Gentlemen, start your engines!

[Alex]

Ok, so the 2005 F1 season is about to begin...

We have some new rules and new faces, but will we have a new winner?

During the testing season, Ferrari failed to impress, but they also failed to impress last year and even so Michael Schumacher won the championship easily.

Renault and McLaren seem to have developed good cars. Williams is going through some problems now, because it seems that their car is not fast enough.

To me, BAR, Sauber and Toyota are three big question marks.

I don't expect much from Red Bull or Jordan. As for Minardi, well... I'm used to see them as backmarkers, hope they keep this honorable tradition this year. If they are allowed to race in Melbourne, of course.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

dont count on mclaren havng good cars, remember a few years ago when they came out with that new car, and it ended up being slower than the old one? it used to be hakkinen vs schumacher, now its just schumacker vs himself.

[alva]

Used to be a big F1 fan(Senna, Prost, Piquet,...), I'd rather watch paint dry nowadays.

[Alex]

DP

[Alex]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia
dont count on mclaren havng good cars, remember a few years ago when they came out with that new car, and it ended up being slower than the old one? it used to be hakkinen vs schumacher, now its just schumacker vs himself.

that's true, and we'll only be able to know how good the cars are when things are for real, but mclaren have been improving their cars since last year, and the new MP4-20 seems to be promising. let's wait and see.

[Thorgal]

I think it will be:

1st: Ferrari.

2nd: McClaren-Mercedes.

3th at a long distance: Williams-BMW.

4th: Renault, BAR-Honda.

5th: Sauber, Toyota.

6th at a long distance: Jaguar, Jordan.

7th at light years: Minardi

[Zoid]

Alex, BAR a question mark? They have gone from strength to strength. The Button-debacle is past them and they are after all one of two teams with an unchanged driver line-up.

Both Button and Sato is looking good and they have a genuine chance to make it really difficult for Ferrari and McLaren, the two top contenders for the championship. Renault is also looking good, but like BAR will have to settle for occasional wins and pole positions.

Williams is the big question mark in my book. Turbulence in the team and new drivers can throw a spanner in the Williams works.

[Dis]

real racing started with the Daytona 500

[VetLegion]

The biggest novelty is the Turkish track:



Personally I'm looking forward to a good struggle for the second position, Schumi is going to be the champ again.

[Zopperoni]

That's a wicked track design, cool influences from Adelaide, Imola, Interlagos, and Spa.

[Alex]

Originally posted by Kamrat X
Alex, BAR a question mark? They have gone from strength to strength. The Button-debacle is past them and they are after all one of two teams with an unchanged driver line-up.

Takuma Sato said in a recent interview that he expects the team to be in good shape on the second half of the season. To me, this means that their car is not as good as it was last year. Also remember that David Richards left the team and that Jenson Button have his sights in 2006, when he might race for Williams again.

Originally posted by Kamrat X Williams is the big question mark in my book. Turbulence in the team and new drivers can throw a spanner in the Williams works.

They're not a big question mark... I already expect them to be very poor in the first half of the season. Their car is bad and maybe it will improve later. Maybe. The team is not having a good relationship right now with the BMW team - and there are rumours that BMW may acquire Sauber next year.

And Mark"eting" Webber still has to prove that he is as good as he says he is.

[Alex]

hmm, things are not so good for Schumi:



Coulthard and his Red Bull car: maybe a surprise?



genius on the track - Schumi and his Ferrari:

[Richelieu]

With all the changes in aerodynamics triggered by the new regulations, it may be a while before we get a clear picture of how the season is going to go. Which means there could be a few surprises early. We might even have an interesting season!

[Richelieu]

"It’s going to be a very interesting start to the season, because of the new regulations. The new aerodynamic rules are quite drastic, with heavy revisions to the front and rear which have cost everyone quite a lot of downforce and made the cars a little more nervous.

"The new tyre rules will also make things very tricky for qualifying and the race as you may now only use one set of tyres from Saturday qualifying onwards. You have to choose from your prime and option tyres on Friday, and between Saturday qualifying and the end of the weekend the single set you choose will have gone through several heating and cooling cycles, will have done two qualifying sessions, one on Saturday afternoon and one on Sunday morning, and the whole race.
It will be crucial on Friday, therefore, to choose the tyre option that not only gives you optimum performance but also durability. "

"Qualifying will now be different too. We will run with low fuel for maximum performance on Saturday afternoon, and then with race fuel on Sunday morning, and the times will be aggregated. Thus the effect of the fuel on the qualifying time will be less and the grid will be a more accurate reflection of true performance."

"Preserving the tyres in the race will be a major factor.
"The tyre issue will also affect race strategy. There will be fewer refuelling stops. Most races will probably be two stops, possibly even one, though there is a penalty in terms of car performance trying to get by with one because the tyres have a great fuel load to carry. "

"And it is no longer about the performance of the tyres on the first lap or in the early laps. Now the last part of the race will be absolutely crucial, and if they have conserved their tyres better than their rivals I think we will see some people being able to improve their positions in the closing stages after the final pit stops. There will be much more focus on the end of the race and a little less perhaps on grid position, and I think this is going to make things also interesting for the spectators."

