Australian GP 2011 - Albert Park, 24-27 March

[Just_a_fan]

I think that Webber and Button have a good chance to win this race. Vettel is blindingly quick, yes, but I wonder if he will try to be too quick too early and end up needing an extra set of tyres. Likewise Hamilton, who will undoubtedly be trying to stay with Vettel and thus probably kill his first set of tyres pretty quickly.

Don't count Alonso out either - I think the Ferrari will be better on long run pace than their qualifing performance suggests.

I think tomorrow might be a case of the tortoise and the hare...

[raymondu999]

While that could be true, I doubt the difference would be nearly enough to warrant an extra pitstop.

[myurr]

I think it may come down to each drivers ability to make it through the pack after each of the pit stops. The DRS will help, although Red Bull have the least DRS speed increase, but I think this is everyones biggest chance of getting one over the Red Bulls as I don't rate either Vettel or Webber as being particularly good at overtaking.

[raymondu999]

Yes. I wonder if the first stint they'll be able to pull out enough of a gap from the guys who run counter strategy and start the race on the hards. Does anyone have a list of who will be using what tyre at the start?

Btw the stewards have declined HRT's request to waive 107.

[Byronrhys]

Time to pack up and go home boys, is it safe to assume the order yet?

[Tamburello]

I am not sure if redbull did or did not. We need to wait till later to see.
Vettel's fastest lap wasn't his last, so it's not clear if the last one was the one without kers or if it was the first one.

The last lap was less than a tenth slower than the pole lap so it's still very ominous...

But where did Webber's pace go? I did notice that he bent down and had a suspicious look at the front wing of Vettel's car on the way back to scrutineering..lol

[Tamburello]

Either way though, the Renault was touted as a top car but has lacked the speed all weekend.

Well I don't think the car is as bad as that. Petrov isn't the quickest driver around here and he is 3 tenth behind Alonso.
So I conclude that R31 is quickest in Melbourne than the F150th, at least in quali...

How do you know petrov isn't quick?

He's probably as quick as Kubica right now. He's much better this year it seems.
He beat the Kube a couple times last year, so he can't be slow.

The r31 isn't quicker than the Ferrari. Petrov is simply very fast this weekend. Look where heidfeld is.

Who knows? The Renault could be as fast as the Ferrari or thereabouts at the moment. Heidfeld could just be slow or ran into traffic . Remember that he was beaten by Kobayashi last year too.

[raymondu999]

Interesting. Hamilton is saying he had 40% KERS in the tank which he didn't deploy. Which means that 60% did get deployed.

[747heavy]

Btw the stewards have declined HRT's request to waive 107.

Good decision - IMHO
Let´s not forget, that they should have been ready 2 weeks ago.
It´s one thing to be slow, but not to be ready in time is another.
Could be the beginning of the end for HRT

Sad in a way, but they are just not F1 material, time to cut your losses.

[raymondu999]

I wonder how Colin Kolles will spin this one

[SiLo]

It may all come down to tyres. There has been lots of rumours about Mclaren's runs being quite good, haven't heard anything about Red Bull yet but I imagine they should be pretty good too.

And where were Ferrari?

[ell66]

so same as last year, lewis beat jenson by a good 4 tenths with the latter complaining about balance issues

Last year Jenson outqualified Lewis in Melbourne. Lewis unceremoniously got the honor of first big shot name to go out before Q3

i was quite obviously talking about the season as a whole and not just one session...

[andrew]

Not a good start for HRT which is a shame. Surprised at Lotus being in the same position as last year. Thouth they would be a bit further up the grid. Nice one for Petrov to get ahead of Heidfeld though.

[Tim.Wright]

Would anyone know how to watch the race in Italy? I can't see it on RAI?

Cheers

Tim

[marcush.]

myohmy..maybe some people realise that 3 tenths is just one mistake or an obstruction during your flying lap.
It is beyond me why one should bash Button for being 4 tenths slower but not Webber who is a second slower and was unable to put the dominant car in row one.
But as always those who fail to deliver when it counts will not look good even if they have proper explanations why it did not pan out.Not even one week ago a lot of people in this forum went as far as rendering the new Mac a writeoff and now they are the one team able to keep at least one RB in check.
Lets see how things will pan out tomorrow.