GPWizard F1 Forum
F1 News & Discussions => General F1 Discussion => Topic started by: Alonsofan on March 17, 2019, 12:40:35 PM
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I was wondering what people thought about the race....good points, bad points
Good.... Bottas for a convincing win and getting the fastest lap. Also for making my daughter very happy (she is a big fan)
Mercedes for playing fairly.
Russell for lapping his team mate (he is showing good potential)
Bad..... Hamilton, what went wrong?
Ferrari, what's gone wrong?? Also did I smell a whiff of team orders already :nono:
Hass, pit crew...what was that??? Though it couldn't have happened to a nicer fella hehe
McLaren, I know you are in Australia but to have a BBQ with your car?? Hehe.
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Heroes:
K Mag - Haas Best of the Rest! :yahoo:
Fastest Lap Point - Added interest to the end of a runaway race. Also makes it easier to find the info for the Grid Game.
Albert Park - A good circuit with a great crowd of fans. One of the coolest trophies of the year, a copy of Brabham's steering wheel.
Zeroes:
Haas Pit Stop - Not only took way too long but also damaged the car enough for a DNF. Cost the team a likely double points finish.
Kubica - All I can do is hope for better in Bahrain.
My Grid Game pick - The less said, the better. :'(
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Winners
Mercedes in general
Russell a good showing in a poor car
Losers
Hamilton needs to improve his starts
Ferrari in general
Up in the air, fastest lap point. Whilst providing interest at the end how much tyre saving went on to have a crack at setting it at the end when cars were lightest??
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I thought the race was fairly dull, truth be told. Melbourne is a lovely circuit but it does not promote overtaking and even with the new, more powerful DRS, there were not too many overtakes (aside from drivers on newer tyres going past those on older ones). Still, F1 is back so can't complain too much!
Heroes:
Bottas- solid performance, dominated the race.
Leclerc- kept Vettel honest on his Ferrari debut, a good sign of things to come.
Magnussen- showed that when not being a bad egg, he is a pretty good driver.
Russell/Norris- Great debuts from the rookies. Russell in particular impressed me given the car he drives.
Zeroes:
Ferrari- Couldn't get on top of the conditions or just not as fast as expected.
Drain cover- For taking out Ricciardo's front wing.
Kubica- Rookie errors yesterday hitting not one but two walls. I do not expect a lot from him, but I certainly did expect him not to hit the wall!
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Heroes:
Mercedes - one race does not a season make, but they have been dominant in a way we've never seen. It would be easy for them to rest on their laurels and come in second or third, but they keep going.
Bottas - Count me amongst the people who didn't think he had it in him. Again, one race does not a season make, but I liked what I saw. And heard. "How about that"
LeClerc - Ferrari needs to let their drivers prove who is number one instead of assigning it. People are going to catch on that sporting team that isn't sporting isn't worth supporting.
Australia - Standing up to tobacco sponsorship.
Zeroes:
Vettel - one race does not a season make but... already looking to assign blame. Who wants to be on the side of the garage that gets blamed for everything?
Renault - you're supposed to be a 'big boy' team. Please remember to sweat the details.
Haas - same comment as Renault.
Worth mentioning:
I'm glad to see that Stroll put in a good race in a good car, and continued to be a strong starter.
I'm glad to see that Honda is back on the podium. How many thirds will they get before Red Bull is blaming them for holding them back?
Red Bull's driver academy is a mess, good on Kvyat for beating Gasly, but it's going to end up as huge embarrassment for for someone.
I like the Fastest Lap point. No idea why Ferrari didn't just pull in LeClerc to claim it. Saves them having to issue an order to back off Vettel, gains a point for Ferrari, takes a point from Mercedes. It's like they're trying to look for new ways to screw up.
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Don't know about heroes and zeroes. Mercedes had everyone covered. Lewis made a far too typical poor start and Bottas was gone. After, Lewis said he was controlling the gap to Valterri but I have my doubts. Ferrari showed LeClerc is definitely #2 by not allowing him to pass a struggling Seb at the end. Binotto said:
“When Seb pitted for the medium tyres he didn’t have on that new tyres the grip he expecting and he was attacked [and passed] by Verstappen, So we decided to bring the car home. He was managing the tyres to the end and I think that 10 laps to the end as a team we decided not to take any risks, hold positions and bring the cars home, scoring points. Sebastian was managing his pace because of poor grip, bringing the car home. Charles did a great second stint but [with] 10 laps to go there was no reason to take risks today. We were not battling for the first position.”
Pure Ferrari bull. Williams claim that they know what is wrong with the car but it will takes months to fix. I think they are just done. Melbourne is a bit tricky to pass on but it looks to me as if the new front wings have done little to help passing. Kudos to Honda, competitive power and all four engines finished. Does Sainz blow up indicate maybe some of Honda's problems were actually Macca's problems?
