Australian GP 2014 Qualifying thread

[FerrariF60]

Vettel needs the car exactly to his liking in order to be fast. Give him a car which is difficult to handle and he will look very ordinary, as we saw today, and many times in the past. He's similar to Button in this respect.

Alonso is much more adaptable and will do a great job whatever car you give him.

....let me MODIFY your statement here a little bit...

Alonso is more capable at driving less competitive cars like some he's had in the past 4 years, of which some may call those cars "MULES", i know i am....because due to his brilliant way of driving and his skills, he grabs those MULES by the "scruff of their necks" squizes all the potential out of them and makes a car that supposedly BAD look somewhat decent....

something an ordinary driver like button or even PETTEL cannot do....we've all seen Pettel at the beginning of 2013 until Newey sorted out the coanda effect exhaust, he was utterly useless....NOWHERE!!!! so i rest my case about Pettel....

and WHY some may ask??? because obviously he's the BESt driver on the grid, PITTY ferrari have not YET given him a car he can fight with the best out there so far....

...who knows, maybe this will be his year...if Ferrari will smarten up and at last give him a HALF DECENT CAR......maybe

[bonzo]

One of the Mercs will retire. Don't know which one !
Ricciado is a good qualifier but not so good in races (last year record)
McLaren might be slower than us!
So...... really we just have one Merc to fight for the win. I hope.

To rely on the demise of the competitors has been our fate in the last 4-5 seasons. It is about time for a change, isn't it?
And I mean CHANGE to be initiated by LdM.

[radosav]

What is weather forecast for tomorrow ?

[FerrariF60]

What is weather forecast for tomorrow ?

f1.com says mostly cloudy with high of 21c....but who knows, anything can happen

i preffer a dry race, as in the wet is a lottery

[Hornet]

What is weather forecast for tomorrow ?

F1 site shows mostly cloudy. I think the predicted Sunday rain arrived earlier today so tomorrow should be dry.

[doublesixes]

Was Michael's record time of 1:24.125 in 2004 done in exactly the same circuit?
10 years later and 5 seconds slower seems like the cars' performance isn't really improving, for whatever reason. Thoughts?

[Gerhard Berger]

Does the top ten get to choose the compound or need to start on primes ?

Normally they would start on their Q2 tyres. But Q2 was wet so they can choose whatever tyre they want.

[Gerhard Berger]

Was Michael's record time of 1:24.125 in 2004 done in exactly the same circuit?
10 years later and 5 seconds slower seems like the cars' performance isn't really improving, for whatever reason. Thoughts?

Yes same circuit. Those 2004 cars had the V10s which were not rev limited, and the aerodynamic regulations were different (bigger diffusers, bigger barge boards, wider rear wings).

[bondilad]

Normally they would start on their Q2 tyres. But Q2 was wet so they can choose whatever tyre they want.

Thx.

[Hornet]

Was Michael's record time of 1:24.125 in 2004 done in exactly the same circuit?
10 years later and 5 seconds slower seems like the cars' performance isn't really improving, for whatever reason. Thoughts?

If i'm not mistaken, many track records are still 2004 record. We have been losing a lot of performance since then due to rule changes. Although designers finds new performance within the new rules, more changes often follows which drags the performance down again before it could recover.

Some huge changes in performance that I can think of includes raising and narrowing the rear wing, significantly reducing the diffuser size (I think this has the largest aero impact), the change from V10 to V8 as well as RPM cap, elimination of 12 laps qualifying engine. I think the end of tire wars also meant that tire performance peaked during the tire war era, and since then there was no need to 100% focus on performance anymore.

[Nero Horse]

True Tifosi waited from 1979 to 2000 for a championship. Quit complaining about 6 years. If you are unwilling to put your faith in the team and root every Sunday then perhaps this is the wrong team for you.

THIS^

+1000

[Alonsomaniac]

THIS^

+1000

Yes I know, but I don't want to wait another 15 years.........by then I'm in my seventies...

[Nero Horse]

Yes I know, but I don't want to wait another 15 years.........by then I'm in my seventies...

Neither would I want to wait another 15 years, and let's face it, none of us is getting any younger here, so I'm sure that all of us Tifosi would love nothing more than to see Ferrari winning both championship titles at least one more time during our lifetime.......but if it's not going to happen, then it's not going to happen and there's nothing we can do about it, all we can do is keep on hoping and keep supporting our team. Waiting and hoping for your favorite team's success is part of every fan's life, be it in motorsport, football, basketball or anywhere else.

