Australian GP 2011 - Albert Park, 24-27 March

[Tamburello]

So long as the rule-makers say something is legal (or illegal), it is so!

[Hangaku]

I'd just like to congratulate Hamilton and McLaren for a sterling job today etc.

YAWN.

[i70q7m7ghw]

And what about him sticking his hand under the chassis and apparently tampering with the damage? That is definately dodgy!

I'm pretty sure someone would of noticed him swapping the plank for a new one, what was he going to do with the old one, tuck it down his trousers?

Joke all you like. The car was in parc ferme conditions and a driver has no business touching it once they get out and replace the steering wheel.

Apologies for the poor quality photos, but this is definately dodgy. I'm with David Coulthard on this one.

says, the car 03 wasn't checked for skidblock thickness at all...

Bizzare that car No. 3 was not checked. I doubt it is a typo as these things will be checked and rechecked. The luck of the devil indeed.

Please quote the rule that says the driver can't touch his car after the race.

[beelsebob]

Please quote the rule that says the driver can't touch his car after the race.

44.1Only those officials charged with supervision may enter the post race parc ferme. No intervention of any kind is allowed there unless authorised by such officials.

[beelsebob]

Sorry to reply to myself, but while I believe they're technically correct that Hamilton was not meant to be fiddling with bits on his car, penalising him in this instance for having a quick look at what was up with the car would be a massive over reaction.

[i70q7m7ghw]

Please quote the rule that says the driver can't touch his car after the race.

44.1Only those officials charged with supervision may enter the post race parc ferme. No intervention of any kind is allowed there unless authorised by such officials.

I've seen this rule broken ALOT, drivers from other teams nosing around the McLaren f-duct last year? Other members of the team putting head restraints back etc.

Seems like a flimsy rule...

[beelsebob]

broken ALOT

A broken alot? The poor thing, perhaps you'll need to feed him a lot of medicine.

[volarchico]

Why so much hate? He managed to get 2nd with a broken car. Not bad, considering! And him touching the tray afterwards wouldn't alter anything appreciably. He didn't remove a part or change anything. Wouldn't you be curious if you just drove your heart out for 1.5 hrs, and want to see if all your work would count for anything?

[bgroovers]

Fanatstic to be back racing again. Great result for all us in that RB and Vettel didnt totally dominate as some suggest. McL and Hamilton pushed them very hard and did very well to finish so close with broken car. Amazed that anyone seriously suggests that Lewis should be excluded for looking at the broken part on his car!
Great result for Petrov but very hard to judge his performance without Robert in the car as NH ballsed up quali and then damaged car at the start. Wouldn't Robert have been 20 secs further up the road at the end of the race?
Ferrari very clever in the massa alonso switch but Buttons mistake in not letting/blending massa back passed but could he even have done it with Alonso so close. (button lifts, so does massa, alonso passed both... at least button wouldnt have gotten the drive through)
Thought DRS worked as it supposed to as a way of negating the huge loss of downforce for cars within 1 second of car ahead. It didnt make overtaking easy but did facilitate passes of cars much faster. Just as i believe it was intended.
Interesting that although RB tyres went off quicker than the McL the advantage of new tyres meant that Vettel moved further ahead. Will this play to them or will it mean that McL can have an advantage in the last few laps with slightly newer tyres when Lewis not having to nurse a broken car (ie not attack).
Was impressed with vettels ballsy overtake on JB, making the most of fresh tyres but just as important as his pass on back marker in abu dabi last race to keep Lewis off his back. Good to see him making some moves without crashing.
Perez was a star so disappointted that sauber excluded but rules is rules and they must have made manufacturing error or slight design mistake.
Di Rista showed well but I fear that FI will be back of the mid field all season unless change in design philosophy is huge step forward in three races time.
Rubens what were you doing? nearly as disappointing as not getting a kangeroo on your trophy...

[ringo]

Ha! I thought it was hilarious when Horner said that Newey "wouldn't let" them KERS on the car because it would compromise aero! Newey's incredible.

Also, it was interesting how initially Button was struggling making use of the DRS on Massa, but he seemed to get much better at it further along in the GP. Although, was it down to that, or were the tyre degredation/differences in car performance a bigger reason for him to be able to pass?

Massa was 2.5s a lap slower at the time. So it wasn't really a good example of the DRS working like it's supposed to.
2 seconds a lap is the typical gap required to make an overtake in F1 happen IIRC.

[Goran2812]

can he mow my lawn to?

I think Ferrari did that switch right after Button cut the corner so they can benefit if he receives the order to back up... He'd have to let through both of them...

[ringo]

It broke before this happened.
It broke coming up to the straight away. It just hit the ground, so it's probably a reliability issue.

[ringo]

Why so much hate? He managed to get 2nd with a broken car. Not bad, considering! And him touching the tray afterwards wouldn't alter anything appreciably. He didn't remove a part or change anything. Wouldn't you be curious if you just drove your heart out for 1.5 hrs, and want to see if all your work would count for anything?

Webber is always touching up on the cars in parc ferme. No big deal.
IIRC the drivers are the only ones to touch the car, but no one seems to be posting that rule.

Great drive by Vettel. He is definitely baby shumi.
He's fast and he has the fastest car, a deadly combination.

The myth that hamilton can only drive one way is busted.

The idea that petrov is useless is rubbished as well. Petrov has massive talent, and i think Kubica would have trouble keeping petrov behind if his wasn't in hospital. I still maintain that beating Bob twice last year was a sign of things to come. A podium in your second year in the fourth fastest car ins't bad at all.

The way how things look. I think the title battle will go down to Hamilton and Vettel.

[raymondu999]

Except that we've not really seen the relative aero performance of the '11 cars at all, your assertion is based entirely on the '10 bull being dominant on aero tracks. While I'm sure the bulls will still be good on the fast corners, I would be extremely surprised if the McLaren were much behind (if at all) this season, once their new design is bedded in.

True. Otherthan some reports floating around that Red Bull carried as much as 20km/h more speed on the apexes (apices?) of turn 11/12 in Melbourne

[myurr]

Except that we've not really seen the relative aero performance of the '11 cars at all, your assertion is based entirely on the '10 bull being dominant on aero tracks. While I'm sure the bulls will still be good on the fast corners, I would be extremely surprised if the McLaren were much behind (if at all) this season, once their new design is bedded in.

True. Otherthan some reports floating around that Red Bull carried as much as 20km/h more speed on the apexes (apices?) of turn 11/12 in Melbourne

Has anyone actually got some substantiation of those rumours. I've only seen it mentioned on this forum.