Formula 1 General Chat & Discussion

australian gp results
1. Kimi Raikkonen Finand Lotus-Renault 58 laps 1hr 33m 03.225s
2. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 12.4s
3. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 22.3s
4. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 33.5s
5. Lewis Hamilton Britain Mercedes-Mercedes +00m 45.5s
6. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +00m 46.8s
7. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +01m 05.0s
8. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes +01m 08.4s
9. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +01m 21.6s
10. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault +01m 22.7s

11. Sergio Perez Mexico McLaren-Mercedes +01m 23.3s
12. Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Ferrari +01m 23.8s
13. Esteban Gutierrez Spain Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
14. Valtteri Bottas Finland Williams-Renault +1 lap
15. Jules Bianchi France Marussia-Cosworth +1 lap
16. Charles Pic France Caterham-Renault +2 laps
17. Max Chilton Britain Marussia-Cosworth +2 laps
18. Giedo van der Garde Holland Caterham-Renault +2 laps

Rtd Daniel Ricciardo Australia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 40 laps completed
Rtd Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 26 laps completed
Rtd Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Williams-Renault 24 laps completed

Dns Nico Hulkenberg Germany Sauber-Ferrari

Fastest lap:

Kimi Raikkonen Finand Lotus-Renault 1m 29.274s lap 56

Vettel storms to first pole of 2013 F1 season
Sebastian Vettel made the most of a drying track to beat Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber to pole for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Damp conditions for the delayed remainder of qualifying raised hopes of a mixed-up grid, but in the end the pole shootout took place on slicks on a nearly-dry circuit, and it was the champion team that prevailed.
Vettel put himself a second and a half ahead of the field with his 1m27.407s lap when he produced it.
Webber looked poised to beat it until a mistake at the penultimate corner left him 0.420 seconds adrift. Vettel was improving further on his next lap before pitting when it became clear he was unbeatable.
Lewis Hamilton kickstarted Mercedes' season with third on the grid, 0.6s off Vettel's pace.
That was three places higher than team-mate Nico Rosberg, despite the German having been the class of the field when the track was wet. He comfortably topped Q2, having also flown in Saturday's Q1.
The Ferraris split the Mercedes, Felipe Massa outqualifying team-mate Fernando Alonso by 0.003s to grab fourth place.
Row four will be filled by the Lotus pair, Kimi Raikkonen ahead of Romain Grosjean.
Paul di Resta got as high as second for Force India early in Q3 when intermediates were still the best choice. But on slicks he was pushed back to ninth, ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button, the first man to come out on dry tyres in the pole segment.
Several drivers had tried slicks in the final minutes of Q2, but this move proved premature.
While Button immediately returned to intermediates, his team-mate Sergio Perez persisted with slicks and found himself 15th on the grid for his McLaren debut.
Having looked a likely top-five man on intermediates, the slick move left Jean-Eric Vergne only 13th, albeit ahead of inter-shod Toro Rosso team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.
Valtteri Bottas discovered slicks made no difference to Williams's plight in 16th, while Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber and Adrian Sutil's Force India had the right tyres but were still squeezed back to row six.

1. Sebastian Vettel : Red Bull - 01:27.407
2. Mark Webber : Red Bull - 01:27.827
3. Lewis Hamilton : Mercedes - 01:28.087
4. Felipe Massa : Ferrari - 01:28.490
5. Fernando Alonso : Ferrari - 01:28.493
6. Nico Rosberg : Mercedes - 01:28.523
7. Kimi Räikkönen : Lotus - 01:28.738
8. Romain Grosjean : Lotus - 01:29.013
9. Paul di Resta : Force India - 01:29.305
10. Jenson Button : McLaren - 01:30.357

Q2
11. Nico Hülkenberg : Sauber - 01:38.067
12. Adrian Sutil : Force India - 01:38.134
13. Jean-Eric Vergne : Toro Rosso - 01:38.778
14. Daniel Ricciardo : Toro Rosso - 01:39.042
15. Sergio Perez : McLaren - 01:39.900
16. Valtteri Bottas : Williams - 01:40.290
Q3
17. Pastor Maldonado : Williams - 01:47.614
18. Esteban Gutiérrez : Sauber - 01:47.776
19. Jules Bianchi : Marussia - 01:48.147
20. Max Chilton : Marussia - 01:48.909
21. Giedo van der Garde : Caterham - 01:49.519
22. Charles Pic : Caterham - 01:50.626

Qual : 01:27.407
Pole : Sebastian Vettel
T.Bat. : Vergne > Ricciardo
Gr.Pos. Sutil : 12th place

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi


Race starts at 07.00u !!!

