I wish she looked really sexy. Lol! That would have helped.

i just hope she doesnt get into a race and finish LAST, what a laughable sight it will be, lol!

as for FP1, both Mc Laren and Mercedes looks super fast, while Ferrari performed much better than i thought (or maybe they were just bluffing about their supposed "issues" ). Massa is a damn fool and i still wonder why he is still driving a F1 car with his poor performances. RBR were a shadow of their last yr dominance AHAHAHAHah(but it is only FP1), while Kimi did superb on only his 3rd lap of the day, finishing 9th.

this yr looks like it is going to be much more exiting than last yr!

FP2, only Mercedes and maybe Ferrari stayed on top of their game.
as for Hulkenberg, Perez and Di Resta: chapeau!

eyin guys, abeg I need your oh so "classic" punditry here

Thanks.

what a mixed qualifying session!!!!!
- Grosjean 3rd while Kimi down in 18th (at least we know that the Lotus got the pace)
- Mercedes obviously are up there at the top this yr, thanks to a smart loophole that nobody noticed.
- RBR's dominance is all but gone and NOW we shall see if Vettel is really a TRUE CHAMP.
- Mc Laren locking the front row........they look perfect this yr. is it going to be Ham's yr?
- Ferrari not getting into the top 10?! NO COMMENT!!!!

although i am pissed about the result, F1 is getting exciting to watch again!

Should be an exciting race tomorrow.

When do you think Alonso would throw his toys out?

Australia
Malaysia
China

I'm in.Let's go there

2012 will definitely be a very interesting year. Mac and Mercedes have a very fast car. Lotus will definitely mix things up at the front roll. Let see the best driver btw Ham and Button

@Beaf

The McLaren doesn't look that bad.

I think L Hamilton is going to have a good season this season, he seems to be happy with his car.

I was frustrated watching him last season,hope less drama this season and more dare-devil driving he is known for.

harakiri: @Beaf

The McLaren doesn't look that bad.

In terms of beauty, that cars the Beyonce among an ugly lot. In terms of raw speed. . . Fingers crossed. We will know in a few hours when the cars a driven in anger for the first time.

Meantime Lewis can enjoy his pole.

[size=14pt]Final practice - Hamilton pips Grosjean 17 Mar 2012[/size]

Lewis Hamilton (GBR) McLaren MP4/27. Formula One World Championship, Rd1, Australian Grand Prix, Practice, Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia, Friday, 16 March 2012 Sebastian Vettel slides off the track and gets stuck in the gravel trap And Michael Schumacher becomes the second German world champion to end up beached just a few minutes later Ferrari continue to struggle as Fernando Alonso's car is way off the pace Aussie Daniel Ricciardo's view from the helmet camera on board his Toro Rosso

McLaren moved back to the top of the timesheets in Melbourne’s Albert Park on Saturday afternoon in the final free practice session, but not before the Mercedes duo had again shown the speed of their car.

€n a session which saw both Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher end their running in the gravel, Hamilton pushed to the front in the final quarter hour with a lap of 1m 25.681s, dislodging Romain Grosjean who began to demonstrate all the perceived potential of the Lotus E20. The Frenchman lapped in 1m 25.780s, just 0.077s off the fastest time.

Right behind them, Mark Webber showed that there isn’t much wrong with the Red Bull RB8 with 1m 25.900s, then came Jenson Button in the second McLaren on 1m 25.906s, and Nico Rosberg in the lead Mercedes on 1m 25.929s.

Schumacher ended up sixth on 1m 26.078s, having spun off in Turn 9, while seventh-fastest Vettel lapped in 1m 26.211s before going off backwards in Turn 6.

Besides Grosjean, whose pace had largely been expected, the next surprise was Pastor Maldonado in eighth for Williams on 1m 26.470s, then Sergio Perez on 1m 26.632s in the lead Sauber and Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne on 1m 26.723s and 1m 26.733s respectively. Kimi Raikkonen was 12th on 1m 26.737s, still unhappy with his car after steering problems yesterday. Kamui Kobayashi was 13th on 1m 26.755s, before the next time break saw Nico Hulkenberg 14th on 1m 27.029s in the lead Force €ndia from Bruno Senna on 1m 27.119s for Williams.

Doubtless you’re wondering where the Ferraris were. Well, Fernando Alonso was their lead runner in 16th on 1m 27.323s from Force €ndia’s Paul di Resta on 1m 27.428s, while Felipe Massa in the second red car survived another spin, this time in Turn 15, to post an 18th fastest 1m 28.023s.

The Caterhams were in the same relative positions as they used to be when the team was Lotus last year, with Heikki Kovalainen 19th on 1m 28.341s from Vitaly Petrov on 1m 28.702s.

Timo Glock continued to gather mileage in the Marussia and lapped his MR01 in 1m 30.728s, while rookie Charles Pic again showed good pace for 1m 31.225s.

At the back, Pedro de la Rosa battled steering problems on his way to 1m 33.114s for HRT, ahead of team mate Narain Karthikeyan on 1m 33.261s.

The weather was great, and will remain so for qualifying later this evening, and at last a pattern for the long awaited 2012 F1 season is beginning to emerge. As expected, the message so far is that things look very close, both at the front and in the midfield.

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/3/13112.html

I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited! Can't wait for the race to kick off!
The season is finally starting! Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Lol.

[size=14pt]Qualifying analysis - McLaren the team to beat 17 Mar 2012[/size]

McLaren clinched the front row of the Melbourne grid with ease on Saturday, with Lewis Hamilton taking pole position ahead of team mate Jenson Button. Behind the McLaren duo, Lotus’s Romain Grosjean and Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher impressed in their 2012 charges to make up the second row. Red Bull and Ferrari, meanwhile, were left disappointed. We take a team-by-team look at how all the runners performed…

McLaren
Lewis Hamilton, 1m 24.922s, P1
Jenson Button, 1m 25.074s, P2
Hamilton got in the pluperfect lap to grab pole by a comfortable margin, and had no need of a second run when it became clear that Button’s smooth riposte was just going to fall short. The silver cars from Woking looked superbly balanced, and the air of optimism and delight within the team was tangible after a winter of maximum effort.

Lotus
Romain Grosjean, 1m 25.302s, P3
Kimi Raikkonen, 1m 27.758s, P18, will start P17
Third place on the grid was a massive boost for Grosjean, and team principal Eric Boullier who had championed his cause. Grosjean made maximum use of the E20, which confirmed the promise it had shown in testing, and thoroughly deserved his position. Raikkonen, meanwhile, thought he had another lap after making a mistake on the medium Pirellis, but discovered that his maths was faulty and missed the Q1 cut.

Mercedes
Michael Schumacher, 1m 25.336s, P4
Nico Rosberg, 1m 25.686s, P7
Mercedes were a little disappointed to miss out on the pole that at one stage seemed within their reach, but Schumacher reminded everyone that the step in performance was significant compared to 2011. He was happy with fourth, while Rosberg had to make do with seventh after making a small error in Turn Three.

Red Bull
Mark Webber, 1m 25.651s, P5
Sebastian Vettel, 1m 25.668s, P6
This time there was no magic bullet in the locker as Red Bull struggled in qualifying and were unable to make their usual leap forwards in Q3. Webber said he was happy with his Q3 lap, especially as his KERS system wasn’t working, with a resultant negative effect on the rhythm of the lap. Vettel had lost time spinning off in FP3, and there was a hint of desperation in his driving which saw him make an error in Q3 which he suggested could have cost him a couple of grid positions.

Williams
Pastor Maldonado, 1m 25.908s, P8
Bruno Senna, 1m 26.663s, P14
This was a great boost for Williams after the winter of hard work to eradicate memories of 2011, Maldonado did a strong lap for eighth place, while Senna admitted that he didn’t get a great Q1 lap.

Force India
Nico Hulkenberg, 1m 26.451s, P9
Paul di Resta, 1m 27.086s, P15
Hulkenberg got his Force India racing career off to a strong start with ninth place, after some initial doubts about their ability to make Q3. Di Resta admitted that he never quite got things together in Q1, and never quite got his tyres up to optimum working temperature during his out lap.

Toro Rosso
Daniel Ricciardo, No time, P10
Jean-Eric Vergne, 1m 26.429s, P11
Toro Rosso was one of the happy camps after qualifying, as Ricciardo achieved the aim of a top 10 grid place and Vergne missed one by a fraction. Neither driver had any real problems, and as the Australian took his best-ever grid place, the Frenchman was satisfied with 11th on his debut but also a tad disappointed to miss the top 10 by a tenth.

Ferrari
Fernando Alonso, 1m 26.494s, P12
Felipe Massa, 1m 27.497s, P16
Ferrari had one of their most disastrous qualifying sessions. They expected to struggle in the dry, but their problems were compounded when Alonso spun early in Q2 and eventually ended up 12th, and Massa was unable to get within a second of his team mate’s time as he struggled all day with his F2012’s balance. The Spaniard got a wheel on the grass and went off backwards, and was angry that the marshals could not push him several miles out of the gravel as he’d kept the engine running.

Sauber
Kamui Kobayashi, 1m 26.590s, P13
Sergio Perez, No time, P17, will start P22
Sauber ended Q1 first and fifth courtesy of Kobayashi and Perez, but in Q2 the Mexican’s gearbox started to play up on downshifts, so he was unable to record a time. To make matters worse, a subsequent change of gearbox resulted in a five-place grid penalty. Kobayashi, meanwhile, started to struggle for grip, and dropped down to 13th.

