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The Formula 1 2012 Season |OT| The Year of the...uh...Platypus?

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Sky-Sports-F1-Team-4_2733708.jpg


So this is the new Jake, DC & Eddie :(
Ugh... Lazenby.

...and who the fuck thought it would be a good idea to hire Hill? The guy has had a complete charisma bypass.
 

Shaneus

Member
Haha not sure why but that totally looks like a video game screenshot.
I thought *exactly* the same thing when going through the photos on the train home. I think it's the perfect placement on the chequered pattern along with the somewhat simple-yet-modern building that does it. Could pass as a photo location in GT5.
 

Ghost

Chili Con Carnage!
Ugh... Lazenby.

...and who the fuck thought it would be a good idea to hire Hill? The guy has had a complete charisma bypass.

Will be fun to watch his reaction the first time Schumey runs someone off the road though.



...actually I just imagined it and it was boring as fuck. You're right.
 

ANDY_098

Member
Edmond Dantès;36047286 said:
Alonso also a ‘pay-driver’

http://www.f1zone.net/news/petrov-insists-alonso-also-a-pay-driver/12955/

Can't say I disagree, even Ayrton payed his way into F1.

Loved this quote from Petrov:

And as for Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo’s complaints about the dramatic role being played by aerodynamics in F1 at present, he answered: “When you’re not winning, it’s easy to complain.”

Completely true, although he has probably talked himself out of ever driving for Ferrari in the future.
 

mclem

Member
And this is the reason most will watch the BBC races when they're live.

Well, no, the reason most will watch the BBC races is because it's the BBC. We always gravitate to them whenever there's an even choice in content.
 

Shaneus

Member
Edmond Dantès;36047286 said:
Alonso also a ‘pay-driver’

http://www.f1zone.net/news/petrov-insists-alonso-also-a-pay-driver/12955/

Can't say I disagree, even Ayrton payed his way into F1.
He's a blunt dude and didn't say much when he was interviewed onstage at the autograph signing (nor when I said I was glad he was still in F1... however Heikki was receptive when I complimented him on his new helmet ;)) but he seems straight down-the-line. I can see that with his thick, abrupt accent it may not be easy for him to win new friends when he's being so straight-forward, but I hope he gets a few more years left to prove himself (and perhaps working with a bottom-tier team like Caterham is just the way).
 

Lucius86

Banned
I would love an F1 gaf Grand Prix weekend. I would probably just get drunk and sing Webber songs before getting kicked out, but it would be immensely fun taking the piss out of all the boring people here.
 
I would love an F1 gaf Grand Prix weekend. I would probably just get drunk and sing Webber songs before getting kicked out, but it would be immensely fun taking the piss out of all the boring people here.
We could have a "first to get a restraining order from Mark Webber" competition.
 

Lucius86

Banned
We could have a "first to get a restraining order from Mark Webber" competition.

How about an F1 drinking game?

See a locked wheel, take a finger.
See any overtake, 4 fingers.
See a crash, or someone goes off the corner you are on, finish your drink.

Mark Webber wins - drink a 24 pack of Fosters each.
See Petrov do an overtake - shot of Russian vodka.
See Heikki do an overtake - shot of Finnish vodka.

See Hamilton crash with Massa - finish your drink.
Safety car - finish your drink

Drinking rules: Must use nick names for every driver (no first or last names)

I will come up with more later. I may have to try this out at Spa.
 

Dilly

Banned
How about an F1 drinking game?

See a locked wheel, take a finger.
See any overtake, 4 fingers.
See a crash, or someone goes off the corner you are on, finish your drink.

Mark Webber wins - drink a 24 pack of Fosters each.
See Petrov do an overtake - shot of Russian vodka.
See Heikki do an overtake - shot of Finnish vodka.

See Hamilton crash with Massa - finish your drink.
Safety car - finish your drink

Drinking rules: Must use nick names for every driver (no first or last names)

I will come up with more later. I may have to try this out at Spa.

And so F1-GAF collectively died.
 

Adamm

Member
How about an F1 drinking game?

See a locked wheel, take a finger.
See any overtake, 4 fingers.
See a crash, or someone goes off the corner you are on, finish your drink.

