[Formula 1] Australian Grand Prix : 16 March
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Venue: Albert Park, Melbourne
Starting time: 1230 HRS (SGP time)
Race distance: 307.574km (58 laps)With the exception of 2006, Melbourne has hosted the opening round of every Formula 1 season since 1996. The track is part of the public road network for most of the year, which qualifies it as a street circuit. The racing is not usually exciting save for the unpredictable weather and the scenic views.
A high downforce set-up is the norm at this track, which has a mixture of slow and sweeping corners but no particularly long straights. However, the cars are on the throttle for 66% of the lap and it is hard on the brakes. Acceleration and traction out of the corners is the priority, and as a result, the rear tyres take a large beating. The teams will go with a 2-stop strategy, and in the 2007 race, the harder compound tyres were bolted on most of the cars for 2 stints.
Last year's race was dominated by Räikkönen, who took a pole-win-fastest lap hat trick and is back to defend his crown. However, he and all the other drivers will be racing unassisted by traction control and engine braking for the first time since mid-2001. One can expect the drivers with the smoothest driving styles to shine.
Initially suggestions from testing are that all the teams will start where they left off at the end of the 2007 season, but it is best not to take testing form too seriously. Look out for surprises from ookies such as Piquet, Glock and Nakajima, as well as the battles between teammates trying to establish themselves as the faster driver.
This may be the last or penultimate time the race takes place in Melbourne, so enjoy this great backdrop to the curtain-raiser while it lasts!
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Free practice 1 begins at 7 a.m.!
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And we are underway! 30 minutes left in the session and it's Hamilton-Massa-Kimi-Heikki-Alonso-Glock-Trulli-Coulthard-Heidfeld-Bourdais.
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grrrr...
if not for this stupid project i'm inflicted with, i would be there at Albert Park
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Australian GP free practice session one times
1. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m26.461s
2. HAMILTON McLaren 1m26.948s
3. MASSA Ferrari 1m26.958s
4. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m27.114s
5. WEBBER Red Bull 1m28.263s
6. ALONSO Renault 1m28.360s
7. KUBICA BMW 1m28.579s
8. GLOCK Toyota 1m28.913s
9. VETTEL Toro Rosso 1m28.957s
10. TRULLI Toyota 1m29.014s
11. BUTTON Honda 1m29.124s
12. FISICHELLA Force India 1m29.230s
13. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m29.301s
14. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m29.363s
15. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m29.533s
16. HEIDFELD BMW 1m29.561s
17. SUTIL Force India 1m30.155s
18. PIQUET Renault 1m30.357s
19. SATO Super Aguri 1m31.048s
20. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1m31.771s
21. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m35.053s
22. ROSBERG Williams no time
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Australian GP free practice session 2 times
1. HAMILTON McLaren 1m26.559s
2. WEBBER Red Bull 1m27.473s
3. MASSA Ferrari 1m27.640s
4. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m27.683s
5. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m28.037s
6. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m28.208s
7. TRULLI Toyota 1m28.292s
8. ROSBERG Williams 1m28.352s
9. FISICHELLA Force India 1m28.469s
10. GLOCK Toyota 1m28.582s
11. BUTTON Honda 1m28.632s
12. HEIDFELD BMW 1m28.731s
13. ALONSO Renault 1m28.779s
14. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m28.849s
15. KUBICA BMW 1m28.860s
16. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m29.077s
17. SUTIL Force India 1m29.161s
18. VETTEL Toro Rosso 1m29.193s
19. PIQUET Renault 1m29.518s
20. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m29.605s
21. SATO Super Aguri 1m30.663s
22. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1m31.527s -
F1 2008 starts here
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1 minute left in FP3...Kubica and Heidfeld are flying!
Fisichella has also been unusually quick in the Force India car in all 3 sessions.
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Australian GP free practice session 3 times
1. KUBICA BMW 1m25.613s
2. HEIDFELD BMW 1m25.950s
3. ALONSO Renault 1m26.082s
4. ROSBERG Williams 1m26.171s
5. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m26.385s
6. WEBBER Red Bull 1m26.470s
7. BUTTON Honda 1m26.502s
8. VETTEL Toro Rosso 1m26.663s
9. FISICHELLA Force India 1m26.682s
10. TRULLI Toyota 1m26.882s
11. MASSA Ferrari 1m27.020s
12. HAMILTON McLaren 1m27.084s
13. GLOCK Toyota 1m27.162s
14. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m27.163s
15. PIQUET Renault 1m27.284s
16. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m27.333s
17. SUTIL Force India 1m27.489s
18. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m27.578s
19. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m27.601s
20. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m27.992s
21. SATO Super Aguri 1m28.363s
22. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1m28.912s -
holeee crap!
they're FAST..
or were the favorites just not trying?
