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[bud]

I think it's awesome we're all so excited but don't get your hopes up!! One race never tells the story for the whole season!

Who came 3rd here last year? Petrov in the Renault. And did he finish 3rd in the WDC? Nope. Not even close.

I'm as excited as the next fan, but remember, this race tells us little in terms of what we're going to see by November.

Oversll this is true for some but for example in recent years the Race winner 06,07,08,09,11 all went on to be champion so it says something.

[Hansy]

I've now finished watching Practice sessions and Qualifying, and wow, what a great start to the year!

McLaren on top isn't a surprise, although I expected them to be joined by Red Bull, which were quite lacklustre.
Great performance by Grosjean! But I can't say I was surprised, in the sense that he beat Raikkonen squarely in FP3 and did a lot more running. Still I didn't think he'd be so high
I thought Mercedes would have a slow start to the season, clearly I was wrong! Their true pace remains to be seen, and we've yet to know if they will kill their tyres on the race tomorrow, but things are looking good for them. If they can keep their form up, this will be the "make or break" year for Rosberg - will he win a race? Will he be a contender for the championship, or instead crumble under pressure?
Ferrari... I never thought they'd be this far off. I don't know how Alonso or Massa will finish the race tomorrow if their car is as unstable as it seems. Also, Massa's pace seems terrible...
Williams surprised me with their pace, Maldonado did a great job in this session. Toro Rosso, Sauber and Force India all look evenly matched - even though I think Sauber's true pace hasn't translated well into grid position (in Q1 they were flying, but in Q2 they barely ran...)
Caterham, on the other hand, are a second off what I expected. Hope they up their game. I love Kovi's helmet design, btw!
Neither Marussia nor HRT surprised me with their performance.

Prediction for tomorrow has to be a McLaren win. Which driver, I don't know. Expecting to see Kimi and the Sauber guys to make up places in the race; Alonso is an unknown variable to me right now.

[yamashek]

I've now finished watching Practice sessions and Qualifying, and wow, what a great start to the year!

McLaren on top isn't a surprise, although I expected them to be joined by Red Bull, which were quite lacklustre.
Great performance by Grosjean! But I can't say I was surprised, in the sense that he beat Raikkonen squarely in FP3 and did a lot more running. Still I didn't think he'd be so high
I thought Mercedes would have a slow start to the season, clearly I was wrong! Their true pace remains to be seen, and we've yet to know if they will kill their tyres on the race tomorrow, but things are looking good for them. If they can keep their form up, this will be the "make or break" year for Rosberg - will he win a race? Will he be a contender for the championship, or instead crumble under pressure?
Ferrari... I never thought they'd be this far off. I don't know how Alonso or Massa will finish the race tomorrow if their car is as unstable as it seems. Also, Massa's pace seems terrible...
Williams surprised me with their pace, Maldonado did a great job in this session. Toro Rosso, Sauber and Force India all look evenly matched - even though I think Sauber's true pace hasn't translated well into grid position (in Q1 they were flying, but in Q2 they barely ran...)
Caterham, on the other hand, are a second off what I expected. Hope they up their game. I love Kovi's helmet design, btw!
Neither Marussia nor HRT surprised me with their performance.

Prediction for tomorrow has to be a McLaren win. Which driver, I don't know. Expecting to see Kimi and the Sauber guys to make up places in the race; Alonso is an unknown variable to me right now.

i agree with your prediction more or less..
despite how i wish my favourite drivers win the race, but i will eat that humble pie and say the mclarens are "out of reach"

i guess the rest of the top teams (RedBull, Merc's, Lotus,...............Ferrari) are going to fight for the last place on the podum..
P1,P2 are pretty much Mclaren's...P3 is up in the air...

[LewEngBridewell]

This is the first time I've managed to get online to discuss the qualifying. And what a qualifying it was. As a McLaren fan, I am simply overjoyed that the Woking team managed to lock out the front row of the grid. Hopefully, this can be translated into a win tomorrow, thus getting the season off to a tremendous start.

Behind the McLaren cars, Lotus, Mercedes and Red Bull look pretty evenly matched, and it should be an interesting battle between these cars, going into turn one and beyond. It's nice to see Mark Webber being the better qualifier for RBR at his home event.

I was also pleased to see Williams seemingly making leaps and bounds. Things certainly seem better than the awful form the Grove boys experienced in 2011, and this is a good sign. To come away from the opening race with a points finish would be a huge boost to the team. In a race that is often characterised by high attrition, this could well be firmly on the cards.

A mention has got to be made about Ferrari, what with the team suffering yet another crap start to a season. Fourth in a row. And this one seems worse than ever, with a car that's completely off the pace and severely difficult to drive. Even Alonso is letting things get to him, making a relatively fundamental driving error in Q2.

Caterham also are disappointing, as I thought they would be, after what I saw in pre-season testing. Little progress seems to have been made. Hopefully they'll be able to mix in the midfield more during the race.

