podium. We will find that out only this weekend. There is definitely more to come from this car and hopefully it will come soon.” As for the presence of six world champions on the grid, Fernando, himself a double champion thought it was good but did not expect it to change much. “I think it’s great for the fans and the media and six champions attracts more attention to the championship,” he maintained. “In a way I don’t think it creates more of a show or improves the quality of the races, because some Sundays we see phenomenal races in GP2 and there are no champions there. Six world champions does not automatically mean great races. The important thing is that several cars can fight for the victory. If Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, Lotus, Mercedes can all fight for wins, the people will love the season and I hope it will be like that.”

Even if there is a feeling on the engineering side that some winter targets have not been, Alonso has no doubt that Ferrari’s traditional qualities will still shine through. “The team is very very motivated, very ambitious for this championship and there is a great spirit, as we want to be world champions,” he declared. “This is our target and come November we must score one more point than the second guy if we want to be champions. We are prepared, united and we trust one another. The engineers are trusted, the mechanics are doing a fantastic job and I hope the drivers are trusted too!”

http://www.ferrari.com/English/Formu...e-another.aspx

**Cheeseman** · 15th March 2012, 17:16

I can't remember being this exited before the start of a season for a while. I think the uncertainty over everyone's performance is an exiting prospect. My sky box is set to record every session whether I'm watching or not

. Good luck to Ferrari and hopefully we will be the team bringing all the trophies and championships home where they belong

**Kyss4k** · 15th March 2012, 17:27

Good "night" to all of you. I am going to take a nap for a few hours and I'll see ALL of you at the start of the first practice (at 2:30am in our country

)

**FerrariF60** · 15th March 2012, 17:31

Originally Posted by Kyss4k

Good "night" to all of you. I am going to take a nap for a few hours and I'll see ALL of you at the start of the first practice (at 2:30am in our country

)

not that bad here in Canada...21:30 for first practice; having said that i too am going for a little afternoon (canada time) nap...LOL

**F1NAC** · 15th March 2012, 17:37

Here in Croatia 02:30 am for FP1. Can't wait anymore :D

**Jose Lorca** · 15th March 2012, 17:49

Really looking forward to practice tonight - we need dry running though. Jose Luis said a few days ago that we were bringing new parts that should give us a few tenths, if they work.

Anyway this afternoon I saw Autosport magazine (today's edition) on the shelf so I skimmed through the first few pages just to see what they had to say. Most of it was what what we already know but one thing that caught my eye was that they said the Mercedes W03 could be on par with McLaren (and if not, they are close to them). There was also a small section about the midfield being tight and the picture with the article had the F2012 in it - with the caption "tight midfield could hunt down Ferrari" or something like that.

T van R · 15th March 2012, 19:08

Originally Posted by Jose Lorca

Really looking forward to practice tonight - we need dry running though. Jose Luis said a few days ago that we were bringing new parts that should give us a few tenths, if they work.

Anyway this afternoon I saw Autosport magazine (today's edition) on the shelf so I skimmed through the first few pages just to see what they had to say. Most of it was what what we already know but one thing that caught my eye was that they said the Mercedes W03 could be on par with McLaren (and if not, they are close to them). There was also a small section about the midfield being tight and the picture with the article had the F2012 in it - with the caption "tight midfield could hunt down Ferrari" or something like that.

The new Mercedes W03 rear wing is a step forward & form what i understand from Charlie whiting interview, it has not exactly F-Duct concept. Maybe it takes a bit longer for other teams to understand what it really is. As medias say Mercedes W03 with it's new rear wing will have much more straight line speed than the others while DRS is open

**bobi_ve** · 15th March 2012, 19:13

Any other good links of live streams for practice,qualifying,race exept vipbox.tv ???

**FerrariF60** · 15th March 2012, 19:18

Originally Posted by bobi_ve

Any other good links of live streams for practice,qualifying,race exept vipbox.tv ???

i don't know of any others, but vipbox is usually pretty good...i've used it all the time and never had any issues wiit

**Massimo181** · 15th March 2012, 19:19

I am confused does FP1 start tonight at 01.30 on vipbox or tomorrow night?

T van R · 15th March 2012, 19:26

Originally Posted by Massimo181

I am confused does FP1 start tonight at 01.30 on vipbox or tomorrow night?

