A.Wayne

Actually he showed all that he got last year and the world knows he is slower than Rosberg, well except you and the amigos. Interesting to see how they rehab his image, obvious they are setting the stage for it ...

Ray S

Friday Practice Session 1
POS DRIVER NATIONALITY ENTRANT TIME
1. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1:26.831
2. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1:27.158
3. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari 1:27.749
4. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes GP 1:28.152
5. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth 1:28.430
6. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.440
7. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.483
8. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes GP 1:28.690
9. Kamui Kobayashi Japan Sauber-Ferrari 1:28.725
10. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault 1:28.765
11. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari 1:28.842
12. Nick Heidfeld Germany Renault 1:28.928
13. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1:29.314
14. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:29.328
15. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Williams-Cosworth 1:29.403
16. Daniel Ricciardo Australia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:29.468
17. Sergio Perez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 1:29.643
18. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Force India-Mercedes 1:31.002
19. Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Renault 1:32.428
20. Jerome d'Ambrosio Belgium Virgin-Cosworth 1:35.282
21. Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth 1:35.289
22. Narun Chandhok India Lotus-Renault No Time
23. Narain Karthikeyan India HRT-Cosworth No Time
24. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy HRT-Cosworth No Time


Friday Practice Session 2
POS DRIVER NATIONALITY ENTRANT TIME
1. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1:25.854
2. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1:25.986
3. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari 1:26.001
4. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1:26.014
5. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1:26.283
6. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes GP 1:26.590
7. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari 1:26.789
8. Sergio Perez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 1:27.101
9. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth 1:27.280
10. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes GP 1:27.448
11. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:27.525
12. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault 1:27.528
13. Nick Heidfeld Germany Renault 1:27.536
14. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:27.697
15. Kamui Kobayashi Japan Sauber-Ferrari 1:28.095
16. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes 1:28.376
17. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1:28.583
18. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Williams-Cosworth 1:29.386
19. Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Renault 1:30.829
20. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Renault 1:30.912
21. Jerome d'Ambrosio Belgium Virgin-Cosworth 1:32.106
22. Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth 1:32.135
23. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy HRT-Cosworth No Time
24. Narain Karthikeyan India HRT-Cosworth No Time

Ray S

Last chance to join the Rennlist F1 Championship here;

http://www.pff1.net/FantasyF1/MyPFF1.asp?MYD=140&LA=En

password: porsche

This year you can run a max of three (3) teams.

AutoAtlanta

P1 and P2 times are interesting. Nando in 3rd both times! The Bulls had the early go of it, and it looks like Maccas found a few seconds with their old design, I wonder what it will do when they finally install that blown floor.

Of course Practice times don't tell anyone very much, so bring on Qualifying!

morganabowen

Apparently, Schumacher thinks they are just behind Red Bull

Schumi: We're right behind Red Bull

* Schumi: We're right behind Red Bull

Michael Schumacher believes a podium finish is possible in Australia this weekend as Mercedes GP are "just behind" Red Bull in the pecking order.

Although many have said that lap times set during pre-season testing are not a true indication of form, Mercedes GP put in a very strong showing in the final outing at Barcelona.

Schumacher set the fastest time seen at the Spanish circuit in the dry, prompting some speculation that the team has made a massive step forward.

And the seven-time World Champion believes that step may have put them right behind Red Bull Racing.

"I am looking forward to it (the Australian GP) after winter testing," the German told Autosport.

"Mercedes has done a huge step forward with this year's car, it is a very performance-orientated car and it has paid out

"This weekend it is up to us to prove it, and we have a good opportunity to prove good things.

"Nevertheless we should not overestimate things, and see the truth - and that is that Red Bull Racing is most likely the team to be beaten.

"I think we are going to play an important role just behind that.

"And whoever is behind that group, I see Ferrari, Renault look good, Williams look good, McLaren is not to be forgotten because I expect them to be stronger than they were in testing, and us - this is the pack that I see a good opportunity that we might be able to fight for that position to be the second fastest."

