Palmer bins it.... red flag
He lost control on turn in at the final corner, spun out and slammed into the barriers, before bouncing back across the track
* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left
“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)
* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
Seeing the lap times i already decided to switch off the stream and call it a day. Mercedes is that dominant again. Will read in the reactions here who won the race coming sunday. Have fun lads and lass.
Brian Redman: "Mr. Fangio, how do you come so fast?" "More throttle, less brakes...."
Ericcson had a lose and beached it in the gravel between turns six and seven with 4 minutes to go. Virtual SC deployed. They are clearing the car but 2 mins to go. Probably seen the last of anything quick.
* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left
“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)
* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
Practice 2 last year was affected by a damp track, so no comparisons of meaning there, but here is a comparison of 2016 v 2017 P1 times.
2016 P1 times.
POS. NO. DRIVER TEAM TIME GAP LAPS
1 44 LEWIS HAMILTON MERCEDES 1:29.725 14
2 26 DANIIL KVYAT RED BULL RACING 1:30.146 +0.421s 14
3 3 DANIEL RICCIARDO RED BULL RACING 1:30.875 +1.150s 13
4 27 NICO HULKENBERG FORCE INDIA 1:31.325 +1.600s 8
5 33 MAX VERSTAPPEN TORO ROSSO 1:31.720 +1.995s 14
6 6 NICO ROSBERG MERCEDES 1:31.814 +2.089s 11
7 14 FERNANDO ALONSO MCLAREN 1:33.060 +3.335s 11
8 22 JENSON BUTTON MCLAREN 1:33.129 +3.404s 16
9 11 SERGIO PEREZ FORCE INDIA 1:33.370 +3.645s 6
10 20 KEVIN MAGNUSSEN RENAULT 1:34.060 +4.335s 13
11 77 VALTTERI BOTTAS WILLIAMS 1:34.550 +4.825s 6
12 19 FELIPE MASSA WILLIAMS 1:34.679 +4.954s 6
13 12 FELIPE NASR SAUBER 1:34.796 +5.071s 7
14 30 JOLYON PALMER RENAULT 1:35.477 +5.752s 12
15 9 MARCUS ERICSSON SAUBER 1:37.956 +8.231s 6
16 94 PASCAL WEHRLEIN MANOR 1:40.401 +10.676s 6
17 7 KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN FERRARI 1:40.754 +11.029s 10
18 21 ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ HAAS 1:41.780 +12.055s 8
19 88 RIO HARYANTO MANOR 1:43.372 +13.647s 7
20 8 ROMAIN GROSJEAN HAAS 1:43.443 +13.718s 6
21 5 SEBASTIAN VETTEL FERRARI 8
22 55 CARLOS SAINZ TORO ROSSO 3
P1 this year.
Position Driver Team Car Time ap Laps
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport Mercedes 1:24.220s – 22
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport Mercedes 1:24.803s 0.583s 25
3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing Red Bull/Renault 1:24.886s 0.666s 19
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing Red Bull/Renault 1:25.246s 1.026s 19
5 Kimi Raikkonen Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 1:25.372s 1.152s 16
6 Sebastian Vettel Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari 1:25.464s 1.244s 10
7 Felipe Massa Williams Martini Racing Williams/Mercedes 1:26.142s 1.922s 28
8 Romain Grosjean Haas F1 Team Haas/Ferrari 1:26.168s 1.948s 20
9 Nico Hulkenberg Renault Sport F1 Team Renault 1:26.183s 1.963s 15
10 Sergio Perez Sahara Force India F1 Team Force India/Mercedes 1:26.276s 2.056s 29
11 Carlos Sainz Scuderia Toro Rosso Toro Rosso/Renault 1:26.450s 2.230s 24
12 Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso Toro Rosso/Renault 1:26.514s 2.294s 25
13 Lance Stroll Williams Martini Racing Williams/Mercedes 1:26.734s 2.514s 29
14 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda McLaren/Honda 1:27.116s 2.896s 18
15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber F1 Team Sauber/Ferrari 1:27.348s 3.128s 30
16 Esteban Ocon Sahara Force India F1 Team Force India/Mercedes 1:27.656s 3.436s 23
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas F1 Team Haas/Ferrari 1:27.667s 3.447s 20
18 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber F1 Team Sauber/Ferrari 1:28.539s 4.319s 22
19 Jolyon Palmer Renault Sport F1 Team Renault 1:28.585s 4.365s 6
20 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Honda McLaren/Honda 1:28.695s 4.475s 14
To look at the top of the sheets, Lewis last year clocked a P1 time of 1:29.725 against a P1 time of 1:24.220 this year. This year time is 5.5 seconds faster. P3 last year Lewis clocked a 1:25.624, with a qualy time of 1:25.351 (Q1) 1:24.605(Q2) 1:23.837(Q3).
Lewis clocked a 1:23.620 in P2 today, faster by 0.2 than his pole time last year. Looks like pole this year will be in the 19's weather permitting.
* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left
“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)
* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
Weather Forecast for tomorrow looks like it will be wet at some stage, likely P3 time, clearing later in the afternoon.
Melbourne area
Min 16C Max 27C Shower or two.Possible rainfall: 0 to 2 mm
Chance of any rain: 60%
Summary
Partly cloudy. Medium (60%) chance of showers, most likely in the morning and early afternoon. Winds northerly 15 to 20 km/h becoming light in the early afternoon.
Sunday suggests it might rain in the morning, but clear by the afternoon.
Min 15C Max 28C Cloudy.Possible rainfall: Chance of any rain: 20%
Summary
Cloudy. Slight (20%) chance of a shower in the morning. Light winds.
* I started life with nothing, and still have most of it left
“Good drivers have dead flies on the side windows!” (Walter Röhrl)
* I married Miss Right. Just didn't know her first name was Always
Maybe. By the sounds of that it probably won't do all that much.
Also while I'm going to wait until the race to call it decisively, it seems to me that based on the practices so far Hamilton was bullshitting when he said that Ferrari were going to be the strongest at Melbourne. Unless Ferrari is sandbagging... I kind of doubt that though.
If Stroll qualifies in or around P13-P14, I wonder what will happen at the start... Beware anyone around him. He'll either back off and drop 3-4 places, or spin someone out.