2017 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne, 24 - 26 March

[godlameroso]

The time is near! First race of the season, new cars, upgraded engines, some new faces, some old but in new teams.



Practice 1 Fri 12:00 – 13:30
Practice 2 Fri 16:00 – 17:30
Practice 3 Sat 14:00 – 15:00
Qualifying Sat 17:00 – 18:00
Race Sun 16:00 – 18:00
All times are local

Here is the updated forecast for the race weekend. Looks like I was right and no rain is forecast.


Melbourne is a very unique circuit, characterized by mostly heavy braking and L turns, with high speed turns 5, 11, 12, 14, and 16. I don't think any of the turns will be flat except for maybe turn 5. 11 & 12 will have a lift on entry to 11.

On Board lap


This year Pirelli is bringing the Ultra soft, Super soft, and Soft tire compounds for this round. With Pirelli choosing the sets of each respective compounds for the teams until the end of the flyaway races.

I'm guessing pole will be a 1:20

[Juzh]

I'm guessing pole will be a 1:20

Which sounds utterly insane. In a good way, that is.

[Pierce89]

A race thread!!! I almost forgot what they were like.

[bdr529]

A race thread!!! I almost forgot what they were like.

And the Monday after the race, I'm sure you'll wish you hadn't
then again with no Hamilton/Rosberg bickering this year, the race threads might be some what docile

[godlameroso]

I missed the bickering, who will we bicker about this year? Vettel vs Hamilton? Bottas vs Hamilton? Max vs Dan?

[Gaz.]

I think Schumacher's 1'24.125 race lap record will fall too, maybe only by a tenth or two but I think some drivers will have a crack at it if the opportunity arises.

[Vasconia]

A race thread!!! I almost forgot what they were like.

And the Monday after the race, I'm sure you'll wish you hadn't
then again with no Hamilton/Rosberg bickering this year, the race threads might be some what docile

Yeahh, for some reason I will miss it, though sometimes was desperating to see how stubborn some guys/girls are.

The Australian GP is always fun, I can´t wait!!!!

[godlameroso]

I think Schumacher's 1'24.125 race lap record will fall too, maybe only by a tenth or two but I think some drivers will have a crack at it if the opportunity arises.

Fastest race lap in 2010 was a 1:28 something, I think this year they won't go faster than 1:27 in the race, not if they want to finish.

Which leads to another point, we saw race pace in Barcelona ~1:24 - 1:25, and a fastest lap in the 18's, so about 6 second difference from fastest lap to race stint, granted it was done with super softs, so that time is really 5 seconds as I doubt they would have done 18's with softs.

I think the bigger gap between qualifying and race pace has to do with increased drag and by consequence lower fuel economy.

http://en.f1i.com/news/261796-teams-fea ... 017-2.html

Maybe the difference between teams won't be that great due to them having to drive to a delta so they don't run out of fuel before the finish line. As Albert Park is one of the most fuel thirsty tracks on the calendar.

[turbof1]

A race thread!!! I almost forgot what they were like.

And the Monday after the race, I'm sure you'll wish you hadn't
then again with no Hamilton/Rosberg bickering this year, the race threads might be some what docile

Never underestimate how deep fanblood flows. Never underestimate it.

[Manoah2u]

I thus feel free to make this bold prediction:

1 - Vettel wins 1st race with Ferrari
2 - Max gets 2nd spot
3 - Bottas gets 3rd spot

Hamilton gets a DNF after being hit by craShtroll
Raikonnen is out fast in the race after contact with DannyRic

Massa 4th.
Grosjean 5th (whaaaaat)
Alonso 6th (quit playing games with my heart)

anyway, anything can and will happen. Murphy's law.

can't believe it's next week all gonna start off!

[godlameroso]

You can watch the 12hrs of Sebring if you need a racing fix.

[Vasconia]

A race thread!!! I almost forgot what they were like.

And the Monday after the race, I'm sure you'll wish you hadn't
then again with no Hamilton/Rosberg bickering this year, the race threads might be some what docile

Never underestimate how deep fanblood flows. Never underestimate it.

People tend to discuss about 2007s season from time to time, so who knows...

My predicition.

1. Vettel
2. Bottas
3. Ricciardo
4. Massa
5. Hulkenberg
6. Sainz
7. Stroll
8. Perez
9. Palmer
10. Ericsson.

Hamilton and Verstappen DNF due to a collision.
Kimi and Kvyat collide and a double DNF too.
Both McLaren out of the race during the formation lap.

[digitalrurouni]

Pole lap is gonna be awesome. And to me a lot of the highlights of the race weekend happens during qualifying.

But as one poster has already alluded to it, I don't think race pace will be phenomenal. Fuel will be an issue. I am interested to see how much the difference would be with qualifying vs race pace.

[GoranF1]

1. Fernando Alonso
2.....
3.....
It will rain, Max will be voted driver of the day.

[Big Mangalhit]

1. Fernando Alonso
2.....
3.....
It will rain, Max will be voted driver of the day.

Is that the list for the DNF's?