Australian GP 2007

[DinanM3_S2]

F1 is finally back! And today's qualifying was very interesting

Qualifying Results-
01 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:26.072
02 F. Alonso McLaren 1:26.493
03 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:26.556
04 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:26.755
05 R. Kubica BMW 1:27.347
06 G. Fisichella Renault 1:27.634
07 M. Webber Red Bull 1:27.934
08 J. Trulli Toyota 1:28.404
09 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:28.692
10 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:28.871

Round 2 Cuts

11 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:26.909
12 N. Rosberg Williams 1:26.914
13 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:26.964
14 J. Button Honda 1:27.264
15 A. Wurz Williams 1:27.393
16 F. Massa Ferrari 1:26.712

Round 1 Cuts

17 R. Barrichello Honda 1:27.596
18 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:28.305
19 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:28.579
20 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:29.267
21 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:29.339
22 C. Albers Spyker F1 1:31.932

A few comments-
Kimi on pole! He looked very dominant, being the 1st new-to-Ferrari driver to get pole on his 1st race since Fangio. He'll be tough this weekend, but I wouldn't be suprised if Alonso had a bit more fuel, much like the McLarens of 2006. It was a shame that Massa's gearbox had to go bad on him in q2, he would have been near the top based on his previous performances, possibly pole. Hopefully that will be Ferrari's only technical problem of the weekend. It will be great to see the two favorites start the year out on the front row. Hopefully we'll see some dueling between them.

Lewis Hamilton did a great job of qualifying starting on the 2nd row of his 1st GP, but I think he might struggle to stay ahead of the more experienced Kubica and Fisichella.

I was a little worried the BMW's test times were misleading, as they were last year, but 3rd and 5th is a great performance. With Heikki underperforming in the Renault (to be expected from a rookie) and Fisi failing to beat Kubica, BMW appears to be the #3 team on the grid ahead of Renault.

The #5 team appears to be... Toyota? Well they are based on qualifying, we'll see if they can hold together during the race. I would also like to give some attention to Mark Webber in 7th, far outperforming Coulthard in 19th between the Toro Rossos. Australia must be incredibly proud of their boy. He, more then anybody, appears to have outperformed his car. Lets hope for no breakdowns.

By far the biggest, craziest story of the day would have to be Super Aguri's performance. For the very first time, both Aguris passed the 1st round, and Sato managed to reach the 3rd round for the first time in SA history. Not only did they manage to beat their team records, they beat Honda! Rubens didn't make it out of the 1st round and Jenson barely made it into the 2nd. Apparently Honda's 2006 car (which is essentially what the 2007 Aguri is) is significantly better then the earth mobile.

Things to watch for in the race-
Ferrari reliability issues?
Will Hamilton be competitive over the whole race? score a podium?
Can BMW compete with Ferrari and McLaren?
Can Renault compete with BMW?
Fuel Loads?
Will Massa be able to come from behind?
Will Aguri score their 1st points?
Which cars will break down? Toyota and RBR had testing reliability issues
Or will the only thing that matters be Kimi vs. Alonso?

[ales]

It's so good that the break is over, although, admittedly, I haven't been looking forward to this season as much as I had before, for obvious reasons.

Ferrari reliability issues?

Fingers crossed!

Will Hamilton be competitive over the whole race? score a podium?

My initial thought is rather no than yes, but I've been wrong before in my predictions.

Can BMW compete with Ferrari and McLaren?

No

Can Renault compete with BMW?

I'm sure Renault will beat BMW in the race.

Fuel Loads?

tricky one, but I'm not expecting much difference except maybe Renault

Will Massa be able to come from behind?

He has his work cut out for him.

Will Aguri score their 1st points?

I sure hope so! Honda must be feeling very silly already.

Which cars will break down? Toyota and RBR had testing reliability issues
Or will the only thing that matters be Kimi vs. Alonso?

Kimi vs Alonso could be good! And reliability is hard to predict, but there might be some upset teams/drivers during the race.

[MR2_Lancer]

Well, this will be my first season of actually watching Formula 1. I have seen a few races last year, and picked Kimi Raikkonen as my favorite. I dunno why, I just did. Lol. I watched the qualifying last night, and was amazed. The cars are so beautiful in action, and just the qualifying was amazing. Im excited for the race...which starts in a few minutes. :-D

Edit: I am curious as too this spyker/super aguri/red bull thing. Ive been doing some reading, but still dont understand. i know ferrari, obviously makes ferrari cars. and toyota makes toyota and so on... So super aguri, spyker, and red bull are there own seperate cars? or do they borrow a chassis and motor from someone and compete under a different name?

[Neutrino]

well since i don't have any channels I'm reading the race on BBC sports (they update live lap by lap). Looks like Ferrari is in very strong shape and Raikkonen seems very quick. Interestingly it seems the big battle is between Hamilton and Alonso.

I so hope Hamilton proves faster than Alonso, it would be hilarious. The new kid shows quite a bit of talent so far, lets hope McLaren lets him do his thing and not artificially make him play second string to Alonso.

