The F1 thread - may contain spoilers

[Grin-a-lot]

Behold the F1 thread, bring all your thoughts, comments, reviews etc here.

Are you watching on sky?
Tips for the podium in Melbourne?
Which cars are looking good?

Grosjean starting well for me...

Remember, opinions are like a$$holes ,  everyone's got one so don't be shy..!

[chrislandy]

Watched on Sky, don't like the "sky pad", what a load of cheesy junk, don't like the presentation style. I certainly have a distaste for the presenter that was alongside Damon Hill.

I'm only watching it on Sky as I can't watch the full race and qually on BBC

[fullpint]

No sky at this end, i have to wait till 1pm to watch it on BBC2..
Jenson is the one for me this year but that's only if those Red bull cars have a slow start to the season 

[Moleman]

No sky for me. Where is Martin Brundle? It will be a shame If he ain't on the BBC team? 

Pet hate = BLOODY RADIO GIVING THE RESULT WITHOUT ANY WARNING THAT THEY ARE GOING TO DO SO!! 
Especially when you work with a radio in the background with other people so you can't turn it off.

Mclaren is by far the better looking car & I'm definitely hoping Jenson will do it this year. Though I do agree about Grosjean, He did well. & I won't miss seeing Vettle's finger gesters for a while, while redbull catch up again. 

[chrislandy]

Brundle has gone to the dark side, as has Ted Kravitz

Just watched the BBC qually, much better presentation & Lee Mckenzie

[Krazyken]

As a big F1 fan, here is my 2p

McLarens are clearly strong out of the box and one of the few cars not to feature the ugly drop nose.  Mercedes are also quick but have some trick aerodynamics that is claimed to send air from the rear spoiler along the car to the front spoiler reducing drag on the straights and giving extra downforce in the corners, just don't ask me how it works.  Apparently the other teams are set to launch an appeal to have it banned (Ah F1 Politics!)

The real surprise is Lotus which appears to be a very well sorted car hence Roman Grojean on 3rd ahead of Mercedes and Red Bull.  The Red Bulls need a little bit more development but the Ferraris are an absolute disaster, clearly unstable and way off the pace.

My prediction for tomorrow is a McLaren win with Mercedes close behind, although Roman did an excellent job with the Lotus in qualifying, racing is another ball game and i believe that his lack of F1 race experience will show but a top 6 finish should be on the cards for him.  My predicted car finishing order is: -

McLaren
Mercedes
Red Bull
Lotus

As for which driver my heart says Hamilton but if tactics come in to play then Button could well take it.  Don't forget to set you alarm clocks in the morning!    

[Grin-a-lot]

Just watched in bbc-o-vision and an enjoyable first race.

Thought the ferarris played better than expected and a shame to see Maldonado stoof it after a good drive.

I'm a bit of a Button fan-boy so happy with the result!

[fullpint]

No sky here so I had to wait till 2pm today. This also meant keeping away from the forums cause those rich people who have sky would want to post there good news .

So I turned over to BBC2 only to miss the first 6 laps but what a great race. Part of me is saying thats due to only showing the best bits but it was still enjoyable.
Well done Lotus and Button was faultless 

[stupott901]

I enjoyed the race glad the mclarens did so well shame lewis got caught out by the safety car and vettel got passed otherwise I dont think vettel would of got passed, the williams seemed to be doing allright till the last lap and maldalnado crashed out what a shame .

I am not over keen on the sky pre race and post race show, the actual race commentry was ok though,

what was the bbc race commentry like without brundle?

[Krazyken]

Button was faultless and drove an excellent race, Hamilton still does not appear to be on top of things and it was a shame that his demeanour on the podium and in the post race interviews was that of a spoilt child rather than displaying good grace.

[Moleman]

Well done button. He was faultless. Vettle was lucky & yes I agree Lewis was unlucky & should of been pleased for the team.

Shame for williams but it is looking better for them so far & I hope they can keep up the improvements.

Wasn't the same without Brundle though.

[Grin-a-lot]

Another good qual session from the 2brits and good to see Schumacher and Grosjean near the front as well.

Could be a interesting race and I reckon corner one might set the top 3 early on

[Krazyken]

Well the monsoon rain paid its part as did the strategy men in the pits, great to see Perez on the podium in 2nd with a smile as wide as the track.  With a better pit stategy and not making a mistake after catching Alonso he might have come first.