[Zoid]

Originally posted by Alex


Takuma Sato said in a recent interview that he expects the team to be in good shape on the second half of the season. To me, this means that their car is not as good as it was last year. Also remember that David Richards left the team and that Jenson Button have his sights in 2006, when he might race for Williams again.

Button may be gunning for a Williams seat in 2006, but I don´t think he will just sit this season out. He´s hungry and he´s going to give 110%. If the car and team delivers is another question... But still, BAR have a good chance to finish in the top three this season.

Judging from the friday practice McLaren is in wicked shape. Just hope they can follow through with it.

[BlackCat]

For Danes only.



YES !!!! Claus Borre has left DR, so no more stupid talk interrupting the experts. It is no longer nessecary to switch to swedish or german channels to get a professional opinion when "funny" things happen on the track.

For you nondanes, I can tell that CB is an old sportscomentator on danish television, and he has not a clue about what happens on a race track - his main occupation at F1 was to attend cocktailparties and pick up gossip which usually was wery unreliable. Heck, I have even seen streamers on cars demanding "Claus Borre ud af Formel 1" and now it is for real .

[Zoid]

The Swedish commentator team is also a bit on the lacking side Alltough not as bad as CB seems to be...

[Zoid]

The starting grid tomorrow can be very interesting Changing weather conditions on the pre-qualifying lap today sees Schumi on 18th place and Barichello on a 12th. There is no way Ferrari can hope for a better placement then midle of the grid. McLaren also had dissapointing laps. Finishing 10 th and 11th.

[Thorgal]

Once again we see how ridiculous this qualifing format is. They should roll a dice to decide the grid.

At least we´ll see a lot of passing since the Ferraris, McLAren and Alonso are back in the grid.

[Richelieu]

Originally posted by Thorgal
Once again we see how ridiculous this qualifing format is. They should roll a dice to decide the grid.

[Alex]

I don't think we'll see that many passing, at least not in the first half of the race, because the pilots will probably not force the cars to the limit - remember that they'll have only one set of tyres during the whole race. But the second half will definitely be very interesting.

Melbourne can be the best F1 race in the last few years.

[Alex]

This is an interesting and unusual grid:

1) Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA/Renault/M), 3min01s460
2) Jarno Trulli (ITA/Toyota/M), 3min04s429
3) Mark Webber (AUS/Williams-BMW/M), 3min04s996
4) Jacques Villeneuve (CAN/Sauber-Petronas/M), 3min06s846
5) David Coulthard (ESC/Red Bull-Cosworth/M), 3min07s212
6) Christian Klien (AUT/Red Bull-Cosworth/M), 3min07s477
7) Nick Heidfeld (ALE/Williams-BMW/M), 3min09s130
8) Jenson Button (ING/BAR-Honda/M), 3min12s128
9) Juan Pablo Montoya (COL/McLaren-Mercedes/M), 3min14s645
10) Kimi Raikkonen (FIN/McLaren-Mercedes/M), 3min15s558
11) Rubens Barrichello (BRA/Ferrari/B), 3min16s822
12) Narain Karthikeyan (IND/Jordan-Toyota/B), 3min17s092
13) Fernando Alonso (ESP/Renault/M), 3min17s466
14) Tiago Monteiro (POR/Jordan-Toyota/B), 3min20s329
15) Ralf Schumacher (ALE/Toyota/M), 3min22s717
16) Patrick Friesacher (AUT/Minardi-Cosworth/B), 3min28s363
17) Christijan Albers (HOL/Minardi-Cosworth/B), 1min35s975
18) Felipe Massa (BRA/Sauber-Petronas/M), no time
19) Michael Schumacher (ALE/Ferrari/B), 1min30s533*
20) Takuma Sato (JAP/BAR-Honda/M), no time*

* engine changed

Now on to the race... It's going to be an interesting one, especially because Montoya, Raikkonen and Barrichello are in the middle of the grid... And there's always Schumacher, though I don't think he'll be able to do anything starting in 19th...

[Oncle Boris]

What is Villeneuve doing at 4th rank?

[Kassiopeia]

Räikkönen has technical difficulties Nice to see the important things haven't changed.

[VetLegion]

Watched it. Wasn't as boring as with two red cars in the front, but wasn't very exciting either. And before you jump on me that is was exciting compared to average last year's race, let me remind you that your standards are very low, and that is sad.

The only things I consider exciting are overtakings and crashes. I couldn't care less for simply driving fast (yawn) and box/tyre strategy.

And this race didn't give me many overtakings again. Villeneuve/Alonso at the begining looked great, but it wasn't enough. All in all on a 1 to 5 scale I give this race a strong 2.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

cant wait for kimi to have his engine burn out on the 3rd lap, get out and start punching the guys who come to get him.

[Zoid]

Yay, both Renaults on the podium and Schumi retired. I´m happy. Both Red Bulls scored points also

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Alex
This is an interesting and unusual grid:

1) Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA/Renault/M), 3min01s460

ZOMFG!!! Fezzie is a racer!

[Az]

F1

WRC

[Thorgal]

Fisichela: Correct race. Easy win (Renault the best today )
Barrichelo: Simply perfect (ferrari raced with last year car today. dont forget)
Alonso: Incredible drive. The quickest driver. Ten positions up.
Coulthard: (Red Bull )
Montoya: made the best he could with that McLaren
BAR dissapointing