2011 Formula 1 season

[Hirsch]

I know some of us here follow it.

The season opening race from Melbourne, AU is in the books.

Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren are the class of the field, again. No big surprise there. The Red Bulls are fast, damn fast, and while Hamilton was driving a wounded car(and driving it well) he was nowhere near Vettel.

And how about Vitaly Petrov? What can you say? When the heat was on, he stepped up to the flame and didn't get burned. Great drive.

Alonso should have finished higher, he was trying had enough, as was Massa. Button tried to pull a fast one, claiming that he was ahead when he cut the corner. He's better than that. Penalty or not, rookie Perez and teammate Koboyashi both drove good races and earned their positions. But then again the two drivers who benefited from Perez and Koboyashis penalty drove good races as well.

I can't figure out Brawn. In the 90's Ross and Michael designed and built TWO championship winning teams. First at Benneton(what is now Renault) and then bring Ferrari back from the dead to dominate for ten years. Last year was understandable, Michael was driving Buttons car, but this year he should be driving "his" car. Rosberg isn't much better but Barrichello just blatantly punted him out of the way today.

All in all a good race, especially back in the pack. Looking forward to Malaysia in two weeks.

1 1 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 58 1:29:30.259 1 points 25
2 3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 58 +22.2 secs 2 points 18
3 10 Vitaly Petrov Renault 58 +30.5 secs 6 points 15
4 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 58 +31.7 secs 5 points 12
5 2 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 58 +38.1 secs 3 points 10
6 4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 58 +54.3 secs 4 points 8
7 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 58 +85.1 secs 8 points 6
8 18 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 57 +1 Lap 10 points 4
9 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 57 +1 Lap 16 points 2
10 15 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 57 +1 Lap 14 points 1
11 19 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 57 +1 Lap 12
12 9 Nick Heidfeld Renault 57 +1 Lap 18
13 21 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 56 +2 Laps 20
14 25 Jerome d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 54 +4 Laps 22
NC 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 49 +9 Laps 21
DSQ17 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 58 +65.8 secs 13
DSQ 16 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 58 +76.8 secs 9
Ret 11 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 48 Transmission 17
Ret 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 22 Accident damage 7
Ret 20 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 19 Water leak 19
Ret 7 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 19 Puncture damage 11
Ret 12 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 9 Transmission 15

Formula 1

[Shazam]

I like F1, but rarely watch or follow it... so am I wrong in thinking that for some reason there are big rule changes this season from last?

[Hirsch]

Yes, technical changes that include moveable rear wings and KERS and big changes in the how points are paid.

[colombo]

Made me think what Kubica could have done, I think Renault has a decent car...

I have always been a Ferrari-fan, but it seems like we are mid nineties again... When the Italians fully took over the team a couple of years ago, some were afraid they would lose the mojo. Looks like something is lost...

[Hirsch]

Did anyone else notice the Infiniti badge graphics on the Renault? Especially right on the nose of the car?

[colombo]

No, but I did notice the gold and black colors...

[SpecialTool]

Big F1 fan, disappointed I missed the GP (stuck in a plane over the Pacific). Also disappointed with our homie Webber; he was a long way off Vettel's pace. Vettel is usually faster but only by a few hundredths of a second. Yesterday it was a full second. Hope Mark gets his mojo back in Malaysia.

[Abarth]

Did anyone else notice the Infiniti badge graphics on the Renault? Especially right on the nose of the car?

Nissian paid a premium to fix the Infiniti logo on the car, remember Renault & Nissian are joined at the hip.....

[Hirsch]

Nissian paid a premium to fix the Infiniti logo on the car, remember Renault & Nissian are joined at the hip.....

Yeah, I read up on it. Nissan/Infiniti has no intention of getting into F1. But they want their name/logo out there.

But I can't help but think that F1 technology is making it's way into Infinitis and Nissan.

As far as naturally aspirated cars go, the G35 is one of the fastest 70 to 100mph I've ever driven. I considered buying one, but I couldn't get past the looks of the sedan, I think the coupe is a great looking car, though.