Mark Webber wins - drink a 24 pack of Fosters each.
See Petrov do an overtake - shot of Russian vodka.
See Heikki do an overtake - shot of Finnish vodka.

See Hamilton crash with Massa - finish your drink.
Safety car - finish your drink

Drinking rules: Must use nick names for every driver (no first or last names)

I will come up with more later. I may have to try this out at Spa.

Lucky that'll never happen! :D

& Nothing for Kimi winning a race? :(
 
Wow - this season totally snuck up on me. I kept saying I needed to check in on news to see what's what before the GP's started, and it's already Australia time!

I was all excited to get the 2012 timing app, and just saw its $30. WTF? Thirty effing dollars?!?! It looks pretty cool and significantly upgraded over 2011 but that is going to be hard for fans to swallow. Oh well - I watch most of the races taped anyway so I can go without the live timing.
 

Shaneus

Member
Lucky that'll never happen! :D

& Nothing for Kimi winning a race? :(
Yeah, because Foster's is fucking foul and no-one drinks it here.

Vettel performing an overtake, even against backmarkers: Bottle of Jagermeister. BECAUSE HE CAN'T OVERTAKE, GET IT?
 

Lucius86

Banned
Yeah, because Foster's is fucking foul and no-one drinks it here.

Vettel performing an overtake, even against backmarkers: Bottle of Jagermeister. BECAUSE HE CAN'T OVERTAKE, GET IT?

I want a pic of you next to a ready-to-be-drunk Jagermeister before the race itself.
 

Shaneus

Member
I want a pic of you next to a ready-to-be-drunk Jagermeister before the race itself.
If they let me bring it into the venue, it's ON. But sadly, Jagermeister needs to be drunk ice-cold, so unless Kimi has some room in his icecream fridge, I'm outta luck.
 

Edmond Dantès

Dantès the White
First press conference of the year.

d12aus704_2733682.jpg

Q: Charles, it’s looking like a pretty tough initiation for you into Formula One with no testing of the new car, brand new car tomorrow. Tell us what your thoughts are.
Charles Pic: Yes, we have had not so much driving but we made an ad day in Silverstone for the shakedown and everything went fine. So looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully it will be dry to have some kilometres.

Q: Charles, how important has it been to have the mileage in the old car?
CP: Yeah, very important. I made two days in Barcelona. We were able to make many laps so it was just great for me. It was very, very helpful.

Q: Was it a big step up from GP2 to Formula One?
CP: Yes, of course, you have much more things to do and you have to understand in a very short space of time.

Q: Kimi, welcome back. How much has Kimi changed in the two years that you’ve been doing WRC? And how much has your driving changed during that time?
Kimi Raikkonen: Oh, I don’t know really. I don’t think a lot, a little bit older, that’s all. It’s the same really.

Q: Has it been good to be back in a Formula One car again?
KR: Yeah, it was nice. It really hasn’t changed a lot, the car feels pretty similar, the tyres are slightly different but I was expecting to have more difficulties with them but they seem pretty good, especially when they are new - but of course they will wear out a bit faster but it’s been nice to drive.

Q: We’ve seen pretty good pace from you and Romain Grosjean your team-mate, how real is that pace?
KR: We could probably have gone a bit faster if we wanted but I don’t know what the others are doing. The car feels good, the lap time at least in testing was OK - whether it’s enough we will see over the weekend and over the next races but so far it has been OK.

Q: Daniel, obviously your home race, how big is this race? Was your first Formula One race bigger or is this it?
Daniel Ricciardo: I think the first one last year in Silverstone was still pretty hectic. I think not having the preparation as I have at the start of this year probably made it a bit more intense. I’ve had a lot of media attention the last couple of days but I think the on-track stuff was, or will be, more intense in Silverstone. But yeah, I understand what Mark means about the attention here. It’s pretty full-on but it’s been nice, really supportive. And hopefully I’ll just get out on track and do a good job over the weekend.

