F1 2013 - Australian Grand Prix - Iceman Triumphs!!!!!!

[Iceman]

Practice 1 Fri 01:30
Practice 2 Fri 05:30
Practice 3 Sat 03:00
Qualifying Sat 06:00
Race Sun 06:00


Can't believe we're 3 days away from Practice!!!!

Place your bets now.

1. Who will get pole position?
2. Who will win the race?
3. First retirement?
4. First crash?
5. Fastest lap?

[Iceman]

1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Kimi Raikkonen
3. Lewis Hamilton
4. Lewis Hamilton
5. Kimi Raikkonen

[Novo]

Think we should try out an F1 Prediction game for this season, the Tennis one worked really well

[Iceman]

You be interested in running it or helping me run it?

[Drew.]

i smiled when i saw this thread :amazed:

[Drew.]

1. Who will get pole position?
2. Who will win the race?
3. First retirement?
4. First crash?
5. Fastest lap?

do we make these predictions before race day or practice?

[Iceman]

Anytime really, preferrebly beforehand, it's a new thing im trying lol

[Drew.]

1. Who will get pole position? Hamilton
2. Who will win the race? Alonso
3. First retirement? Sergio Perez
4. First crash? Sergio Perez
5. Fastest lap? Hamilton

[Legend killer]

Hopefully this year the best driver actually wins the drivers championship SMH. Sick of watching Seb winning based sorely and his luck and superior car while a warrior like Fernando can't by any luck

Give Fernando Seb's car last year and the title is wrapped up with at least 5 races to spare that lads it what separates top 2 GOATS like Fernando and TOP 50 at best like Seb

Yes I am bitter

[Iceman]

After months of preparation and weeks of testing, it is almost time for the 11 teams and 22 drivers that make up the 2013 FIA Formula One World Championship to show just what they can do. Those involved look ahead to the season-opener - the 2013 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne’s picturesque Albert Park circuit...

Paul di Resta, Force India
2012 Qualifying - 15th, 2012 Race - 10th
"It’s been a very positive winter – probably the best winter I can remember while I have been with the team – and I’ve done as much preparation as I can both on and off the track. It’s my third year as a race driver and I’ve got the same team around me so I think that consistency will be very important this year. I think it’s only when we get to Melbourne that we will understand where we are compared to the other teams. You can look at the laptimes in testing, but everybody is focussed on their own programme so you can’t make any assumptions. What we can say is that we’re determined to push on from where we finished last season and the target for Melbourne has to be reaching Q3 and racing for points."

Adrian Sutil, Force India
2012 Qualifying - n/a, 2012 Race - n/a
"2012 was an interesting year because I experienced life away from Formula One and in many ways it has given me a new perspective. I think it helped me grow as a person and I feel mentally stronger as a result. I feel fresh and energized, and ready for the season. When I was back in the car for the first time in Barcelona it felt natural – almost as if I had never been away. I was back on the pace and able to push hard straight away. I’ve only spent three days in the car during testing, but already I’m feeling very comfortable. It’s very driveable and the balance is good. There is still a lot I need to understand, especially in terms of the tyres, but we’re in a good place already. It’s difficult to set a goal for this weekend, but my target for the season is to improve on my 2011 performance and aim for some podiums. So we need to start the year well, aim high and take our chances."

Vijay Mallya, Force India team principal
"I’m really looking forward to the start of the season. We’ve picked up points in Melbourne for the past couple of seasons so that’s a clear objective for this coming weekend. Last year we had some of our best performances on street circuits, so I’m optimistic we can perform well on the streets of Albert Park.I am very happy about our driver line-up and I am particularly delighted to welcome Adrian back to the team. Over the winter we thought long and hard about the decision, but I’m sure we have made the right choice. Adrian is very quick and has a great history with the team - he has been with us from the very start and is truly part of the family. Everyone was impressed by his performance during winter testing in Barcelona: he was able to deliver great pace right away. Paul has matured into a very good driver and in his third season with us we are confident he will deliver the results his talent warrants. He has gelled with the team perfectly and following a strong winter he is well prepared for a great season. Adrian and Paul make up the driver pairing that brought us to our best-ever Championship result in 2011 and there is no reason why we can’t have a similar result this year. The VJM06 has shown excellent reliability in winter testing. The rules haven’t changed much from 2012 and everyone in the team is confident we can pick up where we left off at the end of last season. The first race of the season on a track like Melbourne is always a lottery; if any of the front runners stumble, we will be ready to pounce."

Remi Taffin, Renault Sport F1 head of track operations
"Australia will be a stern test for everyone. The average speed round the circuit is towards the top of the table, particularly the quick section at the back that requires good top end speed. The corners are however medium speed so the circuit characteristic and resultant engine requirements will be similar to Valencia, with good driveability and responsiveness through the whole rev range required. These short bursts of acceleration greatly increase fuel consumption while placing the internals under intense pressure. Albert Park actually has one of the highest consumption rates per kilometre, so the starting fuel load is one of the heaviest of the year. With the added challenge of the low grip, delivering good stability and response will really make a difference to the overall lap time. This short winter break has actually been one of the busiest we have had in a long time. With this being the last season of the V8 engines, we are progressively migrating across to develop the V6 power unit. Naturally this puts the onus on providing a turnkey V8 service trackside and at the factory. With this in mind, we have worked hard to completely optimise our service and reliability. What we will see in 2013 is actually an evolution of the structures and changes put in place last year. This then allows us to be responsive enough to incorporate and positively influence developments throughout the year. Even with this being the final year of the V8s there are still areas to exploit and it is our aim to maximise every opportunity we have. We feel comfortable going into the season; we’ve covered a lot of miles with each of our teams and are looking forward to a positive and successful year for everyone."

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
2012 Qualifying - 6th, 2012 Race - 2nd
"I like the beach and Melbourne is a great place to be. There's a nice vibe to the city and the food in the restaurants is always good - I like the track there too. Australia is an amazing country - it's great that you can see animals you'd only otherwise see in zoos, such as kangaroos and koalas; and the nature they have there is impressive with the outback. It's such a shame that I only get to see a small amount of the country - but each year I see a bit more, which I always enjoy. After testing it's good that now we finally get to go racing."

Mark Webber, Red Bull
2012 Qualifying - 5th, 2012 Race - 4th
"I've been on the podiums at most tracks around the world and have won at quite a few circuits and Melbourne is one which I would like to add to that. I really enjoy driving at the track, the atmosphere is fantastic. In general the people of Australia love the Grand Prix and are excited to have a world class event there. I'm proud when we go there with F1 as an industry and that we put on such a great event. Of course I want to go there and perform well, so I'll be focusing on myself to get the job done. The champagne will taste a little bit better in Melbourne if I get on the podium there."

Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus
2012 Qualifying - 18th, 2012 Race - 7th
“Australia is a nice place even though it’s a long way from Europe. The circuit itself is not the most difficult on the calendar. It was good to score a point on my first time at Albert Park, and the podiums and race win in 2007 obviously made me happy. The circuit hasn’t changed at all so I’m confident I know which way it goes… It’s always difficult to say for the first race of the year. It’s not a full time race track so the weekend starts pretty slippery. The weather can be a bit of a surprise sometimes and we’ll also learn how we compare to the other teams. You need a car with good traction and the E21 feels better in this area than the E20 which wasn’t a bad car itself. Strong turn-in and stable braking help too, and those areas also feel good with the car so we are well placed. I’d like to start the season strongly and hopefully run the first races better than we did last year. We don’t know exactly what to expect so we’ll try to do the best we can; we should have a reasonable start to the season.”

Romain Grosjean, Lotus
2012 Qualifying - 3rd, 2012 Race - DNF
“I’m really looking forward to the 2013 season; it’s been a good winter for us and we achieved quite a bit of what we wanted to do, even if the conditions were not always easy. We’re ready for Albert Park, it’s one of my favourite Grand Prix circuits, so it will be good to get there, start the season and do the best that we can. Where do I hope to be in Australia? I’ve been thinking about this quite a lot, but I really have no answer until we get to qualifying in Melbourne. Of course, we always want to be at the front; that’s the aim, and we’ll do the best that the car can do. As long as I perform to my best then I will be happy.”

Eric Boullier, Lotus team principal
“We can take quite a bit of confidence following pre-season testing. We didn’t complete as many laps as we wanted and we did experience a few glitches both technical and physical, but despite this we were able to work through most of the items in our itinerary. We are confident that we have made a step forward compared to last year. I believe we have kept the main strength of the car from last year, which was very conservative on tyre wear and degradation, and we’ve proved our capability to deliver one lap pace which is important for qualifying.”

James Allison, Lotus technical director
“Right after three tests in a row you feel quite tired as it’s almost like three consecutive Grands Prix. We’re a little frustrated about the amount of time we lost out on track, but we’re also excited, optimistic and looking forward to taking the car to Melbourne and seeing what we can do with it. I think that from right back in Jerez it was clear that there are a number of quick teams out there. I think it was also clear from the first test that we have the potential to be one of them and the evidence of our running so far hasn’t done anything to dispel that. We’ll be in the hunt for podiums and very much looking for race wins. A good Albert Park would be a first row grid place from qualifying and a podium in the race. It’s certainly possible.”

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2012 Qualifying - 1st, 2012 Race - 3rd
“It's the start of a new season and the beginning of a new adventure for me with Mercedes AMG Petronas. I can't wait to get to Melbourne, get out on track and find out where we stand. The Australian Grand Prix is always an exciting race: the teams don't know how they compare in terms of performance, the fans are fantastic and, with big changes to the tyres again this year, we just don't know what will happen in the race. I love the circuit. It's a street track with a really bumpy surface so you try and put as much downforce on the car as possible and it really puts the drivers to the test. We had a good, reliable car during winter testing so that's the positive we can take with us into the weekend but we know that in terms of performance, everything begins again from zero in Friday practice. So let's get Down Under, get racing and see how things turn out.”

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
2012 Qualifying - 6th, 2012 Race - 12th
“Melbourne is a great place to kick off the new Formula One season. I really like the city and the Australian fans at the circuit are always fantastic and so supportive. The first Grand Prix is where everyone finds out where they really are and we can judge how well we have done against our competition as the times in winter testing just don't tell the full story. The weather in Melbourne looks very hot at the moment which is going to be a tough challenge as we have no experience with the F1 W04 in those conditions. Tyre degradation will be the biggest issue for everyone so we need to look at that carefully and do a good job in managing it. I'm really looking forward to next weekend and getting the season underway.”

Ross Brawn, Mercedes team principal
“The start of a new Formula One season is always an intense but exciting time for the team. Our factories in Brackley and Brixworth have been buzzing with activity with both Nico and Lewis visiting to complete their final preparations on the simulator, and the team working to finish the cars, engines and pack the freight for the four flyaway races coming up. The first race is where we can really begin to assess our competitive position and how much of a step forward we have made with our new Silver Arrow. We had a successful pre-season testing programme and personally, I am pleased with the progress we have made, both with the car and in terms of how we operate as a team. However, testing is simply that; racing is a completely different situation and Melbourne will see much higher track temperatures and more varied conditions than we have experienced so far. We're looking forward to the challenge and to the action starting in Melbourne next weekend.”

Toto Wolff, Mercedes team executive director
“When it comes to starting a new season, it's only facts that count - everything else is simply speculation. The facts are that we had a good winter test programme, completed the second highest mileage of any team and made some good progress. Lewis and Nico are working well together and there is a positive dynamic in the team, from the factory to the track. So we head to Australia well prepared. But we know, too, that we will be running in very different temperatures, on a different track surface and that every team will have to finally lay their cards on the table in qualifying on Saturday. Only then can we have a first indication of where we stand in terms of performance. It may sound clichéd but our goal is simply to perform as well as possible. We know that we must go forward from last season and we are proud to be representing Mercedes-Benz on the global stage. Now we have to live up to that standard.”

Pastor Maldonado, Williams
2012 Qualifying - 8th, 2012 Race - 13th
“We have been working extremely hard over the winter to improve the performance of the car and we have noticed good potential in the recent tests in Barcelona. I’ve been involved with the FW35 build since the start of the project in early 2012, working with the engineers, design office and the technicians in the wind tunnel to push for improvements on all fronts. Obviously we don’t know what other teams have done and you can only learn so much during testing, but we expect to be more competitive than last year. I like street circuits so I always enjoy coming to Australia and now I just want to start the season and find out where we stand.”

Valtteri Bottas, Williams
2012 Qualifying - n/a, 2012 Race - n/a
“We have had a good winter at the factory and the car showed strong reliability and performance during testing. The FW35 feels like a new car in comparison to the FW34, behaving and responding differently around the track to the car I was driving on Friday mornings last year and I’m impressed with the improvements the team have made. The winter has seen me preparing hard for the demands of driving a full race which I haven’t done before in Formula One. However, I’ve always done a lot of fitness training and have driven a lot of miles over the past few years with the team, so I’m feeling fully prepared. The first Grand Prix of my career is a big thing for me and I can’t wait for the lights to go out in Melbourne and see how the FW35 performs against the competition.”

Mike Coughlan, Williams’ technical director
“We had a successful winter test and are continuing to look at all the data we gathered. Following this, we have some further aero tests planned for Friday with both drivers in Australia. The results so far have been interesting and so we’ll make our final decision on Friday evening as to what we will run over the weekend. In either case, we feel we have two strong aero packages, each with their own benefits, and so the nature of the circuit and temperatures we find will dictate which package we choose. Melbourne is a high power sensitivity circuit, more so than Spa-Francorchamps which is quite surprising. Ambient temperatures can be very high, fuel consumption is high and there is increased brake wear. The ambient temperatures in Jerez and Barcelona are very different to what we expect to find in Australia, so we’ll be looking very closely at tyre degradation during practice on Friday. Overall, we are very much looking forward to the start of the season as we have confidence in the FW35.”

Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber
2012 Qualifying - 9th, 2012 Race - DNF
“Finally the start of the season is coming closer. I left Europe yesterday. I’m really looking forward to this race, as Australia is always one of my favorite Grands Prix, and Melbourne has a very special atmosphere, so I’m keen to be there. I also like the track which is not a permanent circuit. We are driving around a lake in a park and, especially during the drivers’ parade, you feel very close to the fans. The track itself is very challenging for the drivers. It has got a lot of bumps and you have to know how best to deal with them. In terms of competitiveness, the final Barcelona test showed we are quite well prepared but still have some homework to do, and that we still have room for improvement in certain areas. But I’m confident the baseline is good. I’m really looking forward to racing against the usual grid and finally get a clear picture of where everybody stands with regard to performance.”

Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber
2012 Qualifying - n/a, 2012 Race - n/a
"Now we have finalised the pre-season testing, I feel very grateful for the work of every team member and the opportunity to get up to speed with the basics of F1. Melbourne will be my first race in F1 and I'm sure it will be very special. It’s a track that I don’t know, but I’m confident I will be able to learn it quickly in the free practice sessions. Competing in a Formula One race is the next step in my career, and that’s what I need to focus on. One of the things that I need to do is feel natural and relaxed in my surroundings so I can focus on the most important elements during the weekend. I feel I have a good base for the start of the season, but, of course, I will keep on working as I have areas where I can improve. My goal is to exploit the car’s potential and finish consistently within the points."

Tom McCullough, Sauber head of track engineering
“We have had a very productive pre-season test programme completing 5,308 km, which is a credit to all those involved with the design, manufacture and operation. Nico and Esteban have quickly settled into their new working environment and have already established strong working relationships within the team, which is very important. You never know exactly where you sit compared to the other teams during winter testing, but importantly the C32 has performed as expected which is encouraging. Melbourne is a typical street circuit with significant track evolution. It is very important to have good braking stability and a car that performs well in the low to medium speed corners. The layout of the track also requires the car to have a good change of direction. It will be interesting to see how the new generation medium and supersoft Pirelli tyres perform at a track with less high-speed corners than our two test tracks. It is important we maximise our full potential from the start of the season, as all the signs are that the grid will continue to be close. Overall the whole team is confident and looking forward to getting out there and starting the 2013 racing season.”

Jenson Button, McLaren
2012 Qualifying - 2nd, 2012 Race - 1st
“Wow, I can’t believe it’s come around already! It seems like only last week that I was standing on top of the podium in Sao Paulo; I really can’t believe that we’re all getting ready to board flights to Australia. It feels incredible - the time has gone by so quickly. But they say time flies when you’re having fun, and I’ve had a fantastic winter: I’ve never stopped training and working, and I feel incredibly fit and focused ahead of this new season. One of the most fascinating things about Formula One is the way it resets itself each and every winter. I’ve seen every side of that: you can have a terrible winter of testing, then turn up at the first race and be competitive; equally, you can look impressive in winter testing and be nowhere in Melbourne. If you’re lucky, it all comes together in the tests and you hit the ground running at the first race. That's always the goal. This year, I don’t think any team really knows or understands the competitive order. It’s been an extremely hard-to-read winter: varying fuel-loads and levels of tyre degradation mean that it’s hard to accurately predict who’ll arrive in Australia with the best-sorted car. But that’s part of the game. The start of a new season is always exciting as it’s the culmination of months of hard work and planning. I’ve had some great experiences in Melbourne, having won the race three times, and I love the place. There isn’t a better location in the world to be kicking off what will no doubt be a fiercely competitive world championship.”

Sergio Perez, McLaren
2012 Qualifying - 17th, 2012 Race - 8th
“It’s been an incredibly busy winter. Joining Vodafone McLaren Mercedes was always going to be a massively significant step in my career, but I immediately started to appreciate what makes this team such a consistent winning force: the dedication, motivation and attention to detail is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. Of course, for me, there has been the additional challenge of getting to know a new car and new engineering systems, and learning the names and roles of the many people I work closely with in the organisation. But it’s never stopped being fun and I can already appreciate how useful that learning will be when I arrive in the pit garage in Melbourne to drive the car in a grand prix weekend for the first time. On top of all my acclimatisation, our winter has been extremely busy: there’s always a lot of work to do when you make significant changes to the car, and having only 12 days to iron out every single issue is never easy. However, we’ve had a productive three weeks of testing and we’re using every available opportunity to further refine the car before Melbourne. For me, arriving in Melbourne as a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver will be an incredible honour. I’ve never worked harder over a winter to be ready for the new season, and I’m confident I’ve done everything within my reach to be ready. Now all I’m waiting for is for the red lights to go out next Sunday afternoon!”

Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren team principal
“In the days leading up to the Australian Grand Prix, it’s fair to say that every team member of every Formula One team is looking over the precipice, balancing their hopes and fears, their nerves tensed in anticipation for the long slog ahead. It’s a tantalising prospect - and it’s one that keeps everyone who loves our sport coming back for more. At Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, we’ve faced a challenging few weeks prepping our new MP4-28 for the 2013 season. The often cold and sometimes wet conditions we experienced during pre-season testing in Barcelona and Jerez made it difficult to operate the tyres consistently within their optimal performance window. That issue, combined with a handful of typical testing setbacks, gave us a few headaches, but as ever our engineers and mechanics did extremely well to complete as much useful running as they did. Well done, boys. But it was much the same for all the teams. As a result, anyone who says they already know in what order the cars will line up on the Albert Park starting grid on Sunday March 17th is a soothsayer of rare ability. Indeed, in truth, even after qualifying on Saturday March 16th, no team principal will be genuinely confident of his car’s race-spec performance relative to that of his principal opposition until the flag drops and the proverbial stops. In addition to that motor racing truism, it’s important to remember that our MP4-28 is a new and uncompromising design that we intend to develop aggressively throughout the year. Undoubtedly, it has great potential - and we fly to Melbourne determined to show well and to score points that should establish us in good stead for both the drivers’ and the constructors’ world championships. We’re still working tirelessly to bring more pace to the MP4-28’s performance envelope, and I believe we’ll arrive in Australia in decent shape. Having said that, we at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes never under-estimate our competitors, and we’re certainly not under-estimating them now. As I say, the MP4-28 is a new and uncompromising design, and I have great confidence that our design, development and engineering teams will work tirelessly to shave tenths off its lap times for Melbourne, and for Sao Paulo, and for everywhere in between.”

