So no in-season testing and no one can be arsed to go out anyway?

When I clicked the BBC link before, there was just text and no video. Turns out the 'cast started 5 minutes after I gave up. I'm back and ready for some driving fun.

any1 has live timing ?

Try the F1 website, given it is Formula 1 after all...

OMG Button is out... hahahaha... c'mon!

Btw: http://www.justin.tv/atomic_napalm

another feed, if you can stomach the crap aspect ratio.

Quote from Mattesa :

Btw: http://www.justin.tv/atomic_napalm

another feed, if you can stomach the crap aspect ratio.

im using that one, the quality isnt that bad at all ! its even better than speed tv ... XD

- nuked -

Very odd from McLaren. Is Hamilton driving a different car? lol awful, just awful. but Kovi's car looks far more stable. Can't tell much from FP1 but fairly obviously Button looks very happy with the Brawn

Looks like no sleep for me

Someone said today they have contacts with an engineer at Red Bull, they have messangers with diffuser shaped packages on a plane to Melbourne as we speak We'll see i suppose. McLaren have gone for the double decker diffuser too aparently.

Some awesome footage on BBC, camera angles are much better, especially on entry to T1 yu can see the ass kick out a little

McLaren
Kovalainen: 1:27.453
Hamilton: +1.589

Ferrari
Räikkönen: 1:26.750
Massa: +0.892

BMW
Heidfeld: 1:28.137
Kubica: +0.374

Renault
Alonso: 1:28.123
Piquet: +1.338

Toyota
Glock: 1:27.710
Trulli: +0.432

Toro Rosso
Buemi: 1:28.785
Bourdais: +0.714

RBR
Webber: 1:29.081
Vettel (Out - hydraulics) : +3.703

Williams
Rosberg: 1:26.687
Nakajima: +0.049

Force India
Sutil: 1:27.993
Fisichella: +0.610

Prawn GP
Barrichello: 1:27.226
Button: +0.241

NB: Relative times w.r.t. team mate.

Williams at the front =/ i honestly really didn't think Nakajima or Rosberg were really capable of that. Seems like I'll have to think that all F1 drivers are amazing and that performance in practice sessions is mostly how good the car is. (sleepy sorry if that makes no sense xD)

BBC stream works with a proxy. Only need to use the proxy until the video starts to play, so the usual slowness of proxies doesn't matter.

Pretty damn good quality - 800 kbps and H.264. I actually feel bad wasting Brits' tv license money.

Quote from deggis :

BBC stream works with a proxy. Only need to use the proxy until the video starts to play, so the usual slowness of proxies doesn't matter.

Pretty damn good quality - 800 kbps and H.264. I actually feel bad wasting Brits' tv license money.

Could you gently point me towards the direction of a good proxy? I've had no luck till now. Only private proxies or time outs...

1. too early to be awake

2. Hamilton's session could be explained by the fact he may have been running a different spec rear end to Heikki. Maybe some parts arrived late ? Not sure but that car didn't look anywhere near sensible

Oh they are ugly with the TV camera angles.

- TV camera angle reminds me 1999
- So f**king low engine sound (because of 18000Rpm)

Shit happens.

EDIT: Good stream here: http://www.rojadirecta.com/justin/six_tv2

Quote from pearcy_2k7 :

Looks like no sleep for me

Someone said today they have contacts with an engineer at Red Bull, they have messangers with diffuser shaped packages on a plane to Melbourne as we speak We'll see i suppose. McLaren have gone for the double decker diffuser too aparently.

Some awesome footage on BBC, camera angles are much better, especially on entry to T1 yu can see the ass kick out a little

Sleep is for wimps!!

The broadcast isnt BBCs, though i noticed in first practice they kinda sounded like they were taking credit for it, but they were talking about the finished product rather than the track pictures, those will be an aussie outfit incl director, which is why the Aus GP always finds Webber, and likewise every other venue that has a homer racing.

Quote from deggis :

BBC stream works with a proxy. Only need to use the proxy until the video starts to play, so the usual slowness of proxies doesn't matter.

Pretty damn good quality - 800 kbps and H.264. I actually feel bad wasting Brits' tv license money.

You can share mine, now i just need someone to do the same for me with yankiedoodle tv shows, cos i watch more dl'd shows then broadcast.


