2016 G'day Mate F1 on the Barbie Grand Prix, ya Bogan

[Freude am Fahren]

Well, the season is officially underway as P1 is live. Mixed conditions in Melbourne. Hoping for good things for Haas here.

[Tom Servo]

I had no idea the season was starting this weekend. Not been paying attention, clearly.

[Freude am Fahren]

This new qualifying format is so stupid.

[overpowered]

New format blows. Gutierrez was on a good hot lap but he didn't finish it in time and got eliminated. If the lap had counted, he would have jumped high. It's complete bullshit.

[Freude am Fahren]

This is hilarious. The NBC guys were talking about how this could be exciting yesterday, basically sounding like they were drinking the Bernie cool-aid, and they are watching it unfold and doing a 180. Whether or not they believed what they said on Friday or not, it's still hilarious. It's having the opposite effect of desired too, as no cars are on track for the last minute and a half and the top runners all go out and do just one lap. Last year they all usually did a couple. This is soo bad. :lol:

[IMOA]

Somewhere in the world the guy who signed off new Coke is doing fist pumps at finally making it out of #1 on the list of 'dumbest decisions in the history of the world'

[Reynard]

#sexylaps

I don't know man, I really think the NBC crew is completely over reacting to the new qualifying format. I read about it weeks ago and rolled my eyes at the thought but once it started tonight, about 3 minutes into the first session, I got it. I promise, I ain't no genius. All you need to be able to do is read a clock & do really basic math. Hulk stated it best, it doesn't really change that much other then the fact that your first lap... otherwise meaning every one of your qualifying laps (unless you're in a Merc in Q1/2 ;)) you need to be truly pushing it. I can get behind that idea myself as I was actually very fond of the single lap qualifying in the late 90's.

Now whether this new format is ultimately better then what we had previously it's too soon to say. It depends on how the teams decide to utilise it and perhaps if the tire allotment needs to be changed. No matter, I'm not going to start crying about it after it's first go around.

[Rare White Ape]

I can't wait to see Sniff Petrol's take on the new qualifying.

It's good for one thing, though: the sponsors of the slow cars get a lot of screen time.

[Dicknose]

I don't mind the clock counting them, it is a bit odd when the tv is covering a car saying "will they make it" and they are 20s short of finishing the lap. I think that's the fault of the coverage not the format, the tv people need to learn to get it right.

[G'day Mate]

New format was ok until Q3 IMO.

[Freude am Fahren]

Even if you don't hate it, is it better than it was? It wasn't broke, don't fix it. If they want single lap qualifying, then have it (they shouldn't), this is just stupid.

[2ndMoparMan]

I know that Hobbs and Machett were ripping on the new qualy format on Twitter something hard last night, and I have to agree with them. It's utter bollocks.

[overpowered]

If they're going to keep this stupid format, they should at least make it so that if a driver is the slowest but they're in the middle of a hot lap, then that lap could pull them out of elimination, much like hot laps have counted in the past on the checkered flag.

Q3 particularly sucks because you quickly go to hardly any cars on track.

[CudaMan]

I think it can work in Q1, but not in Q3. What surprises me is so many teams seemed to have mis-read things and had drivers on fast laps when their time was up. It makes things tricky when a driver gets suddenly dropped to the danger zone, say by virtue of 2 or 3 other drivers going faster.

If the "free" Q3 tires took a long time to heat up and were consistent over several laps, this format might work better. But they're 1-lap, maybe 2-lap tires and then you lose performance.

STR beats RedBull in qualy with an old Ferrari engine. :lol:

[XHawkeye]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cd8AqhoW0AAxwRj.jpg:large

#F12016 Qualifying. #F1

[G'day Mate]

If they're going to keep this stupid format, they should at least make it so that if a driver is the slowest but they're in the middle of a hot lap, then that lap could pull them out of elimination, much like hot laps have counted in the past on the checkered flag.

Yeah but where does that end? Does the poor guy who got shafted then get the chance to finish his lap? It would be far too confusing to follow that way - every ninety seconds you'd have to think back a couple of minutes to who has started their lap.

[IMOA]

Looks like they've killed it, I assume in 10 years time it will be fodder for trivia nights

[Yobbo NZ]

Think Fernando should buy a lotto ticket before he leaves the country.

[overpowered]

It was his fault. I feel sorry for Gutierrez.

OTOH, any landing you can walk away from...

