2011 Australian Grand Prix

Yes! The sound quality has been greatly improved over previous seasons. I'm absolutely loving it, especially the sounds coming from the McLaren and Renault.

The Mclaren and Renault are the two loudest cars on the track by far. I didn't feel like needing ear buds for the other cars but my ears actually hurt whenever those two did.

Was another great day. Didn't come home with wet socks thanks to the dry weather. Ferrari's were noticeably coming in/out of the pits a lot more than other teams. Lot's of adjustments I guess. Alonso looked to be doing just enough to not be fastest the whole time.

Renault looks better in person but still not a fan. The red bulls were the only team that were engaging the rear wing about 1/4 through the final turn. Every other team would engage it at the end of the turn when the car was just hitting the ripple strip. Not sure what to think of that.

Lotus' were dissapointing. Though are clearly on their own as they aren't fast enough for the existing teams but faster than the other of last years new combers.
 
Yes! The sound quality has been greatly improved over previous seasons. I'm absolutely loving it, especially the sounds coming from the McLaren and Renault.

I don't think its to do with improvements in the sound equipment but more because the cars particularly the Mclaren and Renualt have unusual exhaust systems which make a growling noise when the cars downshift. As a result the whole engine sounds different and much more throaty.

Radio 5 commentary put the sound on the Mclaren and also the Ferrari down to the fact they have a slit shaped exhaust system which makes a sound like deflating a balloon. You don't here this noise on some of the other more traditional exhausts other teams are using. Its definitely adding to the atmosphere because it has a hint of the old straight through exhausts on 60's F1 cars.

In other news I just heard Vettel has named his car 'Kinky Kylie' :lol: I wonder if this is for the whole season or its going to be themed name for every different country they visit, which would be really neat.

Robin.
 
I had a nightmare last night that I was watching the Japanese GP and had missed the entire F1 season. F1 being gone for so long has messed with my head.
 
I'm just re watching FP1 and 2 on the Beeb red button, have they moved the T bar cameras back, or zoomed them out at all?
 
I couldn't watch FP on the BBC red button last night, I had to watch it online instead. It said 'This service is currently unavailable'. That's a shame, because I went out and bought an arial and a TV license just for F1. At least I can use it for qualifying and the race.
 
He's just having a dig at Red Bull because Horner has been doing the same.

And I suppose the comments about how Mark Webber should retire weren't out of line?

I genuinely hate Lewis. He's a fantastic driver and makes f1 more interesting, but I hate his personality. Like his comments the other day about how he was to win "title after title to prove himself as the greatest driver of his generation". What an arrogant little man he is. You should check out the 2010 season review dvd and hear the way he talks to his team... He is an arrogant, selfish and spoiled little man.
 
F1 fan
...his comments the other day about how he was to win "title after title to prove himself as the greatest driver of his generation". What an arrogant little man he is. You should check out the 2010 season review dvd and hear the way he talks to his team... He is an arrogant, selfish and spoiled little man.

With sporting media's tendency to crown immediate heros and bravely suggest that all good things are bound to be the "one of the greatest of all time". I get the idea he was attenuating some of that noise, which shows a little bit of humility. Every F1 driver thinks he's made of a few titles (if the circumstances are just so), so that's not the most arrogant of statements by a long shot. If he said he's better than Fangio, then that would be the case, in my opinion.
 
I genuinely hate Lewis. He's a fantastic driver and makes f1 more interesting, but I hate his personality. Like his comments the other day about how he was to win "title after title to prove himself as the greatest driver of his generation". What an arrogant little man he is. You should check out the 2010 season review dvd and hear the way he talks to his team... He is an arrogant, selfish and spoiled little man.

What's wrong with that? To hate someone for simply setting a high standard for themselves to achieve, makes you seem pretty insecure (and imo makes you looks like the one who is the "little man") tbh.

Most of the crap Hamilton has been saying of late (who knows how much the media has twisted it) is just mindgames and shenanigens...the same shiet Horner has been pulling for the past couple of years...although a lot of it is has been lead on by Whitmarsh :lol: Both those teams are so worried about their media image and PR, they get stuck falling into these little fiascos...while teams like Ferrari could give a flying crap and just go out and do their thing.

Fangio was nearly 40 years old when he started his first Championship Formula 1 race. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Manuel_Fangio

He then won the World Championship 5 times in 4 different makes of car, with a higher winning percentage than Schumacher.

Hamilton is better than Fangio only because Fangio is 6 feet under.

They are from two completely different eras. Fangio was the most "succesful" driver ever statistically...but there's nothing to prove that he was the most gifted ever, in terms of driving talent.
 
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They are from two completely different eras. Fangio was the most "succesful" driver ever statistically...but there's nothing to prove that he was the most gifted ever, in terms of driving talent.

Indeed. You can only compare drivers that have raced against each other. A guy driving like Hamilton would not survive one full year in the 50's F1. He makes too many mistakes that would be fatal in those times.

A guy driving like Fangio did but in modern day F1 would be hopelessly slow.

