Has anyone seen this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK-7pELc3dw ? The facial expressions on people's faces is priceless!

QU - 05:00 to 07:30 (start 06:00)
RAC - 06:00 to 09:00 (start 07:00)

NOTE: Clocks in UK go FORWARD one hour at 1am on Sunday morning.

I hope Alonso dominates it like Kimi did in 2007! I just hope it aint boring behind him lol

So if you forget to change your clock the night before set your alarm for 5am rather than 6! At least its less time to wait...

Thanks. Confirms what I thought it meant.

Not sure why you are rolling your eyes, though.

Guys, I went to the track today at the same time the race will be on next weekend. Here are some of the pics;

http://img32.imageshack.us/g/imgp4097large.jpg/

http://img707.imageshack.us/g/imgp4091large.jpg/

Hard to get access to pit straight as its now semi blocked off. In the past you could watch the cars being unloaded etc but no longer.

Note the astro-turf at turn 2....

Plenty of light still but alot of sun glare and shadowy parts of the track.

This time I also took some pics from the inside of the track near the lake.

The advertising looks so much better as Qantas than ING imo...

It does. Stands out much better. The only remnant of ING was that smashed up barrier

Let's hope this



never happens again!

Ah much better! I am sick of seeing ING and Santander!

I roll my eyes because you guys were arguing over a timespan of 7 hours about what a term on a website meant, when it took all of 6 seconds to click the link and read it.

He had a vast car advantage during those 4 wins. The chance of him qualifying high now (with all low fuel) are virtually nil. It would be a miracle if he could beat Rosberg.

Ah, ok. I suppose we deserved that.

Melbourne traditionally de-generates into a bit of a crash fest, doesn't it? I'm looking forward to this race. Unlike the "judge a book on it's cover!" crew, I'm not going to believe that there's something wrong with F1 till at least two or 3 more races. Bahrain has never produced the most exciting races in the world, and despite the fact that there was actually MORE overtaking in this year's Bahrain Grand Prix than last year's, it seems people have forgotten that. If Australia is a boring race (which it traditionally isn't), then F1 may have to start to admit that it has some problems to sort out ASAP.

The Australian Bureau of Meterology forecast currently suggests a shower or 2 developing for Friday, Saturday with a shower or 2, and Sunday with a little rain developing. The impression I'm getting is that if it does rain, it likely won't be particularly heavy, more just some light rain occasionally.

http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/wrap_fwo.pl?IDV10450.txt

Rain at Albert Park? That would be fun.

Last time I remember it being damp was in a practice session in 2007 - I think?

Something like that yup, and the last time (in fact, the only time if I'm right) wehad a wet track during the race, was the early laps of the 2003 race. Not even sure if we've had a wet quali session there, just a damp start to 1 race, and maybe 2-3 wet/damp practice sessions. It does have a habit of being dry for the on track action normally.

Id be surprised if it rains, but a sprinkle before or during the race would be great. 2003 was the best.

It also rained during qualifying in 2002 and 2005 (Fisi on pole)

Hello,

A friend of mine is going to the Australian GP this weekend and would love to get a few autographs.
From what I remember, an autograph session is hosted in Melbourne (on Thursday)?

Could you give me some more info? Where is it? Do you need a weekend ticket? When is it?

Things like that

Thanks!

I remember in 2006 how it was hot the weekend before the gp, so ferrari brought harder tyres n failed. Coz the gp weekend saw much cooler condtions. So if the gp was a week earlier then it would've been a different story for them I guess..

Autosport guys certainly not ruling out rain: http://live.autosport.com/commentary.php/id/192

Would nice to dream, but doubt it'll happen. Everything crossed though. I mean, I don't like to think of the people who will be sitting there in the rain, that's no fun whatever country you live, but if it gives us a thriller, I'm sure even those soggy fans would reckon it would be worth it.

Most Australian's won't complain too loudly about rain, I mean you'd be pissed but it's sorta welcome most of the time.

Guess it's different in GB then when it rains ALL the time.

I think Vettel will win, he was very quick in Bahrain, quicker than I expected, and I think it's unlikely that his car will develop a problem two races in a row. But I just hope for a much more exciting race this weekend, especially since i'll be missing the qualifying sessions

That should make things interesting

my money is on alonso for pole and victory

I'm crossing my fingers.

Vettel this time please.....

I think Red Bulls advantage will be less this race due to the faster sections. However they will be fast enough to win. It will be interesting what strategy drivers stuck behind slower drivers will do. Would webber have been able to leapfrog some by pitting very early last race? Pit very early and hope your tyres will last could be a very good strategy at Melbourne, Especially as a possible safety car mid race will cool the tyres. Only problem is finding a gap to be able to exploit the superior pace of the hard tyres after the stop.

