2015 F1 Australian Grand Prix - Spoilers

[dsmithwc04]

Surely I'm not the only one that was COMPLETELY underwhelmed with the first race of the season and this even with my guy winning the race. Hopefully Honda gets it's act together for JB's sake or else this will be a terrible way to end his F1 career not to mention that Alonso must be kicking himself for leaving the closest competition (along with Williams) to Mercedes. There was almost NO racing the whole day! 13 cars playing follow the leader.... What a let down.

[dc]

Well, that was hot garbage.



One of the most uninteresting races I can recall watching. Attrition and awful broadcasting. I hope this improves soon. Only 11 cars finish? Leigh Diffey is unbelievably annoying—please bring back Bob Varsha.

[dangrace]

The racing was boring, the coverage awful and the ads too numerous.
I watched the whole show but bailed at the post race.

[Steve Bamford]

Sauber ended up having a fantastic weekend after all the BS leading into it. 3rd in constructors championship at this point.

Manor Marussia didn't even turn a wheel all weekend.

Red Bull had a horrible weekend. Kyvat didn't make the start & Ricardo wasn't able to pass anyone being down on power.

Lotus lose both cars after high expectations.

Toro Rosso were looking to have a good weekend but pit stop issue & Max who was having a great first race loses an engine.

Force India simply benefited from all the DNF's/DNS's.

McLaren at down 150-200 HP & only got one car to the start, not looking good for the next few races. Alonso is down to 3 engines only now in his car without even running a race lap in the first event.

Ferrari seemed to have turned things around, now need to figure out how to get the pit stops correct. Vetel didn't prove to be a flop as many people had predicted.

Williams had a rough weekend losing Bottas with back issues & Massa had a decent race bringing the car home in fourth. Had to been disappointing to have only one car take the grid as that will hurt constructors points later in the season.

Mercedes are still by far the leading team as they started & finished last year. Nico & Lewis will be the story internally if they get to race one another however so far it didn't seem like they would allow them to get too close to one another.

All in all not very exciting race to watch.

[Nick11]

Who is broadcasting the races this year ?? I have Dish network and did not even see it listed...

[Rick Kirchner]

God can we start a petition to get rid of Lee Diffey?

[dc]

Williams had a rough weekend losing Bottas with back issues & Massa had a decent race bringing the car home in fourth. Had to been disappointing to have only one car take the grid as that will hurt constructors points later in the season.

McLaren starts Magnussen as their third driver, why didn't Williams? What's a third driver for, anyway? Stick Susie Wolff or Alex Lynn in the car and get some points. Shouldn't they be prepared at all times to get in the car, like a backup goalie?

[dc]

Who is broadcasting the races this year ?? I have Dish network and did not even see it listed...

NBC Sports, same as last year.

[Steve Bamford]

McLaren starts Magnussen as their third driver, why didn't Williams? What's a third driver for, anyway? Stick Susie Wolff or Alex Lynn in the car and get some points. Shouldn't they be prepared at all times to get in the car, like a backup goalie?

Bottas qualified in the car and his injury was sustained during quali.

I don't think it would have mattered if they had a third driver as I don't think they could race without qualifing in it or not possible to have one driver qualify and another driver race it. I could be wrong so possibly someone else can clarify.

[stonebridge20]

God can we start a petition to get rid of Lee Diffey?

Yes please !

[dc]

That makes sense, though in an age of F1 where the driver is the least important component, you would think they would allow them to be plug-n-play.

[Mike Scanlan]

McLaren starts Magnussen as their third driver, why didn't Williams? What's a third driver for, anyway? Stick Susie Wolff or Alex Lynn in the car and get some points. Shouldn't they be prepared at all times to get in the car, like a backup goalie?

Weren't allowed, third driver had to have turned a wheel in at least one session in the weekend. Too bad, would've been easy points.

[dc]

Weren't allowed, third driver had to have turned a wheel in at least one session in the weekend. Too bad, would've been easy points.

Interesting. Makes you wonder why teams don't throw a backup in the car for a couple of laps in P1 and give themselves an out if something happens. Too much money on the line for a team to give up Manufacturer's points like that.

[Steve Bamford]

Weren't allowed, third driver had to have turned a wheel in at least one session in the weekend. Too bad, would've been easy points.

Then it also likely becomes car specific so you would need to run your back up driver in both cars.

[Brian]

I was astounded at the number of botched pit stops. The crew train way too hard for it to be simple physical errors. I wonder if the engineers have designed new wheel nut systems that need to go back to what worked last year. I clearly saw one car go out with it's used wheel and tire on after the new one would not do up after multiple tries. All left rear, I wonder why.