That's why a 40 year old could be successful back then. Survival of the wisest.
 
What's wrong with that? To hate someone for simply setting a high standard for themselves to achieve, makes you seem pretty insecure (and imo makes you looks like the one who is the "little man") tbh.

The comment implies that he already believes himself to be the best driver of his generation. I admit he's a fantastic driver, but if you look at some of the things he has said, you will see he really is arrogant. If anyone can lay claim to be the best of the current generation, it is Alonso (and I'm a Vettel fan) but Fernando at least has the sense to give due credit to his rivals and actually comes across as a nice guy most of the time... Lewis just seems to have an attitude that he's the best, he's special and that it's not Formula one, but the lewis hamilton show. He also used to use every little excuse to compare himself to Ayrton Senna.

Mark Webber doesn't compare himself to anyone. He's very blunt in the sense that he wants to be world champion, but he doesn't underestimate his rivals. He generally makes no stupid claims to the media and comes across as a genuinely nice guy. As does Button.

Vettel clearly has his eye's on Schumi's records, but seems very humble. Hamilton just has this attitude that I don't like. Maybe some don't see it, but he has an attitude like he's the golden child.

Look at the first lap in valencia. He gave Vettel a choice. Hit the wall or hit lewis's car. Vettel chose the latter and lewis was on the radio immediately "Vettel hit me". Seemed to me that he was trying for a penalty. He reminds me of the footballers who roll around on the ground at the slightest bit of contact, but when the referee says "No foul" they're back up immediately as if nothing happened. And the whole "Liegate" thing... He's a dirty sportsman and will result to cheating to get his way. But some people think he's an angel. I can't understand it.
 
Shame that HRT have struggled again so badly. I see them folding mid season at this rate.
 
Shame that HRT have struggled again so badly. I see them folding mid season at this rate.

At least they made it this far. I'm not going to write them off yet, but it is looking pretty bad. I don't think they'll fold just yet though. There is a lot of sponsorship money involved from India. I think that'll make sure that they'll at least make the end of the season, as the Indian grand prix is near the end.
 
I'm not sure if this has been discussed in regards to the Pirelli's wearing quickly, but i just saw Chandok's spin on the highlights. Did anyone else notice the HUGE flat spot on his left rear? After a small spin it took a huge chunk out of the tyre. This is going to have a serious impact when drivers lock up if the Pirelli flats like this.
 
Quick Question Guys , I am at GMT +2 So at what time will Quali start Tomorrow for me
Thanks in advance and appreciate the help 👍
 
I'm not sure if this has been discussed in regards to the Pirelli's wearing quickly, but i just saw Chandok's spin on the highlights. Did anyone else notice the HUGE flat spot on his left rear? After a small spin it took a huge chunk out of the tyre. This is going to have a serious impact when drivers lock up if the Pirelli flats like this.

I'm not sure if it was discussed in the thread or not, but on TV they were saying they might even be pitting 2-3 times a race
 
Quick Question Guys , I am at GMT +2 So at what time will Quali start Tomorrow for me
Thanks in advance and appreciate the help 👍

4am

I'm not sure if it was discussed in the thread or not, but on TV they were saying they might even be pitting 2-3 times a race

Yes, but that is not what I am talking about. We are all aware that the Pirelli tyres degrade quicker. What I am asking is whether the impact on flat spots has been discussed. It looks to me, after seeing Chandok go off, that a small spin results in a very big flat spot. It is likely that, if a driver locks up into a corner, these tyres will flat spot quite badly causing big vibrations and big problems.
 
I was at the track 2-3 weeks ago, but I can't make it down there this weekend! :( Anyway, my opinion is that Red Bull will dominate, Ferrari will put on a good show, Mclaren will be up there, but not win and the remainder of the field will simply drive around for the rest of the race. I hope I am wrong though :)
 
The comment implies that he already believes himself to be the best driver of his generation. I admit he's a fantastic driver, but if you look at some of the things he has said, you will see he really is arrogant. If anyone can lay claim to be the best of the current generation, it is Alonso (and I'm a Vettel fan) but Fernando at least has the sense to give due credit to his rivals and actually comes across as a nice guy most of the time... Lewis just seems to have an attitude that he's the best, he's special and that it's not Formula one, but the lewis hamilton show. He also used to use every little excuse to compare himself to Ayrton Senna.

Mark Webber doesn't compare himself to anyone. He's very blunt in the sense that he wants to be world champion, but he doesn't underestimate his rivals. He generally makes no stupid claims to the media and comes across as a genuinely nice guy. As does Button.

Vettel clearly has his eye's on Schumi's records, but seems very humble. Hamilton just has this attitude that I don't like. Maybe some don't see it, but he has an attitude like he's the golden child.

Look at the first lap in valencia. He gave Vettel a choice. Hit the wall or hit lewis's car. Vettel chose the latter and lewis was on the radio immediately "Vettel hit me". Seemed to me that he was trying for a penalty. He reminds me of the footballers who roll around on the ground at the slightest bit of contact, but when the referee says "No foul" they're back up immediately as if nothing happened. And the whole "Liegate" thing... He's a dirty sportsman and will result to cheating to get his way. But some people think he's an angel. I can't understand it.