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Heroes
Mercedes and both Bottas & Lewis (he had issues with part of the floor missing during the race).
Honda & Red Bull for making it work, and as has already been said for getting 4 cars to finish. Special mention for Max - he made a solid pass on Seb without the need to squeeze him, methinks the boy is learning.
Zeros
The stupid Q2 rule about starting on the tyre you qualify on for top 10. In a tighter mid field this year, courtesy the new wings, is going to make a bigger difference. In this race it allowed a much easier job for those outside the top 10, Hulk & Stroll to finish in the points.
Goes without saying Williams only saving grace is that they look lovely on track in the new paint job. :D
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My thoughts.
A good solid win by Bottas/Mercedes.
Lewis did well with a damaged car and held off Vettel without too much drama and then did the same with Max and got the car home in second.
Max was good as was Honda.
Ricciardo must be kicking himself!
McLaren if you remember used to have the best engine in F1 for quite a few years now but gave it up for Honda and now have Renault yet they are not able to produce a winning car. There's only one common denominator within this.
Hass three wheelers needs no further comment.
Kimi did well.
The midfield battles were interesting.
Ferrari failed to shine but Vettel could have his hands full of Leclerc through the season as his confidence grows.
Roll on Bahrain.
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Bottas, great job
Ferrari, let them race
Daniel,keep all four wheels on track and you keep your front wing
Strong,surprised me
Honda, surprised me as well
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Heroes
Bottas - Completely nailed this race. Porridge is clearly the breakfast of prospective champions.
Verstappen/Red Bull - for catching on to the harder -> softer tyre progression being the best one for the race. Well-deserved podium.
Magnussen - nice race, done with notable skill, in a race where finding the highlights was more difficult than just keeping under the radar. Also remarkably good qualifying.
Zeroes
Channel 4 - Warning! Rant alert!
The new start music was terrible (either keep The Chain or put in something vaguely tuneful!) The pre-race build was almost completely information-free, lacking such first-race necessities as a reminder of who went to what team over the winter, what was learned from testing and a coherent runthrough of practise/qualifying. Instead we got fluff pieces with a few drivers that provided nothing new, were not amusing and lacked context (apart from Riccardo's which at least had some context). Charlie's minute of silence got cut for ads even though it was probably the most important part of the pre-race programming.
There were spoilers in the pre-ad segments during the race (that the creators obviously thought weren't spoilerish, but were). Almost all remaining tension was removed by the way the commentators talked about what was going to happen instead of putting any focus on the immediate present. This was particularly impressive since it sounded like they'd commentated the race live and segmented it afterwards. My parents were occasionally having to ask me where the cuts were due to lack of visual or aural clarity. The one good bit was the post-race analysis - but I was left with the impression that I'd have been wiser to enjoy the race on Twitter/GP Wizard chat and simply skipped to the analysis when the highlights came on. It made Dad all the more furious that Sky was a) not good either, if it's still at the level it was at in 2016 and b) £33 a month minimum (or £35 a month if buying just the 9 months for F1).
Ferrari - Seriously, just have Leclerc write your strategies for you (in the Thursday press conference, he predicted the gap between F1 and F1.5 would be important for deciding who got the fastest lap point and this should be taken into account, and also that the race would present an example of when team orders might be useful at Ferrari. Lo and behold...) He seems to know what you need to be doing better than your paid strategists do!
Giovanazzi/Sauber - What were you waiting for, a tyre delamination? Those tyres had gone off ages ago. Better to do a Williams and go for a two-stop strategy than to do what you did with the first tyre.
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I feel Hamilton was too hard on himself (and a lot of people are being typically way too hard on him) - he didn't have a bad start; it is just that Bottas made a better start. It is a real shame that Mercedes felt they had to pit Hamilton early to cover Vettel. It would have been good to see Hamilton pit after Bottas so that we could have had a close finish.
I must (reluctantly) say that Verstapen did well although Ferrari gifted him his position.
Mid-pack race was close but I didn't see a lot of overtaking. Let's hope for better in future races.
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Ferrari, what's gone wrong?? Also did I smell a whiff of team orders already :nono:
1) yes, they've admitted to it
2) Leclerc predicted this in the Thursday press conference (which may explain why he asked permission to pass Vettel rather than start with the assumption he either could or couldn't do so).
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no surprise that team orders were imposed but why on earth didn't they get him on some soft tyres for a fastest lap attempt?
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Vettel asked why Leclerc was catching him (or something like that), but they didn’t broadcast the answer (he’s faster than you?)...I guess that was code for “tell him to drop back”.
Good earned win by Bottas.
Great speed by Leclerc.
So sorry for DR, but he should have known one wheel on the grass would end badly there.
I enjoyed the race, but wasn’t the most exciting.
