So who's it gonna be? Here are my predictions:

1. Button (gotta win sooner or later)
2. Alonso
3. Raikkonen
4. Massa
5. McSchumacher
6. Fisi
7. Montoya
8. Villeneuve

(Rosberg ahead of Massa if he doesn't A.) crash 2.) burst into flames III.) get some stupid drive through penalty.)

I put Schumy 1st. Australia has always been good to the Ferrari's

Alonso
MS
JPM
Top three for sure, may alter order.
Kimi
Fisi
Top five for sure.
Too soon yet to make any educated guess.
After quali we'll see..

Fa
Kr
Gf
Jb

I'm going to call this as Kimi's first win.

KR
MS
FA
JPM
GF

MS
JPM
Button
Alonso
Webber

KR
FA
GF
MS
JPM

it's hard to say these days, thats my best guess though

meh, im not so sure about Ferrari now...

meh, im not so sure about Ferrari now...

they have really been dropping the ball recently. to say the least.

Waowwww what a start to the GP.

Im glued to the tv right now. Massa, Klien, Rosberg out....Sato is in 12th!!!

Waowwww what a start to the GP.

Im glued to the tv right now. Massa, Klien, Rosberg out....Sato is in 12th!!!


No kidding! This should be a good race

This is nuts. The last time I remember a race this crazy was with the streaker at the British GP:eyecrazy

WHATTT BUTTON'S HONDA BLOWS ON THE LAST CORNER!!!! ...almost causes Fisi to spin.....this was truly an incredible race everywhere except up front with alonso driving an amazing race.

4 thumbs up to the Super Aguri Team

I am freaking out!!!! what the hell is R. shumi doing in 3rd? How does he get 3 pitstops and still come in 3rd ahead of the heidfeld? arent you supposed to not pass during a safety car? yes ive been drinking but damn.... this was a crazy race

I think Ralfs 3rd will turn into a DQ after all is said and done. There is no way he made up that many spots. BMW Sauber had solid runs. If Ralf gets DQ'd that means more points for BMW and an extra point for Scott Speed! Weird race.

Cris

BMW Sauber F1 the new boys on the block....4th and 7th...finally they finish both in the top ten without one blowing....I think that really says something for BMW, after everyone said they would be lucky to score points all season...
edit: but button not crossing the line means no 10 place penalty from quali next week for an engine change...hmm

that was one of the most exciting races i have seen in a long long time. more safety car periods in f1 by far except brazil 3 or 4 years ago in the wet.

damn montoya, threw another potential podium away. and spinning on the warm up lap? wtf!! but he had some good battles on restarts. esp the opening lap w/ kimi.

I am upset with those restarts from when the safety car was leaving the track. The one where Kimi was in 3rd but 5 cars back behind Alonso the two lapped cars let Alonso get about 10 seconds ahead before even getting on it around the corner! Then before the next safety car came out Kimi was able to get into wnd place, but with one lapped car between him and Alonso, and then that lapped car let Alonso get way ahead AGAIN before the restart!! To me it would have been a closer race for Kimi if those lapped cars werent holding him back, if I didnt know better I would say they intentionally let Alonso get a huge jump at the restart, thats how stupid it looked. Kimi even said it in the interview after, "if there werent lapped cars in the way and both of us had cars running in good order there would have been a fight for first. Alonso raced a good race, but Kimi keeps getting held back, sooner or later nothing will hold him back and Kimi will dominate, just waiting for that day!

Guess I was was closest eh :D

Damn safety car scenario turned out to be a real drag after a while.

looks like Ralf and Speed's points are under further inspection from the stewards. Ralf was in the middle of a frenzied shuffle that took place under caution...i dont think he should be solely punished.

They docked Speed 25 seconds for "ignoring a yellow flag" and fined him $5,000.00 for saying something rude to one of the other drivers in the Steward's meeting (probably Jenson Button).

Still haven't read anything in regards to Ralf.

They also penalised Sato for ignoring a blue flag.

This pushes Couthard up into 8th.

more safety car periods in f1 by far except brazil 3 or 4 years ago in the wet.


You don't have to go that far back, forget the chinese GP from last year? ;)

I was happy that BMW ran up ther and ALMOST got onto the podium...
the problem is even when running SECOND they got ZERO camera time...
it is like BMW Sauber is completely out of the loop. ferrari and renault and Mclaren have ALL the publicity... BMW needs to win some so I can ATLEAST get some in car footage...
oh well next race we see!!!

still happy for 4th and 7th :)

I am upset with those restarts from when the safety car was leaving the track. The one where Kimi was in 3rd but 5 cars back behind Alonso the two lapped cars let Alonso get about 10 seconds ahead before even getting on it around the corner! Then before the next safety car came out Kimi was able to get into wnd place, but with one lapped car between him and Alonso, and then that lapped car let Alonso get way ahead AGAIN before the restart!! To me it would have been a closer race for Kimi if those lapped cars werent holding him back, if I didnt know better I would say they intentionally let Alonso get a huge jump at the restart, thats how stupid it looked. Kimi even said it in the interview after, "if there werent lapped cars in the way and both of us had cars running in good order there would have been a fight for first. Alonso raced a good race, but Kimi keeps getting held back, sooner or later nothing will hold him back and Kimi will dominate, just waiting for that day!

