F1 2024: Australian GP - Melbourne (Mar 24)

[GuidoK]

[GuidoK]

And Hammy out in Q2!
Knocked out by Yuki

[GuidoK]

And Max takes pole!
Lec had to abandon his last lap.
Good result for SAI with p2.

[G30M]

commentator thinks RB has a secret party mode

either that or RB very good at sandbagging

Perez P3!

[G30M]

this quali at least,

all the young ones beat all the old ones, apart from Norris (though i don't consider him old)

[M5Rick]

SAI showing what he thinks of Ferraris decision to sign LEW for '25 as LEW's slide continues with a failed gamble on his set up window.

[M5Rick]

As MAX's pole table score rises with another pole here, just heard that Checo has been penalised for impeding someone on the track and he's been pushed back to 6th. Apparently the team were too late in warning him that HUL was fast approaching.
https://racingnews365.com/perez-issu...n-gp-grid-drop

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

Just going down for my brekkie and will have something similar to Albon's plate

[M5Rick]

Just seen MAX's pole lap, a 1.15:915

''That was actually a quite good lap to be honest''

[Killed by Death]

Damn, Carlos loosing an appendix to shed weight.
A bit drastic but seems to have worked.

Charlie

[Car-Addicted]

Perez given three-place grid penalty in Melbourne
“Hulkenberg was on a fast lap when he approached Turn 13,” the stewards’ decision read. “Perez, who was on an out lap was at the apex of the turn and Hulkenberg had to leave the racing line to drive around him. Hulkenberg was forced to lift the throttle early and brake early for that corner.
“In reviewing the audio from Perez’s car, the stewards observed that the team was focused on the car in front of Perez that had just slowed, and did not give Perez a warning that Hulkenberg was behind him until one second before Hulkenberg arrived, and significantly too late to avoid impeding Hulkenberg.
The penalty promotes Lando Norris to third on the grid for Sunday’s race at Albert Park, with Charles Leclerc now starting from fourth and Oscar Piastri fifth.

https://racer.com/2024/03/23/perez-g...-in-melbourne/

Hopefully more Perez traffic racing and not a trip to the pits for a new wing.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by ///MPhatic

That's because when he's actually racing he's not in a car in his mind, he's just processing information. Most drivers prefer the feel of the car underneath them, it's extra information, but Max just doesn't need that, it's all lines on a grid. He's closer to a digital medium in an analog space. He's an evolution.

Belgian F1 TV journalist Gaëtan Vigneron said during the Melbourne qualies broadcast that he had asked two F1 team principals whether Verstappen would also outperform the rest of the field in another car than a Red Bull. Both team principals replied that Verstappen would manage to do so because, according to them, he operates on another level than the rest.

Vigneron also said that Toto Wolff gave an interview to Erik van Haren (the Dutch journalist of De Telegraaf who leaked the Horner complaint story last month). Wolff confirmed again that he would like to have Verstappen at Mercedes.

Further, Johnny Herbert (one of the four FIA race stewards this Melbourne race weekend) told Vigneron that he is personally fully convinced that Verstappen will race for Mercedes in 2025.

Vigneron also heard the rumor in the paddock that talks between Adrian Newey and Ferrari are at an "advanced" stage. Newey is not in Melbourne this race weekend.

[Artemis]

Ricciardo in front of his home crowd:

• Tsunoda: 1:16.788 - P8 (Q3)
• Ricciardo: 1:18:085 - P18 (Q1)

Difference: 1.297s.

"Ricciardo despair has first worrying echo of McLaren nightmare"
The Race - Mar 23, 2024
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/d...a-1-nightmare/
"However, his [Ricciardo] comments have worrying echoes of those at Monaco in 2021 when he hit the first nadir of his McLaren stint and felt that car problems must be to blame for his lack of pace. Subsequent checks by the team revealed that wasn’t the case and that it was instead all about the way he was driving an admittedly tricky car. (...)
The RB team will take a close look at the car and it might be there’s something still not right that’s holding Ricciardo back. Certainly, the Australian hopes that's the case. But given his struggles in recent years, there’s still a big question mark about whether the limitation might be a driver who is still struggling to get the most out of the car and recapture the sky-high level of his F1 pomp."

"Dejected Ricciardo shows first flashes of McLaren depths"
RN365 - March 23, 2024
https://racingnews365.com/dejected-r...-mclaren-nadir
"Perhaps it was expected after losing a lap time in front of his home crowd that unceremoniously dumped him out in Q1 for the Australian Grand Prix, but Daniel Ricciardo cut a broken figure after qualifying in Melbourne.
His final flying lap had been good enough to secure a Q2 berth but was quickly deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 5 meaning he qualified 18th fastest - on the back row of the 19-car field.
Whilst admitting the humiliating demotion had "yet to sink it", the Perth-native was upbeat about the actual lap he had driven and was far more concerned about the performance of team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who would go on to qualify in eighth, with a lap 1.3s faster than Ricciardo managed.
The downbeat Ricciardo was clutching at straws in the hope that some strategic brilliance would enable him to climb into the points in what is expected to be at least a two-stop race.
The result, and continued excellence of Tsunoda, is a dagger-blow to Ricciardo's hopes of returning to the Red Bull seat he left in 2018 for next season.
But the eight-time Grand Prix hinted that the problem was more on his side than the car, in echoes of his flawed McLaren stint in which he would often admit he was just not capable of doing what Lando Norris was.
Ricciardo feels confident and able to push the car, but is simply at a loss to explain where Tsunoda can find the extra time he is unable to."