Charles Pic, Caterham
2012 Qualifying - 22nd, 2012 Race - 15th
“I’m looking forward to returning to Melbourne, this time for my first race with Caterham F1 Team and I think it’s going to be a good weekend. Melbourne itself is a very nice city. It’s good to go from the end of the cold European winter to the hotter weather of Australia and even though the hours you spend flying mean you arrive feeling a bit destroyed, it’s the same for everyone and I’m feeling good physically and mentally so it won’t be an issue. The circuit itself is very cool. It’s quick but as it’s a temporary street circuit the cars run with high downforce and it’s a good challenge to get a really clean lap in. FP1 is always quiet as the track is very green for the early part of the session, but it evolves a lot over the weekend and you need to time your qualifying lap right to make the most of the rubber that’s being laid down. After the tests we’re definitely ready to start racing. We have a good idea of where we’re going to start out and I think we have a very interesting season ahead of us. Whatever happens, I’m enjoying myself in Caterham and it’s great to be part of a team that has such an exciting future ahead.”

Giedo van der Garde, Caterham
2012 Qualifying - n/a, 2012 Race - n/a
“Honestly I can’t wait to get started. Melbourne will be my first Grand Prix start and, even though it’s taken a while to reach this point, I’m completely prepared and really looking forward to getting back to racing. Having spent a lot of time with the team last year nothing was new to me when I moved up to the race driver position, but it’s still a different world, being a race driver rather than a reserve, but I’m enjoying every minute. I finished off 2012 with a win in Singapore, and, while we’re all realistic enough to know we’re not going to be fighting at that end of the grid, I also know I want to be in the right position to take advantage of anything that comes my way when the lights go out. Over the season, I know Spa is going to be a great race as it’s so close to home, but for me the most exciting moment of 2013 will be when the lights go out in Melbourne and everything I’ve dreamed of for so long comes true. I’ve worked hard all winter and in the tests to prepare myself and I’m ready, physically and mentally. Before it all gets serious in Australia I also want to take this chance to thank everyone who has helped me reach this stage of my career. McGregor have played a big role in helping me become and F1 driver, so thanks to everyone there, and thank you to all the people at Leafield. Caterham F1 Team is a family, a very cool group of people who have a long-term plan that will come true, and if I can help the whole team achieve its goals then that would be a good way of saying thanks.”

Cyril Abiteboul, Caterham team principal
“Australia will be a proud moment for the whole team. 2013 is our fourth year in F1, the first with our new livery and the first season start since we moved into Leafield. On the surface it may look like we’re starting 2013 in a similar position to 2012, but inside the team it is very different. We have a base in Oxfordshire in which we now control all elements of the design and production in-house. The wind tunnel we use has been upgraded to meet our exact specifications and is now producing results that turn into definite improvements. We are continuing to improve the efficiencies and working practices within the team so we can compete both on track and as a viable business with a secure long-term future and we are bringing in talented people at all levels to keep pushing us forwards. We also have two new drivers for 2013, Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde. Both are young, determined to succeed and eager to help the team achieve its goals. At the end of 2012 we were a central part of the F1 show, and I have told both drivers to be ready to be part of the show in 2013, maybe not right at the start, but with what we have coming to the car during the season, we can be confident that we are going to attract interest in us, for the right reasons. We have the facilities, we have the people and we have the infrastructure we need to take the next step forwards. We will do that in a calm, measured way, one that is grounded in a realistic view of the highly competitive world in which we operate, but we will do it with the greatest possible level of energy, passion and enthusiasm. It feels like the 2012 season finished only yesterday, but we cannot wait to start racing again!”

Jules Bianchi, Marussia
2012 Qualifying - n/a, 2012 Race - n/a
“So much has happened over the past couple of weeks that it’s difficult to get my head around the fact that I am about to begin my Formula One racing career in Melbourne next weekend. I guess excitement is the only emotion I’ve had time to experience, there has been so much to do and so many people to meet. Things happen for a reason and I feel confident that we are going to have a very positive season together. There is a nice and positive vibe about the Team and good signs from the work that has been done with the MR02. In the short period of time that I was driving the car in Barcelona last week, I felt very comfortable based on my previous experiences with other F1 cars I have driven, so I’m excited to see what we can achieve in the first few races.”

Max Chilton, Marussia
2012 Qualifying - n/a, 2012 Race - n/a
“I can’t wait for Australia and the start of my debut season. The past few weeks of pre-season testing have flown by, but I’ve spent a lot of time in the car working on so many different things that I feel totally prepared for what lies ahead now. We gathered a lot of information with the MR02 in Jerez and Barcelona and at every stage it has been possible to see the benefit of all that learning and development. I hope to continue that in the opening races. I think we have a good car for Melbourne but it is vital that we keep pushing forward. It’s my first time in Australia, so I’m looking forward to the experience of Albert Park and the rest of the city, as I’ve heard so many great things about the place and the atmosphere. It’s going to be quite a weekend.”

John Booth, Marussia team principal
“Although certain aspects of our winter were quite challenging, the overwhelming feeling we take into the Australian Grand Prix is great optimism. In many ways we are in our best shape ever as a Team and everyone is thriving on that and looking forward to what we hope will be a positive 19-race journey ahead. Our new package has performed well in pre-season testing, with encouraging signs in terms of performance and reliability. We also have two very exciting young drivers in the car. Whilst they are both ‘F1’ rookies, their combined depth of experience rising through the ranks in the junior formulae and in F1-supported young driver programmes leaves them well-placed for their debut season. It is still too early to fully appreciate the progress we have made for 2013, as that wide picture has a habit of revealing itself in Melbourne, but we make the long journey there this weekend feeling confident in our direction.”

Pirelli
Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director
“After 12 days of pre-season testing we finally get to go racing with our 2013 compounds. They were developed over the course of the last season in private testing and they are the most focussed and performance-orientated tyres we have ever made. Cold weather conditions during pre-season testing meant that we weren’t able to showcase them to the best of their abilities, but we are expecting a different story in Albert Park, with two to three pit stops per car. The start of any new season is always a very exciting time and from what we have observed during pre-season testing the field seems to be closer than ever: quite an achievement when you consider that we had seven different winners from the first seven races last year. All the compounds and constructions have changed for 2013, and the drivers should notice a wider working range and a bigger window of peak performance. The performance gaps between the compounds are also larger, which means that teams have a greater opportunity to use strategy to their advantage by exploiting the consequent speed differentials.”

More to follow...

[Iceman]

Lewis Hamilton Joins BBC Sport As Columnist (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/21769197)

[Iceman]

Coulthard: Vettel Can Do Four In A Row (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula-one/21725172)

[Iceman]

This year, Australia will host the season-opening Grand Prix for the 16th time, but that’s far from the only interesting piece of trivia about this ever-popular race…

• The 2013 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix marks the 29th time that Australia has hosted a round of the FIA Formula One World Championship. The first Australian Grand Prix was held in Adelaide in 1985.

• Melbourne’s Albert Park will stage the event for the 18th time in 2013. It first hosted the Australian Grand Prix in 1996.

• Michael Schumacher has won the most Australian Grands Prix, with all four of his wins coming in Melbourne (in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004). Jenson Button could equal the German’s record this year - he currently has three wins Down Under…

• McLaren are the most successful constructor in Australian Grand Prix history - they have 11 wins and 13 further podiums. However, since the race moved from Adelaide to Melbourne, McLaren and Ferrari have claimed six victories each…

• Mercedes engines have powered four of the last five Australian Grand Prix winners.

