2011 Australian Grand Prix (March 25 - 27)

[Wouter Melissen]

Practice 1:


Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m26.831s + 20
2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m27.158s + 0.327 19
3. Alonso Ferrari 1m27.749s + 0.918 20
4. Rosberg Mercedes 1m28.152s + 1.321 16
5. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m28.430s + 1.599 24
6. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m28.440s + 1.609 29
7. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m28.483s + 1.652 26
8. Schumacher Mercedes 1m28.690s + 1.859 14
9. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m28.725s + 1.894 13
10. Petrov Renault 1m28.765s + 1.93 15
11. Massa Ferrari 1m28.842s + 2.011 20
12. Heidfeld Renault 1m28.928s + 2.097 14
13. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m29.314s + 2.483 19
14. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m29.328s + 2.497 21
15. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m29.403s + 2.572 24
16. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m29.468s + 2.637 23
17. Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m29.643s + 2.812 18
18. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m31.002s + 4.171 20
19. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1m32.428s + 5.597 13
20. d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m35.282s + 8.451 17
21. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m35.289s + 8.458 15
22. Chandhok Lotus-Cosworth no time 1
23. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth no time
24. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth no time

autosport.com - F1 News: Webber goes fastest in first practice

[Wouter Melissen]

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m25.854s 32
2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m25.986s + 0.132 31
3. Alonso Ferrari 1m26.001s + 0.147 28
4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m26.014s + 0.160 35
5. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m26.283s + 0.429 33
6. Schumacher Mercedes 1m26.590s + 0.736 31
7. Massa Ferrari 1m26.789s + 0.935 34
8. Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m27.101s + 1.247 39
9. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m27.280s + 1.426 34
10. Rosberg Mercedes 1m27.448s + 1.594 23
11. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m27.525s + 1.671 31
12. Petrov Renault 1m27.528s + 1.674 29
13. Heidfeld Renault 1m27.536s + 1.682 22
14. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m27.697s + 1.843 30
15. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m28.095s + 2.241 35
16. di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m28.376s + 2.522 33
17. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m28.583s + 2.729 31
18. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m29.386s + 3.532 29
19. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m30.829s + 4.975 22
20. Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m30.912s + 5.058 23
21. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m32.106s + 6.252 36
22. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m32.135s + 6.281 30
23. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth No time 1

autosport.com - F1 News: Button tops second Australia practice

[Dino Scuderia]

Speed TV's broadcast will be 1:30am with no replay listed for daytime hours.....until noon Monday.

[henk4]

interesting to see the McLarens so high up. The other day I read that they were planning major changes to the car, because it was too slow.

[ScionDriver]

Man I am excited to finally get some F1 going. I'll have to find a way to watch the race through other means though since it's on very early in the morning here and I do not get Speed channel in my apartment.

[LeonOfTheDead]

I found a streaming for P1, pretty interesting to see the rear wings in action, but even more so seeing HRT assembly their second car during P1. They did just 1 installation lap with only one car. It's getting beyond the definition of "joke".

In other news, Marussia Virgin is 0.3 secs out of the 107% limit after over 120 combined laps. not looking good.

Iirc, Bernie or someone else said something about getting the grid back to 20 cars. Here you go.

[ScionDriver]

I found a streaming for P1, pretty interesting to see the rear wings in action, but even more so seeing HRT assembly their second car during P1. They did just 1 installation lap with only one car. It's getting beyond the definition of "joke".

In other news, Marussia Virgin is 0.3 secs out of the 107% limit after over 120 combined laps. not looking good.

Iirc, Bernie or someone else said something about getting the grid back to 20 cars. Here you go.