Bumpy and tricky track with new teams and new drivers in less than optimal cars, it's going to be a SC shootout.

I hope Australia will silence everyone who is saying F1 is too boring. I don't think Bahrain was a good choice for the opening race of the season and the albert park circuit should hold a better race. There have been many exciting races there over the previous decade, such as in 2002, 2003, and more recently in 2008 and 2009.

I think Vettel has the best chance of winning in Melbourne; it seems he has the fastest car and despite what happened in Bahrain, I expect now we are at a cooler track the reliability won't be a problem for him. Following his win in Bahrain, Alonso could very well make it two in a row. He has a car which was able to challenge the Red Bull in Bahrain and he probably has the reliability advantage. Alonso's teammate, Massa also put in a strong performance in Bahrain and should be up with the front runners once again. Mercedes will want to quickly find some extra speed for this race; they weren't able to stay with the leading group in Bahrain. Rosberg also lost out to Hamilton and wasn't able to pass the struggling Vettel in the closing laps. However they are still a strong team in a good position and Schumacher's ability to really pull the rabbit out of the hat when it matters mustn't be discounted. McLaren have already shown their ability when it comes to improving the car's performance and with Hamilton already doing impressive things with the car, they are beginning to look like a serious threat and the leaders will have to watch out for the them. Hamilton and reigning champion Button, I think are a great pair of drivers and their work in Bahrain has already placed the team second in the championship. Kubica in the Renault and Sutil in the Force India both got into the top ten in Bahrain qualifying; wether they would be able to keep up with the Mercedes, McLaren's, Ferrari's and Red Bull's we never got to find out but considering that Sutil was supposed to be on a better race strategy then the cars in front of him it will be interesting to see how things work out for them in Australia.

Just on that point, reading F1 racing, 75% of fans who took part in that F1/FOTA/LG/etc survey think Australia should be the season opener.........the next highest was Bahrain with about 7%..........Bernie should have left Australia as the season opener.......and left the timing alone, nothing beats getting up at about 3am to watch the first race of the season in Australia. A shame Bernie thinks that the fans want races to take place a few hours later than normal, when actually I'd bet most people are happy enough with races at the times they were previously scheduled (eg Australia 3am UK time), as those that really want to watch it live, will do, regardless of the time, and anyone else will record/watch the re-run anyway.

Unfortunatly for everyone Rain might be a serious problem during the race.

Thanks to no idea Bernie putting the start time late, and the Grand Prix is now later in March, i fear the dark rain clouds are going to make visibilty really bad for the driver. With no lights we may end up with another Malaysia 09.

That said, i hope it rains and im wrong.

@Rabbit - nice post.

If it rains, I think Vettel has the racer advantage, and Hamilton has one over the Ferraris.

Dry = Vettel v Alonso

Wet = Vettel v Hamilton

IMO Bring it on......

Apart from a red flag, rain is never a bad thing.

It is not that Alonso does bad with rain. If it rains, the gap between Vettel-Alonso and the others will be even bigger IMO.

Try this :

http://www.grandprix.com.au/default.aspx?s...autograph-stage

You sure about that? Alonso was good in the wet at Hungary a few years back.

Michelin was good in the wet at Hungary a few years back.

New forecasts have a dry and hot sunday with rain on monday. I'd say thats more likely than rain on sunday unfortunately.

Would be nice for him to get revenge on Webber for Germany by winning at his home track.

Well its doesn't need to be wet just yet, though the teams actually have some data in wet testing, I hope it stays dry, I think we might be in for a few surprises, it can be difficult to find space on this track during qualification, I expect a couple of clangers and maybe some penalties as there are a lot of rookies and extremely slow cars this year.

Here's Jenson having a go at a V8 Supercar

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1536...id=284292149597

Very difficult to say as we will see new tyres, new and track weather conditions and new setups.

Red Bull might be slightly favorited, but we don't know how well the car deals with changed circumstances.


H2H

Gee if you are gonna have that line of thought , then it should rain at Melbourne and Webber should ram Vettel in the backside when the young German is in a possible podium position!

normally it would be Lewis doing that PR function.... instead he has the chance to go get some in L.A.

He must love having Jenson around.


Vettel has to be favorite in Melbourne

Very good point, actually.

I hope it just drizzles a bit at the start and clears up at the end so we can have a full race

Talking about the car while looking ahead to the upcoming race, MW said this:



We just have to wait and see.