FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[Jensonb]

Wait they're not showing the part of the VID the bbc news did wtf?

What's hidden in the Streaming version?

Also: Let's not jump up and down in rage over the BBC coverage yet. We have yet to actually see or hear the TV Coverage in any way.

[EwanM]

Wait they're not showing the part of the VID the bbc news did wtf?

What's hidden in the Streaming version?

Also: Let's not jump up and down in rage over the BBC coverage yet. We have yet to actually see or hear the TV Coverage in any way.

The car pulling away then transforming into a number of cars. They they have a wee race.

[Robert182]

Wait they're not showing the part of the VID the bbc news did wtf?

What's hidden in the Streaming version?

Also: Let's not jump up and down in rage over the BBC coverage yet. We have yet to actually see or hear the TV Coverage in any way.

there were a few times in practise where they would follow a car then they would cut to an empty part of the track for 5 or 10 secs then cut back :S

[EwanM]

Brawn duo confident of strong weekend

By Pablo Elizalde Friday, March 27th 2009, 08:47 GMT


Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button are confident their Brawn GP team will enjoy a competitive weekend in Melbourne following its promising start on Friday.

Both drivers were near the top of the times during both sessions, confirming the belief that the team is one of the favourites to fight in front this weekend.

Barrichello was second fastest in the afternoon, just a tenth off the best time, and was left encouraged ahead of tomorrow's qualifying.

"To be here in Melbourne is a real achievement for the team and it feels good to be back in the car and working towards a race weekend strategy again," said Barrichello.

"Despite the limited testing time that we were able to do before this race, we have proved that we have a competitive car and were achieved some good work today.

"We evaluated both tyres and are happy with the overall performance so I think we have a good chance of a strong qualifying performance tomorrow."

Button posted the fifth fastest time despite being slowed down by traffic during his runs with new tyres.

"It was great to finally get the season underway today," Button said. "We had a good first day of practice and the long run performance looks competitive, particularly on the harder tyre.

"We still have some work to do on the softer tyre so that will be a priority for tomorrow's practice session. I had traffic on both of my new tyres runs at the end of the day which was a shame so we don't know how quick we are over one lap yet but there is plenty of time to find that out tomorrow."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73943

[Robert182]

Who else thought that Croft & Davidson's commentary was really good today? I thought it was absolutely brilliant if I'm being honest.

I found Croft rather annoying. Some of the remarks he made were rather facile. Davidson could be a good commentator, but he needs to stop talking so much gibberish; his comments could be made in half the number of words. Also, who was the pit reporter they were talking to? Her Formula One knowledge was non-existent. Generally, the commentary came across as being geared towards people who had never watched Formula One before in their lives.

They were going on about how they "will get a fact right today"

it was ok but after a while Davidson did my head in lol i text in say stop talking crap hahaha

You have to remember that this isn't exactly intended as a race-style commentary - it's just something to make it a little less boring. Watching the cars go round with nobody talking about it is terribly boring. I liked the fact that it was more a chat session than a commentary session. It was relaxing to watch

yeah i know what u mean mate

[EwanM]

Diffuser gang pace 'no coincidence'

By Jonathan Noble Friday, March 27th 2009, 10:40 GMT


Red Bull Racing's Christian Horner says it is no fluke that practice at the Australian Grand Prix has been dominated so far by the 'diffuser gang' of teams.

Six of the top seven times on the opening day of running for the Australian Grand Prix were set by cars whose diffuser designs have been protested by their rivals.

And although Mark Webber broke the stranglehold by setting the fourth quickest time, his boss Horner thinks that the performance of Brawn GP, Williams and Toyota is pointing to the fact that teams will have no choice but to copy the diffuser concept if the FIA Appeal Court confirms that it is legal.

When asked by AUTOSPORT whether there was any coincidence that the ‘diffuser' cars were at the top of the timesheets, Horner said: "I don't think there is.

"I think that interpretation offers a performance advantage, so inevitably all of the teams, if that solution is now permitted, will all go off and pursue different variants of it."

The speed of the diffuser cars has led some teams to suggest in private that F1 is now a two-tier championship - with the cars running the diffusers in a class of their own.

Horner did not disagree with the idea.

"You could even say it is three tier: those with KERS and those without, and those with double decker diffuser and those without!

"It is a shame, however, the FIA has ruled that their cars are legal. We obviously have the right to appeal that, but we are here to go racing and we will do the best job we possibly can. Hopefully we can be as close to the front as we can be."

Although Red Bull Racing is set to join Ferrari and Renault in appealing against the decision by the Australian Grand Prix stewards to reject their protest about the diffuser designs, Horner confirmed his team was already evaluating copying the concept – in case the FIA confirms the legality.

"You cannot afford to wait," he said. "So effectively we have already had to start looking at alternative solutions."

Horner admitted, however, that using one of the diffuser designs on the RB5 was not straightforward because of the concept of its car – which includes the rear pull-rod suspension.

"It is feasible, but it depends how far you want go with it," he said. "Potentially it involves significant amounts of time if you were to really optimise to an extreme point – and potentially it involves half of the car. So it is not a quick or cheap

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73959

[EwanM]

Ferrari: Still room for improvement

By Pablo Elizalde Friday, March 27th 2009, 09:05 GMT


Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen admitted they are still unsure about where their Ferrari team is following Friday practice for the Australian Grand Prix.

