FORUMula1.com

[Frontrunner]

News from Red Bull that Ricciardo is already down 1 of his 4 engines (ICE) this season

[myownalias]

The F1 season is officially underway in anger, will McLaren make it into Q2? who will come out on top in the Mercedes camp, Nico or Lewis for pole? or will Ferrari spring a surprise?

[darwin dali]

Your first question just got answered with a resounding NO.

[myownalias]

If McLaren can be winning by the end of the year like they seem to be suggesting, I will be amazed, it will be the comeback to end all comebacks.

[LiamCatterson]

There is no way McLaren will win a race this year. They are like 4 seconds off Mercedes. They need a miracle of anything. Alonso, as we speak, is pulling a sickie for Malaysia

[myownalias]

I think Alonso must be thinking "what have I done?" ... I wasn't expecting McLaren to be fighting for wins, but qualifying dead last bar the two Manor's who didn't run!

[sagi58]

F1 Australian Grand Prix: Qualifying results

1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 26.327s
2. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 26.921s
3. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes 1m 27.718s
4. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 27.757s
5. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 27.790s
6. Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes 1m 28.087s
7. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-Renault 1m 28.329s
8. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Renault 1m 28.510s
9. Romain Grosjean FRA Lotus-Mercedes 1m 28.560s
10. Pastor Maldonado VEN Lotus-Mercedes 1m 29.480s

11. Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari 1m 28.800s
12. Max Verstappen NED Toro Rosso-Renault 1m 28.868s
13. Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull-Renault 1m 29.070s
14. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes 1m 29.208s
15. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes 1m 29.209s

16. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari 1m 31.376s
17. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda 1m 31.422s
18. Kevin Magnussen DEN McLaren-Honda 1m 32.037s
19. Will Stevens GBR Manor Marussia-Ferrari no time
20. Roberto Merhi ESP Manor Marussia-Ferrari no time

[sagi58]

WoW! Less than a second splits 3rd to 9th!!

Happy to see both Kimi and Vettel "up there"!!

[sagi58]

Oh, oh!!

Valtteri Bottas taken to hospital after suffering back pain during Melbourne qualifying

Bottas qualified sixth, but was clearly in discomfort as he returned to the paddock.

It is not yet known how severe the pain is, how it was incurred, or whether it will affect him driving in tomorrow's race.

"Valtteri has been down to the medical centre and he has been checked out," Williams performance chief Rob Smedley told reporters.

"He has gone to the hospital for further checks and that's all we know at the minute. Under braking he felt some pain in his back and that escalated."

[Stevie]

WoW! Less than a second splits 3rd to 9th!!

Happy to see both Kimi and Vettel "up there"!!

[CigarGuy]

WoW! Less than a second splits 3rd to 9th!!

Happy to see both Kimi and Vettel "up there"!!

Congrats to you. I think THAT is the story of the year, so far.
VAST improvement in Ferrari?!

[zurich_allan]

Old but relevant T-shirt for watching qualifying today!

Looks like a lot of teams could be in the mix for 3rd-10th tomorrow!

[LewEngBridewell]

Apart from McLaren's distinct lack of pace, that was a very enjoyable qualifying.

Alan McNish did a very interesting comparison between the power/straight line pace between the Mercedes and the McLaren on the straight which follows the first chicane. It was a major difference. About 7-8 tenths were lost in that section alone.

[zurich_allan]

Apart from McLaren's distinct lack of pace, that was a very enjoyable qualifying.

Alan McNish did a very interesting comparison between the power/straight line pace between the Mercedes and the McLaren on the straight which follows the first chicane. It was a major difference. About 7-8 tenths were lost in that section alone.

The thing is, obviously the time gap looks terrible, and short term that is the case. However for the season as a whole I don't think it will be as bad as all that. Having missed so much testing and development mileage and the associated feedback that would have come with that, I reckon naturally with very little manufacturing / development they will gain at least 1 - 1.5 seconds. As the engine is developed and tuned they should pick up another second or so. Come Monaco or thereabouts I would expect McLaren to be comfortably top ten.

[gdh]

Very enjoyable qualifying sessions to watch. The power advantage of the Mercedes Team is so impressive. Hamilton's final run was masterfull, Nico had a relatively poor run and still finished well ahead of 3rd place. Hopefully Williams and Ferrari will put on an impressive show for 3rd. Didn't know that Ric used is on his 2nd engine. Looking fwd to a very entertaining race tomorrow.