[RPM1500]

Well, Liberty Media's handling of broadcast and some new features are awesome! Personally, I really loved that sector timing thing, where it showed sector-wise purple, green and grey color. Nice addition, although some might think its information overload, and might take fun away from surprise, but for qualis, it was excellent in my opinion.

Although its too early to tell, does someone else feel that these new regulation cars are not overtake friendly? Total 3 overtakes in the whole race!
Time will tell with further races, but the race as a whole was a kind of boring to watch, and was a clear reflection of qualification results.

Couldn't understand what was wrong with Kimi though, although Bottas did really, really great!!! I am glad for him.

Great start to the 2017 season. It's gonna be a good year.

[sawnilrules]

Voila, finally F1 is back, it was getting kind of boring from the past 2 years, where there was not real challenger to the Mercedes Domination. I hope Vettle's win was not one of a kind and they remain competitive through out the season. It will also be interesting to see how the Bulls react.

Somehow, I don't find Ham-Bot pairing a lethal combination. Am I the only one finding it to be that way or do others also echo what I am getting at.

[frostbite911]

Let's not forget the solid debut performance from Antonio Giovinazzi. A job well done by the young Italian. He deserves a full time seat for next year.

[ashwin.terminat]

Originally Posted by RPM1500

Although it's too early to tell, does someone else feel that these new regulation cars are not overtake friendly? Total 3 overtakes in the whole race!

Verstappen had mentioned over radio in either the Practice or Qualifying that following Ricciardo was extremely difficult.

Which would, in turn, make overtaking also difficult.

Ross Brawn has mentioned that aero changes that make the cars easier to follow are being actively looked into.

Source: http://www.wheels24.co.za/FormulaOne...group-20170317

Also, looks like Mercedes' call to bring in Hamilton wasn't much earlier compared to their original plan.

"I only stopped a lap earlier than my target but I couldn't go any further," Hamilton admitted.

Source: http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/124...ari-in-f1-2017

As for me, I'm elated to see Ferrari on the top step of the podium after so long. Although, I'm still on the fence about Ferrari's pace vs Mercedes' considering the strategy played such a big part in the outcome yesterday (or did it?)

Forza Ferrari!

[SilentEngine]

Only reason we are all getting excited is because of the Ferrari win, otherwise it was a typical boring race with hardly any on track action. We need Ferrari to continue this momentum and Redbull drivers to join the action at front to lead to some proper scraps at front.

Let's see how Mercedes respond in China!

Originally Posted by amitoj

McLaren got their strategy wrong and Ferrari got theirs spot on and that made all the difference in the end.
It was also nice to see both the pinks in the top 10!
And the way Bottas was able to catch up to Hamilton, I think Hamilton might be fighting a challenge from within the team as well, although McLaren will probably rally behind Lewis rather than Bottas

I am sure you meant Mercedes there! McLaren are busy playing Engine-Engine and have no time for strategies

[asr245]

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

Only reason we are all getting excited is because of the Ferrari win, otherwise it was a typical boring race with hardly any on track action.

I recall Ocon's move on Alonso & one by Stroll on a Sauber. Don't recall any other action on track. Following a car has become much more difficult now. LH on fresh tyres couldn't do anything about MV on 18-19 lap old ones. Agree, he's hard to overtake, but still.

But it was so bad (coming from a Merc domination of 3 years), that even this is something to be excited of.

PS: which channel has F1 moved to? Is it now only on HD? I had to take hotstar membership (free trial) just to watch the race.

[ecenandu]

Too early to call on the relative performance, guys. The next race, in China will give us a better picture. I think there Honda will be last as Fernando said in the post race press conference.

Regarding the race pace, looks like they were able to push hard towards the end of the stint as well. Kimi, Vettel and Bottas were able to put the fastest lap towards the end of their race. So strategies are going to be critical this year.

The setup also looks tricky, not surprising given in its new rules and tyres. It will get better as season progress.

Regarding the strategy, it was Hamilton who made the call and I don't agree with him saying that he will be breezed past by Vettel. He got the necessary skills to keep Vettel at bay. Ask Ocon, Alonso kept him behind even though he had a 1.5 sec pace advantage. Perez told you need a 2 sec time delta here to overtake easily. Either way, it was a race where the victory will be decided in the pits.

I expect more bad press for Honda from Alonso at next race in China. Last year they didn't get lapped. Lets see how they perform this time.

