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Luizzi was fastest in the joke that was first practise. With the new engine rules these sessions are a waste of time. Schumi did 3 laps and NO time recorded.
F1-Central called it a mockery.. id have to agree. I feel sorry for the folks who paid to get in.
Well I taped the second session and the v8's... glad to see sooo much running in that session! not a quiet moment!
The mercs are quick. I think Mark must have been doing some experimental work that session, with Nick being so high up in the order... maybe a race setup vs qualifying setup?
The rest... well sorta as I expected. Times, nothing spectacular, can't make much of them this early really, but it all looks about right.
Highlight for me was ralf reversing outa the gravel without beaching or anything! hehe thought that was brilliant.
Scottie wrote: I think Mark must have been doing some experimental work that session, with Nick being so high up in the order... maybe a race setup vs qualifying setup?.
Yeah it seems that way, Sam Micheal and also Webber said they were evaluating tyres and race setup. It was encouraging to see Heildfeld put in a quick time though. Ralf is a dick, and the Jordan drivers need WPS sponsorship.
Another thing, didn't Lowndes' crash look very amateur. Swerved out from behind another car and hit the grass and lost it. Very odd. Those Kelly racing cars look a bit too similar to the HRT cars though. So much for trying to make themselves look like a seperate race team to HRT.
Rant
I hate the use of the work "dick" people only use it because what what they hear in the US media (and they themselves use it because they cant say dickhead)
/Rant
I think that HDT cars need to change livery (I dont think its going to happen, but you never know). Webber looked like he was testing race setups, and Jason is right, the Jordan team could do with WPS sponsership
Flickr Gallery Fourth Photography "There is nothing funny about a clown in the moonlight." - Lon Chaney, Sr.
But he backed down and ran 2005 wings. Why can he do that overnight, but can't make them in the entire pre-season? I have to say i have lost a little respect for him over this, he accused Ferrari of playing political games, but he has done the same. Rather than just getting on with it, he has made a big drama out of it, then backed down and done the legal thing anyway. He sounded very sheepish on the TV this morning. As he said no one is bigger than the sport.
SMH wrote:Stoddart defends Minardi's modifications
March 5, 2005 - 2:54PM
Minardi owner Paul Stoddart was forced to defend the safety of his cars after the team worked frantically overnight to modify them for the Australian Grand Prix.
A Victorian Supreme Court injunction cleared the way for Minardi to take its place in qualifying but a question mark remained over the reliability of the untried parts used.
The Minardis finished fifteenth and sixteenth in the first qualifying session but are both set to start ahead of world champion Michael Schumacher, who was caught on a wet track on the wrong tyres.
Stoddart also faced credibility queries after producing a 2005-specification car in a matter of hours when he had held out all week against the new requirements, in place since late last year.
The FIA passed the updated Minardis but Stoddart warned they would be slower than ever.
"They (the new parts) haven't been tested and the cars have only ever done one and a half laps in this configuration," Stoddart said.
"I'm confident in the safety to the other competitors and I'm confident in the safety and integrity of the car to my drivers.
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"How driveable the car is, which is what the real question is, is that probably it's not and I think you'll see that in the lap times," he said.
"We weren't joking, we didn't have all the parts.
"Anybody that was around here during the night knows that we've been cutting parts all night.
"Have a look at the bodywork - you'll see that it's been cut and glued everywhere.
"What we had was the '05 parts which is the front and rear wings, but we did not have all the spares," he said.
Because of limited supplies, Stoddard warned any slip-up would be the end of the meeting for Minardi.
"We've been working through the night, we haven't got a T-car (spare), we've got two race cars and we haven't got spares so if we have any offs, that's our weekend finished," he said.
"It's okay to say fit the parts but it isn't like that because fitting the parts for any other team means months and months of wind tunnel testing, months and months of getting back the actual losses that have been incurred by the changes to the regulations.
"For instance these aero regs, which is what we're really talking about here, were designed to actually add two seconds roughly to the lap times.
"Well, they've done exactly that - I can assure you today that it will add more than two seconds to our lap times.
"But if you look at the other end of the grid it adds nothing to their lap times, they've got it all back - why? because they've got resources."
Stoddart claimed he was ambushed by objections to his cars running in 2004 form from Ferrari and Red Bull after he canvassed opinions from the teams in January and received the all-clear.
"Nobody had a problem with it at the time yet it was clear here that there were a few rumblings," he said.
Stoddard said by highlighting the issue he had won concessions from the sport's officials that there would be "more stability" in Formula One in the future.
"This was about a way forward, a road map to the future ... not change, change, change every five minutes.
"I was given enough comfort last night that we are not going to see rapid change any more," Stoddart said.
FORMULA One's governing body has implied it may strip Melbourne of the Formula One Grand Prix after a Victorian Supreme Court injunction "interfered" with the running of the event.
The FIA today released a pointed statement today after Minardi yesterday successfully got a Supreme Court injunction against a stewards ruling that its cars could not take part in the weekend's race.
"Apparently the judge thought it right to interfere with the running of a major sporting event, overrule the duly-appointed international officials and compel the governing body to allow cars to participate in breach of the international regulations, all this without first hearing both sides of the case," the FIA statement read.
"If Australian laws and procedures do indeed allow a judge to act in this way, it will be for the World Motor Sport Council to decide if a world championship motor sport event of any kind can ever again be held in Australia."
Such a stance, if carried through by the FIA, would also threaten the MotoGP event at Phillip Island and the World Rally Championship round in Western Australia.
The statement was unsigned on an FIA letterhead and distributed to all media at the grand prix.
Looks like Stoddarts little game has had some serious consequences.
Wasn't a bad race although there was no real action up the front. Those Minardis and Jordans are way off the pace but the new Redbull team that I thought was going to struggle are really doing well, making Jag look very ordinary.
Felt sorry for Heidfeld, MS squeezed him far to hard, least he got taken out as well.
Toyota did their usual, starting well then collapsing midrace.
Mclaren and Williams seem on par with each other.
Looks like it could be a Renault vs Ferrari year.
Sauber also seem competitive but Alonso just blew away JV once he got past him.
BAR pulling both cars on the last lap will have some implications I'm sure...
norbs wrote:
Stop bullying him. You have more birthdays each year than he gets roots!
I'm going to get off track here, but the highlight for me over the weekend was Saturday sitting in the Clark Stand with the rain blowing through every 15 mins to 1/2 hour. I got farking lashed by wind and rain, was cold and then the sun came out and I got a little bit of sun burn to go with the wind burn! The best thing I bought all weekend was a $5 poncho to me dry.
Red bull really surprised me... but dunno what would have happened had webber been able to pass the great experience of coulthard. Renault were fantastic, so happy for fisi too, great drive and Alonso's great drive through the field.
Ferrari always there somewhere, the new car will put them at the top again, but til then, Renault have them. Cant wait to see Malaysia... wanna see how webber goes there as he did a great job there last year. Mercs... seemed to just carry on from where they were last year, sauber are just behind them in my opinion.
I'm quite dissapointed at Minardi and Jordan/Midland. They really need to pick up their game. Very bad performance by both the team for their very poor preparation/car performance, and the drivers could have done with a lot more driving practice in those cars... dismal.
red bull was great =]...loved the 1st turn lunge by coulthard...looks like the old man has some spice in him still!...
funnily enough when cosworth had a stab at the engine....they found 25 odd horsepower...hmm.
Sauber was disappointing...renault were...well...it seems they can finish aswell as they start. Rubens did very well. Kimi =[..poor kimi....stalled the car. Montoya didnt go so well....bit boring. Webber i think went fine. Had a few stabs at the scotsman...might have had him if given a few laps. Pity nicky boy crashed into schumi....or...was it schumi into nicky. Anyway...Good race to watch. We see malaysia..GO KIMI!
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