2015 Austrian Grand Prix thread

[AndyL]

The Grosser Preiss von Österreich kicks off tomorrow so here are the session times - back to the "normal" European schedule.

Friday 19 June
Free practice 1 starts: BST 9:00 AM, local (CEST) 10:00 AM
Free practice 2 starts: BST 1:00 PM, local (CEST) 2:00 PM
Saturday 20 June
Free practice 3 starts: BST 10:00 AM, local (CEST) 11:00 AM
Qualifying starts: BST 1:00 PM, local (CEST) 2:00 PM
Sunday 21 June
Race starts: BST 1:00 PM, local (CEST) 2:00 PM

Apparently Alonso and the two Red Bulls are already heading for the back of the grid due to engine penalties. On the positive side for Alonso, he gets a new short-nose aero package on his McLaren.

[Storm]

Vettel faster than Mercs on a qually run where Hamilton made a few mistakes....hmm does that mean we "might" see a different front row tomorrow. nah don't think so.

[steveaki13]

I hope its a better race than we have seen for a while. Been a poor season IMO.

Austria can sometimes offer fun racing because of the layout. Lets hope for some this weekend.

[N4D13]

How many laps has Alonso completed so far? McLaren is starting to look like HRT at any Australian Grand Prix. :-/

[N4D13]

Whoa. Did anyone impede Kimi or did he just pull off a Badoer? :-/

Edit: according to the radio communication, that was a full-fledged Badoer. "How the **** did that happen?"

[steveaki13]

Whoops Kimi.........

Hope he can come through similar to Vettel did.

[AndyL]

Do we know why Kimi pitted early at the end of Q1? Had he messed up his last effort, or was he out of fuel?

[N4D13]

Oh dear, Sainz screwed up royally. He's almost a whole second behind his teammate. That's a shocker, considering that he's been doing great in quali for most of the season.

Edit: he's blamed it on traffic.

[Nitrodaze]

Redbull boss says the problem with the car is 20% chassis and 80% powerhouse. I have some doubt this it the real situation. Normally, the Redbull is usually close to a second ahead of the Toro rosso cars in their hay days. Now the Toro Rosso is as quick, even marginally faster than the Red Bull with both using the same Renault engines. Hence with the chassis at the level of where it use to be ought to see the redbull comfortably ahead of the sister team. I would think this accounts for Adrian Newey not penning the Aerodynamics on this years car. Whichever way you look at it, the chassis problem is more than 20%

[gm99]

Both Merc drivers bin it on their last lap, and they still finish in P1/2...

[kfzmeister]

Holy crap. Both ALO and BUT 25 place grid penalty EACH, plus drive throughs!

Perhaps they could just line them up in Montreal again and let them race each other??

[truefan72]

apparently Mercedes are not the only ones with dumb race engineers that ruin their driver's race

Ferrari apparently didn't communicate with Kimi properly:
http://www.eurosport.co.uk/formula-1/kimi-raikkonen-s-x-rated-blast-at-ferrari-for-ruining-his-qualifying_sto4790476/story.shtml

in light of this new evidence, kimi is off the hook...sorta

[Big Ben]

Holy crap. Both ALO and BUT 25 place grid penalty EACH, plus drive throughs!

Perhaps they could just line them up in Montreal again and let them race each other??

To give a 25 grid places penalty with a 20 cars grid...kudos to the geniuses that came up with that rule

[kfzmeister]

To give a 25 grid places penalty with a 20 cars grid...kudos to the geniuses that came up with that rule

Gonna be a tough day! I'm sure it's very mountainous!

[Mekola]

What Massa almost did with Arrivabene in the pits... Is the same that Pantano almost did with Scalabroni in the GP2 pits ten years ago.

[zako85]

So now Vettel's and Raikkonen's grid positions are reversed relative to Montreal. It will be interesting to see what the outcome will be. Glad to see Hulkenberg qualify so high in a Force India. Other young drivers impressed too: Kvyat, Verstappen, and Nasr.

[Rollo]

Holy crap. Both ALO and BUT 25 place grid penalty EACH, plus drive throughs!

Perhaps they could just line them up in Montreal again and let them race each other??

