Aussie F1.

[awa355]

Did anyone watch the race? If so, do the 1.6L cars look/go as fast as the previous seasons cars?

I read this morning that 8 cars retired which is a lot for F1. Whether that was due to engines or drivers I dont know.

[schrodingers cat]

Crash.net

Good motogp stories as well

[Karl08]

The big complaint from some is that the cars sound so different- but as with other engine changes over the years, we will all get used to yet. There are some crazy wee rule changes- one of which has bitten Red Bull and cost Riccardo second place...they are appealing it.

Could be an interesting season racing wise- and that's what we want to see.

[Karl08]

Did anyone watch the race? If so, do the 1.6L cars look/go as fast as the previous seasons cars?

I read this morning that 8 cars retired which is a lot for F1. Whether that was due to engines or drivers I dont know.

http://en.espnf1.com/

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/

[roogazza]

Hardly ever bother with F1 , but switched to the channel 54/55 on Sky to watch the practice and was quite impressed. Lots of info and coverage and good commentary.
V6s seem to be having teething problems with more torque, but that will sort itself out.
Like the sounds of the V6 too. Nice flat sound,less revs.
I don't know if the previous V8s were turbos ? (ok I'm told no).

ps world champ seems to be behind the eight ball ?

[sil3nt]

This is the first season of turbos since the 80s.

They are producing a bucket load more torque this season so we are seeing a lot more sideways action which is good. The race was still pretty dull though.

[Kiwi Graham:Me]

At first glance the 'spectaclel' of the event has gone with the cars being so quiet but as has been said we may get used to it.
What I didn't like was drivers being told to slow down!!!! to conserve fuel, taken a bit of the racing out of racing eh!?

Its going to take a lot of getting used to with all the new technology (they dont have engines any more but 'power units'?) not sure I like the direction its going, would much prefer to see prototype racing as just that prototypes racing without all the restrictions imposed that have dulled it down.

[James Deuce]

There were more finishers than even the most wildly optimistic commentators were expecting. Some of the exprienced heads were expecting the Mercedes duo to finish 2 laps ahead of everyone else and what had been a 7 second a lap advantage spread across the field dropped to less than half of that. Lotus ran a total of 16 laps all off-season. To even race was amazing. In the early '90s 6-10 finishers was normal. So 8 out of a field of 22 not finishing in a year when everything has changed is pretty phenomenal engineering and driving.

And we got actual real racing and people making up vast numbers of places after de-beading a wheel against a wall (Bottas) and people not making Q3 and finishing 4th. The amount of overtaking was fantastic and it wasn't all one way. Technologies they've played with for the last decade have finally gelled with the regulations and we have cars that are 6-7 seconds a lap down on 2004 cars with vastly more torque,2/3rds of the fuel from last year which is about half what the 2004 cars had available with what woul damount to no downforce compared to a 2004 car. So, slower? Yes. Better racing? Yes. A platform that allows for real innovation that is congruent with road car technology? Yes again, and about freaking time.

Having said that, I think energy management is going to play a much bigger part in a race that doesn't have two parade laps, one of which counts toward the race and a bunch of safety car laps.

[awa355]

This is a short clip from Red Bull explaining the differences between last years, and this years car.

/www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFHmYFlbFn8