2008 Australian GP - Practice spoiler

Someone is a lousy poker player. Looks like everyone will be up on the wheel this year. All good.

 

2nd Free training results:

1. L. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:26,559 32
2. M. Webber Red Bull Racing + 0,914 26
3. F. Massa Ferrari + 1,081 29
4. H. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes + 1,124 28
5. D. Coulthard Red Bull Racing + 1,478 25
6. K. Räikkönen Ferrari + 1,649 28
7. J. Trulli Toyota + 1,733 22
8. N. Rosberg Williams + 1,793 31
9. G. Fisichella Force India + 1,910 32
10. T. Glock Toyota + 2,023 27
11. J. Button Honda + 2,073 29
12. N. Heidfeld BMW Sauber + 2,172 32
13. F. Alonso Renault + 2,220 36
14. R. Kubica BMW Sauber + 2,301 34
15. R. Barrichello Honda + 2,442 27
16. K. Nakajima Williams + 2,518 32
17. A. Sutil Force India + 2,602 31
18. S. Vettel Toro Rosso + 2,634 40
19. N. Piquet Renault + 2,959 13
20. S. Bourdais Toro Rosso + 3,046 11
21. T. Sato Super Aguri + 4,104 16
22. A. Davidson Super Aguri + 4,968 8

 

Home crowd will be very pleased with their driver Webber. That would result a nice ticket selling boost for that race. Instead of that his result is surprise for me, but it's cool, even if that is only a free training, and the main thing will become.

 

The Australian Grand Prix, the first round of this year's Formula 1 World Championship, got underway with the two 90 minute free practice sessions.

As usual, Friday's work centred on finding the best set-up on the car and a comparison of the two types of tyre that Bridgestone supplied to the team.

Kimi Raikkonen recorded the fastest lap of the day in the morning session, stopping the clocks in 1:26.461s. In the afternoon he was less happy to find himself sixth fastest. Felipe Massa ended the afternoon third overall.

Kimi Raikkonen
"I am not very happy with the way practice went. This morning we found some good settings for the car, but in the afternoon, we struggled and our lap times reflect that. We must look carefully at the data to work out how to improve the car. We have seen that if we manage to find the right set-up, we have the potential to be competitive."

Felipe Massa
"All in all, I am happy with this start to the season. We were able to work towards the race and I think I will be able to run at a good pace on a long run. Because of going off the track, I was unable to try the last set of soft tyres available to me, but that's certainly not a big problem. The harder tyres are very consistent, while the other compound gives more grip on the first lap, but then suffers from greater degradation."

Stefano Domenicali
"The start of a new season is always a special feeling.
From a personal point of view, I cannot deny that this is a special day, my first on the pit wall as the head of the Gestione Sportiva. We are not entirely satisfied with the way practice went and we still have to work on finding the right balance on the car, both for qualifying tomorrow and for Sunday's race."

Luca Baldisserri
"A bit of a complicated day, especially in the second session. The set-up of Kimi's F2008 in the afternoon was certainly not the best and we need to work out exactly why. As for Felipe, he was pretty happy with the handling of his car. At the end, the Brazilian had an off-track excursion which meant he was forced to end his work programme a bit prematurely and it bore testimony to the fact that, this year, the margin for error is virtually nonexistent. Now we must prepare as well as possible for qualifying and the race. The weather conditions are very difficult and will provide a stern test of the cars' reliability."

E.A. © CAPSIS International
Source: Ferrari

 

finally...a race weekend is here. someone mentioned rain. in Malaysia, it's been raining every afternoon for the past 2 weeks...

 

In my opinion, practice is meaningless: Raikkonen in 6th, Webber in 2nd, Alonso 13th??? At qualifying it will be a Ferrari on pole, a McLaren(Hamilton) outside, another Ferrari 3rd, a BMW(Heidfeld) 4th, Renault (5th), and Toyota (Trulli) 6th. I have no idea whether Kimi or Phil will be on pole, one of them will run a heavier fuel load.

I for one do not want to see rain so early in the season. Without traction control, and the limited experience that most of these drivers have without this driver aid, a rain race at this point will not be fun to watch and could end up a parade. For that reason, if it look likes rain, you will see lighter fuel loads during qualifying as most drivers would rather be up front for better visibility.

 

I expect to hear that a lot this season...

 

Already working on the excuses, eh brother?

 

Its great to wakeup at 1200 midnight to watch F1. I luv it! My life has meaning again.