I really hope Ferrari got genuine pace, it will keep the Merc honest. Two teams pushing hard at the front will be a treat for the fans as well. It will expose any design flaws as well, since this year we have only 4 Power units for the whole season.

[ashwin.terminat]

Originally Posted by asr245

PS: which channel has F1 moved to? Is it now only on HD? I had to take hotstar membership (free trial) just to watch the race.

Yes, only HD.

Remember to cancel your HotStar subscription if need be, else you will be charged Rs.199 after a month.

Cancelling your subscription will still let you use HotStar premium for the rest of your 30 day trial period.

[Fullrevs]

That was an extremely satisfying race to watch. Quite a dominant drive by Vettel to seal first place for Ferrari after 15 months. Hope this form continues into the remainder of the season. We all know Albert park is a one-off circuit and bears no similarity to what could happen when racing resumes in normal circuits. I don't think it was a perfect strategy call for Ferrari that earned them the win. It was genuine pace as one could see Vettel hound Hamilton for almost 15 laps from the green light and Hamilton was complaining about heavy degradation running in clear air.

Ferrari still have to work on Qualifying pace. Kimi's performance was a bit ordinary and that's how he can be if he doesn't get the car tuned up right. It didn't seem like it was only Seb's errors that cost him pole position. Pity for Ricciardo! The few minutes he was on track was quite exciting itself.

China will be exciting to watch but the degradation is also quite high there. True pecking order will only be evident from the European leg of the season in my opinion.

[avdhesh15]

Great race to watch considering it was after a long, long time that Mercedes had no answer to Ferrari / RB when it came down to racing. Ferrari, especially Vettel, was simply brilliant. Why Kimi wasn't able to catch up is an entirely other question which hopefully the team can answer quickly in order to continue putting in strong performances rather than the solo win / podium here and there.

Moving forward, Ferrari will be strong contenders for sure and I somewhere believe RB will also join in the fight to make it a 3 way competition along with Mercedes. I also believe that Bottas will not be as potent a force considering it's only his first few races in a brand new car.

Mid-field seems to have TR join Force India and Williams for positions 4, 5 and 6. But in all likelihood it will be either FI or Williams followed by TR on 6th.

Renault and Haas look to be fighting for 7 and 8 whereas Sauber and McLaren will be fighting it out for the wooden spoon!

All in all, a good season beckons. Lots of interesting graphics / statistics also shown both on TV and on the F1 Access app which adds to the overall experience.

Looking forward to hopefully an exciting season ahead!

[gtonsing]

Did not have the time to watch the race. But outcomes seem to have been special. Nice to see Ferrari up in P1 - while I am no particular fan of the prancing bull. Nice to see both the Sahara Force India cars in the top 10 and get good starting points in the first ever race of the season, especially so for the newbie Occon.
Looking forward to a "overtaking heavy, full of drama" season.

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

I am sure you meant Mercedes there! McLaren are busy playing Engine-Engine and have no time for strategies

ROFL yeah. Thanks for correcting me.
"Engine - Engine" that's hilarious but true. Their goal is to finish a race, let alone be in the points.

[jraj]

Ferrari is back and so is the finger.The new Formula One management couldn't have asked for anything better than to see Mercedes and Ferrari involved in a close fight.

From all the expert opinion so far,it appears that the SF70H doesnt have any problem following another car close.That would definitely aid them through the season.

But whats with allowing the public onto the track when the cars were still returning to the pits post race.It looked quite scary

[Makin Rulesz]

Originally Posted by jraj

But whats with allowing the public onto the track when the cars were still returning to the pits post race.It looked quite scary

No, it was not done purposely. This incident is currently under investigation.

http://www.speedcafe.com/2017/03/26/...rowd-invasion/

[Sudeep_Kimster]

Faster cars, more durable tires – and an aborted start – produced the shortest Australian Grand Prix ever seen at Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit.

Sebastian Vettel took just one hour, 24 minutes and 11.672 seconds to win yesterday’s race, trimming 4.085 seconds off the previous shortest race, held in 2004. But he was helped by the fact this year’s race was shortened by one lap after the first attempt to start it was abandoned.
So this wasn’t the fastest race ever seen at Albert Park. That remains the 2004 race, run over the full 58 laps and won by Michael Schumacher at an average speed of 219.010kph in his Ferrari F2004.

Courtesy - F1 Fanatic