2017 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix

[flipstah]

NOS

[flipstah]

7sec ffs

[phreezee]

So many failures ruined the race for me, especially Ricciardo.
Vettel winning must have Alonso thinking retirement.
Max for driver of the day.

Lewis needs to compose himself. Lost the race with all his complaining that lead to the early pit.

[RickDaTuner]

Definitely lots of bugs to get worked out before the next race

Nice to see Ferrari on top again though!

[flipstah]

FFS one point!

[schocker]

yeaahhh. Finally, moving down to a single pit allowed ferrari to not screw up.

[rage2]

That race was the worst. Alonso losing that last point was just fucking rubbing it in. At least Flames won.

[flipstah]

Finger got a W. Meanwhile, McLaren got the D. Sigh.

Is seppuku still a thing?

[schocker]

Originally posted by rage2
That race was the worst. Alonso losing that last point was just fucking rubbing it in. At least Flames won.

I was more impressed that both mclarens nearly finished and it was the others having reliability issues. Looks like they had the car turned down though. I kind of do miss tire degradation already though. One pit stop leads to less strategy.

Good new gif for the season


edit: also this lol
https://twitter.com/TommyWTF1/status/845971875968811009

[speedog]

Those wide tires, man those bring back memories. So cool.

[npham]

Seemed like a they can go a lot of laps on those ultra softs. I think Vettel did like 28 or so laps on used ones...crazy.

Nice to see Bottas hanging in there with Lewis as well.

[Team_Mclaren]

Not a bad first race of the season. the thing i love the most is the return of the lower/winder rear wings.

[austic]

good start to the season, love being able to watch it live on the Saturday night.

Sucks for Riccardo and Alonso was pulling for a miracle for both of them.

Hated all the Stroll is the first Canadian driver since Villeneuve... he does not deserve to be in the same sentence with a Canadian legend.

[JustinL]

Glad to see some competition at the front again!

I think the rules this year are a strange decision. In 2008 passing was terrible with low wide wings and lots of aero appendages creating a huge wake. They redesigned the cars to make it easier to stay close by raising the rear wing and limiting the impact on the following car. This year the cars are faster, but the racing is going to be worse because we're back to the some of the same problems as 2008. The increased mechanical grip is a great idea, but the bigger diffuser, low wing, and appendages are going to reduce overtaking. All the action is going to be around the single pitstop.

[rage2]

Originally posted by austic
Hated all the Stroll is the first Canadian driver since Villeneuve... he does not deserve to be in the same sentence with a Canadian legend.

I'm a huge fan of JV, but I wouldn't call him a Canadian legend, aside from the fact that he won WDC once. JV was in a pretty lucky position to be in a pretty dominating Williams, and couldn't beat Hill (who in my books is a pretty weak driver as well) in his first year. Granted, it was his first year so he gets a pass. When he finally won it all the next year, they partnered him with Frentzen whom was even easier to beat, pretty much gifted the WDC with the Williams which was the class of the field that year. Even so, Schumacher somehow pushed that POS Ferrari to the WDC fight to the last race at Jerez (one of my favorite races of all time).

After that, JV was routinely beat by Massa, Button, Alonso, Heidfeld... To his credit, he did out drive Zonta, and Panis. Big names in the sport haha.

JV was for sure right place at the right time in F1. He dominated Indycar, but hey, so did any has been ex-F1 driver.

Originally posted by JustinL
I think the rules this year are a strange decision. In 2008 passing was terrible with low wide wings and lots of aero appendages creating a huge wake. They redesigned the cars to make it easier to stay close by raising the rear wing and limiting the impact on the following car. This year the cars are faster, but the racing is going to be worse because we're back to the some of the same problems as 2008. The increased mechanical grip is a great idea, but the bigger diffuser, low wing, and appendages are going to reduce overtaking. All the action is going to be around the single pitstop.

There's an article on AS talking about this. From what it sounds like, in theory, passing will be tougher this year because cornering speeds are faster (less ability to follow in wake), braking distances are lower, and tires last longer. However, the tow behind a car is pretty insane especially with DRS, which means we should see some better closing speeds in more open tracks. I wouldn't be surprised if China with its long straights and DRS zones that it'll be an insane pass fest back and forth between close cars. Aus's track layout is just a bit of an outlier.

[JustinL]

Originally posted by rage2


There's an article on AS talking about this. From what it sounds like, in theory, passing will be tougher this year because cornering speeds are faster (less ability to follow in wake), braking distances are lower, and tires last longer. However, the tow behind a car is pretty insane especially with DRS, which means we should see some better closing speeds in more open tracks. I wouldn't be surprised if China with its long straights and DRS zones that it'll be an insane pass fest back and forth between close cars. Aus's track layout is just a bit of an outlier.

That's true too. I guess it will depend on how bad the wake is. If they can't stay within DRS activation it will be tough, but DRS+Draft may lead to lots of overtakes on long straights.

[Inzane]

Why is Force India PINK this year?

[schocker]

Originally posted by Inzane
Why is Force India PINK this year?

http://www.forceindiaf1.com/news/sah...-agreement-bwt

Not sure why the pink though, maybe so it is more unique.

[flipstah]

It's the signature color of the sponsor.