The duo finished as 10th and 11th quickest respectively in this afternoon's session and both drivers said there was still room to improve.

"We are more or less okay with the set-up, although there is still room to improve the performance," said Massa.

"I was not able to do a time on the soft tyres in the second session as I made a mistake because of oversteer: in this phase we had a different balance on the car compared to when we had used the hard tyres, which proved not to be the ideal choice.

"On top of that, towards the end of the session, the wind got up a bit, which definitely did not help. Tomorrow, with everyone on the same fuel load, we will see what the situation is."

Raikkonen was adamant the team can easily improve its performance in tomorrow's qualifying, but conceded it was hard to tell how strong they can be.

"This morning, the car went well, while in the afternoon, we didn't manage to find a satisfactory set-up, even though we tried various solutions," he said.

"I think there is every chance we can improve our performance, but I can't say by how much compared to the others.

"Today, it's difficult to say

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73946

[irons_4_ever]

It'll be nice to hear the Fleetwood Mac music for the races again, now the BBC have got the rights to show them.

[EwanM]

Alonso: We must find more performance

By Jonathan Noble and Simon Strang Friday, March 27th 2009, 08:10 GMT


Fernando Alonso says he and his Renault team must find more performance from the new R29 if they are to be in a position to fight for points in the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday.

The two-time world champion was 10th in first practice and 12th in the second 90 minutes, though in both cases his KERS-assisted Renault was more than a second slower than pace-setter Nico Rosberg.

"I am happy but I could be more happy," he said after the first practice sessions of the season in Melbourne.

"Pace-wise it is difficult to understand, it is only Friday but we were 10th in first session and 12th in second, so it is not a position to fight for a podium and wins.

"Hopefully tomorrow we need to find some performance in the car, we need to be a little bit quicker and we cannot afford to start the race in the middle of the pack if we want to score some good points."

Alonso added that his progress was hampered by the later starting time of the second practice session (1630 - 1800), which meant that the track temperatures were lower and the shadows longer on parts of the track that had tree cover.

"To be honest it was a little bit worse than the first practice session, and compared to last year, because the sun is quite low at this time," said Alonso. "It's a little bit worse but it is not a big problem and hopefully it will be fine for everyone, but there is no doubt it is better at two o'clock for us for visibility."

The 27-year-old added that he wasn't concerned about the late race start time - 1700 – however: "As I said because it is that low in terms of looking at the mirrors and corners, you don't see as clear as you see at two o'clock so that is one thing, but it was not a huge problem, it will be fine."

Despite his warnings, Alonso said that he felt Renault made a significant amount of progress during the first three hours official running of the season.

"It was fine," he said. "The first day is always difficult, there are many things to discover. It's the first time we have tested in warm conditions after the winter in Europe, so we gathered useful information as usual.

"We will try to analyse all the information tonight and hopefully tomorrow we will have a normal improvement."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73935

[EwanM]

What is annoying is the pace of Renault. I expected Piquet to be doing his thing, but the car looks slow. I know they've had some problems with tyre temp in practice 2.

[Jensonb]

Wait they're not showing the part of the VID the bbc news did wtf?

What's hidden in the Streaming version?

Also: Let's not jump up and down in rage over the BBC coverage yet. We have yet to actually see or hear the TV Coverage in any way.

The car pulling away then transforming into a number of cars. They they have a wee race.

That sounds pretty cool actually

Wait they're not showing the part of the VID the bbc news did wtf?

What's hidden in the Streaming version?

Also: Let's not jump up and down in rage over the BBC coverage yet. We have yet to actually see or hear the TV Coverage in any way.

there were a few times in practise where they would follow a car then they would cut to an empty part of the track for 5 or 10 secs then cut back :S

The BBC do not control the pictures which have the F1 logo watermarked into them, those are controlled by FOM TV. The BBC has yet to show their hand video-wise, as they're only producing the buildup and build down themselves. They haven't even debuted the headlining commentary team yet.

[McLaren Fan]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/f1mole/2009/03/sneak-preview-of-our-new-f1-tv.html HERE!

The visual stuff looks stupid. They would have been better with actual footage (as they used to do), but it's good that 'The Chain' is back.

[EwanM]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/f1mole/2009/03/sneak-preview-of-our-new-f1-tv.html HERE!

The visual stuff looks stupid. They would have been better with actual footage (as they used to do), but it's good that 'The Chain' is back.

It's still better than ITV's attempts for the past few season. No more Double 0 DC, or the snake, or that random warrior dude.

[Denthúl]

What is annoying is the pace of Renault. I expected Piquet to be doing his thing, but the car looks slow. I know they've had some problems with tyre temp in practice 2.

It looks a handful. The BMW Sauber looks even worse to drive. :/

[Hanwombat]

What is annoying is the pace of Renault. I expected Piquet to be doing his thing, but the car looks slow. I know they've had some problems with tyre temp in practice 2.

It looks a handful. The BMW Sauber looks even worse to drive. :/

It did look awful