2019 Australian Grand Prix Free Practice & Qualifying Thread

pokerman · Post by **pokerman** » Fri Mar 15, 2019 7:14 pm

Covalent wrote:
pokerman wrote:
Covalent wrote:
pokerman wrote:
Caserole of Nonsense wrote: As with most years in melbourne, dont take too much notice of this weekend. Its not a barometer for the season. hamilton was 7 tenths quicker then the ferraris in quali last year. its a funny track. when you look at the ease in which vettel and leclerc were able to do their fastest testing laps i would be very very suprised if ferrari dont fundamentally have the quickest car this year. of course merc wont be far off and it will probably swing around like last year though.
That was actually traced back to Ferrari having a faulty floor.
Link to this?
You like your links and your sources.

I think it's generally well known, I might be able to find what you desire?
Googling Ferrari floor Australia didn't lead to anything relevant and I don't think I've heard of this so I just wanted to read a bit more in depth about this.

Fair enough if you tried looking for it, I can't remember were I read it but I believe Lotus49 said he had also heard about it?

I believe that Vettel said this weekend that Ferrari went into Australia last year with problems with the car?

FormulaFun · Post by **FormulaFun** » Fri Mar 15, 2019 8:06 pm

pokerman wrote:
FormulaFun wrote:Autosport looking real frickin dumb right now after all the videos they posted trashing Merc for having a disasterous preseason

0 credibility
Well obviously Ferrari are not showing their hand yet unless you think that Leclerc is really the 9th fastest?

This is irrelevant to what I'm saying. The point is autosport have been endlessly pushing the narrative that Ferrari are about 0.7seconds faster than Merc at least and Merc have been floundering and they now look like total idiots

babararacucudada · Post by **babararacucudada** » Fri Mar 15, 2019 8:06 pm

Bentrovato wrote:Not sure if Mercedes are going to sandbag at all this weekend because .... damn they look even better than last year!

Seems like a 2018 repeat. Ferrari strongest in pre-season, maybe they'll even win in Australia but after watching most of FP2, the Merc looks the best by a good enough margin.

Logically, they could turn the engine up enough to lock out the front row and then control the race from the front at as little pace as they can get away with.
They seem to talk a lot about how closely competitive it is, so i don't think they are interested in doing more than they have to.

Post by **P-F1 Mod** » Fri Mar 15, 2019 8:54 pm

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/arti ... w0IyW.html

This is the only floor-based article I can find for Ferrari. Can we drop that particular line of the debate unless hard evidence is provided please? Let's focus on this season.

Jezza13 · Post by **Jezza13** » Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:38 pm

FormulaFun wrote:
pokerman wrote:
FormulaFun wrote:Autosport looking real frickin dumb right now after all the videos they posted trashing Merc for having a disasterous preseason

0 credibility
Well obviously Ferrari are not showing their hand yet unless you think that Leclerc is really the 9th fastest?
This is irrelevant to what I'm saying. The point is autosport have been endlessly pushing the narrative that Ferrari are about 0.7 seconds faster than Merc at least and Merc have been floundering and they now look like total idiots

I watched a few Autosport vids on You Tube and they do seem to pick an agenda, discuss the points that support the agenda and ignore or try to mitigate issues that go against their view. Scott Mitchell in particular seems to be agenda driven for whatever reason.

Maybe it's just me being selective with what I take notice of.

Exediron · Post by **Exediron** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 1:51 am

FormulaFun wrote:This is irrelevant to what I'm saying. The point is autosport have been endlessly pushing the narrative that Ferrari are about 0.7seconds faster than Merc at least and Merc have been floundering and they now look like total idiots

In all fairness, if Ferrari is on pole by 0.7 seconds tomorrow they won't look like idiots. It's too soon to call that one way or the other.

sandman1347 · Post by **sandman1347** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 2:10 am

Exediron wrote:
FormulaFun wrote:This is irrelevant to what I'm saying. The point is autosport have been endlessly pushing the narrative that Ferrari are about 0.7seconds faster than Merc at least and Merc have been floundering and they now look like total idiots
In all fairness, if Ferrari is on pole by 0.7 seconds tomorrow they won't look like idiots. It's too soon to call that one way or the other.

I believe it was 0.4 or 0.5 seconds. They used those numbers several times. I haven't heard anyone suggest 0.7.

F1_Ernie · Post by **F1_Ernie** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 3:25 am

F1 is back but so is 1 stops and a track which is so hard to overtake.

sandman1347 · Post by **sandman1347** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 3:48 am

F1_Ernie wrote:F1 is back but so is 1 stops and a track which is so hard to overtake.

I've long felt that the use of Australia as the opening round and Abu Dhabi as the final round are both incredibly poor choices. You need an exciting track that generates some action to open and close a season. Outside of Monaco, Melbourne is literally the hardest track to overtake on.

whitewolfarctic · Post by **whitewolfarctic** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 3:51 am

Times shifting back and forth. Hamilton 2 tenths up on FP3. Ferrari finally showing some of that pace. No telling what qualifying is going to bring.

