Thoughts on the Australian Grand Prix

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Moderators: cmlean, Ed, The Qualiflyer, The Heretic

Driver of the day

G Fisichella
2
9%
R Barrichello
3
14%
F Alonso
12
55%
D Coulthard
3
14%
M Webber
1
5%
J Montoya
1
5%
C Klien
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 22

Tim
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Thoughts on the Australian Grand Prix

Post by Tim » Sun Mar 06, 2005 4:18 pm

So what did you think of the first race of the season. Did the results surprise you ?

Renault proved their testing pace wasn't a fluke while McLaren didn't appear as strong as expected. What about Ferrari ?
Red Bull were a suprise and Coulthard finishing in front of both Webber and the 2 McLaren's must have felt good!

Toyota's pace was a repeat of last year when they qualify well but struggle in the race. BAR were shocking and Villeneuve has a lot to answer for when Massa finishes ahead despite starting at the back!

Amazing reliability with just one car failing to finish and that car was a Minardi that was made to comply to the rules on Saturday morning!

The incident between Michael and Nick ?

And the new qualifying format, do you like it after getting a real feel for it or is it too early given the downpour on Saturday

Thoughts ?

You can also vote on the driver of the day. Only the top 8 are showing. If you want a driver that isn't listed, send me a PM or email
Last edited by Tim on Sun Mar 06, 2005 4:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Southernman
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Post by Southernman » Sun Mar 06, 2005 4:29 pm

It's too soon to tell if the new rules work. After Imola I will have a clear idea if it works or not.

Harsh words need to be spoken to BAR for parking their cars.

It's good to see different faces on the podium.

Julian Mayo
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Post by Julian Mayo » Sun Mar 06, 2005 5:30 pm

Schuey was clearly in the wrong, even his greatest fan, broadcaster Neil Crompton agreed!
The aggregate system sucks, This will not be the only GP where the weather plays a determining rule, It could happen in Malaysia, the monsoon is running on this year.
Bar, and Schuey have a clear advantage with fresh engines in Malaysia, and we know thanks to Barrichello that the Ferrari is bloody Quick
Reliability? Alonso was told he could use over-ride twice to pass Barrichello, was that to the detriment of the engine in Malaysia for manufacturers points in melbourne?
Bar, harsh words? Not if they use the rules that are in place, despite the "spirit of the rules". Ferrari have taught us, unfortunately, that observing the spirit of the rules just makes you the first of the losers
The Mountain is a savage Mistress.

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Post by JayVee » Sun Mar 06, 2005 5:42 pm

Fantastic race. Lets find 20 Alonso's and we could have overtaking back!

Shows the drivers do make a difference no matter what the so called experts tell us.

Alonso's drive was simply stunning and had it not been for Villeneuve :wink: holding him up he would have finished second. Well done to Fisichella too but he had a Sunday afternoon drive!

Ferrari do seem to have the pace but this was supposed be a track that favoured them. They'll struggle in Malaysia and that is great news.

I expected more from McLaren. Red Bull surprised me and DC was the consistent driver, took care of his tyres and protected his position. I would have expected Webber to clear DC on track or via pit stops at least. It doesn't look good for him finished behind his 'old Jag'

Toyota struggled again, Villeneuve cooked his tyres and Michael, well Michael struggles when he isn't leading and today we saw him under pressure from Raikkonen (who passed him in the pits) then tried to block Heidfeld and both ended in the gravel. Lets see how rattled he gets

BAR were no good. Perhaps David Richards was really good :shock: and parking their cars to get new engines. That is what the FIA thought will not happen, yeah right. At least Toyota, Sauber, Jordan and Minardi didn't do that. Shows you how fragile the Honda engine is!

Amazing reliability too and no pile ups

I think I should do well in 8 'n' Pole :bouncey:
I'm back and yes supporting Alonso "The Cute" in the Ferrari!

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Post by JayVee » Sun Mar 06, 2005 5:50 pm

julian, I think you should fear Renault from now on!

If Ferrari are bloody quick then Renault are twice bloodly quick :wink:

Fisichella was enjoying his day. Have a look at the fastest laps and the only team to lap under the 1.26 mark was Renault

They could dominate :shock: :shock:
I'm back and yes supporting Alonso "The Cute" in the Ferrari!

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Post by Julian Mayo » Sun Mar 06, 2005 8:47 pm

JV, I have an aversion to red cars only :twisted:
The Mountain is a savage Mistress.

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Post by alonsofan » Sun Mar 06, 2005 8:54 pm

congrats to fisico for winning in australia. he should enjoy this win as the next is a very long way away

alonso is coming, he showed us what kind of driver he is, bad weather then jv stopped him from winning but was 3rd passing many good drivers on track and by strategy

i said some time ago alonso and renault will be the champions this year and today was the first proof

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Post by 350Z » Sun Mar 06, 2005 9:23 pm

I must admit that I was surprised by the pace & reliability of the Renaults. I thought they will have problems. Turns out the McLarens had more problems and Montoya cooked his tyres. It will take him a while to learn how to take care of his tyres :wink:
Raikkonen did well starting from the pit lane and scoring a point and doing a Michael on Michael :wink:

It is hard to say who the driver of the day is. Both Renaults and Barrichello drove good races and so did Coulthard. But I think Alonso deserves it. 13th to 3rd when you have such few retirements and his second stint was something leapfrogging Webber and Coulthard and he did some overtaking too!

The new qualifying is no good when it rains and having it split into 2 days makes the chances of rain in one of the sessions double!
Cars pitting at the end of the race is ridiculous. They better stop it but I can't blame BAR. Do you think Michael would not have done it if he was at the end of the race outside the points ? Other teams learn the dirty stuff first :shock:
The Montoya/Raikkonen battle is on!

