2014 Formula One Australian Grand Prix

Lesley Buurlage · Mar 14, 2014

Dusko Avramovski said:

this sounds more like DTM than F1 sadly enough

Ho3n3r · Mar 14, 2014

Something's really wrong with the sound on that video. Going by the videos we saw from pre-season testing, whilst it was still quiter, it was nothing as quiet as that. So don't take that video too seriously.

Ho3n3r · Mar 14, 2014

This gives you a better idea.

EDIT: And one from the outside. Not too bad:

Kjell Eilertsen · Mar 14, 2014

Sounds great to me, I don't mind them not sounding like screaming Singer machines. Give me great racing instead! (besides I find the sound of V8 thundercars, V8 supercars and the GT3s to be far more appealing than F1 has been in many many years).

Dux · Mar 14, 2014

@Kjell Eilertsen yesterday i said that the influence of the car this year can be multiplied by 10, but i was wrong. I didn't expect that they would be this close! Red Bull couldn't complete 10 laps one after another and here is just +0.7/8 of fastest time so far now and doing lap by lap without problem. Ferrari is looking very good, Mercedes either no doubt about that. I am a bit disappointed from the Williams, expected a little bit more. If the performance of the cars continues like it started it's going to be very even season and we can see great battles!

Dmitry Zaharov · Mar 14, 2014

Dewald Nel said:
Something's really wrong with the sound on that video. Going by the videos we saw from pre-season testing, whilst it was still quiter, it was nothing as quiet as that. So don't take that video too seriously.

I did not expected to be it that bad too. Onboard sounds like a GP2 or worse.

Eckhart von Glan · Mar 14, 2014

it is quite funny to follow all the hullabaloo of the pre-season and when the guys go out to really strutt their stuff it's the same three teams in front and the same two teams in the back. The only real surprise is Lotus, but with their ship practically sinking over Christmas I'm surprised they even made it to the grid.
Race will be another matter, though, as the stability of the whole package will still be in doubt for many teams over distances of more than 50 laps, I guess.

Kjell Eilertsen · Mar 14, 2014

@Dusko Avramovski The proof is in the pudding, aka the order in which the cars cross the finishline (or not) on sunday. Till then, there's a lot of unknown.

Tony Holder · Mar 14, 2014

All about Sunday...

Exciting though isn't it....

Scott Webber · Mar 14, 2014

Tony Holder said:
All about Sunday...

Exciting though isn't it....

VERY EXCITING, but i may fall asleep due to the silence

Jimlaad43 · Mar 14, 2014

Can people shut up about the engines please. What is the point of having loud engines if you have to shove thick earplugs in before getting anywhere near it? I like that you can hear them now without earplugs as you can now hear everything. All they need to do is turn the volume up for broadcasting and the problem will not be a problem.

Jordi Casademunt · Mar 14, 2014

If I've learnt anything this pre-season, is that Formula One only sounded like Formula One from 1989 to 2005/2013. It makes sense, previous cars were glorified Formula Two cars.

Edit: that was sarcasm, perhaps it was lost in the interwebs. I like the sound of the V6s. And Formula One engines have changed so much in 64 years fo competition, you can't say Formula One has a specific sound.

I was just taking a jab at those complaining about the sound of the V6s.

Also, I do love that these new power units are a challenge for the engineers.

theravenousbeast · Mar 14, 2014

Seriously, why give a crap about the sounds? Are you guys racing fans or audiophiles? I too preferred the V10/12 engine notes but if the racing's better I wouldn't care if they sounded like microwaves.

Howard · Mar 14, 2014

Click here to view the summary of Friday's events.

Shane Butler · Mar 14, 2014

theravenousbeast said:
Seriously, why give a crap about the sounds? Are you guys racing fans or audiophiles? I too preferred the V10/12 engine notes but if the racing's better I wouldn't care if they sounded like microwaves.

For a lot of people it is a big factor. I think there are four main things which I think are important in F1 - the appearance of the cars, the speed, the sound and the excitement. I don't mind the V6's at all. Yeah maybe it's a tad quiet but listening to the V8's again makes up my mind.

V6 turbo for the win.

Nelson Ullinskey · Mar 14, 2014

I know someone will most likely question my sanity, but I must say other than the hideous (censored) shaped noses, they cars look pretty good. I also like the sound of the engines and mostly care about the racing.

Also, will everyone quit complaining if they ran V12 engines with quad turbos?

Kjell Eilertsen · Mar 14, 2014

theravenousbeast said:
Are you guys racing fans or audiophiles?

Both.
But I'm not complaining though

Howard · Mar 14, 2014

I think I may be one of a select group who actually prefer the new cars in almost every single way, compared to last year. Infact, the only thing I don't really like is the liveries that teams have applied to the anteater noses, it's seemingly easy to make them look great (see RB 10), but most look a bit poo.

António da Cunha · Mar 14, 2014

I read people every year complaining about the "looks" and even this time the sound of the cars. Anyone that is a racing fan couldnt care less... They could even look like a potato and sound like a cat dying, but in return to give exciting racing moments. I want more by far good and competitive races with ugly cars, than to watch a boring championship like the past years. This is not a fashion show!

...and Williams, put a smile on my face this year! At least hoping they are better than the past years.

Oh... and I actually think the Williams look pretty cool. But hey... Williams always looked cool.

P.S. My vote was on Massa, for obvious reasons. (Williams fan here!)

Kennett Ylitalo · Mar 14, 2014

This had all four engines (got 4/8 from the quiz but that's not the main point, it just has all four in neat soundcloud format..) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mo...4-Do-you-know-your-cars-Name-that-engine.html

V10 are just insane but V6 easily holds it own. I'm pretty sure they need to make some decision in the production to raise live-sound levels all across the board. It's a large network of sound, it's measured and calibrated on V8s and there are guidelines to follow. With huge broadcasting and the network providing audio and video is MASSIVE, it's just not as easy as "just flick one fader up". The audio guys are not allowed to do that, you need to think about the whole picture, going as far as changing all microphones to suit the new demands. It just might be that with the current setup, the patterns pickup too much surrounding noises if you simply up the gain...There are million guidelines in order to keep everything consistent on hundreds of sources. My largest productions have been national broadcasts with couple of dozens of cameras and around triple that for sound sources.. The guidelines on that are pretty strict.The system on F1 broadcast is just absolutely mind boggling and the guidelines are to be taken literally no matter how stupid it may sound (pun intended)

So i'm afraid the first broadcast most likely will just be too quiet and it gets a redesign for the next race. And you can't do anything about it at home, there is also talking that is matched to the whole sound picture. IMHO, deal with the surround noises later if that's the reason for low levels... just up the gain (it's really frustrating to sit behind a sound desk and not been allowed to fix the issue, fadersurf if you must, it's more work and the end quality suffers but main priority in broadcasting is to get the information out, quality comes second....)