• Ayrton Senna holds the record for the most Australian Grand Prix pole positions - six, all of which were scored in Adelaide.

• Of the drivers on the grid in 2013, Jenson Button has led the most laps in Australia - 150 in total.

• Five drivers have celebrated their 100th Grand Prix start in Australia - Alan Jones and Patrick Tambay in 1985, Damon Hill in 1999, Jacques Villeneuve in 2002, and Nick Heidfeld in 2006.

• Only four drivers in history have started over 250 Grands Prix, but strangely enough two of them reached the 250 race starts milestone in Australia - Rubens Barrichello in 2008 and Michael Schumacher in 2010.

• Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton have very similar podium records at the Australian Grand Prix - all three have reached the podium four times, and each has stood on the top step once.

• If Kimi Raikkonen sets the fastest lap around Albert Park in 2013, he’ll equal Michael Schumacher’s record of five Australian Grand Prix fastest laps.

• Three engine manufacturers have won the Australian Grand Prix seven times - Ferrari, Renault and Mercedes.

• Drivers of nine nationalities have won the Australian Grand Prix. Great Britain can boast the most different winners (six - Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, Eddie Irvine, David Coulthard, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button) and the most wins overall (ten).

• The longest Australian Grand Prix was the 1985 edition, which ran to 2 hours and 40.473 seconds. The shortest - and also the shortest Grand Prix in world championship history - was the 1991 race, which lasted just 24 minutes and 34.899 seconds before being abandoned because of heavy rain.

• No Australian has ever won the Australian Grand Prix. The best result for an Australian driver is the fourth place recorded by Mark Webber for Red Bull in 2012.

• Australia had the honour of hosting the 500th world championship Grand Prix, in Adelaide in 1990. It was won by Nelson Piquet for Benetton.

• Australia hosted the last race of Formula One racing’s famed ‘turbo era’ in 1988. The Honda-engined cars of Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Nelson Piquet swept the podium.

• Nigel Mansell is the oldest Australian Grand Prix winner - he was 41 years and 97 days old when he won the 1994 race for Williams. He remains the seventh-oldest Grand Prix winner of all time and the oldest race winner since Australian legend Jack Brabham took victory in South Africa in 1970.

• In Australia this weekend there will be two Mexican drivers (Sergio Perez and Esteban Gutierrez) on the grid for the first time since Pedro Rodriguez and Moises Solana started the 1968 Mexican Grand Prix.

• The last time there were at least four French drivers on the grid for a season-opening Grand Prix was 1994. Back then they were Jean Alesi, Erik Comas, Olivier Panis, Eric Bernard, and Luxembourg-born racer Bertrand Gachot, who raced with a French license. This year Romain Grosjean, Jean-Eric Vergne, Jules Bianchi and Charles Pic will represent France.

• Great Britain will have four drivers (Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Max Chilton, Paul di Resta) on the grid for the season-opening Grand Prix for the first time since 2008 (David Coulthard, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Anthony Davidson).

• In Australia, Kimi Raikkonen (who made his Formula One debut at Albert Park in 2001) will look to extend his sequence of 17 consecutive points finishes. The streak began at last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

[Drew.]

just a couple more nights :amazed:

[Iceman]

Waking up on Friday morning Practice 1 will be done and Practice 2 just starting :amazed:

[Drew.]

i dont know whether to get my sleeping pattern back together and wake up early for the race.. or just stay up all night

[Iceman]

Im good at getting up early so ill be up, get Paddy's Day off to a good start!

[Drew.]

even better if Kimi could pull of a win too!

[Iceman]

:amazed:

[James]

After the phony war of testing qualifying will be interesting to see which teams really have the fastest cars.

[Iceman]

Tonight's gonna be a good night methinks. #kimi #rosberg

[Drew.]

time to play some f1 on the Xbox for the next couple of hours

[Iceman]

I just did the full australian race on the PS3 took nearly two hours... racing with Williams started 9th and came second after I was taken out twice...

[Drew.]

Wow 2 hours :o im not sure i could concentrate for that long.. im enjoying playing online recently, i find its the only realistic way i can overtake and race properly without the difficulty's effecting it.

[Novo]

http://www1.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Nico+Rosberg+IWC+Booth+SIHH+2013+TkJef0VBk6tl.jpg

[Iceman]

Im supporting Kimi and as number 2 Nico is the man!

[Iceman]

Wow 2 hours :o im not sure i could concentrate for that long.. im enjoying playing online recently, i find its the only realistic way i can overtake and race properly without the difficulty's effecting it.

I took breaks inbetween...reckon im gonna do it for every race.....

[Novo]

Think i'm going to have to be fully Team Merc this year

[Novo]

Will be interesting to see how Max Chilton does as well

[Iceman]

Think i'm going to have to be fully Team Merc this year

Understandable, you've got someone from your home country.... basically I dont mind who wins the title so long as its not Vettel or Button.

[Iceman]

Will be interesting to see how Max Chilton does as well

Yeah he has a lot of promise...I think he'll struggle for the first part of the season and do better towards the end.

[Iceman]

Do you wanna set up that prediction league?

[Drew.]

I took breaks inbetween...reckon im gonna do it for every race.....

iv just got on.. there are loads of people on doing the same as us and playing until the real thing starts.. they keep counting down the minutes :joker:

Think i'm going to have to be fully Team Merc this year

i think im with you on this one.. i do like Kimi too

[Iceman]

1 hour and 27 minutes.

I think BBC are now showing all the practices on BBC2...?

[Drew.]

BBC1 would be better tbh.. i only have BBC1 in HD

[Iceman]

Ah ****buzz.... I have first aid practicals at 9 in the morning which means I have to leave at 8. SO my schedule for tonight...watch Practice 1, get 2 hours sleep, watch practice 2 and study for practicals...

[Drew.]

your going to be knackered :joker: iv bought myself 3 bottles of Lucozade to hopefully keep me going throughout the weekend

[Iceman]

I cant wait for it, just an hour now!! :amazed:

[Drew.]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BFWaxK5CUAIi9jl.jpg:large

[Iceman]

Im starting to feel sleepy!!! -YAWNS-

[Drew.]

you need to get a coffee or energy drink :o

[Iceman]

Ill go for a smoke...gonna lof off this might be on during practice....laptop is overheating and burning me to ****!

[Drew.]

ah okay.. i hate laptops for that reason. Re arranged my room today so i can stay on here and watch tv properly now.. Perfect for the F1

[Drew.]

underway on sky :)

[Iceman]

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel may have dominated both practice sessions as the 2013 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix got underway in Melbourne on Friday, but there was still plenty to discuss as the light began to fade in Albert Park. All the drivers, and senior team personnel, reflect on their early progress...

Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel, P1 - 1:27.211, 1st; P2 - 1:25.908, 1st
“Overall it was a good day for us. It was pretty seamless and there was no trouble with the car. After all the mileage of testing, it was fun to be out there - this circuit doesn’t get easier, it’s a good challenge. The soft tyre doesn’t last too long, but the harder tyre is a decent race tyre. The weather should be quite changeable tomorrow and, as we can’t predict how much that will impact the tyres and car balance, we need to be ready to change things. Today was a good day and the balance was good, but we need to be ready for what’s coming up.”

Mark Webber, P1 - 1:27.668, 5th; P2 - 1:26.172, 2nd
“It was not a bad day and we got through plenty of information. It was nice to have a bit of sun on the circuit after Barcelona, where we had pretty overcast conditions. We had to correlate a lot of information from Europe and that went pretty well. We still have a huge amount to go through tonight and we’re expecting a bit of overcast stuff tomorrow, so we need to be ready for that. Overall, it was pretty positive for us, but there are still areas to improve on.”

Mercedes
Nico Rosberg, P1 - 1:28.013, 7th; P2 - 1:26.322, 3rd
“That was an interesting day for us. There are a lot of new things to learn with the car and we made some good progress over the day. We can certainly be happy with our testing programme when you compare where we came from last year. My car had a gearbox problem at the end of the second session but these things happen and it doesn't affect us for tomorrow.”

Lewis Hamilton, P1 - 1:27.552, 4th; P2 - 1:26.772, 7th
“Overall it was a good day, if perhaps not the smoothest. I'm happy with where we are and to see Nico in third place on the timesheets shows that we're pretty competitive. That's a reflection of a great job that everyone has done at the factory and here at the track. I'm looking forward to the rest of the weekend.”

Ross Brawn, Mercedes team principal
“We had a very good day today until the last five minutes of the second session. Nico's car had a gearbox issue which we were aware of during the session but decided to continue running to maximise our track time as far as possible. With Lewis, there was some damage to the floor of the car from an earlier run which caused him to go off. Overall it was a very reasonable first day and we were able to get a good picture of the tyres and the balance of the car. There will be the inevitable late night in the engineering office as we look over today's data and work out how to optimise the car for tomorrow.”

Toto Wolff, Mercedes team executive director
“Apart from the few laps we lost with each driver at the end of second practice, it was a useful and busy test day for the team. We completed most of our programme on a range of fuel loads and collected our first impressions of the tyre behaviour here in Melbourne. It was a solid start to the weekend and another milestone passed for us. Now we need to continue improving the car overnight and see what tomorrow brings in qualifying.”

Lotus
Kimi Raikkonen, P1 - 1:27.877, 6th; P2 - 1:26.361, 4th
"It's good for the season to start and the car felt pretty strong out there. I don't think we're the fastest but it's a good start. It was nice to have a reliable day after spending some time in the garage during testing. The track was as I remembered it and there were no surprises from it or the car. We'll have to see what happens tomorrow with qualifying as maybe it will be a bit cooler. I'm happy so far this weekend."

Romain Grosjean, P1 - 1:28.520, 10th; P2 - 1:26.680, 5th
"It feels great to be out on circuit and on such a lovely day too. The track felt good and the car felt better. It took a while for the grip to come to us, but you expect that on a street circuit. We made good progress with set-up on the car over both sessions and I think there's more to come which is promising."

James Allison, Lotus technical director
"It's been a steady start so far. The car has run reliably and reasonably quickly, but we feel there's more to come from it. Broadly it's been a successful day in terms of the programme we had in mind for these opening sessions, with both tyre compounds, our latest aero package and a few setup tweaks all given sufficient time for assessment. There's still work to be done, but we're certainly running with the leading group which bodes well for the rest of the weekend."

Ferrari
Fernando Alonso, P1 - 1:27.547, 3rd; P2 - 1:26.748, 6th
“Overall, this was a very productive Friday, as we did a lot of laps and got through an important initial analysis of the behaviour of the two types of Pirelli tyres available for this race. Our efforts were helped by particularly favourable weather with sunshine and summery temperatures. However, the weather is expected to change completely from tomorrow, with wind, rain and a significant drop in temperature, which could influence Sunday’s race. I’m not expecting any major surprises here, we already knew we were not the quickest and that was confirmed today. The car responds well, but we know there is still much to do if we want to fight with the very best.”

Felipe Massa, P1 - 1:27.289, 2nd; P2 - 1:26.855, 8th
“All aspects of both sessions were positive, even if we are aware that much work still awaits us both this weekend and for the whole season ahead of us. In the second session, when I went out on the supersofts, something did not work properly on the KERS and that cost me time, denying me the chance of doing a better lap. I am not surprised by the performance of our opponents and I expected Red Bull to be competitive right from the start.”

Pat Fry, Ferrari chassis director
“This morning we evaluated various aerodynamic configurations and worked on the set-up, while in the afternoon, we worked mainly on comparing the two compounds, which will be a key factor over the rest of the weekend. The degradation appeared to be particularly marked and in fact, it fell in line with our expectations and those of Pirelli. We got through today’s planned programme with both drivers, despite suffering a KERS failure on Felipe’s car during his run on the supersofts, in the second free practice session. Now we need to analyse the data we have gathered very carefully, especially from the longer runs. We have much to do and a long evening ahead of us to be as well prepared as possible for tomorrow’s qualifying.”

Force India
Adrian Sutil, P1 - 1:28.426, 8th; P2 - 1:27.435, 9th
"It was a very good day and I feel satisfied. The baseline set-up was not too far away from what we needed and the car felt very similar to the way it performed in Barcelona at the final test. I had a good feeling all day and enjoyed working with my engineers, who I already know very well. The track is obviously evolving and improving, but we got a good feel for the tyres. The main focus tonight is to work on improving the balance on the supersofts."

Paul di Resta, P1 - 1:28.910, 13th; P2 - 1:28.311, 12th
"It wasn't the easiest of days because I had a balance issue with the car in the second session. It looks like I picked up some damage, so it was not easy to gauge exactly where we are. Given that it's likely to be wet tomorrow, it was crucial to get all the tyre information we needed today. There is a noticeable difference between the two compounds, but it's difficult to say much more until we have been over all the data."

Jakob Andreasen, Force India chief engineer
"A typical day of Friday practice to start the season. The cars are working well and we were able to pick up where we left off in the Barcelona test. Adrian settled back into the routine seamlessly and worked his way steadily through the programme. The only issue of the day was some damage to the floor of Paul's car, which we were unable to fix, so that compromised his car's performance this afternoon. Overall we're well prepared going into the weekend and possibly anticipating some wet weather tomorrow."

Sauber
Nico Hulkenberg, P1 - 1:28.786, 12th; P2 - 1:28.187, 10th
“Overall it was a challenging day. On the first day there are always a few things you need to work on and improve. I think we still have some homework to do. Free practice two was quite difficult for me because of traffic. I think we can still improve our time. We collected a lot of data for the tyres and if we do our homework well we should be able to aim at the top ten in qualifying tomorrow.”

Esteban Gutierrez, P1 - 1:30.203, 16th; P2 - 1:28.772, 15th
"It was a very productive day. The tyres are getting better, and not as critical as in Barcelona. As a team we need to find more speed, and that means me as a driver as well. I’ve improved from free practice one to free practice two. Now I will focus on improving for qualifying tomorrow.”