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Done what I said I wouldn't do, watched the highlights, nothing to add except nice win Valterie, agree with Ali in that the start up of the programme is now terrible.
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Anyone see/hear where Lewis damaged his floor? I hears Merc is saying his lack of pace relative to Bottas was due to a damaged floor.
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Must be the same place Kubica lost half his front wing alongside Sainz. :D
Don't recall any mention during race coverage of Robert and Carlos coming together, but according to Williams it happened. Hey that might explain McLaren's problem with the car if summat got shook lose in that get together.
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I just assumed it was from him stamping his foot like toddler when he saw Bottas overtake him at the start.
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I hears Merc is saying his lack of pace relative to Bottas was due to a damaged floor.
... but of course, what else could be the explanation for the almighty Hammy being beaten in the sister car??? :D
Best Regards,
Cal :)
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No honest gov there really was a bit of the floor missing at the end, there's at least one photo out there showing somethings wrong.
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I hears Merc is saying his lack of pace relative to Bottas was due to a damaged floor.
... but of course, what else could be the explanation for the almighty Hammy being beaten in the sister car??? :D
Best Regards,
Cal :)
It does explain why Hamilton didn't seem pouty about his second place.
Getting podium with a wounded car is a much more difficult feat than winning with a dominant car.
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Lewis is also saying that the new aero rules have not helped in passing other cars. It did not seem to me to have made any difference, at least in OZ. We'll see if Bahrain is better.
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Lewis is also saying that the new aero rules have not helped in passing other cars. It did not seem to me to have made any difference, at least in OZ. We'll see if Bahrain is better.
They need to find a better way to express the rules. They have all sorts of finicky regulations about what can go where, when the goal is to minimize the wake of the car. Why not bring a portable wind tunnel to scrutineering, check the wake of the car and let them do whatever they want, as long as the wake is neutral?
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Lewis is also saying that the new aero rules have not helped in passing other cars. It did not seem to me to have made any difference, at least in OZ. We'll see if Bahrain is better.
I think that's a premature evaluation. Until we have covered a decent range in track configurations, I am not yet convinced whether the simpler front wings/higher rear wings and everything in between is helping/hindering following/overtaking on track!!
The only real struggle in Melbourne, was Gasly trying to pass Kvyat, but let's see how things are in the next 2-3 races first.
Best Regards,
Cal :)
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The only real struggle in Melbourne, was Gasly trying to pass Kvyat, but let's see how things are in the next 2-3 races first.
I guess that just proves that cars can follow each other as that whole train in front of Kvyat/Gasly was getting DRS most of the time. Cars in this train were neutralising each other.
With equal engine power how was one Honda going to pass the other.
Melbourne has fairly short DRS runs in comparison to other tracks so I'll reserve judgement til a few races in.
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I didn't see the pre-race. I watched an on-line replay. I hope it's better by Bahrain.
ESPN had a really odd thing during the practice sessions. A blue screen would come up with a Sky TV logo, a lot of broadcasting technical info and a large clock like graphic. It would be on of several minutes while the audio content continued in the background. Then the regular feed would resume. I thought it might be when Sky was running adverts.
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Can confirm Cos that Sky run adverts during practice sessions, they don't in the actual race itself though.
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Hamilton talks about damage to his car.
https://www.racefans.net/2019/03/19/hamilton-sure-didnt-damage-car-running-wide/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+f1fanatic+%28RaceFans+-+Independent+Motorsport+Coverage%29 (https://www.racefans.net/2019/03/19/hamilton-sure-didnt-damage-car-running-wide/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+f1fanatic+%28RaceFans+-+Independent+Motorsport+Coverage%29)
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French media apparently had photos of Merc mechanics working on the section of floor that broke prior to the race. They don't know if they were making a repair or an aero adjustment. The Team blames hitting the curbs for the damage.
https://www.racefans.net/2019/03/21/analysis-the-impact-of-hamiltons-broken-floor-and-mercedes-other-melbourne-upgrades/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+f1fanatic+%28RaceFans+-+Independent+Motorsport+Coverage%29 (https://www.racefans.net/2019/03/21/analysis-the-impact-of-hamiltons-broken-floor-and-mercedes-other-melbourne-upgrades/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+f1fanatic+%28RaceFans+-+Independent+Motorsport+Coverage%29)
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Drivers differ on effect of new front wings.
https://www.racefans.net/2019/03/21/f1s-new-aero-rules-work-but-tyres-prevent-passing-grosjean/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+f1fanatic+%28RaceFans+-+Independent+Motorsport+Coverage%29 (https://www.racefans.net/2019/03/21/f1s-new-aero-rules-work-but-tyres-prevent-passing-grosjean/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+f1fanatic+%28RaceFans+-+Independent+Motorsport+Coverage%29)