It is FREE - just go to the home page www.formula1.com then to live timing and all you need to do is enter your email and password and you're in - very simple. Once registered, always registered and all you need to do for next event is log on. Carol
Schumacher says Ferrari just too slow Saturday, April 1st 2006, 05:43 GMT Michael Schumacher says his Ferrari team were just too slow in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, and the German admitted the rain was not to blame for their poor showing. Schumacher missed the final cut of qualifying after failing to set a good enough time to be in the top ten. The German's second flying lap was hindered when rain began to fall over the Melbourne circuit. The seven-time champion, however, said rain was not the main problem and claimed Ferrari were just off the pace this afternoon. "Obviously, we cannot be satisfied with this qualifying," said Schumacher. "In the second part, I used two sets of new tyres, but I did not get the most out of them. Clearly, the few drops of rain did not help just as I was on my second attempt, but the main problem today is that we were just too slow. "Now we have to find out what happened and try and do something to be quicker tomorrow. Tomorrow, it will definitely not be nice to start from this far back on the grid, but we will try and make the most of the situation." The Italian team endured a disappointing day, with Schumacher's teammate Felipe Massa crashing during the second session. The Brazilian lost control of his car during his flying lap and crashed heavily against the tyre barriers. He qualified in 16th place. "What happened was a shame, because I was on a good lap at the time I went off," Massa explained. "I had gone into Turn 11 when I lost the rear of the car. I touched the kerb and I could not correct it in time and that was the end for me. Fortunately, the car was undamaged, which is the most important thing. "It should have been a good lap, but now we have to accept this situation and do a good race, just as we did in Malaysia."
Qualifying fuel allocations - Australia Saturday, April 1st 2006, 08:40 GMT Following qualifying, the FIA released the number of laps each driver completed in the final qualifying session, and consequently the amount of fuel each driver is allowed to add to his car's fuel tanks before the start of the race: Driver Laps Fuel (kg) Jenson Button 14 laps 41 Giancarlo Fisichella 14 laps 41 Fernando Alonso 15 laps 44 Kimi Raikkonen 14 laps 41 Juan Pablo Montoya 14 laps 41 Ralf Schumacher 14 laps 41 Mark Webber 12 laps 35 Nick Heidfeld 14 laps 41 Jacques Villeneuve 5 laps 15 Jarno Trulli 18 * * This figure was provided by the team to the FIA prior to the start of the third period of qualifying.
I forgot to mention to you that the time convertor to your local time will give you practice time, quallifying and race times. Glad you got into the live timing! Carol
Interesting how much MS is complaining about the car today, as just a few weeks ago, it was dominant..
bet you both renault's will get by button after the first turn tomorrow. Their launch control is too strong. I'm starting to get ancy here, how long must it be before we see another ferrari win?
Thanks Carol a great pleasure your info. The GP will start at 14H00 local hour, it seems for Europe is 06H00 very early morning regards
is LC legal? a few weeks ago, i read somewhere, nigel mansell was quoted saying that FA and renault were cheating with some kinda LC. just curious.. regarding massa, i hopes he does something special tomoro. i mean, mistakes in 2/3 races? mistakes like that should not be done in a red car...sorry if i annoyed anyone, but it's kinda frustrating. just a few days ago, MS said their 1st win could be here...look now .. anyways, rubens better buck up in his braking zone....
I sure hope so! The grid promises an awesome race. Can't wait. The Scuderia is a mess right now. Leaving that cooling fan lying around wouldn't have happened to them in their championship winning years. They're just not focused. I'm glad MS admitted that his 11th place happened before the rain came. The car simply doesn't have the speed. I wonder whether a mechanic will get sacked for leaving that fan around as Matchett suggested. FIA might even fine them for it.
