2018 Formula One Australian Grand Prix (Discussion Thread)

[Bram Hengeveld]

I tried and watched for 60 minutes until I fell back to sleep. What a boring race again.

 

[BhZ]

I tried and watched for 60 minutes until I fell back to sleep. What a boring race again.

The midfield was all very close. P1 was uncertain until lap 55. Haas retired. Verstappen did a 360. Ricciardo and Kimi had their moments. I wouldn't say it was a boring race compared to what F1 usually offers.

 

[Giorgos Kostis]

Vettel got lucky

 

[elrollaor]

I'm happy for the vettel win and i'm not a seb fan,but lewis was prepotent yesterday after the qualy

 

[Deleted member 113561]

I tried and watched for 60 minutes until I fell back to sleep. What a boring race again.

Then why you comment here?

Vettel got lucky

100% agree, that VSC/SC won him the race (99.9% HAAS did not do it on purpose)
I agree with commentators, rules regarding SC/VSC should be changed as in Indycar (pitlane closed), its not like they run out of fuel ...

 

[Kakusso]

Body language of Hamilton and Kimi Räikkönen resume what they thought.

Starts at 1m34s

 

[Celestiale]

Haas probably lost 40-60 million € with their antics...was it machine or man?

 

[rubaru]

I don't know about the rest of the world, but watching the race in the USA was abysmal. It coverage with NBC last season ended and was picked up by ABC/ESPN. NBC had their own commentators while ABC is just rebroadcasting the Sky feed. I generally don't have issues with Brundle and company, but the fact that ABC would cut to commercial mid-sentence, or at otherwise exciting moments frankly pissed me off.

The pre race walk thru from Brundle was disjointed and quite boring, but learning after qualifying that they have Will Buxton on their staff makes me question their choice. He actually did a nice job last season for NBC.

Some people argue that the race is boring and whatnot. The coverage isn't helping much.

 

[William Nowell]

I whole hearty agree with you Jason. ESPN coverage sucks. The first clue for me was when they pushed back the practice broadcast to show some crappy baseball game. Then the first part of pre-race show was just camera footage and not audio. What happen to the post race bullring talks with the other drivers?

 

[EireGreen™]

STRIKE • Herzlichen Glückwunsch Sebb

 

[Jan Larsen]

Haas probably lost 40-60 million € with their antics...was it machine or man?

Man. Both wheel gun men noobed up hard and cross-threaded. Time for some massive wheel gun training, under pressure.

 

[Celestiale]

Man. Both wheel gun men noobed up hard and cross-threaded. Time for some massive wheel gun training, under pressure.

Oh boy....i guess that's what happens if you don't pay your mechanics enough. Backfired massively i'd say.

 

[Andrew Harper]

I tried and watched for 60 minutes until I fell back to sleep. What a boring race again.

Yes I have to agree, we've been lucky recently as both the first Indycar race and Sebring were great races and had action from start to finish. I'll still follow F1 but that was pretty dull to watch I'm afraid. You could tell even see the producer was having trouble to find something worth watching at times.

Haas probably lost 40-60 million € with their antics...was it machine or man?

I think it was a bit of both, it sounds like HAAS have dreamed up a new wheel locking mechanism and even though the team have done 100's of practice pitstops leading to this weekend, something went badly wrong, the pundits on TV were saying the heat expansion in the hubs caused problems that they didn't see in testing, but we'll see. Pretty bad for the team though. Even if one car finished in the points that's millions in bonus for them. EDIT: Just reading the official statement for the team and they are admitting it was lack of practice due to all the car rebuilds taking up so much time over the weekend, I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt! lol

 

[gamer19]

I tried and watched for 60 minutes until I fell back to sleep. What a boring race again.

I recon you're a massive Verstappen fan, judging by your avatar.
No wonder you found a race boring.
Joking aside, except that Haas/Haas/Vettel moment, have to agree... pretty much yawn-show. Love this circuit but I really hope this track isn't the best example of what is waiting for us in this season. Otherwise... we heading into one pretty much overtake-less year. =/

 

[Fernando Deutsch]

My thoughs,

TV coverage bad. There were some battles happening on the mid and back field and they were not showing them. I personally did not liked the graphs and data presentation, looks like a game for me and they missed important information like current tyre compounds.

I can see how BAD is the aerodynamic grip dependency of these cars. You cannot simply get closer as you get aero understeer and you end killing your tyres. I know Melbourne is a very unique GP and is not a clear representation of the rest of the year. I really hope FIA and teams could come up with a solution about this aero stuff, but I do not hold my breath.

 

[Andrew Harper]

I can see how BAD is the aerodynamic grip dependency of these cars.

Like you mention, we'll have to see what happens in the next few races but the last few versions of the Merc just seem to hate being in dirty air. That seemed to be even more the case with this years car unfortunately.

 

[Jan Larsen]

Melbourne is always a tough track to overtake on, it'll be different when we get to Bahrain, but the issues faced last year will be present this year throughout aswell.
Speaking of Bahrain; 10 bucks we'll see at least one brake failure.

 

[rubaru]

I whole hearty agree with you Jason. ESPN coverage sucks. The first clue for me was when they pushed back the practice broadcast to show some crappy baseball game. Then the first part of pre-race show was just camera footage and not audio. What happen to the post race bullring talks with the other drivers?

I might also add how I didn't appreciate sitting through ads from Vivid Entertainment with my 12 year old son and 10 year old daughter on the sofa with me.

 

[capndorkus00]

what we leanedfrom AUS GP:

- 3 horse race from Merc, Ferrari and Red Bull
- Mclaren is back (sort of) to competitiveness
- Haas is so far 4th best team
- Renault team has potential
- Honda may still be as bad as they were (hopefully not)
- Williams is back to mid-midfield

 

[galefoce97]

The sky commentary team (more specifically Martin Brundle) annoyed me in this race. The way Brundle was complaining about Vettel gaining the lead from pitting under VSC. If there was no VSC and just had a normal safety car Vettel would have lost and they would have willingly buried Ferrari for poor strategy. Last season at Catalunya Hamilton pulled a similar move that, although not letting him keep the lead, put him in perfect position to take the lead. Not once did Brundle complain or question the VSC rules. I get that they are British but please at least pretend not to be biased