PS this post was made on lap 40

[Neutrino]

phew it looks like raikkonen had a bit of a scare, guess its typical of him to be a bit reckless even with such a big lead. lets hope this won't cause problems down the road. I'm sure Raikkonen can beat Alonso in sheer speed but consistency matters

Also looks like Massa is coming back up the grid into points which is not bad considering how far back he was

[ales]

Lovely!
Pole position - check!
Fastest race lap - check!
Dominant race win - check!

I'm going to bed, those Australians not only drive on the wrong side of the road, but also have no notion of reasonable time to hold a grad prix.

[MR2_Lancer]

Wow, what a race. A shame Massa couldnt pick up one more position, but he definately made a showing coming from last. Raikkonen looked excellent the entire race. Alright...Bed time.... Lol.

[Neutrino]

Gratz to Ferrari it seem this season they are the team to beat. Also congratz to Hamilton for one heck of a debut, almost beating Alonso if it wouldn't been for Sato holding him in the pits.

[ales]

OK, I'm up. ish.

I'm very happy with the result today, excellent debut race for Ferrari for Kimi. Got the pole, got the win, got the fastest lap. The performance of both the driver and the car are there - his fastest lap was a full second faster than Alonso's.

Pleasant surprises of the day:
Well, Kimi's win was pleasant but not that much of a surprise, really, so I'll go with Hamilton, Super Aguri and Toyota.

Unpleasant surprises of the day:
Honda's performance was dire, but then again, not that much of a surprise. I'll name Renault in general and Heikki in particular (see also Hamilton) and STR.

Now some stats:

Race results:

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points

1 6 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 58 1:25:28.770 1 10

2 1 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 58 +7.2 secs 2 8

3 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 58 +18.5 secs 4 6

4 9 Nick Heidfeld BMW 58 +38.7 secs 3 5

5 3 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 58 +66.4 secs 6 4

6 5 Felipe Massa Ferrari 58 +66.8 secs 22 3

7 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 57 +1 Lap 12 2

8 11 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 57 +1 Lap 9 1

9 12 Jarno Trulli Toyota 57 +1 Lap 8

10 4 Heikki Kovalainen Renault 57 +1 Lap 13

11 8 Rubens Barrichello Honda 57 +1 Lap 16

12 22 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 57 +1 Lap 10

13 15 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 57 +1 Lap 7

14 18 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Ferrari 57 +1 Lap 19

15 7 Jenson Button Honda 57 +1 Lap 14

16 23 Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 56 +2 Laps 11

17 20 Adrian Sutil Spyker-Ferrari 56 +2 Laps 20

Ret 17 Alexander Wurz Williams-Toyota 48 Accident 15

Ret 14 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 48 Accident 18

Ret 10 Robert Kubica BMW 36 Gearbox 5

Ret 19 Scott Speed STR-Ferrari 28 Wheel 17

Ret 21 Christijan Albers Spyker-Ferrari 10 Accident 21

Fastest race laps:

Pos No Driver Team Lap Time Of Day Average Speed Time

1 6 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 41 15:04:23 223.978 1:25.235

2 1 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 20 14:33:45 221.178 1:26.314

3 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 20 14:33:44 221.083 1:26.351

4 10 Robert Kubica BMW 19 14:32:25 220.341 1:26.642

5 16 Nico Rosberg Williams 40 15:04:20 220.140 1:26.721

6 9 Nick Heidfeld BMW 37 14:59:13 220.137 1:26.722

7 3 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 18 14:31:04 219.707 1:26.892

8 5 Felipe Massa Ferrari 28 14:46:17 219.323 1:27.044

9 15 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 21 14:35:44 218.178 1:27.501

10 4 Heikki Kovalainen Renault 44 15:10:28 217.951 1:27.592

Tyre strategies:
Renault
Fisichella: Medium - Medium - Soft
Kovalainen: Medium - Medium - Soft

Ferrari
Massa: Soft - Medium
Raikkonen: Medium - Medium - Soft

McLaren
Alonso: Medium - Medium - Soft
Hamilton: Medium - Medium - Soft

Honda
Button: Medium - Soft - Medium
Barrichello: Soft - Medium - Medium

BMW Sauber
Heidfeld: Soft - Medium - Medium
Kubica: Medium - Medium

Toyota
Schumacher: Medium - Medium - Soft
Trulli: Medium - Medium - Soft

Red Bull Racing
Coulthard: Medium - Medium - Soft
Webber: Medium - Medium - Soft

Williams
Rosberg: Medium - Medium - Soft
Wurz: Medium - Soft

Toro Rosso
Liuzzi: Medium - Medium - Soft
Speed: Medium - Medium

Spyker
Albers: Medium
Sutil: Medium - Medium - Soft

Super Aguri
Sato: Medium - Medium - Soft
Davidson: Medium - Medium - Soft

My eyes almost popped out this night - I was trying to find those elusive markings of main/option tyres. Couldn't do it. If anyone has a decent picture of tyres with and without those "option" markings, I'd really appreciate if you post them.