Yes the race will be interesting, and yes I thought the Ferrari looked a little lacking in even the first race. This proves again that last years car was a complete dud by Ferrari, and as MS stated they returned to the F2004 for much of the F248 (2006) inspiration ... which means they are now a season behind the other teams, and still a little lost. While I do not respect Massa's ability behind the wheel, he was a little unlucky with the curb hop and shows hows sensitive atleast the Ferrari is to this sort of treatment. If he is fired then Ferrari have completely lost it and returned to being truly Italian once again. Yeah give him a slap, but you don't sack people for a single mistake ... hardly how Ferrari built the super team in the late 90's. They need to spend the most time back home designing improvements for this car so that next year they will be right at the front again. Maybe they have to return to what they did in 97 or 98 ... ie. blatently copy another teams car (remember how they basically copied the McLaren or Williams because they were lost). I'd copy the Renault myself as I think there is a good overall package there. The McLaren appears to be fast sometimes but they are not ending up on the front row ... so I'm starting to think this is simply 'English media' hype. Pete
Pete, I was thinking the samething myself about the McLaren. Montoya looked like he would grab pole or at least 2nd place on his final run and than lost so much time on the third sector. I really admire Renault for building such a rocket with half the budget of Toyota and Ferrari.
Ide-ot... I guess there are a few members of F-Chat that should be driving in F1 based on his performances.
OK this looks promising for tonight ... Lets see ... - For the first time this year, both Alonso and Fisi are v. close to each other on the grid with presumable similar fuel strategies ... will Fisi have the wherewithal to keep Alonso behind - Button did a great job in qualifying but I believe he is a bit lighter than both Renaults. Also there hasnt been one instance in 2005 or 2006 where the BAR/Honda team have shown speed in the pits and great strategy. Button has done a good job but the whole team needs to perform. A Ross Brawn,Pat Symmonds like performance is called for. - Will the Macca boys stop being so shy and actually fight for the pole position instead of cowardly deep fueling the car and overtaking later in the race. Both Kimi and Monty looked on a pole beating pace in sectors 1 and 2 but are slower in the third sector for some reason - methinks it is too much fuel - I want to see Michael fight his forward like in Suzuka last year. Massa, I'm pretty sure will fight forward if he can survive the first corner.
Regarding Ferrari's performance, remember that the revs on the engine are being limited (second race for the engine from the Malaysian GP) to protect that piston issue they're having. I think it's the reason that Todt was talking more about Imola than Australia. They also had the aero package change and it sounds like the cold weather Bridgestones weren't working as well as expected (although they seemed to work pretty well for Honda). The only positive about starting in this position is that MS can alter fuel strategy, etc, unlike the other cars in front of him. If it takes a while for those tyres to heat up anyway, then a one-stop strategy should seem possible. Before we bash the F248 too badly, remember that Renault was also impressed with the chassis and its' potential this year...Ferrari is not starting out well, but it's a long season.
"For the first time this year, both Alonso and Fisi are v. close to each other on the grid with presumable similar fuel strategies..." Nope, Alonso got one more lap of fuel added... 44kg instead of the 41kg of Fisi...
That doesnt mean anything - Alonso burned off one more lap during qualifying so he gets it credited back. They could have very similar fuel when they started the third session of Qualifying. But anyway even if similar race strategies are adopted, teams usually fill one guy to last a lap longer to avoid both of them hitting pits at the same time. That is the normal practice. Nice Lola BTW
Massa told AMUS top 5 in qualifying would've been possible for Ferrari, but not more. Ferrari hasn't got enough experience with the soft BS, so they used the conservative -and harder- option. Toyota and Williams had a more aggressive approach. (softer compound) The new tyres of B/S were surely a step forward in cool conditions but Ferrari didn't have them. Ferrari got it wrong with tyre strategy. Today's qualifying wasn't representative of Ferrari's performance.
Is it possible they set the car up for wet conditions? There is a substantial performance difference between a wet and dry setup? Perhaps this is why they were slower today
I wouldn't think so. The last time Schumacher did that (at Spa a couple of years ago) he was down the field in qualifying but on wet set-up, then Charlie let everybody else change to a wet set-up for the race "on safety grounds."