Heres my moan about everything...
Still dispise the new cars, to look at them it looks like the engineers are incompetent, theres nothing aesthetically pleasing about them, and the front/rear wing ratio makes things look even worse.

Im not a fan of change for changes sake, fortunately a lot f the changes do seem to make sense, but i dont like the sudden nature of how its been done, especially with the strict lack of testing to go with it. Its basically Scrapheap Challenge on an international level. They've had a couple of months to make something, they've no idea how it'll perform, and basically since Feb all they've been able to do is make some minor changes and slap some paint on there.
Everything they've ever achieved in the past is pretty much worthless today. In 2-3 seasons time, everything will be back to normal, if not midway through this season, it just seems to be a lucky dip, see who guessed the best design. Without proper testing, whether its track or wind tunnel, luck is a factor, maybe only small, but more than it should be IMO.
There seems to be little merit, previous seasons have seen teams make improvements and minor changes, sometimes with success, sometimes not, but the whole wipe the slate clean... to me it says everything you've worked hard to acheive in the past is now worth nothing.

I just hope its all worth it when the lights go out and the racing starts.


oh, and surely im not the only one who (yet again!) thinks the tyre markings are near enough useless? The TV doesnt pick it up unless its a close side-shot, the fact that its a skinny line doesnt help. It needs to be a solid band of colour, and possibly a more vibrant green.
Sometimes you can see it clear as day, but if you watch a few cars and just try to look for who's on what tyre (without looking on the F1 timing app , took me a while to figure out what the red/white numbers meant). Was the same in Fuji when they had the green stripe, the glossy surface and lighting just made it hard to tell if it was there or not.

Quote from TexasLTU :

- So f**king low engine sound (because of 18000Rpm)

I doubt they are even using that much now as it's the one and same engine for the whole weekend. Too bad providing any information about anything the car does seems to be so hard again.

Free Practice 2 results:





Not a whole lot different from FP1, except both Ferrari and McLaren appear to be doing heavy runs. I wonder what's wrong with BMW though - they have been sluggish all weekend.

Now, onward to FP3 and Q!

Is it normal that british commentators loud and clearly burp into the microphone without at least excusing themselves?
(At least something worth staying up for...)

Vain

So where's the information on who's using KERS, what kind of system they're using and how to tell when it's on? I checked autosport.com and formula1.com.

Or are they seriously arrogant and clueless enough to make this a top secret not for spectators deal? Not that I'd be surprised...

cant say i heard that tbh, although i resorted to doing some work and listening to the TV because very little was going on.

I have to say, while both sessions were a little boring in the sense that there wasnt much competitive lapping, it was auto-pilot mode for the most part, it was nice having the OPTION of being able to see these sessions and have the commentry to go with it, especially when there are so many changes and things being discussed that are worth listening to peoples opinions and such.
ITV (with the exception of James bloody Allen) used to be pretty good thanks to Brundle being on the end of the mic, and even though he wasnt there for FP 1&2, it was nice having knowledgable people behind the mic for a session which isnt going to attract the mainstream audience, so the real F1 fans actually get someone they'd appreciate listening to, rather than some Murray Walker type who basically was known for making an ass of himself while attempting to commentate (love the guy, but you want someone who knows what he's talking about) I dunno how proper sessions will sound, im guessing thats Legards job, with MB as co-commentator again, i just hope he's not James Allen mkII who makes you want to punch the TV.

Quote from J.B. :

So where's the information on who's using KERS, what kind of system they're using and how to tell when it's on? I checked autosport.com and formula1.com.

Or are they seriously arrogant and clueless enough to make this a top secret not for spectators deal? Not that I'd be surprised...

Ferrari
McLaren
Renault (not Toyota)
and Heidfeld, cos Kubica is a lanky sod and they wanna judge things with Nick first.

oh, and they mentioned in the BBC commentry that the issue of the lack of visable indication had been brought up to the FIA (or whoever it would be) to show who was using it and who wasnt, the only thing they said was that apparently the tech folks are going to make it possible so the TV folks would know who was using it and when, so viewers would know, but the trackside folks wouldnt be able to see who had KERS in their car with some sort of visual marking like the tyres have.

I would like to know the KERS info too...

Unless Toyota is using it top10 is KERS free...