Hamilton: P11 (Q2)

"‘Messes with the mind’: Hamilton hits 14-year low in Australian GP qualifying"
The Guardian - March 23, 2024
https://theguardian.com/sport/2024/m...ualifying-2024
"The 39-year-old will join Ferrari next season and on the form of these opening meetings a long slog in the Mercedes lies ahead with 22 more races to come. He qualified in ninth at the season opener in Bahrain and eighth at the second round in Saudi Arabia, and has been out-qualified in each meeting by his teammate George Russell who was seventh in Australia. He has only eight points to Russell’s 18 this season.
Since the new regulations were introduced in 2022 Mercedes have struggled to master them to even close to the extent Red Bull has achieved. Hamilton, who until 2022 had taken a win in every season of his career in F1 since his debut in 2007, has now gone without a victory for 57 races, the last at the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP. Mercedes have won only once since 2022, indicative of how they have failed to match their rivals."

[G30M]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Further, Johnny Herbert (one of the four FIA race stewards this Melbourne race weekend) told Vigneron that he is personally fully convinced that Verstappen will race for Mercedes in 2025.

johny herbert the stewart and the listener

still hearing things about max eh

the Dutch are onto something ... maybe they should take more pics about who Jos is talking to. i hear there's a seat in Haas

[G30M]

Originally Posted by Car-Addicted

Perez given three-place grid penalty in Melbourne

that just means P2 for Perez by the end of the race. he will do it with his eyes closed

i really can't see someone who's had an appendix taken out 2 weeks ago performing for an entire GP, though the temp of 20C should help a bit

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Attachment 3416681

Attachment 3416683


Belgian F1 TV journalist Gaëtan Vigneron said during the Melbourne qualies broadcast that he had asked two F1 team principals whether Verstappen would also outperform the rest of the field in another car than a Red Bull. Both team principals replied that Verstappen would manage to do so because, according to them, he operates on another level than the rest.

Vigneron also said that Toto Wolff gave an interview to Erik van Haren (the Dutch journalist of De Telegraaf who leaked the Horner complaint story last month). Wolff confirmed again that he would like to have Verstappen at Mercedes.

Further, Johnny Herbert (one of the four FIA race stewards this Melbourne race weekend) told Vigneron that he is personally fully convinced that Verstappen will race for Mercedes in 2025.

Vigneron also heard the rumor in the paddock that talks between Adrian Newey and Ferrari are at an "advanced" stage. Newey is not in Melbourne this race weekend.

Journo Vigneron has said a lot of things to promote himself.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Just seen MAX's pole lap, a 1.15:915

''That was actually a quite good lap to be honest''

MAX executed his pole lap with 'scalpel precision !

I just heard his HONDA PU was replaced to run the QF ...
Something was wrong during the the FP's .

LEW is lost in time .....

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by g21

i really can't see someone who's had an appendix taken out 2 weeks ago performing for an entire GP, though the temp of 20C should help a bit

Did you forget about Albon during the Monza 2022 race weekend (Sep 9-11, 2022) ?

Albon was in hospital during the Monza race but participated to the Singapore qualies and race (Sep 30 - Oct 2, 2022). He slid into the wall over a wet part of the track during lap 25.

[Killed by Death]

Originally Posted by g21

i really can't see someone who's had an appendix taken out 2 weeks ago performing for an entire GP, though the temp of 20C should help a bit

Does sound daunting,,,Maybe Carlos is just a bada$$...We will see

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

MAX executed his pole lap with 'scalpel precision !

I just heard his HONDA PU was replaced to run the QF ...
Something was wrong during the the FP's .

LEW is lost in time .....

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by g21

johny herbert the stewart and the listener

still hearing things about max eh

the Dutch are onto something ... maybe they should take more pics about who Jos is talking to. i hear there's a seat in Haas

Herbert has been known to let his imagination run away with himself especially now being chosen as a steward.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Journo Vigneron has said a lot of things to promote himself.

Gaëtan Vigneron is an F1 journalist for over 30 years working for a French-speaking official Belgian TV channel (similar to BBC in UK or RAI in Italy). Vast knowledge about F1. Not some random click-bait youtuber. He travels worldwide with the F1 circus: he's attending all race weekends on site with an 'all areas' press accreditation. As part of the F1 community he can walk around the paddocks and interview drivers and team principals, participate to press conferences, etc. He's generally respected by the teams and drivers as a reliable journalist. He also hears stuff off-the-record but knows what to say and what not to say. During races he sometimes has a former F1 driver (for example Jacky Ickx, Stoffel Vandoorne, Jérôme d'Ambrosio, Bas Leinders) or an F2 driver (for example Théo Pourchaire) as co-commentator. He was also included in the distribution list of the Feb 29 e-mail featuring the notorious Horner Google Drive files.