News-update :

Q2 en Q3 tonight at 01.00u
Qualifying at Albert Park has been postponed until race day amid persistent rainfall, with Q2 and Q3 yet to run. The start of the second grid-deciding phase had been put back on numerous occasions until the looming sunset forced a delay, with the action set to resume at 11am local time (GMT +11) tomorrow morning.
Saturday's opening qualifying session was disrupted before the action had even begun, with race control announcing a trio of ten minute delays following heavy rain showers. Once the action got underway and after a number of lead changes, Nico Rosberg set the initial pace to end Q1 four tenths ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. Track workers attempt to improve the surfaceThere were a number of incidents during the session, with Lewis Hamilton narrowly avoiding a premature exit after spinning between Turns 1 and 2. Felipe Massa and Giedo van der Garde also suffered early troubles, losing their respective front wings after contact with the barriers. The biggest drama came in the late stages, however, when Charles Pic and Esteban Gutiérrez crashed in the second sector at almost the same moment, bringing out the yellow flags and effectively ending the session early. After Q1, in which Pastor Maldonado, Gutiérrez, Jules Bianchi, Max Chilton, Giedo van der Garde and Charles Pic were eliminated from the running, there was a wait of around two hours before race control ultimately decided to halt proceedings. Increasing showers and the upcoming sunset ultimately posed too much of an issue. The last time Formula 1 witnessed a qualifying delay was at the Japanese Grand Prix in 2010, when monsoon conditions hit Suzuka and forced the track to be closed.
Sunday's delayed qualifying session in Melbourne gets underway at 11am local time (GMT +11 ) is 01.00u tonight

Regards
Shaky-Schumi

I doubt they will finish the qualifying today.
Hope for dry conditions tomorrow.

The 3rd practice session is over , here are the final standings of this session :

Grosjean quickest as problem halts Vettel :
Romain Grosjean put Lotus on top after rain hit the track during the final practice session for the Australian Grand Prix. But having led both of yesterday’s sessions Sebastian Vettel hit trouble when his car stopped in the dying minutes of the final hour. All the drivers had hit the track within minutes of the start as teams hurried on with their programmes in anticipation of the incoming rain
The Ferrari pair led the times initially with Fernando Alonso stopping the clocks on exactly 87 seconds. But just before the rain came he was pipped by Romain Grosjean’s Lotus.
Several drivers had switched to the super soft tyres in an attempt to get a run in on those when the rain arrived with less than 15 minutes’ running completed. No one managed a run on the softer tyres before the track was doused, and for the next 20 minutes there was no action at the track.
Felipe Massa broke the silence with 25 minutes remaining, taking to the track on wet weather tyres. Most of the drivers soon followed them, including the four who failed to set a time when the track was dry.
Once the rain stopped the track dried quickly, and with just over ten minutes to go drivers had begun using the intermediate tyres. Vettel had just gone out on the intermediates when his car came to a stop at turn four. Race engineer Guillaume Rocquelin was quick to tell him to pull over to look after the car.
The slippery track caused several off-track moments for other drivers including Giedo van der Garde and the Sauber pair. But by the end of the session it had dried sufficiently that some teams were considering a switch to slicks.
1 : Romain Grosjean : Lotus-Renault - 1’26.929
2 : Fernando Alonso : Ferrari - 1’27.000 + 0.071
3 : Felipe Massa : Ferrari - 1’27.241 + 0.312
4 : Lewis Hamilton : Mercedes - 1’27.246 + 0.317
5 : Paul di Resta : Force India-Mercedes - 1’27.533 + 0.604
6 : Kimi Raikkonen : Lotus-Renault - 1’27.625 + 0.696
7 : Daniel Ricciardo : Toro Rosso -1’27.849 + 0.920
8 : Jean-Eric Vergne : Toro Rosso -1’27.860 + 0.931
9 : Adrian Sutil : Force India-Mercedes - 1’28.069 + 1.140
10 : Nico Hulkenberg : Sauber - 1’28.253 + 1.324
11 : Esteban Gutierrez : Sauber - 1’28.253 + 1.324
12 : Nico Rosberg : Mercedes - 1’28.486 + 1.557
13 : Valtteri Bottas : Williams - 1’29.779 + 2.850
14 : Sebastian Vettel : Red Bull - 1’29.808 + 2.879
15 : Mark Webber : Red Bull - 1’30.073 + 3.144
16 : Jules Bianchi : Marussia - 1’30.388 + 3.459
17 : Giedo van der Garde : Caterham - 1’30.598 + 3.669
18 : Charles Pic : Caterham - 1’30.959 + 4.030
19 : Jenson Button : McLaren - 1’33.236 + 6.307
20 : Sergio Perez : McLaren - 1’33.527 + 6.598
21 : Pastor Maldonado : Williams - 1’39.232 + 12.303
22 : Max Chilton : Marussia - 1’42.872 + 15.943

At 07.00u will be the 1st qualifying of this season !!!