Q: You’re obviously with a new team with Scuderia Toro Rosso and in testing it looked as if it’s pretty good, certainly the first test looked pretty good, perhaps less so since then. What are your feelings about the team?
DR: It’s a good opportunity for me this year, it’s progress from last year and we’ll be fighting further up the grid. I think it’s hard to know where we are. From what I see the top teams are still going to be more or less the top teams or at least the top two or three but the midfield does seem a bit more tight. So yeah, I think everyone showed signs of potential but until Saturday qualifying and Sunday racing we probably won’t know where we all really stand. But I think realistically we’re still in the group we were in last year but it does seem like it’s closed up. So there’s probably more opportunity to leapfrog a few.

Q: Mark, your 11th Australian Grand Prix - just to remind you if you didn’t know - and also of course you were the winner of the last grand prix as well, though it was some time ago, how are you feeling coming into this one?
Mark Webber: Good, yeah! We had a pretty good winter, the team worked incredibly hard so we need to see how it’s going to unveil this weekend obviously, and then Malaysia is just around the corner, so we have two big races, we’re going to get a really good snapshot of the performances of the cars, and we feel like we’ve done pretty well but we have McLaren and Ferrari and Lotus and Mercedes, lots of good guys doing well so it’s going to be very exciting and difficult to see who’s going to do the business until we get going.

Q: As an honest opinion, is it nervousness or excitement or apprehension - how do you start a new season like this?
MW: Probably a little bit of all of that. I think there’s a little bit of rust in all the teams, obviously we haven’t raced for a while so you’re looking at pit stops and strategy and drivers because we haven’t competed for a while. So, that’s always interesting to get on top of that at the first grand prix. I think we’re all just looking forward to getting our helmets on and getting on with it now. Obviously we’ve been talking about it for nine weeks now, about who’s doing what and we’re just sick of talking about it and want to get out there and get on with it.

Q: Sebastian, a previous winner here and twice on pole. How much emphasis has there been in testing on qualifying pace? We get the feeling that we haven’t seen qualifying pace in testing and yet I would have thought for you it was very important last year in the races that you won.
Sebastian Vettel: I think, no doubt, qualifying is always very important. It’s usually easier when you start from the front so yeah, I think generally as the other drivers said already it was difficult to read testing one hundred per cent - so we’ve got a feeling: first of all it’s important to have a good feeling about yourself, about the car, how you feel in the car. We were quite happy with that, surely it didn’t always go to plan but overall we can be happy and as I said it’s unknown at this stage what is going to happen. It’s good to finally be here and only a couple of days before we really find out.

Q: When is going to be the first indication? Very often people say ‘you won’t know until Melbourne’ and then we get to Melbourne and they say ‘wait until qualifying’ or then it’s the race. When exactly is it?
SV: It’s the same again. I think nothing has changed to be honest. Now, we say after qualifying we will know a bit more and surely then you need to see. This is the first race, there are many more to come. This track is very different to, let’s say, a ‘normal’ race track, such as the track we have been to a couple of weeks ago in Barcelona. So, tomorrow we will not know that much more regarding the pace. Surely the guys who will be on top will be the ones to beat. Again, we will give you the same answers. You don’t know about fuel etc. Really, we have to wait until Saturday and then it’s the first couple of races that will show you a trend. Sooner than that is really not possible.

Q: Quite a lot has been made about you chasing a third title. Have you thought about that at all?
SV: I’m here to win the championship, so that’s the target. Whether it’s the third or not wouldn’t make a difference. Well, it would but… it would be a nice thing but as I said the reason we’re here is to race and to win and the season is long, so there are a lot of races to come.

Q: Jenson, like Sebastian and Kimi you’ve won here before, you’ve had two wins actually. You made your debut here as well. What are your feelings about the Australian Grand Prix?
Jenson Button: First of all, I think it’s exciting for us all to start a new season. You do all the hard work over the winter of testing and what have you, and I think we all get very excited about coming to the first race in Melbourne. It’s the perfect place to start the F1 season. It’s good to be here. I’ve always enjoyed driving around Albert Park from the first time I drove here, and there have been a couple of special occasions for me, in ’09 and 2010. It’s nice to be back and nice to come here having had a good winter as well. The last couple of years have been a little bit tricky for us over the winter but this winter everything seems to have gone to plan. It’s difficult to know where we stand, as everyone has said, but I’m happy with what we’ve done.

