[nipcarlover]

The start of a new era for Formula 1. Melbourne provides exciting races more often than not, and this week's race is sure to be a stunner, with the unpredictability of this year's regulations.

FACTS:

Circuit: Albert Park, Melbourne

Circuit length: 5.303km

Number of corners: 16 (6 left, 10 right)

DRS zones: 2

Race laps: 58

Race distance: 307.574km

Tyre compounds: Medium, Soft

Circuit lap record: 1m 24.125s, Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 2004

TIMINGS(IST):

Friday 14th March 2014:
Practice 1: 07:00 AM-08:30 AM
Practice 2: 11:00 AM-12:30 PM

Saturday 15th March 2014:
Practice 3: 08:30 AM-09:30 AM
Qualifying:11:30 AM-12:30 PM

Sunday 16th March 2014:
Race: 11:30 AM-01:30 PM

Race graphic:


Last year's podium:

[tharian]

Any idea on which channel the practice, qualifying and race will be shown on?
With multiple Start Sports channels popping up after last years race, I hope they telecast it on one of the channels.

[nipcarlover]

Originally Posted by tharian

Any idea on which channel the practice, qualifying and race will be shown on?
With multiple Start Sports channels popping up after last years race, I hope they telecast it on one of channels.

Star Sports 4 and HD2
All sessions are live.

[zenren]

Weather forecast

Fri: Dry
Sat: Dry
Sun: Wet

[Maky]

Originally Posted by zenren

Weather forecast

Fri: Dry
Sat: Dry
Sun: Wet

Ooooh Wet race :0.
It will be most interesting to see how the drivers handle the insane torque in the wet zen. This should sort the men from the boys ; ).

[Hatari]

Interesting session.. Great to see the cars back on the circuit. Overall a cautious approach with even Alonso running at a max of 10500 RPM. Only Quali will see the beasts unleashed.

[ecenandu]

2014 Australian F1 FP1 results

Source : Formula1 app

[zenren]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

2014 Australian F1 FP1 results
Attachment 1219169
Source : Formula1 app

Yet to figure out all the representations in the app.

I assume the number next to the tyres are the laps run on that set. Any idea what the difference between the two tyre markings in the app represents? M with white/black backgrounds?

[DocRock]

Just finished watching the second practice.
Glad to see Mercedes at the top and Hamilton at first.
The new cars have a low volume but a greater grunt.I don't know why is everyone struggling with brakes and understeer?
The tires seem to be good this time.
Eagerly waiting for qualifying.

[robimahanta]

P2 results. Vettel making inroads.

[deetjohn]

Originally Posted by DocRock

Just finished watching the second practice.
Glad to see Mercedes at the top and Hamilton at first.
The new cars have a low volume but a greater grunt.I don't know why is everyone struggling with brakes and understeer?
The tires seem to be good this time.
Eagerly waiting for qualifying.

From what I could gather.

The rear brakes system is brake-by-wire this year. Its got 2 main responsibilities - has to stop the rear tyres by giving sufficient thrust and also charge up the kinetic motor generator unit. The calibration of the unit is tricky to get a stable and consist braking feel for the driver, at the same time helping the generator to charge up the batteries most effectively. This will get much better as the drivers and the teams get a feel of the system.

The volume will surely go up in qualifying. They all were short shifting at 10K or thereabouts. 5K rpm yet to go. The grunt and turbo whoosh is awesome.

Understeer is an effect of low downforce and dirty track. Will improve as the season/ race progress.

[zenren]

FP2 seems to indicate that RBR is not as bad as we though earlier. However, Lotus is just the same as expected and I find it unlikely that they'll finish.

Merc and RBR could see both their cars in Q3, with Alonso and Button looking good too. Kimi doesn't seem to have got the car to his liking yet and could be in the bottom half for Q3 or even miss out on Q3 if other Merc teams pull up their socks in the last minute.

There are gravel traps like turn 10 where the cars could get stuck and be forced to retire. Even the reliable cars with not-so-reliable drivers could be out of the race.

The smoke seen from the front brakes of Hamilton and Hulkenberg seems to indicate that the brakes could be vulnerable to overheating if there is extended running through traffic.

Rumours seem to indicate that FP3 would be a formality with most teams likely to stay indoor to avoid missing the qualifying due to issues in FP3.

[nipcarlover]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

From what I could gather.


The volume will surely go up in qualifying. They all were short shifting at 10K or thereabouts. 5K rpm yet to go. The grunt and turbo whoosh is awesome.

I don't think they'll get anywhere near the 15k limit in anything but the most banzai quali laps as the engine produces max power/torque at 10.5k due to the fuel flow limit.

[volkman10]

Red Bull explains the 2014 F1 rule changes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFHmY...layer_embedded

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Red Bull explains the 2014 F1 rule changes.

^^ Its already there in the 2014 season thread.

Mercedes seem to have a guzzler on their hands. They should blow everyone away in Quali but I wonder if they will need to go more defensive than Ferrari and Renault in the race and thereby present an opportunity to the others to catch up.