FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[7UpJordan]

To be fair, going out through a red light should be something you get punished for. But I never understood why anyone got penalised for refuelling under the safety car. It's not their fault that the safety car is out, so they shouldn't be penalised by having to run out of fuel on track in order to avoid a penalty. It's ridiculous.

I think this rule needs tweaking, because teams will sometimes have their pit crew ready before somebody's even crashed causing the safety car to come out.

[McLaren Fan]

To be fair, going out through a red light should be something you get punished for. But I never understood why anyone got penalised for refuelling under the safety car. It's not their fault that the safety car is out, so they shouldn't be penalised by having to run out of fuel on track in order to avoid a penalty. It's ridiculous.

I think this rule needs tweaking, because teams will sometimes have their pit crew ready before somebody's even crashed causing the safety car to come out.

I agree. I think you should be allowed to refuel if you are going to run out of fuel, but have to prove you were going to run out of fuel to the FIA.

As for the race itself, I really enjoyed it. The lack of traction control and engine braking really improved the spectacle, and it was not the procession you can sometimes get at Albert Park.

I'm disappointed McLaren did not get the 1-2 finish. The team certainly deserved nothing less, but, in the end, Kovalainen was mugged with the safety car situation. I'm glad my confidence in the team this season was not misplaced. Kovalainen's move on Alonso was great as well, it's a pity he lost the place along the straight unable to see from his visor and hitting the pit limiter! Alonso was happy to get the place back and was giving the fists back to the McLaren garage (so he said on TV). Ah well, enjoy it Alonso. Overtaking a McLaren this season and coming 4th will be like you winning the World Championship this season.

One team we all thought went backwards are BMW. I don't really know what happened to Kubica, tyre graining possibly, but, in any case, the car looks very quick in qualifying trim and is probably three tenths slower than McLaren and Ferrari in race trim. It's a pity about Kubica. Heidfeld on the other hand didn't do anything special, but did the basics right and got rewarded.

Slightly like Bourdais, who kept it on the track and kept his thoughts together and was in for some good points when we saw the third Ferrari engine pack in.

I hope Glock is alright. That's the kind of incident that can damage your spine without your knowing it. He should probably get it seen to.

Ferrari had a good day, didn't they? I have to say I really enjoyed seeing them suffer, but I'm not blind and know they're a threat. When Raikkonen actually had the car on the track, when Massa wasn't causing crashes, and when the fuel pressure systems and engines were working, they look just as fast as the McLaren, if not more (although the McLaren is well faster in qualifying trim). I'm not as surprised as Ferrari are by their reliability woes. Despite what lies Domenicali trotted out this morning, they did have issues over the winter. Poor reliability is something that can take years to get rid of - look at McLaren until about 2006, probably as far back as 1998. It could be an unfortunate coincidence for Ferrari because had only some problems over the winter, but if it carries on over the next few races, then I'd say they're stuck with it all season.

Jim Rider and James Allen continued to show what twats they are. Rider, with his star-struck gaze and heavenly smile about Hamilton, and Allen claiming that none of Hamilton's main rivals scored points. Well, Allen, you fool, Kovalainen is a rival and BMW have shown more than enough to suggest they're going to have a big say in who wins this World Championship. In short, the two of them should be given the boot. ITV's coverage is cringeworthy. I didn't even bother to get to watch the build-up; we would have seen most of it yesterday and it would be full of pro-Hamilton bias, despite the fact Ferrari and BMW were contenders for the race win.

[Denthúl]

The pre-race build-up did include an interview with Hamilton and one with his father. I don't mind that, as long as it's not every single race, when we could be hearing from other drivers and engineers instead. There was one part that I found quite nice, even if it did seem a little engineered. It was the filmed conversation between Heikki and Lewis. It was amusing and went to show that they at least get on.

But yeah, it wasn't great. As long as we don't see too much focus on Hamilton over the season (which I fear we probably will) then I'll be happy to watch the entire ITV showing.

[bmwpower]

One team we all thought went backwards are BMW. I don't really know what happened to Kubica, tyre graining possibly, but, in any case, the car looks very quick in qualifying trim and is probably three tenths slower than McLaren and Ferrari in race trim. It's a pity about Kubica. Heidfeld on the other hand didn't do anything special, but did the basics right and got rewarded.

We??, no one in the pits thought BMW would go backwards, everyone said they improved in the offseason, they ran full fuel long stints in testing while other teams run short fuel short stints for good lap times to feed to the media, the fans, and the employees back in the factories. BMW (those damn Germans) knew what they needed to do, they knew they had a fast car but needed to come to grips with the handling. Mario Theissen said after the Australia Grand Prix that only one car was faster then the two BMWs , that was LH. As for Heidfeld, he does what he does best, being consistent. Ferrari not only needs to worry about catching up to McLaren but they need to look over their shoulders for BMW. BMW will play a vital part in the Championship this year.