Q: And at least you’re going to hit the ground running at the start?
JB: We hope so, yes. You know, everyone always says it’s important to get points on the board at the start of the year. We all know that, it’s not a new thing.

Q: What do you think about having two DRS zones here this year?
JB: I think it’s great. If you have a good DRS system it’s good for you and ours is pretty good. You always think that if you’re quick enough you don’t want DRS because you’re leading the race but if you’re a little bit further back in the pack it’s good to have two zones. Whether it’s going to make much of a difference I don’t know. The one DRS zone here (last year) was… some of us complained that it wasn’t good enough to overtake but I think it was the right amount. It made overtaking tricky, which is what it should be, but it gave you the opportunity. So we’ll have to wait and see what the two zones do.
 

Shaneus

Member
lol... in that pic it looks like Mark is getting his Seb hate in right from the start. :D

untitledjykn4.png
Eyes on the prize, baby. Eyes on the prize.

Somehow, he seems more determined and more relaxed than last year, like the loss in 2010 actually unsettled him in 2011. Hopefully this year he can push back and come to 2010-closeness to Vettel, if not surpassing him.

I have no doubt he'll qualify top 4 on Saturday (hopefully front row) but I swear, if he fucks his start again, I'll be ropable.

Halo and Gears of War spring to mind. Some of the Japanese robot games too. :D
Master Chief helmet, All green with airbrushed bump-mapping, orange visor. BAM. Maybe an F1 2011-themed one, too. Except the driver only gets two pit stops (the third is used to fix a problem they knew about before they start the race), they can't race anyone else and they keep crashing.
 

DrM

Redmond's Baby
lol... in that pic it looks like Mark is getting his Seb hate in right from the start. :D

untitledjykn4.png

Webber will kill Vettel in his sleep during this season :D

Also the last line (Ricciardo, Kimi, some unknown guy) is also pure comedy gold, Kimi is like he has no idea where he is :D
 

FafaFooey

Member
I'm getting really annoyed by how mindnumbingly slow F1racemanager.com is. Also, how do I join 2 subleagues? I entered the NeoGaf one, but it automatically ejected me from me own private one.
 

ANDY_098

Member
I'm getting really annoyed by how mindnumbingly slow F1racemanager.com is. Also, how do I join 2 subleagues? I entered the NeoGaf one, but it automatically ejected me from me own private one.

Pretty sure I've read somewhere on there you can only be in 1 private league at a time.
 

Ark

Member
I won't bother staying up for practise, I'm far too exhausted, gotta save myself for Saturday and Sunday.
 

ANDY_098

Member
Autosport preview is up.
http://plus.autosport.com/premium/feature/4281/the-australian-grand-prix-preview/

This could be an interesting one.

It seems like every year we talk about a potential classic, but it's hard to deny that the ingredients are there for 2012.

For a start there's the fact that an unprecedented six world champions will line up on the grid, with the return of Kimi Raikkonen adding to an already extraordinary depth of talent. Among them, Sebastian Vettel will be bidding to follow in the footsteps of Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher and become only the third man in grand prix history to seal a hat-trick of titles.

Given the magnitude of that possible achievement, it is remarkable – though perhaps not surprising – that he should be such a favourite for the forthcoming season.

That, of course, owes to his utter dominance in 2011, but there are reasons to hope that this year will not turn into the same hegemonic procession. While pre-testing has been incredibly hard to read, there has been enough to suggest that 2012 could indeed be one of the closest championships in years – a sentiment McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh echoed on Monday.

In fact, there's plenty of intrigue even after 12 days and thousands of miles of testing. How will the new Pirelli tyre compounds (the company intending to increase degradation further in the hope of spicing up the action) affect the races – and how quickly will teams come to terms with the new compounds? Will Lewis Hamilton shrug off the litany of issues - many of his own making - that dogged him in 2011? Can Mercedes leapfrog Ferrari, or will the Italian constructor match McLaren's feat from last year and turn up with a far more competitive car than the one we saw in testing?

