**** 2007 Australian GP ****

[bmagni]

nice race, pity about Hamilton losing second with no apparent reason, Alstronzo couldn't get past him until he got stuck in traffic and made a 2 sec slower pit stop...

[gucom]

good to see kimi in a reliable fast car great performance by him, also awesome of hamilton ofcourse 8)

great job also by coulthard, retarded overtaking move almost killing the first F1 driver in 13 years :roll: [/sarcasm]

[acmarttin]

Originally Posted by blue8 From Motor Authority: Ferrari dominates Oz F1 with McLaren close behind Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen took top honors at Sunday’s inaugural F1 race in Melbourne, despite having no radio contact with the pit crew and racing under the legendary marque for the first time. His pace was excellent throughout the day, leading from the start and leaving a score of fastest laps behind him. The day also turned out favorable for McLaren’s new drivers, with 22-year old Lewis Hamilton holding off current world champion Fernando that spanish foo in second place for much of the race before succumbing to his teammate and ending in third. With both that spanish foo and Hamilton finishing on the podium, McLaren are leading the constructors’ championship while Raikkonen’s in charge of the driver standings. The BMWs were quick off the start and both drivers, Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica, were poised to finish in the top ten. Heidfeld managed to come in fourth position but unfortunately Kubica failed to finish because of mechanical problems. Giancarlo Fisichella came in fifth, edging out Raikkonen’s teammate Felipe Massa who finished just 0.3seconds after the Renault driver. This was an amazing feat for Massa considering he started right at the back of the grid due to penalties. Toro Rosso’s Scott Speed went off the road in spectacular fashion along with Christijan Albers who crashed his Spyker early on. David Coulthard and Alex Wurz also suffered a nasty crash towards the end of the race.

Man if anybody can find a high-res version of that picture of Kimi celebrating that would be awesome.

[Max Power]

^ imagesf1.com

[xecutioner]

hey mad site

thx for that

[novass]

I finally got to watch the race. It has been sitting on my TiVo since it aired just haunting me LOL

Great season opener IMO. Kimi was off from the get go, I hope he keeps it up! Too bad Massa had to start from the back but all things considered he moved up quite a bit in position and at least got some points for Ferrari. Hamilton did a great job for his first outing, I have a feeling this guy is gonna be someone to watch. DC almost killed Wurz, that was interesting :shock:

Glad the season has begun , but 3 weeks until Malaysia :x !

[5vz-fe]

Ahh good old crying baby Ron

McLaren Mercedes boss Ron Dennis has accused BMW Sauber of 'showboating' in the Australian Grand Prix. Hinwil based BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld had an impressive start to the Melbourne race, leaping ahead of Fernando Alonso, but the German made his first pit stop very early and was among only three competitors to start on the 'soft' tyre. In the official post-race press release, Dennis described BMW's strategy as 'unexpected' and 'very disruptive' to McLaren's plans to win. Later, the British chief told reporters: "Our race was seriously compromised by the Heidfeld strategy, which we just didn't understand. It smacked of showboating in the opening part of the race."

http://www.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlin...19091839.shtml

[TopGearNL]

I really enjoyed the race!

Not very action packed but it was ok.

Great to see Kimi and Ferrari win, and Massa did good to starting from the back!

Awesome job by Hamilton, huge respect!

[TopGearNL]

^^ Very sad indeed..

Its racing Ron, you win some you loose some..

And besides they became 2nd and 3rd, no way that they could have catched Kimi, so what is he complaining about? :bah:

[Pokiou]

why does every1 hate alonso ?? i dont get it ...

but melbourne and monaco I reckon are the best F1 tracks to ever be raced on.

[Chaos in 1983!]

Glad to see Ferrari win in Melbourne...I was cheering for Massa but too bad for him, but I'm still glad Kimi won, Kimi + Ferrari make a killer team, and it appears Hamilton did a great job finnishing 3rd. Too bad I didin't get to see the race...any idea where I can find it for download? will the highlights be posted on JW as usual?

[blue8]

Originally Posted by TopGearNL ^^ Very sad indeed.. Its racing Ron, you win some you loose some.. And besides they became 2nd and 3rd, no way that they could have catched Kimi, so what is he complaining about? :bah:

But there's more from Ron...

From Sport Network
http://www.sportnetwork.net/main/s85/st113540.htm

The Ferrari F2007 Is Illegal
By Dale Calkins - March 19 2007

With the new season, comes new allegations of the Ferrari racecar being outside the rules from other teams. This time there are claims, possibly from McLaren, that the floor of the F2007 is a moveable aerodynamic device.

With the new season, comes new allegations of the Ferrari racecar being outside the rules from other teams. This time there are claims the floor of the F2007 is a moveable aerodynamic device. Apparently the floor of the Ferrari has been designed to drop down, bringing the car closer to the racing surface and thus reducing the air moving underneath the car. This would in turn increase the speed of the car in a straight line. Further to this, less wing would be required on the rest of the car, while still maintaining a high level of speed.

Of course this floor would be illegal, as it classifies as a moveable aerodynamic device. There has been no formal declaration of speculation from the FIA with regards to this issue. However, FIA stewards were seen at the Australian Grand Prix to be paying special attention to the floors of cars and specifically to the Ferrari's.

Speculation of the Ferrari being illegal may have come from McLaren's Ron Dennis as he was rather vocal about many cars being illegal when he spoke to American television network SPEED:"We will see how things are in two or three races. There is a whole range of things that come to light in the first race and you go and you say what is legal, and what is not legal. Most teams are given that current race to enjoy the benefit of the doubt. I think there will be a rationalization of some aspects of some cars that would close the gap if no one did anything.

You look at people’s cars, you are not always of the opinion that rule interpretation has been strictly adhered to, and you get in to, ‘Hold on a second, what are we allowed to do and what are we not allowed to do?’ and that always takes place at the first event. So it takes a race or two to know what is or isn’t permitted."

A Ferrari spokesperson responded to the criticism, stating this to SPEED:

"It’s part of the game any time Ferrari is quickest. It’s not the first time that there have been questions about legality. If someone has a complaint, there is always the FIA."

Now first of all, I must state that if the Ferrari is indeed illegal, which it may be, action should be taken against the Scuderia. However, this may simply be posturing from the other Formula 1 teams as they feel threatened by Ferrari's very impressive pace in pre-season testing and the race in Australia. As with everything in Formula 1, only time will tell.

[TopGearNL]

Typical this..

They can't keep up with Ferrari so they try and slow them down.. :fist:

[RAMMIUS]

And how did that imbecil Ron draw that conclusion ?
Oh yeah, after the race Ferrari gave him Kimi`s car for a quick inspection.
This is so pathethic yet so typical from some of the british teams :alienflip:
Remainds me of last year and the flexi wing story:
After Imola
Honda representative: Ferrari has flexi wings
Ross Brawn : we have videos that show a whole lot of teams with flexi wings

[5vz-fe]

Seriously, Ron is always f**king pathetic. I think we should look into replace Ron into some nick name like Alonso LOL