Brian

[allof6]

Red Bull Has threaten to exit F1 if something isn't done to rein in the MB.

Renault has entered negotiations to buy Toro Roso.

Massa calls for Equal equipment from MB.

Manor is scolded for not turning a lap when they were forced to be there in order to collect there check from last year.

Alonso may not be in the car for Malaysia in two weeks. (he will start to feel better when the car runs better)

[mmi16]

Totally underwhelming performance for the premier racing series in the world.

[SEComposites]

Apart from points scoring debutant Sainz, a strong performance from Verstappen, points for Sauber and another strong debut from Nasr, a class act by Mercedes, strong debut for Vetel and signs that Willimas are going to have another great year and Lotus look like they will be strong. I guess I'm a glass half full type! 19 races to go. Let's not be doom and gloom just yet.

[dsmithwc04]

The racing was boring, the coverage awful and the ads too numerous.
I watched the whole show but bailed at the post race.

Yes, something should be done about the coverage. The announcing is terrible. Diffey is boring as heck. Did anybody catch the comment by David Hobbs about youngsters brains? He said their talent can be exceptional but their brains not so much developed... " I guess that's why the use them for soldiers".

I wasn't offended because its honestly the truth (not saying I like it one way or the other) but I'm not sure I would have had the balls to say that on a nationally televised broadcast.

Who is broadcasting the races this year ?? I have Dish network and did not even see it listed...

I watched it on DirecTV on NBC Sports. Don't worry, you didn't miss a thing.

I was astounded at the number of botched pit stops. The crew train way too hard for it to be simple physical errors. I wonder if the engineers have designed new wheel nut systems that need to go back to what worked last year. I clearly saw one car go out with it's used wheel and tire on after the new one would not do up after multiple tries. All left rear, I wonder why.

Brian

I couldn't believe how bad the pit stop was for Kimi. His left rear wheel took 11+ seconds to replace which was then botched later on in the race again and he had to retire. The pits literally cost him from finishing the race altogether. I am rooting for him to do well at Ferrari this year. I may be a Hamilton fan but I think it will be more entertaining to follow Ferrari battle Williams than watch Nico chase Lewis all year.

[dsmithwc04]

Apart from points scoring debutant Sainz, a strong performance from Verstappen, points for Sauber and another strong debut from Nasr, a class act by Mercedes, strong debut for Vetel and signs that Willimas are going to have another great year and Lotus look like they will be strong. I guess I'm a glass half full type! 19 races to go. Let's not be doom and gloom just yet.

Hopefully, Ferrari and Williams find a way to battle MB. At the very least it should be fun to watch the two battle it out for second place. I was happy to see Sauber do well and Lotus looks like they will get better as time goes on. Alonso might as well take a vacation and come back when Honda figures out how to get more power out of the PU. He will not like battling for 19th place with Button for the next few races (assuming Manor shows up)

[Ty_Handke_83]

I couldn't believe how bad the pit stop was for Kimi. His left rear wheel took 11+ seconds to replace which was then botched later on in the race again and he had to retire. The pits literally cost him from finishing the race altogether. I am rooting for him to do well at Ferrari this year. I may be a Hamilton fan but I think it will be more entertaining to follow Ferrari battle Williams than watch Nico chase Lewis all year.

I read in a post race interview that the nut was cross threaded during the first stop, which they discovered in the second stop and decided it wasn't worth risking a failure.

[BeerBudgetRacing]

God can we start a petition to get rid of Lee Diffey?

He's Greg Twinkle.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4U4f1xZmEQ

[Robins Ken]

F1 has been taking the p*** out of the public for years. Do you think any of those gob smacked pylons in the pit garages give a damn? Hardly. Too busy buffing egos. And fiddling with electronics that don't work.

Shame on us for bothering.

[zero260]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that can't stand Diffey.. He belongs on some top 40 AM pop station... Seriously, any ideas as to get rid of him?...

And oh yeah...The race was pretty uninteresting.. In fact I'm not sure I remember seeing much racing. Just guys driving around. How many passes did anyone see? 2? - 3?...

[thomschoon]

YAWN, boring, fast forwarded through the commercials and most of the race as there seemed too be a single car on screen a good part of the coverage. This is not what people want to see and sponsors want us to watch so maybe just maybe Bernie will recognize that the entertainment value is diminishing rapidly.

[SEComposites]

I watch the races on BBC as I gave up on the U.S. coverage a long time ago. I enjoyed the race after the winter break so maybe good coverage and commentary has a bearing on ones opinion of the race. Or maybe I'm just easy to please!