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The temperature this morning hovered about 23 degrees Celcius, which is 10 degrees lower than yesterday, so that helped.
It's amazing that in spite of the smaller engines and the restrictions on the wings, they're still faster than the V10-powered (and similarly traction control-less) cars of early 2001.
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There was more drama in that 1 qualifying session than in the whole of a few recent seasons! I'm very happy for Kubica...but not for Räikkönen - car troubles for him, Vettel and Webber.
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Originally posted by Kuali Baba:
Glock changed his gearbox in Q3, which drops him to 14th, and promotes Barrichello, Alonso, Button and Nakajima to 10th to 13th place respectively.
Glock has been given an extra 5 place penalty for blocking Webber.
Australian GP grid
1. HAMILTON McLaren
2. KUBICA BMW3. KOVALAINEN McLaren
4. MASSA Ferrari
5. HEIDFELD BMW
6. TRULLI Toyota
7. ROSBERG Williams
8. COULTHARD Red Bull
9. VETTEL Toro Rosso
10. BARRICHELLO Honda
11. ALONSO Renault
12. BUTTON Honda
13. NAKAJIMA Williams
14. WEBBER Red Bull
15. RAIKKONEN Ferrari
16. FISCHELLA Force India
17. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso
18. SUTIL Force India
19. GLOCK Toyota*20. SATO Super Aguri
21. PIQUET Renault
22. DAVIDSON Super Aguri* demoted five places for gearbox change and a further five places for blocking
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Glock changed his gearbox in Q3, which drops him to 14th, and promotes Barrichello, Alonso, Button and Nakajima to 10th to 13th place respectively.
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The second penalty was for impeding Mark Webber.
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hmmm.... the McLarens are starting on hards while the Ferraris are going for the soft...
Kimi is probably going to go for it as he has to pass a lot of people.. but he could rip his tyres to shreds...
no traction control, no brake assists.. let's see what happens..
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not even half of 1st lap and the safety car is out..
Webber and Davidson is gone...
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Massa's front wing is smashed...
in the pits for new wing...
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Fisichella is gone.. leaving the track in the harness of a crane..
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next to go is Jensen Button of Honda..
Hamilton pulling out a lead..
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i'm going to go enjoy the race.. the heck with the commentary
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Hamilton start to finish..
good race... but what a lot of incidents!
what happened to Kov after he overtook Alonzo?
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Man, check out the way Glock's car just pulled itself apart. Good to see that the wheel-retaining straps are doing their job, though.
I love DC's promise to "kick lumps of shit out of the little bastard" if massa doesn't own up to his screw-up. Spoken like a true Scot!
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Kovy accidentally hit the pitlane speed limiter button after he passed Alonso.
7 cars made it to the finish line, but Barrichello has been disqualified. Bourdais and Kimi are still classified as finishers. Nakajima will get a 10-place penalty in Malaysia for taking out Kubica. Serves Crashuki right.
1. HAMILTON Mclaren 1h34m50.616s
2. HEIDFELD BMW +5.4s
3. ROSBERG Williams +8.1s
4. ALONSO Renault +17.1s
5. KOVALAINEN McLaren +18.0s
6. NAKAJIMA Williams +1 lap
7. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso +3 laps
8. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +5 laps
R. KUBICA BMW +11 laps
R. GLOCK Toyota +15 laps
R. SATO Super Aguri +26 laps
R. PIQUET Renault +28 laps
R. MASSA Ferrari +29 lapsR. COULTHARD Red Bull +33 laps
R. TRULLI Toyota +39 laps
R. SUTIL Force India +50 lapsR. WEBBER Red Bull +58 laps
R. BUTTON Honda +58 laps
R. DAVIDSON Super Aguri +58 laps
R. VETTEL Toro Rosso +58 laps
R. FISICHELLA Force India +58 laps
DQ. BARRICHELLO Honda -
Originally posted by Gedanken:
I love DC's promise to "kick lumps of shit out of the little bastard" if massa doesn't own up to his screw-up. Spoken like a true Scot!
Was that on the live feed? Damn, I didn't hear it.