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

with stil 7min. left is the session for Vettel over ,he had put his car next the track ,car problem !
Still a bit of rain !

The Rain has just started pooring/falling down heavy in this 3rd practice session!!!!
With only 40 min. left it looks not that good for the drivers aswel for the fans

The Top 5 so far :
1 Grosjean , 2 Alonso , 3 Massa , 4 Di Resta , 5 Raikkonen

2nd practice is finished ,here's the result :

Vettel fastest again as Mercedes hit trouble :
Sebastian Vettel stayed on top of the times in the second practice session for the Australian Grand Prix.
It was a one-two for Red Bull with Mark Webber second ahead of Nico Rosberg. But both Mercedes drivers came to a stop in the final minutes of the session.
Having set the pace in first practice, Vettel returned to the top of the times in short order as the second session began. A lap of 1’26.274 put him comfortably ahead, with Lewis Hamilton half a second down.
Williams and Toro Rosso were the first team to sample the super-soft rubber early in the session, finding around a second in lap time but remaining in the midfield.
Fernando Alonso’s first effort on the red-coloured rubber left him the best part of half a second of Vettel’s mark on the medium tyres. It was Mark Webber who eventually took the best time off his team mate. Vettel set out to respond and set a quicker time in the first two sectors before having to back off when he caught Pastor Maldonado. Vettel eventually produced a 1’25.908, taking the fastest time off his team mate by over a quarter of a second. Shortly afterwards he reported a KERS problem on his car.
Hamilton looked like he might threaten Vettel’s time after a quick run through the first sector on super-softs. But he locked his brakes on the bumpy run into turn nine and took to the run-off area. His subsequent lap on now rather worn super-softs was only four thousandths of a second faster than his medium-tyre effort had been.
Giedo van der Garde was at the bottom of the times for the second session running. The Caterham driver ran wide at turn three early in the session and got stuck in the gravel trap, ending his session.
He was in good company as Hamilton’s session ended in a similar way, the Mercedes driver stopping at turn eight with six minutes to go. “I’m in the gravel, something’s wrong with the car,” he reported.
Moments later his team mate joined him as Mercedes told Rosberg to stop due to a gearbox problem. A hectic end to the session also saw Webber spin at turn 13 but he kept his car out of the barriers.
1: Sebastian Vettel : Red Bull - 1’25.908 laps 33
2: Mark Webber : Red Bul l- 1’26.172 + 0.264 laps 31
3: Nico Rosberg : Mercedes - 1’26.322 + 0.414 laps 26
4: Kimi Raikkonen : Lotus -1’26.361 + 0.453 laps 38
5: Romain Grosjean : Lotus -1’26.680 + 0.772 laps 32
6: Fernando Alonso : Ferrari - 1’26.748 + 0.840 laps 35
7: Lewis Hamilton : Mercedes - 1’26.772 + 0.864 laps 28
8: Felipe Massa : Ferrari - 1’26.855 + 0.947 laps 32
9: Adrian Sutil : Force India -1’27.435 + 1.527 laps 35
10: Nico Hulkenberg : Sauber -1’28.187 + 2.279 laps 34
11: Jenson Button : McLaren - 1’28.294 + 2.386 laps 30
12: Paul di Resta : Force India - 1’28.311 + 2.403 laps 37
13: Sergio Perez : McLaren - 1’28.566 2.658 laps 33
14: Daniel Ricciardo : Toro Rosso - 1’28.627 + 2.719 laps 31
15: Esteban Gutierrez : Sauber - 1’28.772 + 2.864 laps 33
16: Pastor Maldonado : Williams - 1’28.852 + 2.944 laps 36
17: Jean-Eric Vergne : Toro Rosso -1’28.968 + 3.060 laps 36
18: Valtteri Bottas : Williams - 1’29.386 + 3.478 laps 39
19: Jules Bianchi Marussia - 1’29.696 + 3.788 laps 32
20: Charles Pic : Caterham - 1’30.165 + 4.257 laps 37
21: Max Chilton : Marussia - 1’30.600 + 4.692 laps 36
22: Giedo van der Garde : Caterham - 1’32.450 + 6.542 laps 11

Tonight at 03.00u till 04.00u will be the 3rd practice session , followed with the qualifying at 07.00u !!!