[Muhammad Ansib]

well nothing is lost atleast now SO FORZA FERRARI AND FORZA ALONSO AND FORZA KIMI
I do pray that Alonso wins the title this year inshaAllah..waiting and waiting!

[Ferrarichamp]

Yes I know, but I don't want to wait another 15 years.........by then I'm in my seventies...

I wonder whether F1 will still exist in 15 yrs time.

[djmorin27]

I THINK THE CONDITIONS WERE PRETTY CLOSE IF YOU READ WHAT KIMI SAID HE WAS CONVINCED THEY HAD THE SPEED IN THE WET SO I AM NOT SAYING THEY WOULD OF GOT POLE BUT CLOSER TO THE FRONT TIMING WAS JUST BAD. AND I SAID THIS A MONTH AGO QUALI ISNT GOING TO BE AS IMPORTANT UNLESS YOUR PLANNING TO QUALIFY OUT SIDE THE TOP SIX SOME WHERE SOME HOW DURING THE RACE YOU GOING TO HAVE TO CUT BACK ON THE REVS TO GET IT HOME. AND WHY I SAY THE TOP SIX IS ITS GOING TO TAKE MORE FUEL TO GET AROUND CARS LIKE KIMI AND VETTLE KEEP A EYE OUT AT THE START TO I SEE BIG PROBLEMS AT THIS FIRST GP HOPEFULLY WE HAVE THAT AWSOME CLUCH/LAUNCH SYSTEM WE HAD LAST YEAR

[Greig]

Caps lock is on....

[IulianFerrari]

10000 Euro maldonado will not finish the race. I doubt he will make it to lap 2

[Nero Horse]

One thing's for sure, Vettel is not going to win tomorrow, cause he has never won a race when he has started outside the top 3 places.

[LivingHitokiri]

One thing's for sure, Vettel is not going to win tomorrow, cause he has never won a race when he has started outside the top 3 places.

This is the main reason i believe many do no accept Vettel on par with the others, he never really showed how he can do when he is behind fighting.

[djmorin27]

Just try to get my point across that's all

[shamim179]

This is the main reason i believe many do no accept Vettel on par with the others, he never really showed how he can do when he is behind fighting.

Just watching qualifying now. The crowd cheered when Vettel didn't make into Q3 which was very noticeable!

[Alesi1]

The problem with mediocrity is that it becomes a culture that is difficult to shake. For those of you who know of AFL, the st kilda and Fremantle football clubs are a perfect example. Even with great players/ team success doesn't come easy because of the in built culture of underachieving. The longer our present level of performance is viewed as 'building' to the future, the longer we will be like this and I fear that the drought oF the eighties/nineties is where are heading. In order to fix this new people with renewed energy and drive are needed. There is no question of the quality of our drivers. I'm not going to get into the Felipe issue other than to say that the car deserved to be where he put it.
I think that rather than chop drivers, SD should have gone first, and LDM for his inability to see that. Ross brawn shoud have been team principal, and if that had of been the case we wouldnt be having this conversation. We need an overhaul like that in the mid nineties but not from a driver perspective. Only then can we change this mentality which has suddenly become acceptable to organization as powerful as this is. I think it is starting but I am impatient.
I love this team and have done since I was a kid, but don't support this contemporary lack of drive and passion, that I'm sure Enzo would be unimpressed with. All hot air and talk, no action. How long do we have to wait 20 years !
Oh and what of the merc is monster and we are small comment. How embarrassing. No disrespect to merc, their road cars are great but Ferrari is the dream that no car manufacturer can match don't forget that SD.
My two cents for what it's worth.

Anyway good luck for today.

[Jas]

Red bull aero, clever...
Red Bull debuts new drag cutting rear wing endplate
By Steven De Groote on 15 Mar 2014, 23:34




Among the many updates present on various cars at Melbourne, Red Bull certainly has one of the more interesting as the RB10 features a brand new rear wing endplate, including a new solution to reduce the drag induced by the rear wing.

The previously common solution, as seen on the inset, was to add gills on the high pressure side of the rear wing. These gills allowed some air to bleed off from the high pressure area in between the endplates to end up on the outer sides of the endplates. Red Bull's new endplate lacks these gills, instead adding 3 small apertures on the low pressure side of the rear wing. Here, air from outside the endplates flows through these openings into the low pressure area under the wing.

