2014 Formula One Season ***possible spoilers***

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz58J287HsQ]Pit stop practice - YouTube[/ame]

 

This looks very slow, but it was excellent fun.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5VE8psTZZ0]308 at Australian F1 GP 2014 - YouTube[/ame]

 

How loud were the F1s in person? My facebook is lighting up with complaints...

 

Not loud at all.

Don't sound that good either.....

 

Ear plugs no longer needed...I thought they sounded good, once I got my head around it.

Q1 in the wet last year was Vettel 1.44.6 this year Q3 in the wet Hamilton 1.44.2

 

Red Bull may have had a disastrous winter, but designer Adrian Newey's attention to detail is as sharp as ever in 2014.

Keen-eyed observers noticed throughout the winter and again in Melbourne on Friday that the new RB10 did not have the FIA camera mountings installed as per normal.

Because it was only testing, the nose configuration was not 'illegal' at Jerez or in Bahrain, but the camera mountings are mandatory at the actual grands prix.

So how is Red Bull getting away with it in Melbourne?

A much closer look at the nose of the Newey-penned 2014 car at Albert Park reveals that a hole for the television camera lens has been cut between the 'Casio' and 'Pirelli' logos in the nose.

"The trick by aerodynamics guru Newey, who reads the rules carefully, means no inconvenient parts are in the wind," said correspondent Michael Schmidt.

The rules say the mountings must not be located inside the carbon structure, but Newey has found a loophole by putting the camera inside the 'vanity panel', a non-structural covering introduced last year to hide the unseemly nose steps.

Newey's solution also means Formula One Management can no longer use the Red Bull for a rearward-facing television view, whose images last year led to suggestions the title-winning 2013 car had an illegally bending floor.
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An engine software problem on Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull contributed to his disappointing qualifying performance at the Australian Grand Prix, but he was buoyed by team-mate Daniel Ricciardo's front-row grid position.

Vettel will start from 12th on the grid for Sunday's opening race of the season after being knocked out in the second session of qualifying. The team said the software problem "meant he was down on power with extremely poor drivability" leaving Vettel a long way shy of team-mate Ricciardo.

"There wasn't supposed to be a difference [compared with Ricciardo's car], but today we had problems on my side, so we need to understand," he said. "Fortunately it worked for him so at least we have one car where it belongs. It at least made it round, but I struggled a lot when going on power so driveability was down.

"We know generally we are not yet where we want to be, with yesterday a lot better than today, which is the thing we need to understand, why it was worse today even though we programmed it to be better. There was a different set up in the car, a different software out take. With modern F1 cars there is a lot of software programming. It's not that easy for the drivers any more to understand what is going on."

Vettel admitted it was still touch and go whether the Red Bull would be able to go the distance in Sunday's race.

"You don't have to be a genius [to see the situation]. We haven't done a race simulation, a race distance in one go. We have improved reliability compared to testing simply because we have been able to put parts on the car with similar mileage.

"There is still a long way to go, we know that, in terms of reliability. We're both on the line in terms of seeing the chequered flag, but we know the car is quick. We'll try to finish as high as possible, but priority number one is to finish the race."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

 

After qualifying fifth at the Australian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso said he is starting to understand the areas in which his Ferrari is lacking compared to the pace-setting Mercedes.

The first competitive session of the season saw Lewis Hamilton take pole position ahead of the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo and Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg. McLaren's Kevin Magnussen was fourth with Alonso in fifth, although the wet conditions meant tyre choice and timing were keys to a quick lap.

However, Alonso said he is starting to pinpoint the areas in which Mercedes are quicker and is expecting Sunday's race to make the picture even clearer.

"We are some steps behind Mercedes in performance," he said. "One area is the braking, to make it a little bit more consistent when we change the configuration of the car from high fuel to low fuel and so on, or with more or less grip. We need to improve the speed of the car in general, the traction, the top speed - we are a little bit down here compared to others across the finish line and in the speed trap.

"There are some areas where we will finally see where the competitors are when we are racing, because in testing you never know what the others are doing. This weekend is giving us some data to compare and we will study it, but it looks like there is a little bit of everything we need to put together in the next couple of races."

