2014 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne

[Helios]

Because Ros being behind Ham only comes down to the wrong timing in Q3, so I do not expect him to respect a number 2 status.

Rosberg isn't Vettel - if the team tells him to hold position then he'll do it. He might moan about it afterwards but he knows that when the positions are reversed that he'll get the same treatment and Hamilton will do what he's told. It's a long season and Rosberg and Hamilton are team players.

I seriously doubt Hamilton would do that. That's what makes him a WDC, nice guys don't win titles usually.

@basti
It's funny how everytime HAM beats ROS in the wet it's down to wrong timing. I wonder how much longer we're going to hear that excuse because it's starting to become as gripping as a bald tyre. Rosberg had his chance, he ruined it by going off the track. Lewis on the other hand didn't get a perfect lap together either, just think about the massive slide out of T6.

Lewis was better today and that's it, time to move on.

[SiLo]

Rosberg was still quick, but messing up his first lap back out cost him obviously. Should have been a Merc 1-2 I think. Hamilton lost a lot of time with full opposite lock (how cool was that though?) and could have gone faster still.

[Juzh]

Because Ros being behind Ham only comes down to the wrong timing in Q3, so I do not expect him to respect a number 2 status.

Rosberg isn't Vettel - if the team tells him to hold position then he'll do it. He might moan about it afterwards but he knows that when the positions are reversed that he'll get the same treatment and Hamilton will do what he's told. It's a long season and Rosberg and Hamilton are team players.

He passed hamilton 3 times in malaysia. Selective memory at its best.

[basti313]

I seriously doubt Hamilton would do that. That's what makes him a WDC, nice guys don't win titles usually.

You are right about that. And I think that was also the reason why he didn't like the team order last year at all.

@basti
It's funny how everytime HAM beats ROS in the wet it's down to wrong timing. I wonder how much longer we're going to hear that excuse because it's starting to become as gripping as a bald tyre. Rosberg had his chance, he ruined it by going off the track. Lewis on the other hand didn't get a perfect lap together either, just think about the massive slide out of T6.

Lewis was better today and that's it, time to move on.

It is not about the usual whining who is better like we had it last year or with Vettel/Webber/Ric. When you look at the times you will see, that Ros was faster in 2/3 of the laps...now instead of a real shootout we get a fault by Ham and Ros not even running this very last lap...
So no matter who is likely to be faster, no one showed it. And tomorrow Ros will still be behind Ham after the start...so the problem could be that we will not see it either tomorrow...I do not like that.
It is the same with the other teams...I would have liked to see Vet and Ric fighting about tenth and a close race tomorrow...but this was completely spoiled by a defective sensor.

So for Alo/Rai...Rai was also more than a second away from Alo's pace. What happend there? If it would be 3 tenth it would be due to the driver, but being constantly one ore two seconds away in the dry and in the wet, this can not be down to the WC driver or a setup fault like a faulty front wing setting...

[SectorOne]

He passed hamilton 3 times in malaysia. Selective memory at its best.

Orchestrated by Mercedes to DRS each other on the two straights meaning they overtook each other multiple times.

-
I have to say Mercedes pace in the dry really does seem to be in an entirely different area code.
Many times was they 1 tenth up in both sectors then just casually plucked out 8 tenths in the final sector.

[JimClarkFan]

He passed hamilton 3 times in malaysia. Selective memory at its best.

Orchestrated by Mercedes to DRS each other on the two straights meaning they overtook each other multiple times.

-
I have to say Mercedes pace in the dry really does seem to be in an entirely different area code.
Many times was they 1 tenth up in both sectors then just casually plucked out 8 tenths in the final sector.

From seeing Hamilton's on-board yesterday during practise, I would have to agree. There is a lot of time left in that car, it looks like it is on rails. Compare that with Alonso in the Ferrari, he is really struggling to get the power down out of the corners.

[morefirejules08]

I'm sorry if this has been mentioned already but if Vettel has duff engine maps loaded will redbull be allowed to change it before the race tomorrow?
Cheers

[SectorOne]

Quite clearly that car wasn´t healthy in any way. At one point it sounded like he had ignition cuts out of corners.

[Phil]

If the Mercedes really has more "hidden" pace, I wonder how they hide it and yet remain competitive among team-mates. Perhaps through engines map?