The start was insane. Hamilton goes from P1 to 5th? Passed by not only Rosberg but Vettel, Raikkonen and Verstappen? WTF?

[overpowered]

Haas scores points in its very first GP!

[G'day Mate]

... and then you start singing "The Summer of '69"

:lol:

[IMOA]

Great opening race, I think Ferrari fucked it by not going the mediums though, given how much trouble Hamilton had coming through the pack I don't see Rosberg passing Vettel.

[Yobbo NZ]

I'm hoping for a better scrap between Merc and Ferrari this year.Redbull seem to have a bit of pace,but wether they could hang with the other two is going to be interesting. So too will be the battle at Toro Rosso,although they were quick out of the blocks last year too.The Renault didn't seem too bad either and it was nice to see the McLarens have a bit more speed this year.Grosjean to be a constant annoyance this year to mid pack runners?

[XHawkeye]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cd90cqLUsAAGnyX.jpg:large

@ScarbsTech: Brake heaters on the Mercs on the grid

[XHawkeye]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cd9_F5AXEAEAHlr.jpg:large

#AusGP red-flagged after huge crash for Alonso. He's unhurt. Updates on @autosportlive: http://www.autosport.com/live/commentary/id/1947741/2016-australian-grand-prix-race-day … #F1

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cd9_MEcWIAAbWI3.jpg:large

How on earth did Alonso just walk away from that? #AusGP (https://twitter.com/wtf1couk/status/711427118505271296/photo/1)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cd-UUggVIAAEqoe.jpg:large

Another amazing shot #AusGP @alo_oficial crawling from the wreckage (via @ams_sport ) (https://twitter.com/AxisOfOversteer/status/711450348548857857)

[XHawkeye]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cd9-rcUVIAEkL9u.jpg:large

Would he have climbed out so easily with a halo? (https://twitter.com/AxisOfOversteer/status/711426557064007681)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cd-RldNXEAIxzz7.jpg:large

.@alo_oficial and @EstebanGtz after the Crash! #AusGP ❤ #F1 (https://twitter.com/f1writers/status/711462035599564800)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cd-W385W8AA_7kY.jpg:large

3D graphics show @EstebanGtz braked earlier than @alo_oficial #via @Mattzel89 (https://twitter.com/f1writers/status/711463631658078208)

[XHawkeye]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cd_DROQVAAASMaR.jpg:large

Los peores accidentes de Fernando Alonso en grandes premios http://bit.ly/1pUrZ5m [This was #11]

===========

Vettel pretending to throw his cap at Hamilton. Classic. #F1

[XHawkeye]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6tOJPDi6Go

[overpowered]

Merc's clearly still got a distinct advantage. Hamilton was all the way down to 7th at one point and still makes it back to 2nd.

I think Ferrari blew it when they sent Vettel back out on supersofts. Yeah, he managed to pull away from Rosberg for a little while but they just weren't going to last.

If Kimi didn't have bad luck, he'd have no luck at all.

The F1 car protective cage is truly amazing. Alonso walking away from that defies reason.

[FaultyMario]

That's why tub real estate can't yet be used for A/C and a canopy is further complicated than a halo.

[Godson]

Great race, gutted for Esteban being hit by Alonso. Glad Alonso is safe.


Kimi can't catch a fucking brake

[CudaMan]

Ferrari threw that one away. Clearly Mercedes understood the Medium tire better than Ferrari (and so did most of the rest of the field, it seems).

It was going to be really interesting seeing how the strategies played out before the red flag. I think this 3rd tire choice might make for some more difficulty for the strategists for a while, and keep the racing more interesting until they all get totally on top of it.

Gene Haas seemed totally out of touch with F1 and his team the couple of times he was interviewed by Sky. Is he team principal or no?

Overall lots of good things I saw from this first race of 2016. More of this please!

[FaultyMario]

Gene is the owner and relegates a lot of authority onto Gunther, he does seem out of touch, but really, Sixth place on their first time out? I'm sure he was emotional.

[FaultyMario]

As for the crash, i don't think Esteban braked early on purpose, Fox Latam showed his steering wheel's lights went dead just before contact, so i guess it was a combination of factors and Alonso not blaming him for the crash is a sort of mea culpa.

[overpowered]

Kimi can't catch a fucking brakeOr a break.

[Godson]

Fucking swipe. I corrected it twice.

[overpowered]

I was watching Grosjean being interviewed after the race and he seemed so happy that you would have thought he won the race instead of coming 6th.

It would appear that he moved to a better car this year.