Then there's the wildcard of Lotus. Locked into an innovative exhaust layout that proved the wrong way to go last year (under the Renault name), the team was quick from the outset in testing, but suffered a serious setback when it missed four of the eight days with an unexpected chassis hitch. Then of course there is the driver line-up, and the added intrigue of whether Romain Grosjean can match up against a certain 2007 world champion.

There are changes further down the order too, and the Melbourne race could tell us something about how Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne match up in a battle which could ultimately produce Red Bull's next favoured son.

Of course, how much we can learn will depend upon how competitive Toro Rosso, and perhaps more precisely the rest of the field, prove. Like any great unknown, that only adds to the intrigue.

Strategy

Two DRS zones should create some decent overtaking opportunities at a circuit that does not always lend itself to the art of passing. After a solitary zone at the exit of Turn 16 failed to add much to last year's race, a second zone – with the same Turn 14 detection point – has been added for the exit of the first chicane, running down to the hard-braking right-hander of Turn 3.

With new compounds, it's reasonable to expect a bit of variation in strategies. Talk of possible four stoppers will probably prove wide of the mark (as they did last year) but the green track surface can be hard on rear tyres in particular and it might not be impossible.

Weather

6ZH7g.gif


Key Stats

• 186 wins - the total number of victories racked up by the six world champions - Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel - during their time in F1. The six also boast a collective 410 podiums and 160 pole positions. The rest of the field, in contrast, can boast 19 wins, 77 podiums and 26 poles.

• France 3, Italy 0 - Not the result of a football match, but the count of French and Italian drivers in the field heading into Australia. The last time three French drivers were present was the 1999 Brazilian GP - Jean Alesi, Olivier Panis and Stephane Sarrazin flying the tricolore. The last race without an Italian entry was the German GP in 1973.

• Before last year's win, Sebastian Vettel had not finished a single Australian Grand Prix, crashing out in 2008 and 2009 and retiring with a wheel problem two years ago. There are, however, clear signs that this is a track that suits the German: he has never been beaten in qualifying by a team-mate, scored pole with an advantage of more than 0.7s last year, and in the last two editions of the race the only time he has not led has been through retirement or when he has pitted.

• Fernando Alonso has scored points in his last nine Australian Grands Prix. In the last two editions of the race his weak spot was the first corner though: hit by Button two years ago, he spun to last, while in 2011 he was forced to almost take to the grass to avoid Button.

• His qualifying score against his team-mates may not be great (3-6), but Kimi Raikkonen has good race results here: a clean sweep in 2007 with pole, win and fastest lap, he has also climbed the podium in 2002 (the first rostrum of his career), in 2003 and in 2006. Raikkonen also has the record of fastest laps at Melbourne: four.

• Romain Grosjean moves from one world champion, Alonso, as his team-mate in the final part of 2009 to another, Raikkonen. A daunting task: his qualifying score against Alonso in 2009 was 0-7.

• Bruno Senna will start the season with number 19, the same used by his uncle in his debut year with Toleman back in 1984.

• At Melbourne Ferrari leads McLaren for wins (6-5) and poles (5-4), but its recent performances have been disappointing: the Scuderia has scored only one podium in the last four years and their last pole and win dates back 2007 (Raikkonen).

• In the last five seasons the pole-sitter in Australia went on to win the title.

• In the last four editions there was at least one accident on the opening lap, while the safety car has been deployed in nine of the 16 races.

Famous Five

1986
Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet and Alain Prost headed into the 1986 Australian season finale in a three-way fight for the world championship. Mansell held the points lead from Prost and Piquet heading into the weekend, and he also qualified on pole - with Piquet sharing the front row and Prost lining up fourth.

The Briton slipped behind Piquet, Ayrton Senna and Keke Rosberg away from the line, but worked his way back and when leader Rosberg retired on lap 63 he moved into second - enough to guarantee himself the title if he could finish there. One lap later and his championship bid ended in spectacular fashion, the Mansell's left-rear tyre exploding on the Brabham straight.

Williams opted to call in Piquet, who was leading, for a tyre change in the wake of Mansell's accident, and he rejoined 15s down on Prost. He managed to close the gap to just over 4s in the final laps, but he could not catch the Frenchman and Prost duly claimed the second of his four world championship crowns.

1993
The 1993 Australian Grand Prix gained significance - although unrealised at the time - as the scene of Ayrton Senna's last F1 win. It was also the last race for four-time champion Alain Prost, the Frenchman electing to retire at the end of the '93 season. Perhaps fittingly he joined Senna on the podium, and their embrace signified the end of an era-defining rivalry.

As in '86, Australia was the final round of the season and Senna deprived Williams of a season-long pole position sweep in qualifying, ending up almost 0.5s clear of Prost and Damon Hill.

The race start was aborted twice as Martin Brundle stalled his Ligier on the warm-up lap and then Ukyo Katayama's Tyrrell and Eddie Irvine's Jordan did likewise as the field waited for the green lights. When it did finally start the top four of Senna, Prost, Hill and Michael Schumacher stayed in that order. The German managed to pick off Hill, but retired after 19 laps with an engine failure. Senna managed to edge away and eventually won by 9.259s, with Prost surviving a late attack from Hill – who spun as a consequence, but hung on to third.

1994
Michael Schumacher clinched his first world championship title in acrimonious circumstances in the season-ending Australian GP of 1994. The ingredients were ripe for a classic showdown: Damon Hill, having won the previous grand prix in Japan, came into the denouement just one point behind Schumacher, who had led the championship throughout the year. Hill's Williams team-mate Nigel Mansell also deprived Schumacher of pole, the German instead starting second, one spot in front of Hill.

Schumacher took the lead at the start, and with Hill hounding him the championship hopefuls ran in tandem for the first 36 laps. Hill was beginning to lose ground when Schumacher brushed the wall at the East Terrace corner. Hill was upon him and at the next corner attempted to pass while Schumacher went for his normal line. In the ensuing contact the German was eliminated from the race. Hill tried to continue but eventually was forced to do the same with irreparable damage to his suspension.

By default Schumacher clinched the title as race stewards subsequently deemed it a racing accident, but it was a far from glorious affair.

1998
Not quite a thriller in the vein of '86 or '94, the 1998 Australian GP was dominated by McLaren, with Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard seemingly unassailable. By this time the race had moved to its current venue in Melbourne's Albert Park, and was the first race of the year. Hakkinen took pole and Coulthard second, with the next nearest challenger – the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher – more than 0.7s down.

Hakkinen led from Coulthard into the first corner while Schumacher – who had attacked the Scot away from the line – retired on lap six when his engine blew. McLaren therefore had free reign and proceeded to ease away from the field. On lap 36 Coulthard took the lead when Hakkinen mistakenly came into the pits, but he would hand the place back a few laps from the end following a pre-race agreement between the pair that whoever led at the first turn would be allowed to win if the opportunity presented itself.

With the entire field lapped, Hakkinen and Coulthard cruised to the chequered flag, where they were split by just 0.702s – the closest finish in the race's history.

2003
Coulthard was again involved in the 2003 Australian race, which proved to be his final F1 victory. The race itself was enlivened by changeable weather and several incidents, with Coulthard only moving into the lead ten laps from the finish.

In keeping with the pattern of the previous season qualifying had been an all-Ferrari affair, with Schumacher more than 1s clear of everyone other than team-mate Rubens Barrichello. The Brazilian jumped the start massively however, and then crashed on the in-lap before his penalty, ending his race.

Schumacher meanwhile became involved in a wheel-to-wheel duel with Kimi Raikkonen, during which he lost his right deflector: enough of a hindrance to keep him behind the Finn and off the podium, the first time he had missed out since Italy in 2001.

Williams looked set for its first victory of the year with Montoya, but on lap 48 the Colombian spun in the first corner. He was able to resume, but Coulthard had slipped past and was able to seal victory, with Montoya and Raikkonen rounding out the top three.
 

Septimius

Junior Member
So. Someone closed the door on a particular way of watching Sky outside of the country. Has someone been able to open a window?
 

SCHUEY F1

Unconfirmed Member
TSN in Canada will have Ben Edwards and DC as the commentating team. No Brundle :(

Oh well, at least we will have every race live.
 
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