F1 Australia & Quote of the day.

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Australian GP third practice (Live)

Action is under way in the third and final practice ahead of the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park, Melbourne.

Dry track for first time this weekend......

0300:
GO! GO! GO!
The pit lane is open and we're all go, go, go at a beautifully sunny Albert Park...

"Fernando Alonso still looks like he's wrestling a giant...red...bear that doesn't like turning. Or tarmac."

0352:
It's all happening now. Romain Grosjean has taken his Lotus to the top of the times, 0.078 seconds quicker than Lewis Hamilton.
That relegates Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher to third and fourth respectively.

0400:
CHEQUERED FLAG
Lewis Hamilton's last gasp effort is enough to take the spoils with Romain Grosjean second and Mark Webber third.
Hamilton's team-mate Jenson Button is fourth with Nico Rosberg fifth and Michael Schumacher sixth.
Sebastian Vettel, who spun out with 15 minutes to go, finished seventh fastest, 0.5 seconds off the pace.


1 Great Britain L Hamilton McLaren
2 Switzerland R Grosjean Lotus
3 Australia M Webber Red Bull
4 Great Britain J Button McLaren
5 Germany N Rosberg Mercedes
6 Germany M Schumacher Mercedes
7 Germany S Vettel Red Bull
8 Venezuela P Maldonado Williams
9 Mexico S Perez Sauber
10 Australia D Ricciardo Toro Rosso
11 France J Vergne Toro Rosso
12 Finland K Raikkonen Lotus
13 Japan K Kobayashi Sauber
14 Germany N Hulkenberg Force India
15 Brazil B Senna Williams
16 Spain F Alonso Ferrari
17 Great Britain P Di Resta Force India
18 Brazil F Massa Ferrari
19 Finland H Kovalainen Caterham
20 Russian Federation V Petrov Caterham
21 Germany T Glock Marussia
22 France C Pic Marussia
23 India N Karthikeyan HRT
24 Spain P de la Rosa HRT

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Link.

http://www.mclaren.com/formula1?utm_sou ... _Button_F1

Now waiting for qualifying...

 

[board]

I must remember to stay well clear of the forum on sunday if i don't get to catch the race live

 

[hard top]

OK James, will not do it tomorrow, not fair on people watching highlights on the wonderful BBC.....

BBC....
That was a quite remarkable qualifying session to kick off this brand new season, wasn't it?
I urge you to read Andrew Benson's report and then recharge your batteries before our lovely highlights show is played out on BBC Two at 1300 GMT.
Believe me, it really is worth watching.

 

[hard top]

Brilliant stuff is all I can say........... ^^

Realy happy for this chap. (Lotus)

Romain Grosjean, who qualified third: "It's a fantastic job from everyone. It's fantastic to be back in F1 and today I'm very proud.
A few people believed in me through the toughest time and I'm back - almost at the top!"

1 Great Britain L Hamilton McLaren
2 Great Britain J Button McLaren
3 Switzerland R Grosjean Lotus
4 Germany M Schumacher Mercedes
5 Australia M Webber Red Bull
6 Germany S Vettel Red Bull
7 Germany N Rosberg Mercedes
8 Venezuela P Maldonado Williams
9 Germany N Hulkenberg Force India
10 Australia D Ricciardo Toro Rosso
11 France J Vergne Toro Rosso
12 Spain F Alonso Ferrari
13 Japan K Kobayashi Sauber
14 Brazil B Senna Williams
15 Great Britain P Di Resta Force India
16 Brazil F Massa Ferrari
17 Mexico S Perez Sauber
18 Finland K Raikkonen Lotus
19 Finland H Kovalainen Caterham
20 Russian Federation V Petrov Caterham
21 Germany T Glock Marussia
22 France C Pic Marussia
23 Spain P de la Rosa HRT
24 India N Karthikeyan HRT

Michael Schumacher, who qualified fourth: "It's been pretty pleasant all weekend long. The car handled very well as predicted.
I'm just grateful that we did a reasonable job. The guys did a great job in the factory."

MS in the gravel during third practice.

BBC Sport's chief F1 writer Andrew Benson in Melbourne.
"Mercedes are being accused by rivals of breaking the rules over a device on their car that channels air from the rear wing to the front to improve performance. It's a hot topic here in Albert Park - and all the more so because the team have made a big step forward this winter and look to be in the fight for pole with McLaren, Red Bull and possibly Lotus. We'll have more later."

BBC Radio 5 live pitlane reporter Jennie Gow.
"We know Kimi Raikkonen was struggling with the steering on his Lotus this weekend so they've decided to go back to his base setting and they're going to look at it in between this race and the next one in Malaysia."

Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen, who qualified in 18th: "I slowed down because we were supposed to have time for one more lap and I guessed we didn't. Nobody told me when I slowed down that I had to hurry up. There's no point to blame anybody and everyone is as disappointed as me. It's a bad start."

In Summary
■Lewis Hamilton is on pole
■McLaren lock out front row
■Grosjean qualifies third for Lotus
■Both Ferrari cars out of top 10
■Raikkonen out of first qualifying
■Mercedes have intricate aero 'duct' design
Reporting by
Lawrence Barretto, BBC Sport

 

[GazHyde]

I'm getting up early to drive 40miles to a mates to watch the race on Sky. Can't wait. Even getting breakfast when his missus sorts it!

 

[hard top]

Breakfast????? You can't watch F1 without a cold one in your hand!!!!! :-o

 

[board]

F1 Australia & Quote of the day.