Asked whether a podium finish would be possible, he said: "That is the nature of being behind Red Bull that you might be jumping on the podium."

AutoAtlanta

I don't think Mercedes are very far off the back of the Red Bulls. I think the pecking order is Ferrari, Red Bull, McLaren, Mercedes, and maybe Renault. In that order.

That said, I'm not a F1 know it all, just an enthusiast.

My993C2

Too many unknowns still to be answered. I fear this may be a controversial year for a number of reasons:

1) The tires are purposely not engineered to last and apparently when they go south, they go south very fast. I guess we can expect to see races won not so much because cars passed each other on the track, but instead won because of who passed who in the pits and who got caught out there on the track with bad tires.

2) Watching the P2 practice session on TV last night, there was an awful lot of cars who could not keep it on the track. Can we expect this to happen in the races?

3) I honestly don't see how KERS or these movable rear wings are going to help passing when everyone has them and the crazy rule of if one car has inters or wets on then nobody is allowed to use their movable rear wing will only add to more confusion.

4) Now if a team's car isn't fast enough maybe they shouldn't be allowed in the races (sucks to be a fan of HRT ... then again do they actually have any fans?), but what will happen if the front runners place some fast times that half the field can't match with the 107% rule?

I suspect we will get a better picture today after qualifying as to who has the faster cars but there will still be a lot of random variables and predicting winners before the races will not be easy. Unless of course one team/driver stand out above the rest. Here is hoping 2011 is as good as 2010 was. Time will tell. Gentlemen start your engines (LOL ... okay I know this is more of an Indy saying).

Larry Herman

It's another Bernie led conspiricy, I tell ya. He obviously is trying to stack the deck in favor of tire savers like Button.

ilko

Impressive showing for McLaren. I know it's only practice but they pretty much redesigned the car in the last couple of weeks and showed reliability today. Very professional. Winning the second DE didn't hurt either

As far as Button saving the tires, I don't know how much that will come into play this season considering they are talking about using 5 sets of tires per race (4 stops). We'll have to find out how much better fresh tires are compared to old ones. In the testing sessions you could see a 7-9 second difference per lap, that's huge. Even if a driver who is good at looking after the tires won't be able to defend against another car with such a gap.

Should be a fun season, can't wait!

Larry Herman

They probably won't have to. With so many pit stops predicted, if you can get the tires to last 2 additional laps at a competitive pace, you would save one pit stop and about 20 some seconds.

jaje

I joined but don't have a clue what I'm doing. Having only 80mil really hampers who you can sign for all phases.

JustinL

HRT won't be participating in this race. That's my guarantee for the weekend. Virgin is outside the 107% right now, so they're going to need to find some time if they want to keep their spot in the race.

I actually wonder if we will see some damp and drying qualifying days this year where a large portion of the field is outside 107%. Say for example Q1 and q2 are wet and nobody goes fast, but Q3 has dried up. I wonder what they'd do.

ilko

Perhaps you're right. We won't know until Sunday. I still think that 8 more laps would not be enough to compensate for it. Then again, we had all these ideas about how crazy last year's season was going to be with no refueling and mandatory changes and the first race proved to be a snoozer...

Agreed. HRT only managed an installation lap at the very end of P2. They never even crossed the start/finish line. I actually feel bad for Liuzzi because I think he's a talented driver and being with that team isn't going to help him much.

morganabowen

I watched P2 this morning and the one thing that really stood out is the performance of Sergio Perez from Mexico and driving for Sauber. In P-2 he finished number 8, pretty damn good for a rookie with a non-competitive team

My993C2

I did see the lap charts where Sergio posted good times, but I was too distracted watching Massa continually drive off of the track. Come Felipe, how I am supposed to cheer for you to beat your teammate when you can't even keep the car on the track. Don't worry though. I am not cheering for Felipe to win the WDC. Just cheering for him to beat his teammate.