less than 24 hours until F1 Friday practice session:

[cl8ton]

I don’t think the Massa move was that bad, just aggressive racing.
Coulthard went on to whine about the lack of rear vision on the cars as if to say he didn’t see Massa coming up?

Massa is also known with verbal out lashes, remember him calling Alonso a “F**king Idiot” on World television last year as they argued in Italian?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

That's a great expression - must remember that. LOL!

Fantastic race overall. And couldn't be happier with the result. McLaren wins again! Whoo!

[Seric]

What a messed up race. I surely hope the rest of them aren't like that. I have a feeling we are going to see a big difference in Malaysia.

Kimi needs to live up to his moniker, clearly he was letting his emotions drive the car. Which is totally the opposite of how he is.

Nico, well done lad.

Bourdais did very well. Course it was mostly attrition and a lucky pit stop early in the race that put him in that position. But he did do rather well with Alonso and Heikki on his tail until his Ferrari engine vomited.

My motto this year, "Anyone but Lewis".

[Noah930]

Incredible how Coulthard's and Kubica's cars disintegrated after their airborne episodes. C'mon, you never saw the General Lee fall apart after its many jumps, and that was with sketchy American engineering and assembly line quality control.

Interesting race. Too bad about all the attrition. Particularly for SeaBass. Races are less fun when there are only a handful of guys running at the end. Particularly when the guys you're pulling for (Kimi & Bourdais) aren't one of them.

[cl8ton]

I was impressed with SeaBass this race like I never was when he was in ChampCar!
But given time and poor finishes he will take over Montoya’s whinny, sniveling spot

Too bad all Ferrari engines DNF’d, bummer.

[Neilk]

Ferrari is already making excuses saying McLaren may be at fault for their engine issues.

Per Paddocktalk...

"The virtual publication GPweek.com is quoting a Ferrari spokesman as saying, "The issue was caused by the conflicting of two procedures. Now that we know there is a conflict we can make sure that it doesn't happen again."

The spokesman didn't directly blame the unit but compared it to trying to run Microsoft Windows on the Apple operating system, "It can get stuck and you don't know why".

[cl8ton]

Originally Posted by Neilk

Ferrari is already making excuses saying McLaren may be at fault for their engine issues.

Hmmm, lets see McLaren built the ECU’s with Microsoft’s help
Maybe the Ferrari engines blue screened during apex.

Read somewhere that Trulli discovered pushing three buttons in sequence overrode protection and aided in launch control.
Kinda like CTRL-ALT-DEL! Way to go MS...

[ginot912]

Yes,
The McLaren ECU is something I really don't understand.
How did they get all the other teams to agree to that?
Inquiring minds want to know.

Gino

[Scott at Pelican Parts]

Originally Posted by ginot912

Yes,
The McLaren ECU is something I really don't understand.
How did they get all the other teams to agree to that?
Inquiring minds want to know.

Gino

The FIA put the project out for bid and Microsoft/McLaren Electronic Systems was chosen. MES already consults with just about every F1 team on the grid and is a separate company from the McLaren F1 team. Mercedes is not going to risk their reputation by trying to seek an illegal advantage from the standard ECU.

[ginot912]

thanks Scott.

Gino

[mattdavis11]

The best part was when what's his name finished the race after a pass but didn't realize he had one more lap to go. That's not the best part, the best part was the gas man getting dragged down pit lane. Sorry, there are just so many highlights.

Ok, the best was the announcer who gets to have a few fingers during the race. "It just blued up."

They are taking notes, more fans hopping aboard.

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by mattdavis11

The best part was when what's his name finished the race after a pass but didn't realize he had one more lap to go. That's not the best part, the best part was the gas man getting dragged down pit lane. Sorry, there are just so many highlights.

Ok, the best was the announcer who gets to have a few fingers during the race. "It just blued up."

They are taking notes, more fans hopping aboard.

That was Heikki Kovalainen and according to him, he hit his pit entry speed limiter by accident basically shutting down the car for a couple of seconds.


I was scared seeing that fuel man getting dragged down and at first feared he had been run over. The lollipop man has a lot of explaining to do and I would not be surprised if he is not there next weekend.

Ross Brawn said he would not be calling the shots but watching this past weekend, I would imagine he has a lot to change with the in race procedures.

I am still not liking this 1 ECU rule and cannot help but wonder if its giving some teams an advantage.