This season is going to be interesting, very interesting.  If I was a betting man I would put a tenner on Hamilton, just think he could do it with his head in the right place.

[stupott901]

yes I agree a interesting race shame about the mclarens though a bit dissappointing but thats racing,

I was sooo hoping Perez would take Alonso that would of been fantastic, wonder if it was ferrai management pulling some strings down the pit lane??

[YellaBelly]

......wonder if it was ferrai management pulling some strings down the pit lane??

Forgone conclusion I would say chap!

[stupott901]

......wonder if it was ferrai management pulling some strings down the pit lane??

Forgone conclusion I would say chap!

Yes espcially with Perez linked to a ferrari drive !!!!

[Moleman]

My thoughts exactly. Shame about mclaren, Lewis does look good for this year & I really wanted Perez to win but think Ferrari did have words.

I also think Vettlel was wrong to blame the back marker for his puncture as he clearly turned in a little early in front of him.
I think that's where Vettel & Lewis are similar, they both are good but seem to lose there cool when things don't go there way.

[stupott901]

Yes totally agree you didnt jenson blaming the hrt for the accident shame about jenson as well so unlike him

but roll on the next race

[Camber Dave]

I wouldn't have Sky even if offered for free.....

I have been listening to Radio 5 live and watching the lap and sector times on line @ the official F1 Site but you have to register so that may put people off.
These show drivers personal best time and the purple fastest overall sector and lap times. From these you can see the progress of all cars.
With this info you can have  almost all the info the comentators have.
ESPN F1 also have a live laptimes, Lap charts and instant World championship positions on line.

Dave

[stupott901]

I see the bad luck has started for Lewis Hamilton has all ready started for this wekend, a 5 place grid penalty for changing his gearbox, lets hope that is his bad luck out the way now

[Krazyken]

Agree, the gearbox failure is unfortunate for Lewis but these things have a habit of evening themselves out over the course of a season. 

Looking forward to watching with interest ready for my first radio broadcast.

[stupott901]

Yes might make him fight through the field

Oh yes good luck with your broadcast I will try to listen

[Grin-a-lot]

Looking forward to watching with interest ready for my first radio broadcast.

It was looking like you may have got an early weekend off at the time of the Bahraian race.  Bernie reckons its sorted now though

[Krazyken]

Yes, Bernie did not become a multi Billionaire by turning down any opportunity to make money, so Bahrain is on.

Interesting grid for tomorrows Chinese GP, I would love to see a Sauber finish on the podium again.  My gut feeling is that the Mercedes although good in qualifying will not have a good enough race pace, so watch for the McLarens and Red Bulls coming through.  Should be an interesting race for my first broadcast.

[Grin-a-lot]

Bit surprised to see Vettel down the rankings but clearly he's having snags with the setup this season.  That said, with Button, Hamilton, Webber, Grosjean all in range of the podium with a Mercedes front row it has the potential to be a good one!

[YellaBelly]

Understatement! It was a cracker!

[Grin-a-lot]

Will be watching at 2.50pm and heard good things so should be an hour well spent today!

[fullpint]

awesome race to watch.. Ok first was a little boring but that fight for 2nd down to 10th+ was just great..
Time to watch the BTCC now 

[Sumov8]

Cracking race it was, best for a while lets hope this continues

[stupott901]

Oh yes agree what a great race it's so much beter having several teams and drivers in contention makes more exciting than just a red bull winning all the time

It's going to be such a close season

[Moleman]

I spent all day trying to avoid hearing the result. Which I'm glad to say I did.
Well done Nico. & WHAT A RACE!!!
It is really good to see so many cars up there. Well done the Mclean boy's, they did some brave move's & every time Lewis overtaken someone I was expecting it to go horriblly wrong!
But he did good. 

[Krazyken]

Rosbergs and Mercedes first win and there I was saying Mercedes would not have race pace - what do I know?

Shame about Buttons sticking wheel nut on the last pit stop as otherwise it would have made for a Grandstand finish.  Great race and agree with Moleman, McLaren drivers earned their money today with a 3 stop strategy.

If you missed my F1 review on Bradley Stoke radio last night you can hear me again next Sunday.  You can only listen online at present just Google Bradley Stoke Radio and listen live.  I will have a 5 minute F1 review slot broadcast live between 6pm and 7pm after every race.

[Moleman]

Not sure what to say about the Bahrain gp as the BBC coverage only showed about 50mins of the race & big chunks was missing.