Standings:

Drivers
K.Räikkönen 10
F.Alonso 8
L.Hamilton 6
N.Heidfeld 5
G.Fisichella 4
F.Massa 3
N.Rosberg 2
R.Schumacher 1

Constructors
McLaren-Mercedes 14
Ferrari 13
BMW 5
Renault 4
Williams-Toyota 2
Toyota 1

[DinanM3_S2]

Not the most exciting race, but it had its moments. I'm very happy for Ferrari and Kimi, but I would have liked to have seen how competitive Massa would have been against Kimi and the McLarens.

My observations-
With the exception of Kimi's minor incedent near the end, he looked pretty flawless and untouchable. He may have been aided by the McLarens racing each other more then him, but none-the-less a very good race. Again, I think he may have struggled with Massa. Massa did a fantastic job of coming from last to 6th. One of the things that impressed me most about Schumacher, Kimi, and Alonso is their ability to work their way through the field starting from a bad qualifying position and I didn't think Massa had that capability, but he looked pretty awesome today given his engine change.

I think that Hamilton caught Alonso off guard. Hamilton was very good in pre-season (except for a crash), but I didn't expect him to be this good this soon. I still think he will make a few rookie mistakes costing him a couple of DNFs, but under the right circumstances he could win a race this year, maybe more. Alonso looked pretty good as well, but he should be scared by how good his teammate is.

BMW-Sauber looks like they could be this years version of 2006 McMerc, just about as fast as the front two, but not as reliable. Great start by both of them, but they are a little off of McLaren and a little bit more off of Ferrari.

Renault looks decent, but definitely not where they want to be. Fisi didn't look great against the BMWs and Heikki looked like a true rookie, mistakes galore. Flavio should be furious with Heikki's performance compared to Hamilton's.

Honda was weak, especially Button. Aguri faded . Nico Rosberg looked as good as he did early last year, great job beating Toyota. Williams chassis > Toyota chassis. DC's move was just plain dangerous. He should be fined for that. Terrible weekend for him. Albers had an awesome reason for crashing.

Driver of the Race: Too hard to pick from 3 outstanding performances so I'll break the rule and give 3. Kimi for the trifecta of pole, fastest lap, and win. Looked very good today. Hamilton for taking a podium in his first GP, competing with and scaring Alonso. Massa for going from 22nd to 6th, I count very few that could have done so well, even in the Ferrari.

Hope for the next race: Reliable Ferraris and BMW-Saubers, competitive Hondas.

Originally Posted by MR2_Lancer

I am curious as too this spyker/super aguri/red bull thing. Ive been doing some reading, but still dont understand. i know ferrari, obviously makes ferrari cars. and toyota makes toyota and so on... So super aguri, spyker, and red bull are there own seperate cars? or do they borrow a chassis and motor from someone and compete under a different name?

Each team supposedly builds its own chassis, but they can buy engines from other teams. So Spyker's car is nothing like Ferrari's car, except for the engine and Red Bull's car is nothing like Renault's, except for the engine. The big controversy right now is over Aguri using a modified version of Honda's old chassis and Toro Rosso using a modified version of Red Bull's old chassis. I hope that explains.

[Jimster]

Hamilton did incredibly well

Heidfelds start was amazing

Alonso has his work cut out for him

I'd like to know what Alonso could have done in that Renault to know just how good Fisi did

Forza Ferrari!

[MR2_Lancer]

Thank you Dinan, that helped explain a lot actually.

[SabreKhan]

I know they won't really be competitive this year, but I really hope Spyker gets their act together (and that the FIA makes Aguri and RBItaly design their own cars). I just think Spyker has all the right tools: a brilliant eye for design, a love of speed, and a desire to win. Now all they need are a few of the wrong tools: money, political power, and luck. Also, for the record, Toro Rosso is such a bogus team. It's like Ferrari putting an HQ in Ireland, using last year's cars, and calling the team O'Ferrariegh.

[DinanM3_S2]

Originally Posted by SabreKhan

I know they won't really be competitive this year, but I really hope Spyker gets their act together (and that the FIA makes Aguri and RBItaly design their own cars). I just think Spyker has all the right tools: a brilliant eye for design, a love of speed, and a desire to win. Now all they need are a few of the wrong tools: money, political power, and luck. Also, for the record, Toro Rosso is such a bogus team. It's like Ferrari putting an HQ in Ireland, using last year's cars, and calling the team O'Ferrariegh.

I thought STR was using Red Bull's 2006 chassis... with a Ferrari engine. Spyker has a Ferrari engine this year as well. Spykers drivers havn't really impressed me much either, especially Albers. What was his excuse in the race? playing with his radio and forgot about the turn?

That said, I'd happily lose STR in favor of an Audi or Porsche team so long as we find another American in F1 (Andretti at Honda).

[RallyRaider]

Actually the Torro Rosso is aerodynamically identical to this years RB3.

http://photos.racing-live.com/f1/pho...diapob_329.jpg