[basti313]

I'm sorry if this has been mentioned already but if Vettel has duff engine maps loaded will redbull be allowed to change it before the race tomorrow?
Cheers

It is only a defective sensor. They will change it and the car should run ok...
With the mapping it would be difficult.

[basti313]

If the Mercedes really has more "hidden" pace, I wonder how they hide it and yet remain competitive among team-mates. Perhaps through engines map?

Why should they hide anything now?

[NathanOlder]

If the Mercedes really has more "hidden" pace, I wonder how they hide it and yet remain competitive among team-mates. Perhaps through engines map?

I dont think they were holding back, the only time we saw both drivers fully on it, was the dry part of Q1, and neither driver hooked up a full lap. They were matching Ric Mas Bot and But in the sectors despite being on the harder tyre. The harder tyre being at least 2 seconds a lap slower. So they didnt hide anything, they just didnt run the softer tyre at a time when the drivers were pushing hard.

[atanatizante]

I think it was useful to add into equation the qualy results to make a proper view regarding which setup choices teams were doing (maybe) for race tomorrow …

So after all Qualy times we could see “the big picture” and if you do a driver by driver objective analysis IMHO the star of the day is Kiwi boy/Kiki boy/Dany Kvyat (not Ricci or Kevin) and my arguments in backing this statement are the following:
- the least experienced driver from all coz he was jumping (like Kimi did) from GP3 to F1 !
- the least km in testing a F1 car, in general speaking, and maybe the least km in a 2014 car
- no experience in the wet from any F1 car, not to mention this year car …
- not knowing the circuit
- performance wise TR being way down the order or at least they are under RB and Macca boys
- in FP1, FP2, they were running different programs but in:
FP3 : Kiwi boy did a 1:31.925 time and JEV: 1:32.417, so – 0,5 sec.
Q1 : Kiwi boy did a 1:33.777 time and JEV: 1:33.488, so + 0,3 sec.
Q2 : Kiwi boy did a 1:44.331 time and JEV: 1:43.849, so + 0,5 sec.
Q3 : Kiwi boy did a 1:47.368 time and JEV: 1:45.864, so + 1,5 sec. but that`s coz he was wreaking his car in Q2 -

Nonetheless bearing in mind that he has a dog of a car (remember the offs in FP1 and FP2?) he did better than both Massa and Bottas in a mighty Williams car !

Now regarding Vettel vs Ricci performance from Qualy we must also see the facts and try to put all the pieces together if we wanna be unbiased here (worth to mention that I`m not a RB fan nor Vettel`s and the proof is reading my posts in the Merc`s tread)
- FP1 : Ricci did a 1:32.599 time and Vettel : 1:32.793, so – 0,2 sec.
- FP2 : Ricci did a 1:30.538 time and Vettel : 1:30.381, so + 0,15 sec.
Now as someone said earlier in this thread, RBR has changed Vettel`s ERS software for FP3 and all of a sudden he got a, quote: “horrible” car, as he was radioed to the team and then Sky commentators noticed also his car behavior on the track … and the final proof regarding this matter was his interview on RTL television when he said “between his teeth” that was the reason
- FP3 : Ricci did a 1:30.970 time and Vettel : 1:32.255, so - 1,3 sec.
- Q1 : Ricci did a 1:30.775 time and Vettel : 1:31.931, so - 1,2 sec.
- Q2 : Ricci did a 1:42.295 time and Vettel : 1:44.668, so - 2,3 sec. this time was exacerbated by the rain and Kiwi boy`s accident

So let`s don`t be hasty and jump into conclusion that Ricci just smashed him after only one Qualy!

And last but not least the biggest conclusion of all after the Qualy is to notice the jump in performance for RBR (placing them in 2nd in the order now) and that is a little bit scary knowing:
- the endless issue they have had
- one of the least km done in testing
- no km in the rain, at least for Ricci`s side as he said
- they have the same basic car as they had at launching date and the only development was (only) a new FW, which I`m not sure if they’ll run it tomorrow in the race …

[dren]

Vettel had the best race pace after the Mercedes during practice, even faster than Ric. So I expect Vettel would have challenged for pole if his car was working right. There is no way he is that much slower than Ric.

[mnmracer]

Vettel only did 10 laps in FP1, in comparison to Ricciardo's 46 laps. The first two days of the Australian Grand Prix have unfortunately shown us pretty much nothing.