Caterham
Heikki Kovalainen, 1m 28.679s, P19, will start P18
Vitaly Petrov, 1m 29.018s, P20, will start P19
This was a very disappointing day for Caterham as they ended up in their usual 2011 positions. Kovalainen nevertheless thought his CT-01 was better than it had been in FP3 and said an HRT cost him six-tenths of a second. Petrov lost time in FP3 with a hydraulic problem, and never really made it up.

Marussia
Timo Glock, 1m 30.923s, P21, will start P20
Charles Pic, 1m 31.670s, P22, will start P21
Glock worked hard on setting up his car throughout FP3, and said all the myriad changes proved to be the right ones. There is an air of optimism here as they work with a solid platform from which they can progress. Pic did well, especially on his first Q1 run which aced Glock.

HRT
Pedro de la Rosa, 1m 33.495s, P23
Narain Karthikeyan, 1m 33.643s, P24
HRT said that practice and qualifying were their pre-season tests, and struggled to learn the right things to do to the new F112. Both drivers received reprimands for hindering, and after failing to beat the 107 percent qualifying rule HRT applied to the FIA for permission to race. This was denied.

Pirelli
The tyre supplier expects drivers to make between two and three pit stops during Sunday’s 58-lap race. They believe the soft tyre will last for up to 20 laps and the medium tyre will perform for up to 25 laps.

http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2012/3/13120.html

DO YOU WISH TO WORK IN QATAR HERE IS YOUR IS THE CHANCE.THE QATAR CONSTRUCTION COMPANY ARE HERE IN NIGERIA IN SEARCH OF MANPOWER TO WORK IN THEIR FIRM IN QATAR WITH HIGH PAY ATRACTIVE SALARY. CALL US ON +2348165027376 PRINCIPAL
CONSTRUCTION
ACTIVITIES »
Qatar Building Company
offers expertise and
... market know-how not
only in pure construction
work, but also in
construction techniques.
Its record in
construction includes:
Road & Airfield Paving
Pipeline
Buildings
Sewage treatment plants
Pumping stations
Cable Laying call us on +2348165027376

Button with a brilliant start and I doubt LH will be very happy!
What a start .... Staged?

McLarens double pit stop? Hmmmm
Whitmarsh na wa ooo !

Oh dear and now the safety car. ..

Aside from Kimi, the race is a bit of a damp squib.
I wonder who Massa will blame for crashing out this time?

Great start but somewhat boring race. The commentators did a brilliant job of making it lively.

Utterly disappointed in LH. Total Rubbish. He drove ZERO today. No speed, no grit.

Why did Whitmarsh ask both drivers to pit at the same time? The guy is a donkey. damn him.

Whitmarsh is McLarens biggest problem. The guy makes some strategy calls that are just shockenly poor, there were strong rumours that he'd be replaced with Paddy Lowe at the end of last season. Maybe Ron Dennis will look to give that some reconsideration.

As for LH's race, it looked like wrong electronic setup to me, especially given his wheelspin at the start.

LH just did not do it for me today, had high hopes for him before the start but. . .it all went. . .well wrong, RedBull to me is still a team to beat though i don't want to see them winning every pole-position and went on to win the race as well like they did last season.

Button has to be the no. 1 driver at Mclaren these days, so dependable. The MP4-27 looks just as competitive as it did 2nd half of last season, so it should be a good looking season. Once again Button shows good race pace even if not shining in qualifying. He could be a real contender this year. Vettel though still clearly know how to seize the moment and maximize opportunities, lucky guy.

Button beating Lewis to the first corner would have dealth a blow into his confidence... and by the time we get to Malaysia or China the Redbull would be flying I think Vettel would win again this season

omar22: Button beating Lewis to the first corner would have dealth a blow into his confidence... and by the time we get to Malaysia or China the Redbull would be flying I think Vettel would again this season

Its good that Button fired a warning shot from the first race, LH will come back fighting in Malaysia. One thing i like with McLaren team is that they allow those two drivers to have a go at each other without 'team-order' unlike what we see with Red Bull and Ferrari

good start by mclaren's button today....hamilton has started messing up again after taking pole position...anyways lets see how the season unfolds...

The race pace of the Red Bulls is alittle worrying, & they seem to be looking after the tyres better than Mclaren, and its gonna be hot in Malaysia. you can see one area where Mclaren are alot better is that red bull seem to struggle to get tyre temp & mclaren dont.
So they should have advantage in quali but the Bulls will be all over them in the race if not ahead, i fancy a Vettel victory in Malaysia.

Hi,am a real F1 buff,appreciate the need for speed. Congrats to Jason Button for winning the premiere race fro the year.Hope it will be a better year year for mclaren this yr.bvette'sstill dangerous,coming in betwen button and Hamilton.I really neeed to read more about the cars,tyres,specs and new innovations this yr.Cheers to all ma fuel heads!

omar22: When do you think Alonso would throw his toys out?