Tom McCullough, Sauber head of track engineering
"The weather was good to us today, which allowed us to evaluate both tyre specifications as well as some development parts on the car. We had a small problem on Esteban’s car in P1 which cost us a few laps, but we got out back on track. Overall, we have some work to do on the car's balance, but we are reasonably happy how it performed. We now need to go and look at our data and make the most of it for qualifying and the race.”

McLaren
Jenson Button, P1 - 1:28.440, 9th; P2 - 1:28.294, 11th
“Clearly, we’re not as quick as we’d like to be, so our task now is to work hard to find out why our car is like it is, particularly in terms of ride and downforce. Our short runs weren’t particularly encouraging, to be honest. We’re a couple of seconds off the pace, by the looks of things, and that’s always going to be disappointing for a team as successful as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.

“But, in a situation like this one, all you can say is that there’s a hell of a lot of work for us to do - and that we’re well up for it. This team is incredibly good at turning things around, performance-wise, when that’s what’s required. So we’ll now spend the next few hours working hard, studying our data, and I’m confident that we’ll be able to find some improvements for tomorrow. Qualifying won’t be easy, but I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to do a better job on Saturday than we’ve done today.”

Sergio Perez, P1 - 1:28.597, 11th; P2 - 1:28.566, 13th
“We’re struggling a bit, to be honest. We aren’t as competitive here as we’d wanted to be. But we’re working on it - and, as Jenson says, we should be able to find some improvements for tomorrow. But, going forward, I know exactly how good Vodafone McLaren Mercedes’ technical guys are - I’ve seen it from the outside before and I’m seeing it from the inside now - and there’s no doubt that they can close the gap to the cars ahead better and faster than anyone else. We have an incredible team spirit too, which is fantastic to be a part of.

“Lastly, it’s important to remember that the Australian Grand Prix is only the first race of the season, and that there’s a long road ahead of us. We knew before we came here that we wouldn’t be as quick as some of the other teams, but our task is still to score as many world championship points as we can. The competition in Formula One is incredibly intense, and every world championship point counts.”

Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren team principal
"Well, today has been a very challenging day. Our car appears to be lacking in grip and consistency, and is suffering from significant understeer and poor ride. Try as we might, we didn't move forward in performance terms during the course of the day, either. But, having said that, we've collected a lot of data, and we'll be working extremely hard this evening and tonight in an effort to utilise that data in order to do whatever we can to effect improvements.

"Moreover, you don't win world championships in the first Grand Prix of the year; you win world championships by managing the progressive development of your car from its baseline in Australia in March all the way through its development journey towards its final destination: Brazil in November. As I said a couple of weeks ago, our car is complex. Perhaps we haven't yet worked out how best to harness its potential, but we believe that potential is there."

Toro Rosso
Daniel Ricciardo, P1 - 1:30.969, 18th; P2 - 1:28.627, 14th
"In FP1 it was soon clear that in terms of balance and set-up we were not where we wanted to be so we made some changes and they helped. I definitely feel we made progress from morning to afternoon, but not enough, so there is more to do overnight to find more pace. It’s nice to be racing at home in Australia again, which is an added incentive to work really hard to get the car to go quicker and give the fans something to cheer about on Sunday.”

Jean-Eric Vergne, P1 - 1:30.729, 17th; P2 - 1:28.968, 17th
“It’s really nice to be back on track for the first Grand Prix, the first day of practice and I’m happy to be back in the car. The most obvious change from winter testing has been the higher temperatures and this meant the tyres have worked much better today than they did in Spain. We have quite a bit of work to do to get closer to those ahead and I feel we currently lack some speed. However, our long runs looked pretty good and the balance of the car was okay.”

Laurent Mekies, Toro Rosso chief engineer
“A busy day for everyone, finally being here in Melbourne after a series of cold and wet winter tests. This meant it was a case of discovering how our car behaves in these conditions for the first time. This was also the first day of running for us on the supersoft tyres. We tried to complete as many laps as possible, splitting the tyre investigation for the race between the two drivers. We have a lot to do tonight to adapt the car to these new conditions, trying to ensure we get the car in the best possible performance window. As expected, the competition is very tight in our part of the grid. Our work is therefore aimed not only at finding the best possible set-up for the rest of the weekend, but also to start moving it forward for the season. In Melbourne, we can usually expect the unexpected and there is a chance of a wet qualifying, while the race here always throws up some surprises. So we must ensure we are ready for whatever circumstances we encounter.”

Williams
Pastor Maldonado, P1 - 1:29.443, 14th; P2 - 1:28.852, 16th
“We ran some different tests today on the car and the tyres, so we haven’t got the maximum pace out of the car yet. We have a lot of work to do before tomorrow, but we have another practice session to focus on the set-up needed for qualifying and we’ll be analysing all today’s data this evening.”

Valtteri Bottas, P1 - 1:29.928, 14th; P2 - 1:29.386, 18th
“It felt good to be back on track today. It’s a new circuit for me so it took a few laps in the first practice to get to know it a little better. The track improved a lot going into the second session with much more grip, so I felt like the car could still improve further. We will analyse all the data tonight and keep working on the car in FP3 to get everything ready for qualifying.”

Mike Coughlan, Williams technical director
“We did some aero evaluations this morning comparing the two packages that we brought to Melbourne. We'll be running our FW35 launch aero package for the remainder of the weekend as it has proven better around the Albert Park circuit and in the conditions we have here. This afternoon we ran through a fuel level and tyre programme. We'll now look at the data and be ready for tomorrow.”

Marussia
Jules Bianchi, P1 - 1:31.263, 19th; P2 - 1:29.696, 19th
“It has been a very good first practice for the team and for me, so I am quite happy given that it is only my third day in the car. I have been looking forward to this day for quite a long time and it really worked out well I think. I’m sure it’s the case for other teams as well, because this is only day one, but it is very encouraging to know that while we have a good basis today, there is a lot more to come. We completed a detailed programme and put some good mileage on the car, so we have a lot of information to look through and see the direction for tomorrow. The car is performing well but we have quite a lot of understeer and we need to improve this. As for the track, I like it a lot. It takes a bit of getting used to at first, but once you are up to speed it’s an amazing lap and now I can’t wait to do some more tomorrow.”

Max Chilton, P1 - 1:32.176, 20th; P2 - 1:30.600, 21st
“Our objective today was to learn the Albert Park track as quickly as possible and then start to gather plenty of information with the car and the tyres, so I’m pretty happy with what we’ve achieved in terms of the programme. Now we can start to piece that together a little more to focus on outright performance and I think tomorrow we will have a clearer idea of where we stand versus the cars around us. Even at this early stage though I’m sure we can feel positive about where we are in relation to our immediate competitors and the car has shown some real promise. Though it’s early in the season, that’s a nice reward for all the hard work we’ve been doing over the winter and in testing, so well done to the team here and back at home. So, a late night tonight looking at the data and then we’ll aim to push forward again tomorrow. Albert Park is an amazing circuit and I’ve loved every second of driving it so far. Tomorrow will be another big milestone in my debut weekend with my first Formula One qualifying and I’m very excited about that.”