Alonso clearly had a better car as well. Maybe it was just the tires. In the interview Kimi said that he thought they probably did have a different compound. This is interesting, because a lot of other teams had problems with warming their tires that race. It couldn't have been just because of the safety car laps, since it only takes a couple of "good" laps to warm the tires and after that it's a go.

You don't have to go that far back, forget the chinese GP from last year? ;)

yes i must have forgot, i didn't pay attention after the man hole cover took out montoya, and that was early in the race. what happened?

that was one of the most exciting races i have seen in a long long time. more safety car periods in f1 by far except brazil 3 or 4 years ago in the wet.

damn montoya, threw another potential podium away. and spinning on the warm up lap? wtf!! but he had some good battles on restarts. esp the opening lap w/ kimi.

I don't think it was totally JPM's fault. WHen he ran over the track curbs the shock to the suspension caused an electrical failure, which was at least partly to blame.

I don't think it was totally JPM's fault. WHen he ran over the track curbs the shock to the suspension caused an electrical failure, which was at least partly to blame.

I think he meant he shouldn't have run over the curbs in the first place.

I think he meant he shouldn't have run over the curbs in the first place.

+1.

he did'nt just run over the curb, he had the whole car off the track in exactly the same way Schumi did, only he did'nt make as much of a mess.

yes i must have forgot, i didn't pay attention after the man hole cover took out montoya, and that was early in the race. what happened?


You were a wise one for quitting that early then, it was the crappiest GP ever. Oh well, back on topic.

So Scott Speed has his point taken away and is fined, but Ralf gets to pass under the yellow (quite clearly) and has no reprecussions. Interesting.

supposedly the motor went into a fail-safe mode that shut itself off which was a shame since Montoya did an amazing job at keeping the car from spinning...he was opposite lock 2ice keeping it together, amazing driving especially in an F1 car that is so responsive.

I'm surprised by Ralf's not getting another stop and go or at least a 25 second penalty post race. Seems kind of lopsided. After reading some of the other news reports, I wonder if Speed's words were aimed at Coulthard. (Button assumption based on Button's comments on Speed from Malaysia.)

Does anyone know what time SPEED replay's the race?? Sounds like i missed a great one!

they already re-played it

I'm surprised by Ralf's not getting another stop and go or at least a 25 second penalty post race. Seems kind of lopsided. After reading some of the other news reports, I wonder if Speed's words were aimed at Coulthard. (Button assumption based on Button's comments on Speed from Malaysia.)

what did scott have to say?

I'm surprised by Ralf's not getting another stop and go or at least a 25 second penalty post race. Seems kind of lopsided. After reading some of the other news reports, I wonder if Speed's words were aimed at Coulthard. (Button assumption based on Button's comments on Speed from Malaysia.)


Agreed definitely seems lopsided. There was a whole bunch of passing under yellow flags when the last safety car came out.

im still trying to find out what Speed said that brought upon a 5k fine for him

im still trying to find out what Speed said that brought upon a 5k fine for him

Re: autosport.com

Speed loses point after penalty<!-- end title -->

<TABLE height=0% cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=news_article_author vAlign=top align=left width="50%"><!-- credit -->By Jonathan Noble<!-- end credit --></TD><TD class=news_article_date align=right width="50%">Sunday, April 2nd 2006, 09:34 GMT</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Scuderia Toro Rosso's first point in Formula One has been taken away after Scott Speed was penalized 25 seconds for overtaking David Coulthard under yellow flags.
Following deliberation by the stewards after the Australian Grand Prix, they decided that Speed had ignored the yellow flags by getting past Coulthard as he slowed to avoid Vitantonio Liuzzi's spinning car.
Speed was fined another $5,000 dollars for apparently swearing at Coulthard during the stewards meeting.
A statement said: "Reprimand and time penalty of 25 seconds to be added to the driver's (Speed's) race time.
"A further penalty is also imposed on the driver for using abusive language to another competitor during the stewards hearing. This conduct being wholly unacceptable."
It is not clear whether Toro Rosso will appeal the decision.
The change in results means that Coulthard is moved up to eighth.
Coulthard said of the incident: "I was following behind Tonio and Jacques at the restart and the incident was what caused the incident with Scott, where I was overtaken under the yellows.
"Tonio hit the left and then was coming back to the right, so the yellows were waved and I am slowing down to wait for the car to come to a halt and Scott goes flying down past me. And then we passed the green flags."

Seems kind of lopsided.

Scott is an American. Ralf is not. Scott is a rookie. Ralf is not. End of story.

Scott is an American. Ralf is not. Scott is a rookie. Ralf is not. End of story.


Exactly. Ralf is also the Golden Child's brother. He gets away with a lot, just through association.

I don't think it was totally JPM's fault. WHen he ran over the track curbs the shock to the suspension caused an electrical failure, which was at least partly to blame.
Driver takes car 4 wheels off and it breaks...how could that NOT be his fault?

Driver takes car 4 wheels off and it breaks...how could that NOT be his fault?


A lot of guys run wide at some point in the race. Most time it does not result in an electrical failure. That's all I'm saying.

i want the safety car!!

i want the safety car!!
:evil2 Even my wife commented on the Safety Car. It does look good.