[allof6]

I watch the races on BBC as I gave up on the U.S. coverage a long time ago. I enjoyed the race after the winter break so maybe good coverage and commentary has a bearing on ones opinion of the race. Or maybe I'm just easy to please!

Who's your BBC Provider in the states?

[Ty_Handke_83]

I watch the races on BBC as I gave up on the U.S. coverage a long time ago. I enjoyed the race after the winter break so maybe good coverage and commentary has a bearing on ones opinion of the race. Or maybe I'm just easy to please!

I'm pretty sure it's all one video feed from F1, the only difference is the commentary. Up north here I'm glad we get the BBC coverage, and I feel sorry for you guys. The couple times a year we get to see the US coverage, I can't stand it.

[Beartrax]

I should have drank a Red Bull before the race...

A few minor sparks of brilliance in the middle of a lot of boring.

Max is a very mature 17 year old. It is a shame the car let him down.

I'll bet at least one pit crew member at Ferrari will be looking for a new job tomorrow.

[allof6]

I'm pretty sure it's all one video feed from F1, the only difference is the commentary. Up north here I'm glad we get the BBC coverage, and I feel sorry for you guys. The couple times a year we get to see the US coverage, I can't stand it.

yes it is all the same race feed but the difference as you stated is the ones behind the mic.

[rickb99]

....I'll bet at least one pit crew member at Ferrari will be looking for a new job tomorrow.

Fer sure. I saw the team boss talking to one of the wheel guys outside the pit stall after the stop. Probably giving him the boot.

..... they discovered in the second stop and decided it wasn't worth risking a failure.

I thought Kiki stopped out on track with his wheel bent over?? Effectively, it did fail.

Funny thing is, here's a real shocker!

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/118075

HOW could that not have been an unsafe release?

[Dennis Valet]

The only highlight of the entire race

https://soundcloud.com/toadsuck/kimi-radio-aus2015


The engine rules are a joke right now. Something needs to be done to make it possible to catch up to the Mercedes engine.

[Jim Nash]

The only highlight of the entire race

https://soundcloud.com/toadsuck/kimi-radio-aus2015


The engine rules are a joke right now. Something needs to be done to make it possible to catch up to the Mercedes engine.

Maybe they should go to a spec engine for everyone? MB has done a great job and you think they should give that up because the show is not good? Do a better job and catch MB.

I am wondering. What part of the rules are a joke?

Jim

[rickb99]

....I am wondering. What part of the rules are a joke? Jim

Limit of 4 engines for an entire year of GP racing. What's that all about? It's not like these engine designs are EVER going to hit the streets so that level of reliability gets you nothing as a car manufacturer.

No testing except during designated testing days.. COME ON, how do you expect other teams to improve and catch MB?

What we need are new rules for engines that bring BMW, Alpha Romeo, Cosworth, Maserati, and company's like Weslake back in to the game. Expand the available grid slots to 36 and see what that brings.

[Brian C in Az]

Who is broadcasting the races this year ?? I have Dish network and did not even see it listed...

NBCSN

[dsmithwc04]

Limit of 4 engines for an entire year of GP racing. What's that all about? It's not like these engine designs are EVER going to hit the streets so that level of reliability gets you nothing as a car manufacturer.

No testing except during designated testing days.. COME ON, how do you expect other teams to improve and catch MB?

What we need are new rules for engines that bring BMW, Alpha Romeo, Cosworth, Maserati, and company's like Weslake back in to the game. Expand the available grid slots to 36 and see what that brings.

I agree that I don't understand the point in limiting engines and testing. Expanding to 36 grid positions? They can't even fill the 20 that are already registered....

[Brian C in Az]

Mercedes are still by far the leading team as they started & finished last year. Nico & Lewis will be the story internally if they get to race one another however so far it didn't seem like they would allow them to get too close to one another.

All in all not very exciting race to watch.

Even Nico's attitude was quite subdued compared to last year. He seems to have accepted his position as the number 2 racer. I wonder if that is because he got married and his wife is influencing him.

[Jnovak]

I have loved F1 for well over 50 years but it has turned into a joke. They cannot even fill a 20 car field, there are only 2 cars that can rece for a win and they are team mates.

Why has this happened? IMO it is simply because they have turned what used to be racing into a technical exercise that takes $500,000,000 to race at the front. F1 is a joke imo.

[chrisw52]

the only positives that came out of Melbourne is that the cars look better when running a bunch of parade laps..

And that the two rookies put on a better show than the rest of the gang running a fuel economy race.

[Jnovak]

I agree that I don't understand the point in limiting engines and testing. Expanding to 36 grid positions? They can't even fill the 20 that are already registered....

The reason they are limiting engines is to keep the cost to race at less than $500,000,000. That's $500 MILLION.