John Booth, Marussia team principal
“We’re very pleased with our opening day here in Melbourne and it really couldn’t have gone any better for us with our new car, two new drivers and some good signs in terms of performance and reliability. We came here with a few concerns about how things were going to play out with the tyres, but we also knew that the less abrasive track surface and high ambient temperatures would mitigate many of the issues we experienced in testing. Degradation will remain a challenge though and we can expect to see some interesting racing as a consequence of that, which is of course a good thing. We’re feeling positive but at this stage we’re not treating this as anything other than a good first day and we won’t have a true picture until we’ve completed our first qualifying and then have a race distance under our belts. What I will say though is that the team have got us off to a good start here and the drivers have done a very solid job, so there’s a nice feeling as we head into our first Grand Prix of the new season. We’ve done all our homework today and put the drivers in a good situation to make the most of their first Grand Prix weekend, so we will see what tomorrow brings now.”

Caterham
Charles Pic, P1 - 1:32.274, 21st; P2 - 1:30.165, 20th
“For our first full day of running that was ok. We definitely have work to do to get where we want to be and we knew where we’d be relative to the cars around us for the early part of the season, so there’s been no real surprises today. In FP1 we ran through a pretty normal programme on the medium tyres but we have some work to do to extract the maximum performance from them so we’ll look at that tonight and do more work on that in FP3. In FP2 we did a couple of longer runs on that compound before switching to the supersofts and found that deg levels on those was good, especially on the long runs, and the times were consistent. Now we need to make sure we can get the same performance level out of the mediums as we did on the supersofts and that will set us up ok for Sunday.”

Giedo van der Garde, P1 - 1:32.388, 22nd; P2 - 1:32.450, 22nd
“First I want to say how good it was to start my first full F1 weekend. I’ve worked very hard for a long time to get here and a lot of people have helped make my dream come true, so I want to thank them for helping make it happen. On track FP1 was good - we got through a decent number of laps and focused mainly on tyre evaluation, running on the mediums for the whole session so we could have a detailed look at degradation levels on that compound. FP2 started okay - on the first run I had some understeer that we dialled out for the second run but unfortunately I have a bit of rear locking as I went into T3 and went into the gravel. The anti-stall kicked in before I could get the car back out and that was the end of my afternoon. Despite that we have a lot of data to work through tonight and we’ll come back fighting tomorrow. We’ll have to make the most of FP3 but I’m looking forward to it and it’s all part of the learning process for me.”

Pirelli
Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director
“The teams were able to try out our tyres within their proper working range for the first time, so as usual they made the most of the opportunity to assess the behaviour of their cars in representative conditions on different fuel loads. The medium tyre showed plenty of consistency, just as we expected, while the drivers also benefited from the rapid warm-up of the supersoft. With Albert Park not being a permanent facility, the track started off ‘green’ but lap times rapidly improved as more rubber was laid down. From what we can see of the degradation so far, we’d expect the majority of the teams to stop twice during the race, with some of the faster cars maybe trying three stops. As anticipated, we saw a performance gap of around a second between the two compounds here, which leaves the door open for plenty of strategy.”

[Drew.]

good day for Red Bull and especially for Mercedes.. now the real business starts with qualifying

[Drew.]

practice 3 and qualifying tonight.

[Iceman]

Holy mcCrap never seen so many cars go off haha. Rest of Q will be held at 2AM

[michael21]

BBC1 would be better tbh.. i only have BBC1 in HD

yes from 28/3/13 bbc2 HD will take over bbc HD this is why all practice seasons that the bbc have the tv rights to will be on bbc2 & bbc2 HD :dance::dance::dance:

note to every one that say up/got up to watch the qualifying hahaha :laugh:

also the bbc has the best intro for F1 for a long time any one got a videe of it its amazing

also suzi perry :evilgrin:

i think they be a brit as champion this season :colour::colour::colour:

[Drew.]

stayed up all night to see 15 minutes of qualifying.. was a great 15 minutes but not worth staying up for, may sleep and skip the rest of qualifying tonight

[michael21]

sv-_U06mLWE

2mins onwards the fire car bit look amazing :dance:

[Drew.]

:joker:

the BBC always make amazing montages and intros

[Drew.]

Vettel takes pole position

[Novo]

Does it start at 4.30am?

[Novo]

**** it does as well

[Drew.]

the program on sky does.. the race starts at 6am

[Drew.]

top 10

Vettel, Webber, Hamilton, Massa, Alonso, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Grosjean, Di Resta and Button.

[Novo]

can't really look past a Redbull 1-2 now though

[Drew.]

yeah i hope its not like this all season, bored of seeing Vettel at the top.. Hamilton has my support

[Drew.]

full list

1) Sebastian Vettel 2) Mark Webber 3) Lewis Hamilton 4) Felipe Massa 5) Fernando Alonso 6) Nico Rosberg 7) Kimi Raikkonen 8) Romain Grosjean 9) Paul di Resta 10) Jenson Button

11) Nico Hulkenberg 12) Adrian Sutil 13) Jean-Eric Vergne 14) Daniel Ricciardo 15) Sergio Perez 16) Valtteri Bottas

17) Pastor Maldonado 18) Esteban Gutierrez 19) Jules Bianchi 20) Max Chilton 21) Giedo van der Garde 22) Charles Pic

[BBfanUSA]

Did they get qualifying fully in? Will try to avoid spoilers. (Race is at 1am in the states but will be rerun at 1:30 PM) Hopefully Hamilton does well.

[Drew.]

Did they get qualifying fully in? Will try to avoid spoilers. (Race is at 1am in the states but will be rerun at 1:30 PM) Hopefully Hamilton does well.

they sure did, i posted the list of qualifying results :)

[Drew.]

Kimi Raikkonen wins the Australian Grand Prix

[Drew.]

top 10

Raikkonen, Alonso, Vettel, Massa, Hamilton, Webber, Sutil, Di Resta, Button and Grosjean.

[Iceman]

KIMI, KIMI, KIMI!!!!!

Aw hell yeah perfect start of the season for me!!!!

[Drew.]

i knew you'd be happy with that :D

7 different race leaders throughout the race.. good start to the year

[Iceman]

Unbelievable...he dominated won with something like 12-13 seconds...and no red bull dominance!!!!

[Drew.]

i hope it stays this way.. cant be having Vettel win again this year

[Niamh.]

KIMI, KIMI, KIMI!!!!!

Aw hell yeah perfect start of the season for me!!!!

:love:

[Iceman]

Cant wait for Malaysia!!

[BBfanUSA]

Glad to see Kimi win, Caught bits and pieces of the race during NASCAR breaks.

too bad my favorite driver in NASCAR crashed, while in the lead, all because of a flat right front... or else my Sunday would've been awesome.