UnlikeUday · Post by **UnlikeUday** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 4:09 am

FP3 done:

Source - https://scontent.fbom16-1.fna.fbcdn.net ... e=5D0AE891

whitewolfarctic · Post by **whitewolfarctic** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 4:12 am

Before qualifying, do you guys think we'll see the outright lap record broken? I think it's a 1.21.1 something. I think it's going to be close.

Alienturnedhuman · Post by **Alienturnedhuman** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 4:16 am

whitewolfarctic wrote:Before qualifying, do you guys think we'll see the outright lap record broken? I think it's a 1.21.1 something. I think it's going to be close.

I think they'll break into the 1:20s - last years FP3 was rain affected so I can't compare the times, but in 2017 they went about 1.5s faster from FP3 to Q3.

sandman1347 · Post by **sandman1347** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:02 am

Here we go!

mikeyg123 · Post by **mikeyg123** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:08 am

sandman1347 wrote:
F1_Ernie wrote:F1 is back but so is 1 stops and a track which is so hard to overtake.
I've long felt that the use of Australia as the opening round and Abu Dhabi as the final round are both incredibly poor choices. You need an exciting track that generates some action to open and close a season. Outside of Monaco, Melbourne is literally the hardest track to overtake on.

Melbourne has produced a lot of good races.

FormulaFun · Post by **FormulaFun** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:09 am

Fingers crossed for leclerc, hope he smashes it

Tassadar · Post by **Tassadar** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:09 am

It's go time! Got a few drinks with me as well (left overs from St Paddy's party wifey and friends of ours).

sandman1347 · Post by **sandman1347** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:18 am

Looks like Mercedes and Ferrari will still be a cut above Red Bull.

Tassadar · Post by **Tassadar** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:20 am

Gio 3rd? What!?

Tassadar · Post by **Tassadar** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:21 am

Poor Kubica

. Struggling hard out there.

FormulaFun · Post by **FormulaFun** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:22 am

Except for Williams the entire midfield is super tight

sandman1347 · Post by **sandman1347** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:22 am

Sainz bounced while Norris finishes P8.

mcdo · Post by **mcdo** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:23 am

Lando Norris welcome to Formula 1 lad!

Tassadar · Post by **Tassadar** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:23 am

Stroll will argue but I think that wasn't blocking (and I'm a stroll fan).

Tassadar · Post by **Tassadar** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:24 am

Norris looking solid!

FormulaFun · Post by **FormulaFun** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:24 am

sandman1347 wrote:Sainz bounced while Norris finishes P8.

Yeah but only Norris only 0.287 from also getting bounced, very tight

P.s. not slagging off Norris just using as an example

mcdo · Post by **mcdo** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:25 am

Tassadar wrote:It's go time! Got a few drinks with me as well (left overs from St Paddy's party wifey and friends of ours).

That's your final warning

kleefton · Post by **kleefton** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:25 am

Both Toro Rossos ahead of Verstappen. The redbull looks like a midfield car at the moment.

Tassadar · Post by **Tassadar** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:26 am

mcdo wrote:
Tassadar wrote:It's go time! Got a few drinks with me as well (left overs from St Paddy's party wifey and friends of ours).
That's your final warning

Whoops! Warning has been heard.

Tassadar · Post by **Tassadar** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:27 am

mcdo wrote:
Tassadar wrote:It's go time! Got a few drinks with me as well (left overs from St Paddy's party wifey and friends of ours).
That's your final warning

Edited! *cheers*. Sorry, eh?

sandman1347 · Post by **sandman1347** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:28 am

kleefton wrote:Both Toro Rossos ahead of Verstappen. The redbull looks like a midfield car at the moment.

And ironically, the chassis seems to be the culprit.

pokerman · Post by **pokerman** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:30 am

Traffic a nightmare for Hamilton in Q2.

Tassadar · Post by **Tassadar** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:30 am

That mercedes is the fastest.

kleefton · Post by **kleefton** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:31 am

sandman1347 wrote:
kleefton wrote:Both Toro Rossos ahead of Verstappen. The redbull looks like a midfield car at the moment.
And ironically, the chassis seems to be the culprit.

Yeah, can't blame the PU anymore lol

Tassadar · Post by **Tassadar** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:32 am

Mercedes has about 4 tenths in the pocket.

neek · Post by **neek** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:32 am

Yep, think that Bottas lap shows the difference

sandman1347 · Post by **sandman1347** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:34 am

Embarrassing performance from Gasly.

FormulaFun · Post by **FormulaFun** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:35 am

Didn't even notice that gasly went out in Q1

Tassadar · Post by **Tassadar** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:38 am

FormulaFun wrote:Didn't even notice that gasly went out in Q1

Not a great debut, especially after some mild criticism in the winter.

Tassadar · Post by **Tassadar** » Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:39 am

I think they need to get Chandock in the commentary box. I think the 3 lads would make an excellent team.