[Jims5543]

Per Planet F1

An honest Heikki Kovalainen has revealed he was at fault when Renault's Fernando Alonso stole back fourth place in the closing stages of the Australian GP.

Denied a deserved podium finish by the deployment of the safety car following Tim Glock's crash, the Finn appeared to have made partial amends on the penultimate lap when he finally found a way past Alonso, the driver who he has replaced at McLaren. But moments later Alonso swept past Kovalainen as his McLaren suddenly slowed to a crawl along the pitlane.

"It was my mistake," conceded the Finn after the race. "I went with my right hand to tear off a visor after it was covered in oil and accidentally hit the pit-lane limiter."

Nonetheless, it was an impressive race from the youngster who set the fastest lap time of the grand prix. "I'm pleased but disappointed," he reflected.

[911pcars]

Originally Posted by cl8ton

I was impressed with SeaBass this race like I never was when he was in ChampCar!
But given time and poor finishes he will take over Montoya’s whinny, sniveling spot

Too bad all Ferrari engines DNF’d, bummer.

Four Champ Car championships, 31 pole positions and 31 race wins in 73 starts in 5 years didn't impress? Tough crowd. Maybe Bourdais lucked into P1 at the end of each of those races.

Ferrari would be fortunate if it finds a common cause for 3 engine failures. Maybe it was just the heat of Australia.

Sherwood

[mattdavis11]

That's the third time I've heard about heat being a factor.

The 2.4 just can't handle it, or can it? It's absolutely ridiculous to hear of these complaints in the "greatest" motor sports division. I'm lost, push rod and carbs, evaporation in Texas. How do you.....

I did like how kimi kicked the kid to the curb, that was intent, and talent.

Racing again this weekend, yes?

[Won]

Originally Posted by mattdavis11

That's the third time I've heard about heat being a factor.

The 2.4 just can't handle it, or can it? It's absolutely ridiculous to hear of these complaints in the "greatest" motor sports division. I'm lost, push rod and carbs, evaporation in Texas. How do you.....

I did like how kimi kicked the kid to the curb, that was intent, and talent.

Racing again this weekend, yes?

Oh yes, and as one of the drivers mentioned, Australia was just a practice in terms of severe weather conditions they usually have to face in Malaysia.

Coming out of 2007 season we should be expecting some exciting battle between HAM, the eyebrow man (if he can find his groove back soon enough) and Kimi (if his engine will hold together) but I think the real fun is going to be watching the guys in the "midpack" fight it all out. Both Red Bull teams have come a long way with some excellent driving. Williams and BMW-Sauber seem stronger than ever with their consistency, Toyota might just have something to show this time, heck Rubens showed that even Honda is plenty capable and that's with Ross Brawn just "watching over" for now. Then of course Force India and Super Aguri will duke it out in their own league.

The only driver this season that I can't cheer for is Nelson Jr. I just can't take his cockery and this is only the beginning of the season.

[cl8ton]

This thing may be bigger than "StepneyGate"

Sepang news quote:

"With Ferrari Drive-Like-a-Million-Bucks -McLaren relations at an all time low, paddock gossip is inevitably doing the rounds that Ferrari is now unhappier than ever about tackling this season and beyond with the new McLaren-developed control electronics. Following the investigation back at Maranello this week into Ferrari’s two failed race engines in Australia, speculation suggests that the Italian team has found that the design of the team’s V8 power plant itself was not responsible for the problems.

It is similarly being reported that Ferrari thinks the fuel pressure problem that stranded Kimi Raikkonen down the Melbourne grid last Saturday is also related to the McLaren ECU.

“This kind of thing can happen when you are working with one procedure that you do not know so well. Now we know that there is a conflict we can make sure it does not happen again,” a team spokesman told GP Week.

Team boss Stefano Domenicali, meanwhile, also suggested that Ferrari’s Albert Park dramas could be related to the new ECU, which is developed jointly by Woking based McLaren Electronic Systems and Microsoft, and awarded the tender to equip all F1 cars until 2010 by the FIA."

[Porsche-O-Phile]

It'll be great watching Ferrari implode and seeing McLaren hand their asses to them week after week after week. Gotta' make back that $100M right?

[Jims5543]

Kimi's Ferrari died again last night during Friday practice. Not looking good for them at all, when they were running they had good pace though. Too bad they need the cars to last a whole race.