2012 Australian Grand Prix Discussion Thread

[QuickYoda41]

Maldonado, can't believe that

[Sauber010]

Pastor.................. Really?

[RealRacingRoots]

And Rosberg is in the beans too, lovely.

[Cynon]

I figured Maldonado would bin it...

[DOSBoot]

The Grojean Fans Strike Back! Nice to see Webber finally break his "5th in a Minardi Duck".

[RealRacingRoots]

I've crashed like that once or twice in F1 2011 at Melborne. Worn tires + right on back of car ahead in that sector is bad news.

[QuickYoda41]

Nice last lap for the minor points, anyway

[Wizzie]

But in all the years of the Aus GP nobody has ever crashed into that wall before. Full stop, new paragraph

[Peter]

So close! Shame for Maldonado. But he impressed me greatly today. Good job from him.

[Valrys]

Jeez, how cheeky was that by Di Resta?

I can only feel sorry for Maldonado though, that was a fantastic drive for 57.5 of the 58 laps

[sswishbone]

That was awesome! so much happened and so many competitive teams and drivers, I think this season could be an absolute cracker

[Paul Hayes]

Great job by Button - he beat Vettel and Hamilton on raw pace in a straight fight. Incredible work.

Gutted for Williams that Maldonado lost it on the last lap... But what a last lap! Has Australia ever had two drivers both in the points at the same race before?

[the Masked Lapwing]

DAMMIT PASTOR!

YAY WEBBER AND RICCIARDO!

[WaffleCat]

Ever notice a recurring trend whenever Pastor finds himself in a high position?

Monaco 2011:Makes contact with Hamilton and retires near the end.

Melbourne 2012:Makes contact with a wall that has never been touched before and retires near the end.

[tkcom]

What a GP! What a race!

Hopefully Sauber don't get DSQ or any penalties again for Koba's floppy rear endplate or Perez/Rosberg scrap.

[QuickYoda41]

Maldonado should be just 7th, 6th is too much pressure for him because it would get him closer to unrejectification.

[WaffleCat]

Kobayashi really went back to his regular self to retain those points.Pulled off Kamikaze defending and attacking.

[WeirdKerr]

great race....

[dnhrudi]

So that will be Paster Maldonado then..........a great shame for the Williams boys after 11.

[14 Hundred Hours]

Pretty good race, although I'm gutted for Maldonado. So close! Now I'm going back to bed...

[MinardiFan95]

Kobayashi really went back to his regular self to retain those points.Pulled off Kamikaze defending and attacking.

The return of Kobayashi's "banzai-osity" is here!

Unlucky Maldonado, he nearly beat Williams total points score from last year in a single race. Both Williams drivers to share ROTR then?

[IdeFan]

Kobayashi really went back to his regular self to retain those points.Pulled off Kamikaze defending and attacking.

I think Kobayashi's "Kamikaze" reputation is a little undeserved, he races hard and makes a lot of passes, but he simply doesn't crash as regularly as previous Banzai drivers like Sato, if he wasn't Japanese he would probably be known as a great racer rather than Kamikaze.

Stupid safety car possibly screwed Hamilton out of 2nd (I say possibly because it looked like Vettel had the edge on pace, particularly on older tires) but we still got the right winner, when everything clicks Button is truly world class.

Watched on RTL with 5Live commentary and it worked out OK, but they didn't show any replays of the last lap chaos in the lower points, so I still don't know exactly what happened, I can only assume Rosberg picked up a puncture on the Maldonado debris and a bunch of cars passed Perez in the chaos.

Gutted for Maldonado, I hope this isn't a fluke for Williams Renault. Also easy to forget Grosjean after all that followed, again I hope he gets further opportunities in future races.

[Pedestrian]

A very interesting race and a promising start to the new season.
I think the unifying theme of this GP was "unfulfilled potential". Most of the people and teams that did poorly today in the overall results will have hovewer a reason to smile as they are allso those who showed the greatest improvement in race performance compared to last year, so they can hope to do better in the next events.

At the front, McLaren will no doubt be unhappy to miss a well deserved 1-2 result. Button however is probably very happy with the extra points difference to his teammate, who will definitely be the greatest threat in the championship race, where Button is so far in "pole position".
On the other hand, Red Bull domination is clearly over. They were extremely lucky to be on the poduim due to a large number of favourable circumstances, including the safety car.
At the opposite pole is Mercedes, who might be a top team but has scored no points. I still can't estimate where they are performance-wise. My impression based on the first laps is that Rosberg can't extract the full performance from the car, but with Schumacher out so early it's hard to tell.
Williams is another team which clearly made big improvements yet has nothing to show for it. Both cars crashed out, but they can be optmistic. With more luck (for Senna) and more focus (for Maldonado) we could see Williams consistently score with both cars, which would be much better than in the last years.
Raikonnen's much expected comeback was so-and-so. It was not a performance to match the speed shown in testing/practice, but allso not the flop announced by yesterday's qualifying. Luckyly for him he was saved the embarassment of finnishing behind his teammate.
At the back, the Red Bull B-team was allso lucky to get into the points, as was Force India, due to the high atrition that some fans were wishing for. However, they have little reason for optimism as they are clarly at the back of the midfield, behind Sauber and Williams.
Right at the back, nothing has changed. The big irony is that after all the criticism directed at "the new teams" for being only a disruption for othe people, and after HRT were disqualified to the general relief, it was one of the overhyped Caterhams that caused the most harm in the race.
Also, with Marussia beating Caterham (in the final standings) it was another victory of beauty over uglyness, to mirror the situation at the very front.