Australia
Malaysia
China

abeg bro, let the season fully begin before you show your biatchness towards Alonso/Ferrari.
by the look of the race, Alonso has all the rights to be mad at Ferrari for not fixing this damn car, AND EQUALLY, all the reasons to be proud of finishing 5th with a car that is CLEARLY lacking pace compared to the other top teams.
you cant take the man's driving abilities away from him, no matter how loud you biatch about it.

@thread
this first race really showed that the champion this yr will have a huge job on his hands. many great drivers, many top cars and all with a chance at the top.
-Ham was clearly number 2 driver at Mc Laren in this race. he never had any chance of getting ahead of Button who drove brilliantly......
- Vettel confirmed to us all that RBR's dominance is CLEARLY OVER. luck got him on the podium today.
- MSC was unlucky this time but we can clearly see that this yr will definitely bring him many podium finish (Rosberg made a mockery out of the Mercedes car).
- Kimi had a brilliant race finishing 7th, although he didnt show any great driving moves. i guess he is still a bit rusty, lets hope for better driving in Malaysia as we KNOW the car's got the pace.COME ON!!!!!!
- Massa should be fired on the spot after starting so well and quickly falling off the ranking, then retiring.
- as for S. Perez starting 22nd and finished in the point, well done!

omar22: The race pace of the Red Bulls is alittle worrying, & they seem to be looking after the tyres better than Mclaren, and its gonna be hot in Malaysia. you can see one area where Mclaren are alot better is that red bull seem to struggle to get tyre temp & mclaren dont.
So they should have advantage in quali but the Bulls will be all over them in the race if not ahead, i fancy a Vettel victory in Malaysia.

Thats because McLaren are blowing their rear wheels and rear suspension. It seems Red Bull have taken to working around the rules to blow their diffuser instead, but they cannot get as much air there as they could last season.

Hot races like Malaysia are going to be very interesting indeed, cos I don't see what good the additional hot air on the wheels will do for McLaren. We are likely going see cars varying wildly in performance (especially McLaren, since they employ blowing best among the teams) as they find need to switch exhaust angles depending on permutations for race day air and track temperatures.

abeg bro, let the season fully begin before you show your biatchness towards Alonso/Ferrari.
by the look of the race, Alonso has all the rights to be mad at Ferrari for not fixing this damn car, AND EQUALLY, all the reasons to be proud of finishing 5th with a car that is CLEARLY lacking pace compared to the other top teams.
you cant take the man's driving abilities away from him, no matter how loud you biatch about it.

@thread
this first race really showed that the champion this yr will have a huge job on his hands. many great drivers, many top cars and all with a chance at the top.
-Ham was clearly number 2 driver at Mc Laren in this race. he never had any chance of getting ahead of Button who drove brilliantly......
- Vettel confirmed to us all that RBR's dominance is CLEARLY OVER. luck got him on the podium today.
- MSC was unlucky this time but we can clearly see that this yr will definitely bring him many podium finish (Rosberg made a mockery out of the Mercedes car).
- Kimi had a brilliant race finishing 7th, although he didnt show any great driving moves. i guess he is still a bit rusty, lets hope for better driving in Malaysia as we KNOW the car's got the pace.COME ON!!!!!!
- Massa should be fired on the spot after starting so well and quickly falling off the ranking, then retiring.
- as for S. Perez starting 22nd and finished in the point, well done!

Look I wont be joining you in any mud slinging this season, but its a know fact Alonso would complain at a point this season after they have handed him a donkey of a car again this season (I could see Lewis doing the same if Button dents his confidence further)..... Ham could be a no 2 driver at Macca but Alonso would swap his car for Lewis car this very second! actually he would swap his car for a William or Sauba... Albert Park was a trick circuit, Seipang would would be different with 2 long straights (probably 2 DRS zones) and a wider track, which would make... and oover taking would be EASY... Ferrari should pray for rain!

^^^ of course, Alonso has all the rights to complain and be pissed. Ferrari is one of the top F1 teams and they should hand him a car that can compete with the likes of RBR/MC LAREN (and now Mercedes). his job is to drive and win races and he certainly cant do that with the slowest car out there (although he did almost that last weekend, lol).

Ham has absolutely no reason to complain because he's got all he needs to win the championship this yr........and show the world that he is as great as he "thinks" he is..
the only problem in Ham's parade is that he and Jenson got the same car and MR Button has be proving that he is the better driver of the two, when it matters.

any driver (not just Alonso) would love to be in these guys seats, just like any driver would have loved to be in a RBR last yr, but dont count Ferrari out just yet (or any other mid level team, for that matter).