After 6:05 hours.

**Massimo181** · 15th March 2012, 19:28

So thats tonite then! thanks

T van R · 15th March 2012, 19:33

Originally Posted by Massimo181

So thats tonite then! thanks

One simple way to finding out the exact time. Go to http://en.espnf1.com/. This site automatically will show the exact time according to you country standard time. Good Luck

**Rob** · 15th March 2012, 19:57

Australian GP - Massa: “We must be prepared to fight for the victory”3.15.2012

Albert Park, 15 March - Felipe Massa was clearly happy that the racing season is about to start when he met the press this afternoon, in the Scuderia Ferrari hospitality area. “It’s nice that the time for ‘blah blah blah’ is over,” began the Brazilian, referring to all the speculation in the media over the past few weeks. “Now, after Saturday’s qualifying, we will have a clearer picture of where we are and on Sunday after the race, we will have a further indication of what our car is like compared to the others, as this was impossible to see in testing. In the winter, we saw that a lot of teams, a lot of cars were competitive, not just over a single lap, but also over a race distance which indicates it will be very close.”

Backing up his view that there is no need to be pessimistic this weekend, Felipe reminded his audience that winter testing had often provided a false picture of what lay ahead. “To be honest, we were not so happy with the way the winter testing went, but it’s also true that before the start of the 2011 season, we were very happy and then we got here and we were not so good, nor indeed were we for the rest of the year. Winter testing does not always give a clear picture. I hope we find our car is capable of competing right from the first race. We are not far off the pace and we did a reasonable race simulation: but in Barcelona tests for example, even the time of day you do a race simulation can have a significant effect on your performance, so let’s wait until everyone has the same tyres and the same fuel to really see where we are. After the final test, we have driven the simulator, trying things we first ran in the test and this involved a lot of work between the last Barcelona test to getting here in Australia: I think we understood a lot more things, not big steps, but things that can be useful and help the car improve.”

Much as he is relishing going racing again, the Brazilian was reminded the Albert Park circuit has not always been kind to him. “Melbourne has not been the luckiest track for me, although I have had a podium finish here in 2010 and in other races, when it looked as though I was heading for a good result, something happened to put an end to it. Let’s hope we have a good start to the year on Sunday. I am mentally prepared for a difficult start to the season, but really I’m ready for whatever happens. We must be prepared to fight for the victory, to fight for the podium, to fight for the best we can do with this car. We will see on Sunday. It is important to find the right direction to develop the car quickly week by week. That is our job now for everyone in the team and back in the factory.”

http://www.ferrari.com/English/Formu...e-victory.aspx

**Alonsofan2002** · 15th March 2012, 20:22

Originally Posted by Massimo181

So thats tonite then! thanks

one more site.
http://stream.speedtv.com/formula-one

**SilverSpeed** · 15th March 2012, 20:35

Last year the German DSF, now called SPORT1 transmitted the free practices.

For this year I can't seem to find it back on their programme? Do they still hold the rights for it or is someone else now transmitting them for free?

**Alonsomaniac** · 15th March 2012, 20:39

Hm..I open this thread and the first thing I see is THAT FINGER!
Who's idea was that??

Let's just hope it's the last time we see that finger for a long time....

Outside that I feel happy and wide awake. Wide awake and waiting for a screaming red Ferrari crossing the finishline in front of them all!!

**ferrari4life** · 15th March 2012, 20:49

Originally Posted by Alonsomaniac

Hm..I open this thread and the first thing I see is THAT FINGER!
Who's idea was that??

HAHA.. yeah that is cruel..at lease we didn't have a sound byte of a screaming school girl to follow it up.

**scuderiafan** · 15th March 2012, 20:50

To pump yourselves up, if needed.

Oh man, 5 hours. this is gonna be great. are ferrari bluffing? or are they in the dumps? i don't care, FORZA FERRARI!!!!!!!!!

P.S. it seems it is raining in Aus, so maybe no true picture of performance if any will be shown.

**Atrani** · 15th March 2012, 20:56

Alonso brings up a very interesting point about the Albert Park track, it's stop and go, so I can see a victory in store for Ferrari! Why not? I'm not buying the doom and gloom form
the press.