[Ferrim]

At the front, McLaren will no doubt be unhappy to miss a well deserved 1-2 result. Button however is probably very happy with the extra points difference to his teammate, who will definitely be the greatest threat in the championship race, where Button is so far in "pole position".

Don't rule out Red Bull mate. In race conditions they were as fast as McLaren.

[DonTirri]

Man, what.a.race.
I am quite happy with the way this seasons appears to be turning out, even if its Red Bull/Macca at the top, since the middlefield looks to be one of the closest in years. Lotus, Mercedes, Ferrari, Williams, Sauber, Force and Toro are all close to each other which promises for some intriguing stuff, especially should something happen to the maccas and bulls on a race.

Some quick cliff notes:

-Impressive from Button, it's clear that his driving style works better on these tyres and this car than Hamiltons.
- Vettel recovered from a somewhat lacklustre quali nicely, second place is far from shabby.
- Hamilton was one of the biggest losers in the race, third from pole isn't that great especially since he lost it on the track instead of hijinks or shenanigans.
- Webber finally broke the curse and beat his Minardi-result. Thumbs up for Mark, though he REALLY should start to practice those starts.
- A decent job from Alonso, even though he was in all kinds of trouble from Maldonado, there really is no question who is the better Ferrari-driver. Though he was quite far from the first four. methinks Pram will be devoid of all toys soon enough.
- Koba drove a great, great race. Even with a dis-integrating rear wing he pulled nice moves and it seems like Sauber does have nice pace. That makes me a happy man.
- From 17th to 7th after a 2 year break, anyone mind arguing that Kimi has lost his edge hmm? Some nice moves from him too. Shame his quali was a disaster. Had he gotten to Q3, he propably could've been scrapping if not for podium, then atleast with Alonso.
- Vergne and Ricciardo both did quite well, Ricciardo showed right from the bat that he has great potential, and I was positively surprised by Vergne, even if he got dropped out of points on the last second. Looking good for the Toros
- Perez had a great race, from the last place to points is no easy task. Again showing that a different tyre strategy CAN work. Shame about the last lap.
- Nico really doesn't change does he? He's picked up right where he left off. Not a race winner but not really a midfielder either. Shame about the last lap.
- Di Resta put a cheeky move on Vergne, but otherwise a bit anynomous. I'm still not impressed by him.
- Pastor... Pastor, pastor, pastor. I knew he'd bin it eventually. A great race for 57.5 laps though. Shame he didn't take Alonso with him. Once he gets that blunder-habit out of the way, he might just be Williams' last, best hope for success.
- Marussia was totally anynomous. Why are they even there?
- Massa... His days in F1 are numbered. A DAMN shame, seems like he never did recover from that crash. A great tragedy of the sport.
- Why is Bruno here? He clearly doesn't belong.
- So Power Steering cost Petrovs race and something cost Kovalainen's. wassupwitdat Caterham? Speewise they were exactly where they left off. Behind the midfield, ahead of the backmarkers.
- Schuey... shame his car broke. Methinks we're goin to see more of him sooner than later.
- Grosjean got extremely unlucky, it was a very tiny contact, or so it seemed. Just hit a bad spot. Stay tuned, as I don't think he's finished just yet.
- The jury is still out for Hulkenberg.

Also. RÄIKKÖNEN (or RAIKKONEN) NOT RAIKONNEN. ITS NOT SO BLOODY HARD TO SPELL UNLESS YOU GOT A SEVERE CASE OF DYSLEXIA.

[sswishbone]

Red Bull's problem in my view was out of the box pace, the start of the race was insanely ominous with how quick Mclaren pulled away

[Wizzie]

Red Bull's problem in my view was out of the box pace, the start of the race was insanely ominous with how quick Mclaren pulled away

Plus, if Button's radio under the safety car is anything to go by, he still had something in reserve anyway.

[DOSBoot]

haha fu grrooooowwwjoooonnn have a papaya go revrend go schumi

Okay Romain Grojean fans, now that the race is over, let's all point and laugh at S951.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX7wtNOkuHo

[Pedestrian]

At the front, McLaren will no doubt be unhappy to miss a well deserved 1-2 result. Button however is probably very happy with the extra points difference to his teammate, who will definitely be the greatest threat in the championship race, where Button is so far in "pole position".