If I was McLaren at this point, I'd basically consider screwing up the engines as far as they'll possibly go. Try to expend as much fuel as quickly as possible and get as much power from those Hondas as possible. The result will still be zero points; so you might as well have fun doing it.

What's the worst that could happen, a 25 place grid penalty each, plus drive throughs?


Heck, chuck a 3L V10 in the back just to stick it to tha FIA :D

[N4D13]

That was one weird accident. Did Kimi lose it or did Alonso hit him first? :-/

Glad for the stewards and Kimi, that was a close call.

Edit: looks like Alonso was a bit too close and could not avoid Kimi when his car wobbled going out of the turn.

[gm99]

That was probably the only chance for McLaren to be on top of Ferrari this season ;)

[N4D13]

Looking on the bright side, you could say that Alonso crashed into Kimi to spare McLaren the humiliation of yet another double DNF for reliability issues.

[AndyL]

Alonso is always aggressive at the start and usually gains several places. But occasionally that approach is going to trip you up.

He and Kimi will face the stewards after the race.

[gm99]

Nice overtake by Bottas!

[N4D13]

According to Alonso, Kimi lost the rear end while on 4rd or 5th gear while Alo was overtaking him on the left. That sounds definitely weird.

[AndyL]

Lewis's 5 second penalty has removed any prospect of a race for the win :(

[N4D13]

Maldonado sure knows how to instill the fear of God into his rivals. It worked on Verstappen.

[gm99]

Haha, Gerhard Berger calling Rosberg "Lewis" on the podium :D

[steveaki13]

Not around, during the race. Just watched it now.

Not a great race again, Lewis no chance to win with that silly penalty, very silly mistake.

[airshifter]

Maldonado sure knows how to instill the fear of God into his rivals. It worked on Verstappen.

After the incident on the pass on the one earlier when he was trying, I'm surprised that Max didn't just move over to get away from Pastor. I'll give him credit for two good saves, but it's no shock that he often crashes out of races.

[N. Jones]

Does anyone else have to deal with the constant commercials that we in the US do?? They seriously breakup the flow of the race and drive me crazy!

[kfzmeister]

It sure looked like ALO had a lightning start, based upon the overhead replay. Too bad Kimi took him out, cause it might have been interesting.

[Rollo]

According to Alonso, Kimi lost the rear end while on 4rd or 5th gear while Alo was overtaking him on the left. That sounds definitely weird.

Doesn't sound weird to me.

The program that I was listening to before the GP started, asked if it had ever snowed at a GP before. If you have low track temperatures and it's only lap one, then trying to put power through cold rubber is difficult.
Later in the race, one of the Lotii had a power snap as it suddenly broke traction under power.

Cold tyres + Cold Track = yeah, I can see how that would create the wiggles.

[AndyL]

Doesn't sound weird to me.

The program that I was listening to before the GP started, asked if it had ever snowed at a GP before. If you have low track temperatures and it's only lap one, then trying to put power through cold rubber is difficult.
Later in the race, one of the Lotii had a power snap as it suddenly broke traction under power.

Cold tyres + Cold Track = yeah, I can see how that would create the wiggles.

And it's not the first time Kimi has had a similar problem while using the launch map (which apparently has to remain active for 1 lap after the start or leaving the pits).

[donKey jote]

It sure looked like ALO had a lightning start, based upon the overhead replay. Too bad Kimi took him out, cause it might have been interesting.
It might have, for the few more laps the mclaren is currently capable of running :p

[The Black Knight]

Awful race! I fell asleep during it! This season is due a cracker soon as all the races have been pretty lame so far except Malaysia!

[kfzmeister]

It might have, for the few more laps the mclaren is currently capable of running :p

Yeah, the McLaren team has to take jokes like that on the chin! Lol

[journeyman racer]

I don't know if it's just me. But the Austrian track seems even more scenic that when the race occurred from 97-04?


Awful race! I fell asleep during it! This season is due a cracker soon as all the races have been pretty lame so far except Malaysia!
It was just like any other MB 1-2, except Rosberg won. It seems to me you're more of a Hamo fan than a F1/motorsport fan?

Disappointing attitude.

