The Official 2019 Australian Grand Prix Thread **SPOILERS**

[TobyTR]

Deesee said:

TobyTR said:

That's a lot of teams listed with podium potential

imo, the only teams I can see on the podium this year are Merc, Ferrari, Red Bull

maybe Renault, RP or McLaren with some DNFs and A LOT of luck

? Big 3 + McLaren, RP & Hass.

McLaren, decent set off wheels this year, they'll seek a podium or two.

Hass, Quick car, and apparently do not have the cooling issues Ferrari have, RG is too quick for his own good, and Kmag is up there wheel to wheel with anyone in the midfield, again multiple podiums for me.

RP, car that is slippery down the straights, comfortably the quickest Merc powered car in a straight line, look out for them at high speed circuits.

With only 3 PU (& PU parts) this year, we are going to see a few mixed up grids.

I can't see any team outside the Big 3 getting multiple podiums, only imo of course. The gulf between the big 3 and the rest is still huge.

Take last year for example: only one team outside the Big 3 scored a podium and it was Force India with only one (3rd place at Baku)

In 2017, only one team scored a podium outside the Big 3 again - Williams (3rd place at Baku)

2016 - Force India with two 3rd places (Monaco and Baku), and Williams with one 3rd place (Canada)

That's some fairly dire stats.

[TheDeuce]

TobyTR said:

I can't see any team outside the Big 3 getting multiple podiums, only imo of course. The gulf between the big 3 and the rest is still huge.

Take last year for example: only one team outside the Big 3 scored a podium and it was Force India with only one (3rd place at Baku)

In 2017, only one team scored a podium outside the Big 3 again - Williams (3rd place at Baku)

2016 - Force India with two 3rd places (Monaco and Baku), and Williams with one 3rd place (Canada)

That's some fairly dire stats.

That's my view. Early on after the change to hybrid it was all new and unknown.. now as it's matured it's not surprising that it's increasingly difficult for anyone other than the top three to see a podium.

And now with 3 teams looking capable to take podiums all season long, that's 6 cars, 4 of which the rest of the grid need to hope falter to have a chance of third.

Whilst I'm confident of my prediction I'm not smug about it. I'm well aware it's not very sporting for the top three to be there due to having more or less unlimited budgets.

[rdjohn]

I had hoped that Danny Ric and big spending from Renault would have meant that we now had a “big-4” teams.

Sadly, Oz seems to suggest that might be too optimistic.

[HustleRussell]

Haas would appear to be a better bet for the podium than the other mid field teams as it stands. They were hampered by the same PU issues as Ferrari. Grosjean should’ve been three tenths quicker in qually and up to half a second faster in the race. Source- Somers F1 Missed Apex Podcast

[paua]

rdjohn said:

I had hoped that Danny Ric and big spending from Renault would have meant that we now had a “big-4” teams.

Sadly, Oz seems to suggest that might be too optimistic.

Agree with your sentiment - however, He's always had a bad (F1) run at home.

[Deesee]

Mark Hughes on reddit, on the Ferrari PU

[37chevy]

quite interesting that one!!!!

[Craigyp79]

TobyTR said:

Deesee said:

TobyTR said:

That's a lot of teams listed with podium potential

imo, the only teams I can see on the podium this year are Merc, Ferrari, Red Bull

maybe Renault, RP or McLaren with some DNFs and A LOT of luck

? Big 3 + McLaren, RP & Hass.

McLaren, decent set off wheels this year, they'll seek a podium or two.

Hass, Quick car, and apparently do not have the cooling issues Ferrari have, RG is too quick for his own good, and Kmag is up there wheel to wheel with anyone in the midfield, again multiple podiums for me.

RP, car that is slippery down the straights, comfortably the quickest Merc powered car in a straight line, look out for them at high speed circuits.

With only 3 PU (& PU parts) this year, we are going to see a few mixed up grids.

I can't see any team outside the Big 3 getting multiple podiums, only imo of course. The gulf between the big 3 and the rest is still huge.

Take last year for example: only one team outside the Big 3 scored a podium and it was Force India with only one (3rd place at Baku)

In 2017, only one team scored a podium outside the Big 3 again - Williams (3rd place at Baku)

2016 - Force India with two 3rd places (Monaco and Baku), and Williams with one 3rd place (Canada)

That's some fairly dire stats.

I'm quite looking forward to Baku, both the F1 and F2 races have been great there in the past couple of years.

[TheDeuce]

Even Toto concedes the Red Bull Honda package is working out very well

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.wolff-b...

[turbobloke]

TheDeuce said:

Even Toto concedes the Red Bull Honda package is working out very well

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.wolff-b...

Fainted by damn praise!

[Deesee]

Here is the pole lap with the 360 cam..

https://streamable.com/obcxf