I thought the other day Bernie said there were too many cars in F1 already? It must have been someone else who wants to add teams: Bernie Ecclestone wants Formula One grid cut to ten teams | FIA | Formula 1 news, live F1 | ESPN F1

[Matra et Alpine]

Well knowing how Bernie works .... he wants less teams as then he sticks at giving the
teams the revenue return amount they get now, but as it's only to 10 instead of 12 then he gets 20% extra for himself. Greedy bar steward

[LeonOfTheDead]

I thought the other day Bernie said there were too many cars in F1 already? It must have been someone else who wants to add teams: Bernie Ecclestone wants Formula One grid cut to ten teams | FIA | Formula 1 news, live F1 | ESPN F1

That's exactly what I was trying to say: 20 cars, 10 teams. now there are 24 and 12 respectively. With Marussia Virgin and HRT out of the 107% for a few races, they won't last much.
I remember the last teams not making it past the 107% rules (Lola and Forti) went bust way before the end of the season, and they also were the last teams to really disappear without being bought by someone else as with:

- Simtek/Stewart/Jaguar/RBR
- Jordan/Midland/Spyker/Force India
- Minardi/STR
- Toleman/Benetton/Renault/Genii-RenaultLotusGP
- BAR/Honda/Brawn/Mercedes
- and eventually Sauber/BMW/Sauber

There are probably some other teams I can't remember of on top of my head.

[ScionDriver]

That's exactly what I was trying to say: 20 cars, 10 teams. now there are 24 and 12 respectively. With Marussia Virgin and HRT out of the 107% for a few races, they won't last much.
I remember the last teams not making it past the 107% rules (Lola and Forti) went bust way before the end of the season, and they also were the last teams to really disappear without being bought by someone else as with:

- Simtek/Stewart/Jaguar/RBR
- Jordan/Midland/Spyker/Force India
- Minardi/STR
- Toleman/Benetton/Renault/Genii-RenaultLotusGP
- BAR/Honda/Brawn/Mercedes
- and eventually Sauber/BMW/Sauber

There are probably some other teams I can't remember of on top of my head.

Yeah I don't know what I was thinking. Sorry about that. But yeah Virgin and HRT are certainly fighting a losing uphill battle, which is very unfortunate because I am kind of a "the more the merrier" guy myself. I think the last team to go all the way away was Super Aguri. I loved those guys.

[Matra et Alpine]

The new rules on practice makes it very difficult for the smaller teams coming in the first race.
I'd certainly not want to make judgements till a few races are under the belt

[LeonOfTheDead]

Yeah I don't know what I was thinking. Sorry about that. But yeah Virgin and HRT are certainly fighting a losing uphill battle, which is very unfortunate because I am kind of a "the more the merrier" guy myself. I think the last team to go all the way away was Super Aguri. I loved those guys.

Oh yeah, Super Aguri, that weird Honda related experiment.
I like Virgin, mainly because Wirth has a decent reputation through ALMS, and because I like both the B1 and B2 road cars. Then again this car seems to be a step backward, and I thought there was room only for improvements for the new teams... oh wait, HRT already proved me wrong.

[Wouter Melissen]

Vettel claims pole in dominating fashion:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m23.529s + 0.778s
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.307s + 0.866s
3. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m24.395s + 1.250s
4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m24.779s + 1.445s
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m24.974s + 1.718s
6. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m25.247s + 1.892s
7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m25.421s + 2.070s
8. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m25.599s + 2.097s
9. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m25.626s + 3.537s
10. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m27.066s + 2.442s
Q2 cut-off time: 1m25.882s
11. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m25.971s
12. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m26.103s
13. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m26.108s
14. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m26.739s
15. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m26.768s
16. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m31.407s
17. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth
Q3 cut-off time: 1m27.222s
18. Nick Heidfeld Renault 1m27.239s
19. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m29.254s
20. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m29.342s
21. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m29.858s
22. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m30.822s
23. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1m32.978s
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m34.2932

107% time: 1m31.266s

autosport.com - F1 News: Vettel storms to Melbourne pole

[Badsight]

low melbourne temps make for crazy tyre performance - even rubens got caught out

excellent save by adrian sutill - kept the million dollar car intact

cowboyashi & petrov showing excellent pace

[Badsight]

Oh yeah, Super Aguri, that weird Honda related experiment.

they were based off the surviving Arrows chassie

HRT have a lack of money to blame. the guy running it has been struggling for money their entire existence

even if they completely lack development, at least when he's on his rocking chair with his grandkids on his lap he will be able to tell them how he managed to race formula one cars