AU GP: Ecclestone wins!

[SD_GR]

Bernie won the Australian GP!

He may not have been able to convince people that'd lost money on the GP before to spend even more money and run it in the middle of the night, but he at least got them to run it when nobody would be able to see due to glare.

Meanwhile, the new rules that basically dictate that the wrong compound must be used on the cars vs. being left on the lorries is also paying off, and in combination with the guaranteed poor visibility and stress, yielded massive collisions and outings.

I was glad to see Honda out of racing finally (I own a Honda, I couldn't deal with the embarrassment any more... they are the best motor manufacturer in the world and their F1 effort had been a mobile road block for several seasons) and I'm doubly glad to see the team morphed into something very promising. I hope to see them win more GPs this season.

Who is Kimi Raikkonen?

[Weasel 555]

good race, although didnt expect the ending as in vettel/kubica

[cavallino333]

Bad day for Ferrari. They had a good start and I thought for a while they might be ok, (just ok not great) but things seemed to go downhill as the race went on.

It was an exciting race though, there seemed to be more overtaking.

I find it ridiculous the bridgestone was forced to bring the poorer tire choices. Perhaps next time they could not bring tires at all that would add difficulty and excitement right, or maybe they should run as a half track for part of the race?

Also were any of the top teams using the KERS? I know Brawn wasn't but did Toyota?

Too bad about Vettel and Kubica. I like Vettel and if someone has to do better than Mass or Kimi I'd rather it be him. Plus I just read he gets a 10 spot penalty next race and Redbull gets a $50k fine for continuing the drive the broken car.

[RayfieldsWRX]

Wow. That was different. I didn't really keep up with F1 news that much over the break, so I started my weekend saying "Who the hell is BrawnGP?".

Now I guess I know.

The cars sure seemed twitchy out there. All that power, more available to some with KERS, and massive reduction in downforce? Um, interesting.

[SD_GR]

Also were any of the top teams using the KERS? I know Brawn wasn't but did Toyota?

No. In a recent interview re: the 09 car, Trulli stated it's the best Toyota ever and that they had no plans to use KERS in AU. In fact he saw no problem as far as performance with not using the system.

[cavallino333]

Yeah so of the 8 drivers in points only Hamilton/McLaren and Alonso/Renault were using KERS, both of which had their other team mate out of the race for one reason or another.

Hardly glowing results for the new system.

[Merk247]

rubens and jensen looking good with a awesome car.. really shows ross brawns talent.

[SD_GR]

This evening Los Angeles news radio station KNX AM 1070 actually reported that Jenson Button won the first event of the F1 calendar during a brief sports update. I find this astonishing; in two decades or so of being familiar with the LA area I've heard F1 coverage on the radio maybe a handful of times.

I suspect it might have something to do with Button's name. "Jenson Button" is both easy to pronounce for local English speakers and also rolls off the tongue just right, I suppose. It's probably something analogous to the extensive coverage a former local US racer, **** Trickle, received routinely. Everyone in broadcasting simply wanted to say his name as frequently as possible, and as early in the day as possible, for sport.

I wonder if FIA actually don't remember the results their changes generated in the past... Whenever they reduce downforce to slow down the cars, they end up generating higher top speeds and it's only a matter of time before the chassis catch up and they're back to square 1. The new cars, with the small, high rear wing and the low front wing on a shark nose look like a cross between an mid-90s F1 and a spec racer since at the moment they're all alike from farther than 10m viewing distance.

There's a lot of humour in the ticket pricing still. In today's economy who is going to part with $300+ for an assigned seat? I guess they still fill the grandstands but I just can't picture myself paying that price, whether I can afford it or not. It's almost scandalous and I'd be embarrassed to do it, I think (or I just might go for it I guess, I'm unsure).

EDIT: I see the profanity filter got the better of Mr. Trickle's first name, even though it is in fact his name, and is also a popular name. Anyway, I'm not being profane, but I think the filter proves my point - that's why he was mentioned, and I'm betting Button is mentioned because it's got a ring to it.

EDIT 2: So far I think KERS is backfiring! Instead of making passing more feasible and giving everyone that extra kick down the straights, so far, it's the slower cars that are using it, making them more difficult to pass than they should be. Someone, I forget who, radioed a comment that Alonso is hard to pass because of the KERS... If the same teams keep using it and these same teams don't improve their cars, they'll become mobile chicanes.

[Weasel 555]

Hammy-Stripped of Points etc in Aus GP:

Today stewards looked at ‘new evidence’ and concluded that Hamilton had deliberately misled the FIA delegates in Australia. Trulli is therefore reinstated to third position while defending champion Hamilton has been excluded from the results.

A statement issued by the stewards on Thursday evening confirmed that Hamilton and McLaren Mercedes "acted in a manner prejudicial to the conduct of the event by providing evidence deliberately misleading to the stewards."

The stewards said the conduct was in breach of the International Sporting Code.

The final finishing positions for the opening round of the season are; Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello, Jarno Trulli, Timo Glock, Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg, Sebastien Buemi and Sebastien Bourdais.

read more click link:
F1-Live.com News

[cavallino333]

McLaren is sneaky.

Unfortunately with Glock up to 4th that means more points for Toyota who I think is more of a threat than McLaren.