Don't rule out Red Bull mate. In race conditions they were as fast as McLaren.

That's not what I saw. In the end the gap was as big as Button wanted it to be, and he had no problem pulling away when he felt like it.
Allso, it is possible that Lotus and Mercedes have caught the Bulls too. We won't know untill they start finishing consistently.
I'm not saying Red Bull are not in the race for the title, but they are definitely not favourites.

[David AGS]

I say It again, WHAT A GREAT PLACE FOR A RACE

It was a good one too. Feel sorry for Williams, looked promising. Its a decent smash, apparently the frieght leaves tomorrow morning for Malaysia too.

McLaren looked very strong, same Red Bull. Alonso looked okay, but Massa went backwards.

Kudos to Raikkonen, Perez, and Ricciardo. All had big challenges to make up ground

Mention to Timo Glock, best last year 15th, now 14th in first race.

[Pedestrian]

Man, what.a.race.

- Why is Bruno here? He clearly doesn't belong.

Why are you saying that? What happened in the race today was not his fault. He was hit by multiple cars, some of them at the same time. I think he did OK given the circumstances

Also. RÄIKKÖNEN (or RAIKKONEN) NOT RAIKONNEN. ITS NOT SO BLOODY HARD TO SPELL UNLESS YOU GOT A SEVERE CASE OF DYSLEXIA.

I don't know about other people but in my country the F1 commentators would say his name as RAIKKONEN ( I suppose RÄIKKÖNEN is pronounce differently) so I got used to think of the driver as "Kimi Raikonen" and write it likewise. If I had learned of his name from a book and not from tv it might have been different.

[tkcom]

One question tho... how did other cars go thru debris by Maldonado's crash without a puncture?

[Pedestrian]

One question tho... how did other cars go thru debris by Maldonado's crash without a puncture?

Apparently, some of them ... didn't (like Rosberg)

[IdeFan]

Also. RÄIKKÖNEN (or RAIKKONEN) NOT RAIKONNEN. ITS NOT SO BLOODY HARD TO SPELL UNLESS YOU GOT A SEVERE CASE OF DYSLEXIA.

Thanks for the tip, now I'll never spell Kiim Riankokan's name wrong again!

[fjackdaw]

GRSJN fanboys QQing now.

Having a running vendetta against a driver's fans - especially a perfectly harmless driver who doesn't do annoying stuff like winning anything - is dangerously close to trolling.

Are there even any Grosjean fanboys? Is it not just people saying, "Give the guy a chance and don't be such a d**k about it"?

[Ferrim]

At the front, McLaren will no doubt be unhappy to miss a well deserved 1-2 result. Button however is probably very happy with the extra points difference to his teammate, who will definitely be the greatest threat in the championship race, where Button is so far in "pole position".

Don't rule out Red Bull mate. In race conditions they were as fast as McLaren.

That's not what I saw. In the end the gap was as big as Button wanted it to be, and he had no problem pulling away when he felt like it.
Allso, it is possible that Lotus and Mercedes have caught the Bulls too. We won't know untill they start finishing consistently.
I'm not saying Red Bull are not in the race for the title, but they are definitely not favourites.

What I saw was Vettel catching up Hamilton since he had free track. It's true that Button seemed to have something more under his sleeve, but I wouldn't say Hamilton is definitely Button's greatest threat after what we've seen today.

[FullMetalJack]

I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting Button to win that. Superb drive.

My heart sunk when Maldonado crashed though.

[tristan1117]

CHECO PEREZ!
KAMUI KOBAYASHI!
Sauber FTW!

Oh, and why did Rosberg suddenly slow down at the end of the race?

[Pedestrian]

What I saw was Vettel catching up Hamilton since he had free track. It's true that Button seemed to have something more under his sleeve, but I wouldn't say Hamilton is definitely Button's greatest threat after what we've seen today.

Hamilton was having a bad day and was a bit unlucky with the pitstops. Even so the fastest Red Bull only beat the slowest McLaren by a very small margin. I take this to mean that on average the Mclaren is better than the Red Bull and that in most races the greatest threat to Button will come from someone with the same machinery, that is Hamilton.

[dr-baker]

Just watching the replay on BBC TV. I don't have access to Sky or any foreign TV channels, so listening live on the radio then rewatching the replay is the best option I have. And both sets of commentators seem to work well in my opinion. But then it's easy (easier?) with an action-packed race as today. And today confirmed to me that I really am still a Williams fan. I was distraught to hear of Maldonado's retirement. And I was not devastated when I heard of Schumi's retirement while I was listening half-awake in bed...

I would have preferred to see the race live on BBC TV, but I'll be content for a short while listening to the radio live, then having the footage added to the commentary later that day.

Oh, and I am definitely a Button fan - at the start of the final lap, I was hoping and praying he wouldn't chuck it off...