In light of what had happened in Austria, along with Spain, where Rosberg got the better of the start and Hamilton couldn't give a yelp. Would truefan like to review his opinion expressed here?


http://www.motorsportforums.com/showthread.php?35625-Donkey(s)-of-the-Race&p=1054969&viewfull=1#post1054969


honrable mention to rosberg with what has now become his traditional weekly foot in the mouth comment

"Qualifying cost me the victory"

laughable

http://www.motorsportforums.com/showthread.php?35625-Donkey(s)-of-the-Race&p=1054993&viewfull=1#post1054993


I'll add to that this:
If Hamilton was 1 second behind Rosberg, can one honestly say that Hamilton would not have closed up attempted a pass and/or even passed Rosberg?
Hamilton has closed up and passed Rosberg on several occasions, that cannot be said the other way around. For Hamilton, starting 2nd behind Rosberg in any race is no big deal for him (except monaco)
He will eventually catch up and pass or try to pass. Rosberg in the meanwhile, thinks starting 2nd in Canada is about as good as finished for him, despite 1 really long drs zone and a 2nd one that still provides overtaking opportunities.

[journeyman racer]

But I won't let truefan cop it on his own. Would rjbetty llike to clarify their opinion expressed here?

http://www.motorsportforums.com/showthread.php?35625-Donkey(s)-of-the-Race&p=1054991&viewfull=1#post1054991


I understand where he';s coming from. I mean, like dj he has to cling for dearl life onto anything he can, and shut his eyes and ears to anything like Lewis always pulling out a gap of tenths whenever needed, like the one time Nico got within DRS range because Hamilton got traffic.

Lewis was probably in some degree of control. I mean he didn't cut the chicane (thus getting out of DRS range) or anything. So he didn't look that much under pressure.

Not bad seeing Lewis lost practice time, which dj can tell you is an enormous disadvantage.

Rosberg's comments seem legit. The MB battle now seems to have narrowed down to who gets the best lap in qualifying and/or who gets the better of the first couple of laps.

It's been said it's harder to follow a car as close as it was last year. It seems some have not noticed this slight change in dynamic?

[kfzmeister]

It might have, for the few more laps the mclaren is currently capable of running :p

76 laps today! One right after another......

[truefan72]

just watched the race now.
It was a tough day in the office. Be we salvaged 2nd

other than the start, an uneventful race

[The Black Knight]

http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/24181/9896227/lewis-hamiltons-decision-to-skip-testing-in-austria-was-bizarre

So Hamilton, off the pace the entire weekend, asked to be excused from testing! I was wondering why it was Rosberg testing again especially since he did the first test! Looks like it might be Hamilton's biggest weakness striking again! Puts celebrity lifestyle before his job! I've seen this happening since Spain but this pretty much cements it. After the substandard weekend he had, he should have been gunning to get back in the car! He was missing apex's, running wide in corners all throughout the race. Testing would have been the perfect opportunity for him to get his mojo back.

[rjbetty]

http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/24181/9896227/lewis-hamiltons-decision-to-skip-testing-in-austria-was-bizarre

So Hamilton, off the pace the entire weekend, asked to be excused from testing! I was wondering why it was Rosberg testing again especially since he did the first test! Looks like it might be Hamilton's biggest weakness striking again! Puts celebrity lifestyle before his job! I've seen this happening since Spain but this pretty much cements it. After the substandard weekend he had, he should have been gunning to get back in the car! He was missing apex's, running wide in corners all throughout the race. Testing would have been the perfect opportunity for him to get his mojo back.

Think I have to agree as far as I can see. It's a shame.

I'm also extremely wary of this Jenner girl. I think she will be worse for Lewis than Nicole and I forsee stormy times ahead... *tries to find the uh-oh smiley*

[The Black Knight]

Think I have to agree as far as I can see. It's a shame.

I'm also extremely wary of this Jenner girl. I think she will be worse for Lewis than Nicole and I forsee stormy times ahead... *tries to find the uh-oh smiley*

Yup, and the thing is he has the car to do it but he will never be remembered as a great from his ability alone, you have to do it on the track. He needs to win another 2 WDC's IMO. We'll see how it goes in Britain but I'm not expecting much. He was at Glastonbury as well - seriously needs to get it together now. F1 is a full-time job not a 3-4 day every other week job.