Aero changes, wider tires (tyres) and new management. The Rosberg retirement, Bottas to his seat and Paddy Lowe to Williams. Some pretty interesting offseason developments. Should be a fun year.

I think Bottas will falter in cirque du Hamilton allowing the one two punch of Vettel and Raikkonen to win the constructors title for Ferrari.

Hard to pick against Louis but I'm going say Seb wins this year's drivers championship.

We should know more in the morning. FP1 begins soon.

My predictions from the other thread

Season

Constructor Title - Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari

Driver Title - Hamilton, Bottas, Verstappen

Australian GP

Pole - Hamilton

Podium - Hamilton, Bottas, Vettel

Constructor - Merc

Driver Title - Hamilton but Ricciardo will push him late into the season.

Caught a few minutes of practice this morning. Cars look good. Can't wait to see them fighting in a corner.

Vettel less than .30 behind. Game on.

Grosjean to 6. WOW. Too bad for Riccairdo losing it on a flyer in Q3. His home race too.

Qually was great, I love the new graphics showing how their laps are going.

Terrible decision from Mercedes.

Finally, merc messed up and Ferrari got it right.

Hamilton said it was his mistake. His tires were going off too fast.

Great drive by Vettel.

I think Mercedes needs to recognize what's happening and overrule Hamilton. But I think they were genuinely surprised by the pace of Vettel and didn't have an alternative strategy. They probably should've gone super soft and planned for two stops as soon as he came in. But really they should've just left him out.

Haas.

Congrats to Ferrari. Terrible strategy call by Mercedes and Lewis. Hoping for a bounce back next race.

I've seen it suggested that Ferrari found a way to make the car work when following. Given the frustration Hamilton had behind Verstappen, it's critical Mercedes figures that out.

over/under on on-track overtakes per race this year?

was there any Sunday?

A couple cars got 3 wide with Alonso late in the race. One of the force indias and a toro rosso I think? The force India had a hard braking move into the corner and held it well.

Some were saying it's an indication that the new tires will allow the drivers to push hard and and not permanently ruin their tires.

Yeah, that was Ocon. Pretty sporty move.

I forgot about that, that was a good move

Some good on board footage of the pass near the bottom

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/features/2017/3/f1-australia-onboard-best-action-vettel-ricciardo.html

FYI -- USGP tickets go on sale tomorrow.

Everyone getting excited for the Timberlake post race concert?

Pretty entertaining race, even if Lewis did run away with it. I thought Ferarri's call to pit Seb during the VSC was a great call. It was nullified by the actual SC, though, which allowed those in front to pit without losing positions (except Bottas, who I assume had to stack behind Lewis...his later spin behing the SC made it worse).

Max drove a great race to take the final podium spot, but I could have done without his whining about Grosjean at the end. If you want a lapped car to let you pass, get within 1 second. Didn't look like he was ever close to doing that. Still, nice job keeping a quicker Ricciardo behind. I thought Dan was going to get him on the last lap into 14, but Max quickly shut the door (even if he did move under breaking, which it looked like).

Did anything happen to Seb for clearly starting the race outside his assigned box? I know he gained no advantage, but still.

So is it Antonio GiovaCRASHy now?

Kyle98 said:

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Pretty entertaining race, even if Lewis did run away with it. I thought Ferarri's call to pit Seb during the VSC was a great call. It was nullified by the actual SC, though, which allowed those in front to pit without losing positions (except Bottas, who I assume had to stack behind Lewis...his later spin behing the SC made it worse).

Max drove a great race to take the final podium spot, but I could have done without his whining about Grosjean at the end. If you want a lapped car to let you pass, get within 1 second. Didn't look like he was ever close to doing that. Still, nice job keeping a quicker Ricciardo behind. I thought Dan was going to get him on the last lap into 14, but Max quickly shut the door (even if he did move under breaking, which it looked like).

Did anything happen to Seb for clearly starting the race outside his assigned box? I know he gained no advantage, but still.

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Even my wife was yelling at him to stop whining. Ridiculous. Frenchie had an outside shot at catching the car ahead and getting some points. You want by, drive.

Great race in general. Will be a fun season.

Anyone think Rosberg is watching the first two races with a grin? So far it's looking like you can't put just anyone in that seat. Post race Bottas looked like he's really feeling the pressure now. He's gotta get that car on the front row in qualifying and he sure as hell can't go backwards in the race.

Quote:

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Even my wife was yelling at him to stop whining. Ridiculous. Frenchie had an outside shot at catching the car ahead and getting some points. You want by, drive.

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My wife hates Max for his whining. That first lap was a thing of beauty, though.

Red Bull needs a better engine.
Beter engine=more Max Verstappen
More Max Verstappen=Better Racing

Bottas P1 and Ferrari close behind merc.

I hope tomorrow is a good race

Fun race. Not sure about that penalty on Hamilton though.
Louis and Mercedes are still the fastest combination on the grid.
It would be nice if Haas could get both cars over the finish line. Really disappointing so far.

Without that penalty, that would have been a hell of a finish.

Yeah, not a fan of the penalty, after Seb escaped punishment for half his car being out of the start box in China. Would have loved to have seen the battle at the end. I'm not sure Lewis could have caught AND passed Seb, but it would have been fun to watch, that's for sure.

Another really good drive from Alonso to get that dog of a car where it was, only to have to retire the car, yet again. I really feel bad for him. He's easily on par (or even better) with Hamilton and Vettel, he just hasn't gotten to show it in a while now.

Ferrari P1 & P2. Bottas 3 & Hamilton 4.
I guess the Ferrari's are for real.
Meanwhile at Phoenix they can't make it past turn 2.

****ing Massa