F1 predictions 2009: Melbourne

[MWISimmer]

If only Hamilton had got up to 3rd.....

.mic

He still might... Trulli was showing as 4th during the safety car period, and therefore shouldn't have overtaken Hamilton. Although some are saying that Hamilton actually passed Trulli under SC conditions and let Trulli back through to avoid a penalty...

There's always something..  ;D

[C]

[quote]wow what a race!

[The Ruptured Duck]

If only Hamilton had got up to 3rd.....

.mic

Wish granted  http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74053

[Mictheslik]

Yippee....20 points...and 2 Brits on the podium!

.mic

[Craig.]

excellent race and a good result. Its more my relief to come away with 10 points from that lol.
The only sad thing is the result has no official place for at least 3 weeks. Thats 1st through 4th all under appeal.

[C]

Missed the point made about Nelson Jr. Another year for Fernando at Renault without the back up of a team mate - unless of course Fernando has a clause to say his team mate has to be utterly uncompetitive. :-?

As an aside, some light relief, courtesy of Loic Bigois, BGP's head of aerodynamics, CV, as shown on the BGP website:

Hobbies:...


...Wind tunnel testing

[Craig.]

In all fairness to Nelsino his brakes went under the safety car and he knew it. He then decided to just go for it anyway, the arrival for turn 1 is 180mph roughly. That takes balls to go for it with no brakes lol.

[C]

In all fairness to Nelsino his brakes went under the safety car and he knew it. He then decided to just go for it anyway, the arrival for turn 1 is 180mph roughly. That takes balls to go for it with no brakes lol.

What about the rest of his non-race beforehand? His accident could have happened to anyone.

Now RBR have been fined for telling Vettel to carry on driving, I waiting with anticipation for either the fine or penalty for Kovi and/McLaren. You penalise one team/driver for driving with a wheel hanging off, you ought to penalise the other too.

[Craig.]

There is nothing to say you can't drive back to the pits so the teams can attempt to repair the car, the rule is you are not allowed to complete the lap your car is damaged on. As long as the recovering car proceeds to the pit lane in a safe manner and remains off the racing line/ obvserves the blue flags, there is nothing to stop them carrying on back to pitlane.
Vettels crime was clearly to carry on when it was clear that under normal racing conditions the car wouldn't have been able to carry on at a safe speed, just because the SC is out the rules dont change to allow the guys on 3 wheels to carry on. (well technically Red Bulls)

It was a race of cock-ups on many teams parts, and it gave us a great race. From Ferrari not even knowing how many pitstops they were going to have each driver on. To Fisi's wonderful attempt at pitting the car through his mechanics rather than round them, to a safety car that was suspiciously delayed in its deployment till after Jenson had completed his stop despite the rules of formation no longer applying. Then to add to the fun you get a a pole and a german once again fighting over a small space of land and neither of them winning. and what could clearly be a farce in the sense of the tyre choices. (next week its the hard and the softs, and since malaysia eats up tyres, expect 3 laps out of the softs before pitting will be nessicary.) I think this season could be a very good if slightly comical one

[expat]

Never mind about hanging off, what about Kubica and the wheels coming off. I was under the impression that during a heavy crash and as crashes go, it was a glancing blow that the wheels had to stay attached to the car via safety cords??

Matt

[C]

There is nothing to say you can't drive back to the pits so the teams can attempt to repair the car, the rule is you are not allowed to complete the lap your car is damaged on.

Quite, but even in Kovi's case it was blatently obvious that he was beyond (sensible) repair, and wasn't really at a safe speed. I just think it was daft - how stupid would they have looked if it'd completely failed half way back to the pits (considering it happened on the first or second corner).

[C]

to a safety car that was suspiciously delayed in its deployment till after Jenson had completed his stop despite the rules of formation no longer applying.

That was a little odd - I didn't understand why it wasn't ready to pick up Jenson at the end of the pit lane, or Vettel should he overtake the BGP in the pits. Either way, it put JB at a slight disadvantage. Judging by the SC at the time, even he wasn't quite sure what was going on.

[Celtman]

Fantastic race

Sadly I didn't get any predictions in on time, would've guessed Button for 1st but would've but Hamilton at the back of the field  ;D

Looks like this could be a great season, but it'll still be hard to beat Brazil last year.

[Craig.]

One thing I would say is, the british media will now start riding Buttons jockstrap for all its worth again, Personally if I was Jeson I would tell them to go walk off a cliff after the way they have ignored him for the last 3 seasons.

[C]

One thing I would say is, the british media will now start riding Buttons jockstrap for all its worth again, Personally if I was Jeson I would tell them to go walk off a cliff after the way they have ignored him for the last 3 seasons.

Is he British? I thought after DC retired there was only Lewis left.