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I bit my tongue

Post by Andre_Brasil » Sun Mar 06, 2005 11:00 pm

I posted a topic worrying about small teams never catching points again due to the reliability target, but I need to give second thoughts on the matter.

The new qualifying is like taking numbers out of a hat. Last year the weather played an important role on some qualifyings that's true, but adding the times will multiply the odds of the same happening every race.

Kudos to Red Bull. As someone said it was a shame for Webber finishing behind Coulthard. I've always thought he was overestimated.

BAR & Sauber were the major disappointments.

With the new tires rules MS will loose as lot of his edge.

The "not finishing being able to change engines" rule should only apply to those DNF with less than 90% of the race.

The race was fun to watch. Alonso and Barrichello did very well.
See you in Malasya!!!
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Post by limkhan » Mon Mar 07, 2005 2:03 am

Fantastic Race by Renault! Amazing run from Alonso. Can't wait for the next race at Malaysia..

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Post by Graham Ross » Mon Mar 07, 2005 9:03 am

Well done Fisichella, Barrichello and Alonso

The 2 McLarens finished and in the points :shock: , when did that last happen in Australia. I expected more even with the poor qualifying. Seems the McLaren isn't gentle on tyres (or is it the drivers :wink: )

Most entertaing comment I thought was Barrichello "I enjoyed every second of the race"

Of course, Brawn wasn't on the radio all race telling him "Michael is behind you slow down" or "Michael is ahead, block the car behind"

Good to see Barrichello race for a change :D

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Post by Julian Mayo » Mon Mar 07, 2005 10:37 am

He is under-rated by a lot of people :lol:
The Mountain is a savage Mistress.

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Post by FerrariFan#1 » Mon Mar 07, 2005 3:17 pm

That was a good race. Too bad Michael was unlucky with the weather.

Alonso was good but so was Barrichello. He did the same, started from 11th and finished 2nd.

Looks like Renault are the only team closing in on Ferrari but they better catch Ferrari while the old car is running cause when the F2005 is on the track it will be untouchable :wink:

Red Bull suprised me, I didn't expect DC to remain at the front. BAR were nowhere. That was strange

Looks like a good season so everyone can be happy :wink:
Ferrari - 6 World Championships in a row
(1999 - 2004)
The 7th in 2005

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Good to see a close race

Post by F1greyhound » Tue Mar 08, 2005 3:38 am

Generally RENAULT were deservedly the best all through the weekend and we will see more good things from the smooth Fisichella and the pushing Alonso in the next races as well.

To all the FERRARI haters Id like to say the performance and result of the red cars is bad news for you because it was almost at Renault level and better than McLaren or Williams in every way. Even Rubens would have pushed for victory had he started further in front, not to mention Michael who will remain the best driver untill he retires. Personally I can imagine he wont be beaten in a Championship until he retires in 2 or 3 years, except if he gets injured or if Ferrari produce bollocks(unlikely scenarios).
For Rubens thats really hard because he is a fantastic driver, as close as you can get to Michael, and a wonderfull person, maybe the fairest driver in the top league. By the way Michael has always been a fierce racer and thats part of his success, he just doesnt give in easily and everybody knows that. The incident with Nick wouldnt have been commented on if someone else than MS, JPM, RS or JV(favourite hate-targets) had been involved. As Tambay and Laffite said, a race accident with an over enthusiastic Heidfeld........

To WILLIAMS, well the performance was better than expected from the tests, actually amazingly competitive but unfortunatelly they have the worst pit strategies for many years now and they are seriously handicapped by that. A real pity as theres nothing wrong with their drivers.

To MCLAREN, hard to say how they could produce such a poor performance altogether as they looked great in testing and on Friday. Juan Pablo didnt impress in the race while Kimi might have caused his problems himself a bit but drove reasonably thereafter, even being slightly faster than Michael for a few laps.

To REDBULL, congratulations and great to see their performance, also nice to see the old fighting spirit in DC. Klien was faultless as well, one of the better talents from the new generation.

TOYOTA, at least the initial pace was good as Jarno showed, the car has potential.

BAR, really disappointing, hopefully just a one-off?

SAUBER, Felipe overshadowed Jaques despite the qualification, will be interesting.

JORDAN and MINARDI did as good as they can with their packages.

Altogether an extremely competitive and balanced field given the new rules, neither engines nor tyres seem to be an issue. The qualifying sucks.......but makes for exciting grids.
YOURS IN SPORT

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Post by Graham Ross » Tue Mar 08, 2005 8:35 am

Welcome F1greyhound,

Good read of the race but seems to fall into that group of people how worship Michael and Ferrari

Nothing wrong with that except repeating what much of the media is saying and that is Michael won't lose until he retires! That is bollocks!
Oh and accusing the rest of being Ferrari haters

Well let me tell you, the Melbourne race is bad new for you guys. Renault were genuinely faster than Ferrari and hadn't Alonso been stuck behind Villeneuve he would have finished at least second. The fastest laps also show Renault way ahead of the rest.
Sure this is the old car (as Ferrari are now desparetly trying to remind everyone) but the new car isn't going to be more than half a second faster than this one when it hits the track and Renault won't be standing still. The 'new' car wasn't impressive in testing either. Too early to speculate on that though!


Raikkonen 'slightly faster', you don't pass Michael via the pits despite Michael pitting later by being just slightly faster but you can be biased I suppose :wink:

On the tyres. the conditions helped with that one. In Malaysia we'll see who's got the better tyre

And yes qualifying sucks! big time

In Malaysia Ferrari will finish third if they are lucky :shock:

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