[killem2]

I just got it downloaded and watched the qual. It was great. I am very very suprised to see RBR so low. I was pulling for shumi there for a bit but I am thrilled mclaren have a 1-2.

LOVE IT.

[madbrad]

So.
Alonso spun the car and couldn't continue in Q1. Nevertheless, he nearly graduated to Q2 sitting still.
Massa on the other hand, was able to and did continue for more laps, as ,any as he could, as fast as he could, and was still a few places aft of Alonso. Had he been able to drive out of the gravel, Alonso surely would have made it into Q2. Q3, probably not.

Button said on the radio that he lost a tenth in the middle sector. He could not have known that he was exactly that amount slower than Hammy. So without the error he claims to have made, he was exactly as fast as Hammy. The first corner is gonna be a nail biter. If they make it through I don't think that one of them will pull away.

[spankyham]

So.
Alonso spun the car and couldn't continue in Q1. Nevertheless, he nearly graduated to Q2 sitting still.
Massa on the other hand, was able to and did continue for more laps, as ,any as he could, as fast as he could, and was still a few places aft of Alonso. Had he been able to drive out of the gravel, Alonso surely would have made it into Q2. Q3, probably not.

Actually Alonso beached it in Q2 not Q1 mate. He posted a time before testing the gravel trap and that time got him 12th spot. I wonder if the extra fresh rubber will help him climb a few places?

[Tsakali]

Hello everyone, long time no see...erm read? Anyway, I am very excited for this season, I'm really liking the top grid mixup this year and i have to admit having Schumi on 4th gives me the giggles. No matter your opinion of him, you gotta give it to the old geiser

[spankyham]

Hey, I just spotted the problem on the F2012! Seems the steering wheel is attached to the rear wheels.

[f1ea]

What are you guys talking about. I think Alonso had a very good Q, he did nothing worse than Rosberg, Schu, Vettel, Hamilton and some others did in the last FP.... except on a car that definitely looks like its missing a part. Massa was VERY poor, he couldnt even half control the incontrolable beast and was pulling times similar to the back back markers.

Lewis and Button will have a seemingly close season... but to have Button only 1/10 behind Lewis on Q is not really good news for Lewis. Lewis should ALWAYS Q ahead of Jenson. Other than that the Mclaren looks really good.

In the end, the one thing I found the most exciting was to see midfielders putting times in the same mix of the front runners, an the front runners (in this case Mclaren) not blowing anyone away. They are still reasonably catchable.

[Four mules as one]

Okay, just a quick prediction for the race
Hamo gets a decent start from pole but Schuey gets a blinder from 4th up to 2nd. Holds everyone up a bit which lets Hamo drive away for a bit of a boring race. Race for 2nd will be good but I think Jenson will come through come to pass Schuey in the pits. Very close finish between 3rd to 6th. I hope I'm wrong though, I hope Schuey gets into second and has a ding dong battle with Hamo, overtakes him and goes on to spray champagne from the top step of the podium. Button second cause he looks after his tyres better than Hamo.

[geetface9]

I have to say THAT SHOULD BE MY BOY PETROV IN THIRD!!!!!!!! F*CK!!!!!!!!! eric boullier!!!!!!!!

Anyway, Grosjean is gonna slam into hamilton going into turn one, taking them both out of the race, while jenson and MSC take off with vettel and webber trailing close behind. Then again, Webber will probably have a trash start like normal and end up 8th or 9th by turn one.....

so that means after turn one it'll be button, MSC, vettel, rosberg, hopefully webber, and then the midfield guys throwing it down. We shall see!!

[LRW]

I have to say THAT SHOULD BE MY BOY PETROV IN THIRD!!!!!!!! F*CK!!!!!!!!! eric boullier!!!!!!!!

Anyway, Grosjean is gonna slam into hamilton going into turn one, taking them both out of the race, while jenson and MSC take off with vettel and webber trailing close behind. Then again, Webber will probably have a trash start like normal and end up 8th or 9th by turn one.....

so that means after turn one it'll be button, MSC, vettel, rosberg, hopefully webber, and then the midfield guys throwing it down. We shall see!!

But Petrov wouldnt of been able to get that car into 3rd. 9th / 10th at best.

[geetface9]

I have to say THAT SHOULD BE MY BOY PETROV IN THIRD!!!!!!!! F*CK!!!!!!!!! eric boullier!!!!!!!!

Anyway, Grosjean is gonna slam into hamilton going into turn one, taking them both out of the race, while jenson and MSC take off with vettel and webber trailing close behind. Then again, Webber will probably have a trash start like normal and end up 8th or 9th by turn one.....

so that means after turn one it'll be button, MSC, vettel, rosberg, hopefully webber, and then the midfield guys throwing it down. We shall see!!

But Petrov wouldnt of been able to get that car into 3rd. 9th / 10th at best.

Yeah he would!!

[Deceiver]

Does no one actually watching the race live go into the chatroom?