In both cases, downforce generated by the rear wing is marginally reduced, but the return is a less strong vortex on each side of the rear wing, resulting in less drag. What triggered this new design is unclear, but it is not unthinkable that the stronger DRS system has something to do with it.

[stefa]

'I was playing around with the switches' - Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen said his crash during qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix was on a slowing down lap and caught him by surprise, but that there was no major.damage to his Ferrari.

Raikkonen hit the wall coming out of Turn 3 at the end of Q2 in the rain, and will begin Sunday's race from 11th position. But he played down the incident, and believes his grid position reflects his competitiveness at the moment.

"I was just playing around with the switches or something and got a little bit of wheelspin and touched the wall," Raikkonen said. "It was just one mistake. I just got a little bit of wheelspin. I wasn't pushing anymore anyhow but just got wheelspin. I just couldn't catch it. That didn't change the fact that we would not have gone through anyhow.

"I think we had some speed, but it was just the traffic, so obviously with those things it's a bit tricky. I didn't have any more time to do an extra lap [when I spun] so I would have come in [the pits] anyhow."

Raikkonen revealed he is having difficulties with the car this weekend.

"Overall we probably struggle a bit on our set-up. We knew that already from testing. We are waiting for new stuff that we want to try. Unfortunately that will not happen overnight."

Raikkonen said the parkland circuit was particularly difficult to drive in the wet.

"It seems to be tricky here for some reason. For some reason when we come here it doesn't turn out to be nice weather. It can be like it is now or sunny like it was yesterday. That's how it is. Tomorrow is another day."


He even got time to play....

[Alesi1]

'I was playing around with the switches' - Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen said his crash during qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix was on a slowing down lap and caught him by surprise, but that there was no major.damage to his Ferrari.

Raikkonen hit the wall coming out of Turn 3 at the end of Q2 in the rain, and will begin Sunday's race from 11th position. But he played down the incident, and believes his grid position reflects his competitiveness at the moment.

"I was just playing around with the switches or something and got a little bit of wheelspin and touched the wall," Raikkonen said. "It was just one mistake. I just got a little bit of wheelspin. I wasn't pushing anymore anyhow but just got wheelspin. I just couldn't catch it. That didn't change the fact that we would not have gone through anyhow.

"I think we had some speed, but it was just the traffic, so obviously with those things it's a bit tricky. I didn't have any more time to do an extra lap [when I spun] so I would have come in [the pits] anyhow."

Raikkonen revealed he is having difficulties with the car this weekend.

"Overall we probably struggle a bit on our set-up. We knew that already from testing. We are waiting for new stuff that we want to try. Unfortunately that will not happen overnight."

Raikkonen said the parkland circuit was particularly difficult to drive in the wet.

"It seems to be tricky here for some reason. For some reason when we come here it doesn't turn out to be nice weather. It can be like it is now or sunny like it was yesterday. That's how it is. Tomorrow is another day."


He even got time to play....

Kimi is hilarious. His interview... Talks of traffic.. Little bit of a spin. Good luck Kimi says the reporter, doesn't get to finish the last word cause Kimi has already left. Love how transparent he is. Just wants to drive, no time for the media stuff.

[shamim179]

Just finished watching qualifying. What on earth were the team thinking? Sending out Alonso out on intermediates in Q3 at the start when every single team and driver were out on wets? The track was too wet! That was a very bad call. It's not like the conditions were changing making it difficult to call. This is not the way to start the season. Terrible strategy. Alonso was lucky not to crash. Also sending out Alonso in Q1 on the mediums when a lot of cars were on the softs was a little risky. If the rain arrived a little bit sooner than it actually did, Alonso going out again but on softs wouldn't have improved and possibly would have been out of Q1! If you listened to the radio transmission by the team when they told him to come back to the pits you could sense some tension.

Unfortunate accident for Kimi. Don't like the cause of it though. Sounds awfully similar to that of Schumacher during at least one of his accident experiences at Mercedes. I hope old age is not catching up with Kimi.

[Kiwi Nick]

To me the amazing thing is that Ricciardo was on inters and Hamilton and Rosberg were on full wets.

[Alonsomaniac]

Age had nothing to do with Kimi's crash. Too early on the throttle and a lack of concentration did the trick. Not good, driver's error.

[shamim179]

Just studying Alonso's reaction to the media after the race. He doesn't seem happy but is he playing the team game by saying Ferrari have a strong package? Either he is bluffing or there genuinely is a problem.