Formula 1 General Chat & Discussion

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

Little info :
For those who are interrested ...tonight at 02.30u CET will be the 1st practice session ....you can watch it " live " at

[Versteckter Link - Registrierung notwendig]

The schedule for tonight is :
01.00u - Australian Grand Prix F1 Drivers Press Conference Repeat
01.45u - Gear Up For Australia
02.30u - 04.00u :1st practice session
06.30u - 08.00u : 2nd practice session
10.30u - SkySports F1 : The F1 show

and for those who are not able to watch it " live " :
14.30u - 1st practice session replay
16.50u - 2nd practice replay
21.00u - SkySports F1 : The F1 show replay
22.00u - 1st practice session replay
00.20u - 2nd practice session replay

I will post this night the results as soon as they are released ...sooooooo it's going to be a fantastic night of Formula 1 for me ( ofcourse i have taken a vacation day on friday to watch the opening season )

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

the Melbourne Grand Prix takes place on a street circuit but a bit unusual, because the average speed in qualifying is more than 220 km, and there are some run-off area large enough. Traction and braking are important here. Two t DRS zones, during practice qualifying and race. Tyre: Supersoft and Medium.
Here only a podium for Ferrari(3° place)in the last five years

Winner (last 5 editions)
2008 L Hamilton – McLaren Mercedes
2009 J Button – Brawn Mercedes
2010 J Button – McLaren Mercedes
2011 S Vettel – Red Bull Renault
2012 J Button–; McLaren Mercedes

Pole position: (last 5 editions)
2008 L Hamilton – McLaren Mercedes
2009 J Button – Brawn Mercedes
2010 S Vettel – Red Bull Renault pole time 1m 23.919 – first free practice 1m 26.927 (gap: 3.008)
2011 S Vettel – Red Bull Renault pole time 1m 23.529 – first free practice 1m 26.831 (gap: 3.302)
2012 L Hamilton – McLaren Mercedes pole time 1m 24.922 first free practice 1m 27.560 (gap: 2.638)
the gap is the improvement between the first free practice session on Friday morning and pole position in the same year. So after the practice session on Friday morning it will be possible to have a first idea on the pole time.
much more interesting would be the comparison between the third free practice and the pole position
2010 (gap 0.800) 2011 (gap: 0.978) 2012(gap: 0,759)
Of course, the comparison is only possible in dry conditions.

good championship to pilots and teams
and good luck to everyone for the game here.
Best regards.

Last years pole position Lewis Hamilton 1:24.922 min.

last year melbourne results
1 3 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes --
2 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault +2.1 secs
3 4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +4.0 secs
4 2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault +4.5 secs
5 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari +21.5 secs
6 14 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari +36.7 secs
7 9 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault +38.0 secs
8 15 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari +39.4 secs
9 16 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari +39.5 secs
10 11 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes +39.7 secs
11 17 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari +39.8 secs
12 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +57.6 secs
13 18 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault Accident
14 24 Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth +1 Lap
15 25 Charles Pic Marussia-Cosworth +5 Laps
16 19 Bruno Senna Williams-Renault +6 Laps
Ret 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari +12 Laps
Ret 20 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault +20 Laps
Ret 21 Vitaly Petrov Caterham-Renault +24 Laps
Ret 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes +48 Laps
Ret 10 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault Accident
Ret 12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes +58 Laps