However, Alonso believes a podium is within his grasp as long as there are not any major issues with the Ferrari in race specification.

"It [a podium] is possible yes, because we are starting fifth and we just need to make up two positions to get that goal. It's a little bit easier than if you start further behind, but you cannot take a finish in the race for granted, which we were probably doing in the last few years.

"This year in this first race we have to say the first priority is to finish the race. Maybe that's a bit pessimistic or maybe a little bit strange, but I'm sure all the drivers - even the guy in pole position - cannot be 100% that he will finish the race.

"Let's try to do everything positive from our side to take care of every detail on the car and make sure we cross that line. If we do so then I think the podium can arrive if we are competitive. If we are not competitive for whatever reason - we are too slow in the race or we struggle with the tyres or the fuel - then we will not be in the podium because three people will do better than us. But the priority is to do everything perfect for tomorrow and don't make anything from our side that stops us."

Alonso faced an investigation from the stewards after qualifying for holding up Esteban Gutierrez, but was cleared and will still start from fifth on the grid.

 

Daniel Ricciardo was delighted with his performance during qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, following the trouble Red Bull had in pre-season testing.

Making his debut for the team after replacing the retired Mark Webber over the winter, Ricciardo was quickest in the final part of qualifying with a few seconds remaining, but was beaten to pole by the Mercedes of Hamilton in the wet session.

His team-mate and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel failed to make it out of Q2, and Ricciardo was glad to salvage something for Red Bull.

"I don't know yet. I don't know what his issues were. I saw he was about two seconds or so off my pace at the time," Ricciardo said. "For now it's happy for me at least to be up here, and just for the team to have a front row start as it wasn't looking like this a few weeks ago. I'm pretty pleased right now.

"It was exciting. Definitely the weather added to the mix. And the whole session went well. It was tricky, but at the same time it was a lot of fun. It was nice to always be up there. Definitely it was a nice qualifying session."

Read more at 'It wasn't looking like this a few weeks ago' -Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull - Australian GP - Qualif | Formula 1 | Formula 1 news, live F1 | ESPN F1

 

Aside from Ricardo doing so well, the other highlight was following Vettel on his final lap in the second knockout to see if he made it into the top 10... when his time came up the whole grandstand erupted in applause.

 

How fast were you actually going? (or possibly more to the point, how fast are you advised you are allowed to go)

 

100kph or so.

 

Will those Triumphs taking the drivers around make a whole lap?

 

Do you think that would have happened in another country?

 

As long as they don't Stag nate.

 

Good race. Two new names on the podium. Easy win for Nico though.
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Great race,welcome the new age

 

Exactly. Very refreshing. Great drive from all, and in particular Magnussen.

edit: mind you - not taking anything away from Ricciardo either. Very nice to see an aussie on the podium. Reminds me of EC/Phillip island in the 90's.

 

Wow what an afternoon! Great result for Daniel; shame about 'our' guys... hopefully some things will get resolved following the lessons of today. Am I the only one who can't come to terms with the sight of NL in the Mercedes paddock???? Just doesn't seem right...
The Sandgropers are going to become insufferable now

 

The result would also be interesting in any discussion of nurturing drivers - 2 sons of F1 drivers (can't remember offhand if Magnuson was a winner or not? Rosberg certainly was) and a kid who cut his teeth driving an F40!

 

Watch "Karen's ride" on YouTube
Karen's ride:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_JjutILqhA[/ame]

 

Ferrari team needs a restructuring like Mercedes and mclaren.. Too many poor years...

 

Jeez my car looks and sounds good.

 

Where is it?

In other news....

Daniel Ricciardo’s second-place finish in Sunday’s season-opening race in Australia is under threat after his Red Bull car was found to have ‘exceeded consistently the maximum allowed fuel flow of 100 kg/h’ - a breach of Article 5.1.4 of the technical regulations.

The FIA’s technical delegate Jo Bauer has referred the matter to the race stewards in Melbourne who must now decide whether to take action. Ricciardo's podium finish was the first of his career.

 

Infront of the 16m in Karens video