He doesn’t imply he is the best driver of his generation. He just says for a driver to prove he is the best, he has to win multiple world championships and also continue winning. He already said one or two titles is not enough and as he only has one then he doesn’t think he will be perceived as one of the greatest of his generation unless he improves.

I like the way you are a Vettel fan and then say Alonso has the sense to credit to his rivals. Are you serious, as I remember Vettel mentioning that Alonso not congratulating him on his world championship win until like two weeks later while praising people like Lewis on doing so straight away.

Hamilton is a fan of Senna like most drivers on the grid and has a similar style but I remember him saying he would lose against Senna by a lot if they did race as he sees him as his idol.

It is funny you hate a driver for claiming him to be arrogant and then say the driver who you are a fan of is humble. Did I miss something with the constant finger waving saying he is number 1 if he wins or gets on pole? Other drivers like Lewis just gives the thumbs up if they finish first, when Vettel finishes first, he makes sure others know it.

About him being a dirty sportsmen I don’t think so, the lie-gate thing was just stupidity at its best especially from Dave Ryan and also from Lewis for going along with what his sporting director said for him to say. The funny thing is Lewis hates people who are dishonest and must hate himself for being naïve to go along with what his teams sporting director had to say. Facepalm moment I must say.

It is not like he is only the only driver to have controversy. Fernando Alonso who you highly regard has incidents such as “spygate” trying to blackmail his team to get number 1 status, “crashgate” where his team mate crashed for him to get a chance to get a win and the recent team orders uproar.

I personally don’t hate any of the drivers on the grid but as you mentioned you hate Hamilton and are trying to justify it by saying it is due to him being arrogant. From what I see he is no arrogant than any other F1 driver and certainly in my opinion not the most arrogant driver on the grid. Your football analogy of Lewis I think is far from the actual case with Lewis, he just gets on with things like in Singapore when Webber decided it was best to brake on the limit as usual hoping that Hamilton pulled over and gave way. I like that Lewis shows his emotions and then also not finger point after that incident blaming it all on Webber unlike Vettel on Webber who suggested he was crazy. Webber was a bit clumsy and lucky to get away with it in my opinion in Singapore.

You might not understand why people like him but for many he comes as a down to earth and friendly person outside the track and on it he is a true racer with also all his racing emotions on display. I personally don’t get the myth that Hamilton is accident prone, if you look at DNF’s then I’m sure he has had like a maximum of like 2 a season and if someone did the stats I would expect him to be low down on the list of DNF’s due to driver error. Also his ability to preserve tyres is as good as Jensons if not much better as he maximises his tyres unlike Jenson last year leaving a lot of life in them when he pits and also driving slower to preserve them. My predictions for the pairing is for Lewis to be more ahead in points this season over Jenson than last season. I expect Jenson Button to be very strong in Australia though and he might have the beating of Lewis on this track as he usually goes well here.


Quick Question Guys , I am at GMT +2 So at what time will Quali start Tomorrow for me
Thanks in advance and appreciate the help 👍
I think it is 8AM.

Are you sure? I thought it would be 8AM?
 
I think (hope!) that it's going to be slightly more complex than that. With the multiple stops, rear wings and KERS, it's going to be highly unpredictable. Whether it's going to be good racing we'll have to wait and see, but I'm sure there is going to be a big spanner in someones works.

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Oops, sorry saidur, I think you're right. If you're two hours ahead then it's 00:40 for you now. Quali starts in 7 hours 20 mins.
 
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I think (hope!) that it's going to be slightly more complex than that. With the multiple stops, rear wings and KERS, it's going to be highly unpredictable. Whether it's going to be good racing we'll have to wait and see, but I'm sure there is going to be a big spanner in someones works.

It will be interesting to see how tyres are managed in qualifying and hopefully we don't see people going into the back of other cars in Q1. The race performance might highly depend on qualifying in terms of the number of tyres used and 11th Place could be seen as an advantage due to using less tyres and also being able to start on a fresh set and on the harder compound to minimise pit stops.

I can see a lot of driver errors ocurring, maybe even from the top drivers making quite a few look a bit like amateurs. Maybe there will be less errors in race compared to qualifying though.
 
You can call Hamilton dirty, though i've not seen it. But you compare him to possibly the 2 greatest F1 drivers, Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher and you will find that those guys were very dirty, they would (and have done) anything in order to secure the win.


I didn't get the vibe from Hamilton that he thinks he is the best of his generation, i also don't believe that Alonso is the best of this generation (though obviously that is subject of opinion). There are a whole bunch of them out there that at this moment are so good at what they do the only real difference is between the cars.
 
Can't wait.. I'm at work now till 6;45 am, so I race my way home, could be done in about 15mins, so I just miss the start.. (GMT+1)
 
So excited!

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That phrase will never be usable again.
 
I wonder which row Mark Webber will take. Maybe he'll kick it in the front row or he could possibly sit in the 2nd row?
 
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