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

5 min. to go .....and the session is over for hamilton because of lock-up and of track ....now also the end for the other Mercedes ....it seems a gearbox problem for Rosberg !

23 min. to go ,and it's :

1 Vettel, 2 Webber ,3 Rosberg , 4 Raikkonen , 5 Grosjean

Kind Regards
Shaky

( mmmmmm ,great coffee ....and .....biscuit/cookie ....i'm living up again .....aaaaaahhhhh )

49 min. to go and the top 5 is at the moment :
1 Vettel ,2 Hamilton , 3 Massa , 4 Webber , 5 Rosberg


( hmmm....i must make some coffee because i'm getting a bit tired after this long night .....btw gooooooooood mooooooooooorniiiiiiiiiingggggg ......

The 1st practice session has just ended ,here is the result of it :

Vettel pips Massa in first practice session :
Sebastian Vettel began his championship defence by leading the first practice session of 2013 – but Ferrari weren’t far behind. After the first 90 minutes of practice for the Australian Grand Prix Felipe Massa was just 0.078s slower than the Red Bull driver, with team mate Fernando Alonso third.
Lewis Hamilton was fourth-fastest on his first appearance for Mercedes.
The first half-hour of the session saw little running as the drivers preferred to keep an eye on track conditions and wait for their rivals to make a move. Toro Rosso blinked first, sending Daniel Ricciardo out for a run. His team mate soon joined him followed by the Caterhams and Marussias.
Kimi Raikkonen was among the first of the front-runners to do a stint, lowering the best to a 1’27.877.
The Mercedes pair got close to the time but Fernando Alonso was the first to beat it, improving on the Lotus’s mark by two tenths of a second. That left Vettel as the only driver yet to set a time. With half an hour to go he duly took the top spot off the Ferrari, despite running wide at turn six.
Felipe Massa briefly reclaimed the top time but Vettel took it back with his next effort. Now it was Massa’s turn to make an error at turn four, In the latter stages of the session several drivers were clearly struggling for grip. Mark Webber reported his tyres were gone towards the end of the session and Ricciardo was having trouble with tyre vibrations. Giedo van der Garde ran wide at turn one and more than one driver got onto the dirt at the exit of turn five. Jules Bianchi out-braked himself at turn three.
With two minutes to go Paul di Resta spun off at turn six but managed to extract his Force India from the gravel trap and get back on the track.
1: Sebastian Vettel : Red Bull : 1’27.211 laps 16
2: Felipe Massa : Ferrari : 1’27.289 +0.078 laps 17
3: Fernando Alonso : Ferrari : 1’27.547 + 0.336 laps 16
4: Lewis Hamilton : Mercedes : 1’27.552 + 0.341 laps 18
5 :Mark Webber : Red Bull :1’27.668 + 0.457 laps 18
6 :Kimi Raikkonen : Lotus : 1’27.877 + 0.666 laps 17
7: Nico Rosberg : Mercedes : 1’28.013 + 0.802 laps 17
8: Adrian Sutil :Force India : 1’28.426 + 1.215 laps 19
9: Jenson Button : McLaren : 1’28.440 + 1.229 laps 19
10: Romain Grosjean : Lotus : 1’28.520 + 1.309 laps 15
11: Sergio Perez : McLaren : 1’28.597 + 1.386 laps 19
12: Nico Hulkenberg : Sauber : 1’28.786 + 1.575 laps 19
13: Paul di Resta : Force India : 1’28.910 + 1.699 laps 18
14: Pastor Maldonado : Williams : 1’29.443 + 2.232 laps 20
15: Valtteri Bottas : Williams : 1’29.928 + 2.717 laps 19
16: Esteban Gutierrez : Sauber : 1’30.203 + 2.992 laps 17
17:Jean-Eric Vergne : Toro Rosso : 1’30.729 + 3.518 laps 17
18: Daniel Ricciardo : Toro Rosso :1’30.969 + 3.758 laps 19
19: Jules Bianchi : Marussia : 1’31.263 + 4.052 laps 24
20: Max Chilton : Marussia : 1’32.176 + 4.965 laps 23
21: Charles Pic : Caterham : 1’32.274 + 5.063 laps 21
22: Giedo van der Garde : Caterham :1’32.388 + 5.177 laps 18

2nd practice session starts at 06.30u !

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

17 min. to go and the top 5 is at the moment
1: Vettel , 2 : Massa ,3: Alonso ,4: Hamilton , 5 : Webber

37 minutes to go in this session ....10 drivers have set a time so far !

The weather is sunny in Australia

as usual...they do a installation run ....and stay in the box afterwards ....we are allready 25 min. away in this session and nothing to see on the track so far