I tested out sky go to see if I could watch but their system doesn't stream well so will see if I can get my set top box to record the local hd coverage and watch when I get in

 

[Monkey]

I tested out sky go to see if I could watch but their system doesn't stream well so will see if I can get my set top box to record the local hd coverage and watch when I get in

I watched it. Live on skygo via my XBOX360 and it was fine, good quality and no issues. But I do have a 13mb/s connection, and I doubt BT was throttling at that time of the morning. The real test will be an afternoon race when we get to the European leg

 

[board]

F1 Australia & Quote of the day.

I tested out sky go to see if I could watch but their system doesn't stream well so will see if I can get my set top box to record the local hd coverage and watch when I get in

I watched it. Live on skygo via my XBOX360 and it was fine, good quality and no issues. But I do have a 13mb/s connection, and I doubt BT was throttling at that time of the morning. The real test will be an afternoon race when we get to the European leg

and mine is streaming 6500 miles away but the iplayer does the job. I normally have the hd feed on the tv from the local transmission and then have the beeb audio which is usually a second or two behind with the stream but get the good commentary. For the live sky coverage I think I'll go with 5 live for the audio and the local hd feed as usual. Tonight is awkward as we are out and the race will start at 2am so I doubt we will be home in time to see any of it.

 

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Here we go......

 

[Aceman]

Nice one Jenson. :-bd

 

[Titan]

Typical luck for SV via the Safety Car though

 

[hard top]

Oh well, seeing as Aceman & Titan have blown it.......
I will add pics to this thread as I receive them.

Enjoyed that, as the first race of the season is not always that good but I must admit, the last lap was the best.

Well done to Button, brilliant win.

Man of the match in my book.....

BBC Radio 5 live analyst Jaime Alguersuari
"Kimi Raikkonen did a good race and scored some points in his first comeback. He did a great job, especially starting from the back.
He had a good strategy, he used the tyres when he had and generally it was a good race for him. I'm expecting a lot from him this year."

LAP 32
Kimi Raikkonen on team radio: "Why do I get all the time blue flags!" Kimi's race engineer replied: "The blue flags are not for you, Kimi, they are for people who need to be lapped."

LAP 44
Kimi Raikkonen is on the radio to his team again - this time to them that Kamui Kobayashi's rear wing is damaged.
From the onboard shots, you can see there is a part flapping so let's see what Sauber decide to do.
BBC F1 technical analyst Gary Anderson says he thinks it's structurally OK, but the team will need to have a look as the car passes the pitwall next time around.

Brazilian high tea.......

LAP 47
Felipe Massa has a new crash buddy - his fellow Brazilian Bruno Senna. The duo clash at Turn 4 and Senna tries a move around the outside but Massa closes the door.
The Williams driver may have suspension damage.

Massa, "i have a mark on the paint work of my little red Ferrari, I can not possibly continue the race like this"

Senna, "Stick a new nose on the Williams and send me out"



LAP 48
Bruno Senna makes it back top the pits and his Williams team give his car the once over before giving him the all clear.
It's not such good news for Felipe Massa, though, who parks up in the Ferrari garage.

CRASH!LAP 58
It's a nightmare for Williams as Pastor Maldonado gets his wheels on the artifical grass, loses control of his car and smashes it into the wall. He was close to his best ever Formula 1 result and Williams were on course for more points than they scored all last season.

LAP 58
Pastor Maldonado's demise means, Kamui Kobayashi gets promoted to sixth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen who gets ahead of Sergio Perez on the final corner.
There's more action on the finishing straight, too, as Daniel Ricciardo makes it into ninth - for his first points in Formula 1 - and Paul di Resta takes 10th on the line.
Jean-Eric Vergne loses out, as does Nico Rosberg who limped home with a steering issue.

Off to change a few things on Badger GP now......

1 Great Britain J Button McLaren
2 Germany S Vettel Red Bull
3 Great Britain L Hamilton McLaren
4 Australia M Webber Red Bull
5 Spain F Alonso Ferrari
6 Japan K Kobayashi Sauber
7 Finland K Raikkonen Lotus
8 Mexico S Perez Sauber
9 Australia D Ricciardo Toro Rosso
10 Great Britain P Di Resta Force India
11 France J Vergne Toro Rosso
12 Germany N Rosberg Mercedes
13 Venezuela P Maldonado (ret.) Williams
14 Germany T Glock Marussia
15 France C Pic Marussia
16 Brazil B Senna (ret.) Williams
17 Brazil F Massa (ret.) Ferrari
18 Finland H Kovalainen (ret.) Caterham
19 Russian Federation V Petrov (ret.) Caterham
20 Germany M Schumacher (ret.) Mercedes
21 Switzerland R Grosjean (ret.) Lotus
22 Germany N Hulkenberg (ret.) Force India

In Summary
■Button wins, Hamilton third
■Vettel up to second after safety car
■Grosjean, Hulkenberg, Schumacher out
■Petrov, Kovalainen, Massa, Maldonado out
■Alonso rescues fifth for Ferrari

 

[Ragtop]

Good stuff HT. Visit to Badger for me too.

 

[GazHyde]

Loved the race, well worth the early morning round trip to my mates to watch it.

Just looked on Badger, but it hasn't updated the points yet! Wonder when it calculates them?

 

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Just looked on Badger, but it hasn't updated the points yet! Wonder when it calculates them?

Just got this when I tried to change a couple of things.

Grand Prix in Progress!
There is currently a GP weekend in progress - no team changes or prediction changes allowed