Australian Grand Prix

The 2015 F1 season has begun!!! Last year, Lewis Hamliton won the title, after a battle with teammate Nico Rosberg. This year, Mercedes has the pace again, looking to repeat! Will Ferrari and Vettel win races? Will some random midfielder win a wacky race?

Last time we were in the Land Down Under, Lewis Hamilton and Vettel fell out due to failures, while Nico Rosberg won, with young Kevin Magnussen finishing 2nd, his only career podium.

Alonso has a average finish of 4.3 here but will not race (Magnussen will replace), while Kimi is second with a 6.8 AVG. Don't count out the Mercedes to dominate again, but you never know!

This might be quite an unpopular opinion from my view depending on your point of view, so bear with me:

Unless the other big teams like Red Bull, Ferrari and Williams mount a proper title challenge on Mercedes this year, I'm almost completely uninterested in F1 this year. Seeing only 2 guys as teammates contend for the championship last year with Daniel Ricciardo being the only other race winner, and of course with the wrong driver (Hamilton) taking the championship after he cried up a river in Belgium, and with all the Safety concerns surrounding Jules Bianchi's crash, it's really made me change my feelings about the Sport today.

Plus the only races I consider 'memorable' from last year were Bahrain, Canada, Hungary and Monaco to a certain extent for me. But overall to me, Formula 1 is not the same as it was when I first started watching it back in 2003.

BWardboy88 wrote:This might be quite an unpopular opinion from my view depending on your point of view, so bear with me:

Unless the other big teams like Red Bull, Ferrari and Williams mount a proper title challenge on Mercedes this year, I'm almost completely uninterested in F1 this year. Seeing only 2 guys as teammates contend for the championship last year with Daniel Ricciardo being the only other race winner, and of course with the wrong driver (Hamilton) taking the championship after he cried up a river in Belgium, and with all the Safety concerns surrounding Jules Bianchi's crash, it's really made me change my feelings about the Sport today.

Plus the only races I consider 'memorable' from last year were Bahrain, Canada, Hungary and Monaco to a certain extent for me. But overall to me, Formula 1 is not the same as it was when I first started watching it back in 2003.

I agree with almost everything here, the main exception being that the wrong man one (I like Lewis), but you summed it up well. Not that long ago there were exciting races all the time in F1 and a wide variety of drivers and teams fought for wins. To an extent F1 has always had the issue of one or two teams dominating, but this past year was particularly bad.

The new generation of F1 tracks are pretty dull too. Herman Tilke occasionally does well like he did in Texas and in Istanbul, but often he produces tracks that are notable only for their huge amounts of paved runoff and their bizarre pit lane architecture (I'm lookin' at you Korean International Circuit). And the cars neither look nor sound good anymore! The first F1 season I remember would've been 2001-2003. Yes, Michael Schumacher dominated, but you had some good racing, and Schumi had guys like Raikkonen, Rubens, Montoya, and Ralf Schumacher to keep him honest. And the battles he had with Mika (which I vaguely remember) were mega. And the cars sounded amazing!

For whatever reason F1 is a lot less compelling than it once was. I've drifted more toward sportscar racing, which has proved a lot more interesting than F1. Seeing Ferraris, Porsches, Vettes, and others having an exciting race at Road America or the Glen (or world class prototypes at Le Mans or Spa) is better than watching an F1 race that is pretty much over in the first few laps. There were some great moments last year, particularly Montréal and Bahrain (which for once was one of the season's best races), but not enough for me to closely follow it. It's a real shame because I used to love watching F1. The more I think about it the more I realize that a) a lot of people feel the same and b) we didn't change, F1 did.

Rosberg and Hamilton 1-2 in both Practice Sessions today. Go figure.

Also:

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/31866549

So yeah, Sauber's boss could face jail time if Giedo Van de Garde isn't allowed to race in Melbourne.

Mercedes takes the front row by miles. Hamilton P1 and Rosberg P2.

Valterri Bottas was taken to the hospital post qualifying complaing of back pain.

In other news, due to software problems Manor will not take part in the Australian GP.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/31885111

Both McLaren's of Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen will start on the last row of the grid for the race.

BWardboy88 wrote:Both McLaren's of Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen will start on the last row of the grid for the race.

No special reason, in case anyone was wondering; they're just that crap.

15 cars on the grid?

Bottas deemed unable to race due to back issues...
Magnuessen blew up on the warm up lap
One of the Red Bull's are also having trouble... didn't catch who it was though!

Jesus F1 get it together.

What's going to happen?!? A grid that's going to look like the USGP from years back?!?

Sainz Jr's car is not there, electrical problem i heard...

14 CARS!!!!!

Lucstar88 wrote:Sainz Jr's car is not there, electrical problem i heard...

14 CARS!!!!!

This makes Brian France's shenanigans in his offices in Daytona Beach look tame by comparison

Sainz is back

And Maldolanado wrecked, and it wasn't of his doing

This start <_<

Lotus is now totally out. Good lord, is ANYONE going to finish at this rate?!?

Maldolan wrecks, then Grosjean goes to the garage.

This week, it's LOLtus.

At this rate, I suspect only the Mercedes cars will be left at halfway.

Perez.... that was dumb....

This race is so stupid.

Hamlintonwinslol

Also, Sauber P5

I can't say the race was boring... it was interesting to say the least!

Alright race, more funny then anything.

Sauber going from almost having their assets seized to top 5, that team needed the run they had.

Given what Sauber have been going through recently, it's nice to see them get points with both drivers in the first race of the season knowing the fact they didn't score any last season.

15 cars on the grid... other than the 2005 US Grand Prix, I believe that has to be the fewest cars on the grid when the lights went out since the 50's in a F1 race

PYLrulz wrote:15 cars on the grid... other than the 2005 US Grand Prix, I believe that has to be the fewest cars on the grid when the lights went out since the 50's in a F1 race

1968 Spain and 1969 France and Germany had 13.

PYLrulz wrote:15 cars on the grid... other than the 2005 US Grand Prix, I believe that has to be the fewest cars on the grid when the lights went out since the 50's in a F1 race

1982 Imola had 14

In an interesting development in Red Bull-Renault relations, Renault are apparently in talks with Red Bull to take over Toro Rosso.