FIA Formula 1 Championship 2012

[niky]

OOOHH...interesting exhaust configuration.

That's just the cowling to smooth the air around the exhaust exit. It will still have to point upwards.

BUT...

That cowling will pull air down around the exhaust, which should push the exhaust stream down the faster the car goes, which SHOULD help blow the diffuser.

So RBR are going for the blown diffuser instead of the blown rear wing.

This will be interesting. I wonder which solution will prove superior? I'm a fan of blowing under the rear wing at high speed to eke out a speed advantage, instead of the minimal benefits of a passive blown diffuser.

[Monseratto]

Q2 Results

Ferrari lockout...

Driver Team
Second qualifying completed

1 Germany N Rosberg Mercedes
2 Germany M Schumacher Mercedes
3 Great Britain L Hamilton McLaren
4 Great Britain J Button McLaren
5 Switzerland R Grosjean Lotus
6 Germany S Vettel Red Bull
7 Venezuela P Maldonado Williams
8 Australia M Webber Red Bull
9 Germany N Hulkenberg Force India
10 Australia D Ricciardo Toro Rosso
11 France J Vergne Toro Rosso
12 Spain F Alonso Ferrari
13 Japan K Kobayashi Sauber
14 Brazil B Senna Williams
15 Great Britain P Di Resta Force India
16 Brazil F Massa Ferrari
17 Mexico S Perez Sauber
18 Finland K Raikkonen Lotus
19 Finland H Kovalainen Caterham
20 Russian Federation V Petrov Caterham
21 Germany T Glock Marussia
22 France C Pic Marussia
23 Spain P de la Rosa HRT
24 India N Karthikeyan HRT

[niky]

Great qualifying! McLaren once again dominant... but RBR is rumored to have not had KERS at all during qualifying... so they might not be as far back (0.7 seconds) as qualifying suggests.

Qualifying order:
1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Jenson Button
3. Romain Grosjean!!! (after a year's absence from Renault-Lotus)
4. Michael Schumacher (around 4/10ths off McLaren)
5.Mark Webber (far back)
6. Sebastian Vettel (further)
7. Nico Rosberg (made a mistake)
8. Pastor Maldonado
9. Nico Hulkenberg
10. Daniel Ricciardo

[Monseratto]

Qualifying results - 2012 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix
Pos. Driver Team Time Laps
1. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 01:24.922 14
2. Jenson Button McLaren 01:25.074 15
3. Romain Grosjean Lotus 01:25.302 21
4. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 01:25.336 18
5. Mark Webber Red Bull 01:25.651 17
6. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 01:25.668 18
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 01:25.686 16
8. Pastor Maldonado Williams 01:25.908 20
9. Nico Hulkenberg Force India 01:26.451 18
10. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso no time 16
11. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 01:26.429 12
12. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:26.494 12
13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 01:26.590 12
14. Bruno Senna Williams 01:26.663 16
15. Paul di Resta Force India 01:27.086 16
16. Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:27.497 16
17. Sergio Perez Sauber 01:26.596 11
18. Kimi Räikkönen Lotus 01:27.758 9
19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 01:28.679 7
20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham 01:29.018 8
21. Timo Glock Marussia 01:30.923 10
22. Charles Pic Marussia 01:31.670 9
23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT F1 Team 01:33.495 6
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT F1 Team 01:33.643 6

[Ry_Tower]

Hehe, Ferrari is just in the middle.

[Retz]

It's Mclaren in the 1st and 2nd spot - Qualifying. What happened to the Iceman ??

[niky]

Worse than that... Felipe Massa struggled to get the car anywhere. Alonso, even if he didn't go off in Q2, ddin't have enough pace in the car to make Q3, anyway.

Red Bull had no KERS today. Guesstimate they lost about 5/10ths due to lack of KERS... that still leaves them 2-3/10ths off McLaren pace. Game on na ito!

Red Bull are good at developing a car over the year, but McLaren, over the past few seasons, have shown that they are the best at making a car faster as the season goes on. I don't think RBR can catch up...

[CoDer]

McLaren is a team to beat this season. They've managed to get around rules banning F-Duct.

[Monseratto]

Did the platypus nose affect the aero of the cars? Among the front runners, only the leading Mclarens didn't use the ugly nose. Also back to back race week ends, inext Malaysia. So there's no quick fix for the world champions.

[niky]

It's Mclaren in the 1st and 2nd spot - Qualifying. What happened to the Iceman ??

Kimi had an issue in Q1. The team released him on his flying lap way too late, and in his rush to try to get over the line before the checkered flag, he went off course. Never had a chance.

McLaren is a team to beat this season. They've managed to get around rules banning F-Duct.

Nope. It's Mercedes that has the F-Duct. McLaren's pace is likely down to two things:

1. They didn't have to compromise their aero-design with a duck-bill nose, because they already use an ultra low nose that meets the new 2012 regulations. All the other teams are compromising.

2. They are carrying over the fastest package of 2011... one which was not as reliant on the blown diffuser as the Red Bull.

Did the platypus nose affect the aero of the cars? Among the front runners, only the leading Mclarens didn't use the ugly nose. Also back to back race week ends, inext Malaysia. So there's no quick fix for the world champions.

It's not apparent. Mercedes have a stepped nose, but they were surprisingly fast (Rosberg simply made a mistake on his lap.) Red Bull seems close on pace... when he did his first Q3 lap on worn tires, Vettel was just as fast as Button. On his second lap, on fresh tires, he should have been at least within 1/10th of Hamilton, but he made a big mistake. Webber, on the other hand, experienced KERS failure.

It will be interesting to see how well RBR can race from the back. They don't have as much power as the Mercs in front of them, so they'll be at a disadvantage when trying to overtake.

[Retz]

Mercedes Wing Stalling Device Legal

pitpass - Mercedes wing stalling device legal

[CVT]

Hanep si Grosjean!....
15.2K:froggy:

[CVT]

Mercedes still has a big problem with their car

[Monseratto]

Kudos to Button and Vettel. Huge disappointment on the Mercs. Too much hype, great start but no points to show. Nakakahinayang kay Maldonado and Rosberg, kaput at the last lap. Great drive from Perez and Kimi...back of the pack to a points finish.

[Retz]

2012 Australian GP Race results

[Retz]

Kudos to Jenson Button for winning the first race of the year !

[Retz]

[CoDer]

Uy my fave drivers on 1 and 2 spot!

[simplicity]

si Kimi mukang tulog! hahaha..
si LH still wondering why he lost the 1st corner
SV and JB always in good spirits..
teka, bakit may napasama na track marshall? ganda pa ng ngiti.. katabi ni Timo.. hehehe..

[niky]

Lewis spun his tires too hard on the launch. He had it, had it, had it... whoops... wheelspin.

Kimi and Alonso were fantastic, cutting through the field. Unfortunately for Kimi, after the race settled, he was fighting with Kobayashi... they had a lot of tit-for-tat overtaking and re-overtaking that cost Kimi time. With Kobayashi and Perez so high up, this might signal the year Sauber starts coming to the head of the midfield over Force India and Lotus... maybe...

What a crazy race... only 13 cars finished!

Quote of the race: Kimi: "Why am I seeing blue flags?!?"

"They're not for you Kimi, they're for the cars behind you" (the ones Kimi just overtook...)

:hysterical: