2006 Melbourne

[BlackSamurai]

Melbourne engine preview

http://www.f1racing.net/en/news.php?newsID=113451

With 69% of the lap spent at full throttle, Melbourne is a demanding engine circuit. Pure performance is not the critical parameter, rather teams focus on good torque to launch the cars out of the slow corners.

The relatively cool temperatures and high atmospheric pressure (1010 millibars) mean the engine develops more power, which provides some moving parts with a severe test. The teams look for the best possible cooling compromise to minimise the stress on these components.

Every circuit demands a specific electronic configuration, with tweaks to the engine mapping, traction control settings, gear ratios, and fuel consumption. The teams will work during practice to best adapt these parameters.

 

[prodigy]

Its still a boring circuit. Australian GP was never known to be a drivers circuit and not much overtaking too.

Hopefully we'll see more overtaking than in Sepang. I fell asleep half way thru the race.

 

[zan]

i am hoping bridgestone tyres will do well there, and comes to par with michelins.

renault knows all ferrari tricks already...difficult for ferrari to win unless install a secret supercharger. ha ha ha

 

[TermiziYeoh]

But I think it was quite interesting compared to last Grand Prix. But the saddest thing was Jenson Button.He gets pole position and couldnt hold on to it. He drove to defend his 5th but at the end he still had to give it up to Fishy.

 

[prodigy]

How wrong was i. Definitely one of the most eventful race so far this season. Dramas from lap 1, no in fact in the warm up lap when that silly Montoya spun while bringing his tyres up to heat.

Alonso prooves that he's still the fastest guy on tract. Despite having 3 safety car period, Kimi was unable to make full use of it. In fact, Alonso used 1 safety to his advantage to overtake Button. I feel bad for Button. Started off quite nicely but his race faltered to the bits after being overtaken by Alonso and towards the end, was only able to fight for 5 position. On the very last corner, his engine blew. My gawd, how's that for a luck. I was cursing like mad when Mika Hakkinen's engine gave way at the last lap in Spain few years back. Button's engine gave way at the last 2 corners. Apparently the team told him not to finish the race so that they can make an engine change at the next race. I feel for him.

 

[TermiziYeoh]

How does it feel unable to finish eventhough the finish line is right infront of your eyes ..... Pity for Button

 

[beatnik]

easy win for alonso.. sad day for button.. kimi's pace was hampered by the car's nose.. and montoya.. sigh.. spun during formation lap? and the retirement is his own fault.. and the mechanics all dont want to layan him when he enters the pit.. but i was quite pissed with ross brawn coz he laughed at montoya when he spun earlier :(

 

[topui11]

fyi, the last corner is quite tricky today... just look at what happened to schumacher. i don't blame montoya for getting on the throttle early coz he was fighting for position against ralf.. hey.. that's racing.

certainly the most eventful race by far... alonso is in a class of it's own... and my god, what happened to ferrari?

pity to button... was pushing it all the way and then blew engine at last 2 corner. haih... good decision not to finish? i think it's bad decision coz you should've go for points... not engines.. what la.

 

[prodigy]

It was a calculated decision. A good one in fact. He was 5th and that would have earned him 3 points. After the engine fire, at best he could have gotten 6th position and that would have won him 2 points. Had he crossed the finish line, he would have gained 2 points and an engine change the next race that would put him back 10 position. Imagine next race he qualifies 4th and he would have been put back to 14th and definitely not a good position to challenge for big points. So his race engineer decides to pull the car over before the starting line. Get a brand new engine, put himself in a good position the next race and score more points. I thought it was a smart move by Honda. It sounds even better when they actually took less than 10 seconds to make that decision.

What the fuck was Michael doing inside Toyota's pit? It looked like the impact shook him up a little and he went into the wrong pits. Either that or maybe there was a shortcut to Ferrari's pit from Toyota's.

 

[igor30]

What the fuck was Michael doing inside Toyota's pit? It looked like the impact shook him up a little and he went into the wrong pits. Either that or maybe there was a shortcut to Ferrari's pit from Toyota's.

I think he lost his mind too much till entered the Toyota pit...looked so amusing...or cover line before kena laughed by Ferrari men..ha.ha..ha:confused_smile: ..:confused_smile: ..

 

[BlackSamurai]

there is a small bump in the grass which send Michael's car into the air and lost control. The funny thing is, no 1 in Toyota Garage seen to bother about Michael's sudden visit. no wonder F1 team lost 6 notebook in brazilian GP few years ago.

Fish > you are 2 secs slower than your teammate. SPEEDUP!
really malu for Fisi.


Ferrari is slow.

Nick did a good job.

 

[prodigy]

If i were Fisico, i'd be damn embarassed by now. Being asked by the race engineer to speed up because his team mate is almost 1 second a lap faster is just so demoralising. Unless of coz Fisico was indeed sand bagging. If not mistaken, Jacques Villeneuve was told the same thing last season. But he has since sped up.

Ross Brawn was chuckling away when Montoya spun. That was one of those priceless moments. Montoya was a little lucky when Fisico developed some problem and that allowed him another warm up lap. At the end of the day, he still retired. Nearly the same place as he spun.

 

[BlackSamurai]

montoya spun again during the 1st safety car period, that's why he drop 2 positions. LOL.

 

[GT3]

fisi was 2 sec slower than fernando was mainly becoz he is in the traffic (might also hav to do with the older engine)..give him a clear track he would be less slow or may even on par.. no one was close to fernando in terms of race pace yday.. not even kimi.. fernando has alot more reserves (some of u might note that kimi did a faster lap time than fernando the end of the race but frankly it doesnt matter as fernando did more faster laptime than kimi hence he won)

 

[si|verfish]

Fisichella was mucking about, traffic or no traffic. He only sped up later (by a lot I might add) when Flavio himself got on the radio to give him an earful. I stick to my guns that Fisichella needs things to go right for him to be fast. He isn't as determined or as motivated as the other top drivers. Some little set back can really kill his drive and then he'll just be average.

Alonso was fastest yesterday, no question. Renault, unlike last season, is clearly the top package in terms of just about everything. In other words they've continued where they left off last season and improved somemore. Whereas McLaren was clearly faster last season, it appears Renault has the upper hand this time. Alonso definitely had more aces up his sleeve and Kimi wouldn't have caught up if he tried.

Button had, as far as days go, a really bad one. There's really nothing much to say about that.

And Ferrari, as I feared, have really flattered to deceived in Bahrain and now look nothing like contenders.

Montoya ran wide there previously before he spun, I'm surprised he did it again later, which caused his retirement.

 

[zephyr3d]

How wrong was i. Definitely one of the most eventful race so far this season. Dramas from lap 1, no in fact in the warm up lap when that silly Montoya spun while bringing his tyres up to heat.

Alonso prooves that he's still the fastest guy on tract. Despite having 3 safety car period, Kimi was unable to make full use of it. In fact, Alonso used 1 safety to his advantage to overtake Button. I feel bad for Button. Started off quite nicely but his race faltered to the bits after being overtaken by Alonso and towards the end, was only able to fight for 5 position. On the very last corner, his engine blew. My gawd, how's that for a luck. I was cursing like mad when Mika Hakkinen's engine gave way at the last lap in Spain few years back. Button's engine gave way at the last 2 corners. Apparently the team told him not to finish the race so that they can make an engine change at the next race. I feel for him.

kimi was.. aisey.. the darn nose!

anyway, i like this qoute... tattooed.. heh heh heh

On lap 33 Schumacher’s exuberance caught up with him, as he attempted to ride out some mid-corner understeer in the final turn and tattooed the wall on the exit – in full view of the teams along the pit wall.

 

[zephyr3d]

and by the way... i think massa can't handle it.... what do u guyz think bout him?

 

[si|verfish]

Young and reckless.

 

[rollakid]

the moment when schumi was overtaken by a former minardi car is priceless, imo, limited rpm v10 or not... i'm wondering if schumi had that wtf?! feeling when it happen, they use to be on different end of the grid slot anyway..

 

[zeroTohundred]

the moment when schumi was overtaken by a former minardi car is priceless, imo, limited rpm v10 or not... i'm wondering if schumi had that wtf?! feeling when it happen, they use to be on different end of the grid slot anyway..

Well, apparently there's a problem with his tyres,did you watch the whole race and listen to the commentators bs at all(sometimes they give useful info too...lol). After the pit stop, he was flying, he's the only driver that goes at the same pace with Alonso. Too bad the car understeer, he could be up on the podium.

expect to see Ferrari dominate Imola though.