 

Hopefully P2 was more of a race than quali practice session! I'm sure Kimi will be right up there in quali and hopefully take pole, an all Ferrari front row would lead to sweet dreams as soon as the session is done!

 

I guess they will be! From itv.com/f1:

Live Streaming and Simulcast

Every Friday, we will bring you live streaming of both Formula 1 practice sessions. This action is currently not available on television to UK viewers, and gives F1 fans a fantastic opportunity to check out the form ahead of each race.

Then, on Saturday and Sunday, we'll be simulcasting online ITV Sport's coverage of qualifying and the race - so if you're not able to get near a TV, you can still watch online!

Ben

 

Great post and really all anybody needs to know. Getting worried about Seabass, his season might be over before it begins if he continues to get blown away like that.

I said it all along: Piquet is totally overrated and useless. Also goes to show how immensely great Hamilton really is. He wasn't 2 seconds off Alonso last year in Melbourne.

I expected Superbestfriends to be in trouble (basically no funding until the last minute). But Williams is concerning. As is BMW with the reliability, seems to continue from winter testing. BTW: Sack Nakajima.

Go Kimi, go!

 

Go Kimi and Sack Sato

 

Sometimes ya just don't know how much you miss something until its back.

Yaaaaa Hooooo it's F1 time!

Go Ferrari!

 

whatever for?

 

+1

I'll try to vary the wording of my responses though...just to keep it interesting.

 

ALL I CAN HONESTLY SAY FOR FERRARI ; ITS GOING TO BE ONE HECK OF AN FIGHT TO THE FINISH. THATS IF MASSA DOES NOT CRASH OR SPIN OUT OF CONTROL. KIMI IS DOING ALL HE CAN FOR THE MOMENT. HAMILTON MAY PULL IT OFF AND JUST WIN..
MY THOUGHTS
JOHN

 

I think its disgusting that theres no way to view F1 races from the past and present online, I assume the FIA is behind it and I think thats practically criminal.
That ITV workaround didnt work around their monopoly, guess I'll be up at 11 since theres no place to stream or download the race.

I have to wonder how its possible for them to keep these things off the web, noone else has been able to force their "video property" offline..

Its just not possible for normal people to catch each and every race as they happen. "screw them" eh, FIA? SCREW YOU

 

There are ways to watch F1 races from the past online, its a lit illegal but nonetheless. Torrents.

To watch the race live, the ITV way does work.

 

I'd sack him and put in a proven talent, like Adam Carroll. Problem is, Adam doesn't come with Toyota engines!

 

Torrents are rediculous, if i wanted to cut my internet capability by 99% id go back to 28kb/s modem

I tried the itv, i know theres nothing live atm but atleast the clips should work.

and if i wanted to watch it on THEIR schedule id use the television.

This is nothing less than a crime against every race fan.

 

I hate to say I told you so... but I have been predicting Seabass to be a major disappointment in F1.

 

Guys, "We talkin' about practice, PRACTICE, not a game, not a game, PRACTICE" said in an Allen Iverson-esque voice.

 

It maybe just practise, but nice to see drivers show boating there skills.

In fact you can glean some good info, ie LH did an brillant power slide he clearly has a lot of confidence in the car he will carry on making risky moves, Kimi's main worry IMO.

Massa may do well in Qualifying but in the race its plain to see Kimi will lose sight of him.

It also looks like Ferrari's tyre wear is better than Mclaren's.

Honda should be a happier with the car it appears they have made a move in the right direction with a new areo package ,Well it couldn't get much worse I suppose..

Webber looking good could be on light fuel, but hell who cares hope he does well on his home GP.

But on the whole no real surprises not long now for the show down..

 

Why is it criminal? You can see illegal year end reviews on YouTube if you do a simple search. Which by the way is criminal.

Welcome to the world 99% of the world population lives in. As far as monopoly goes they own the rights to the broadcasting they can do, and will do what they want.

Actually a lot of companies/production companies spend a lot of time patrolling the web for illegal postings. Saturday Night Live/ABC is among the best at this. They've gotten very good at hunting down illegal postings and shutting them down. They spend a LOT of money producing their shows, as the FIA does producing F1, and deserve to reap the financial benefits of that hard work.

Once again welcome to the world most of us live in. If you can't catch it live, well there's TIVO or your VCR. Can't afford cable? Ask a friend to record it for you.

I'm sorry to say you sound like another self absorbed, entitled Gen Y who's upset because it hasn't been handed to you on a silver plate. Not everyone gets a trophy you know.