Thetownend.com

Starts next weekend. Well excited 'bout it. Don't know who'll win, but it's good to have something on sundays again.

ALSO, commentary team of Brundle and Coulthard. Be interesting to see how Brundle copes being 'number one'.

Also looking forward to this, hoping mclaren aren't as far behind as it seems.

As Bahrain was canceled does that mean it's Melbourne first?

Yes.

yup, back to a proper seasons start in Australia.

BBC will be carrying F1 in HD for the first time, which is nice.

Looks like Ferrari and Red Bull will be early pacesetters, but if McLaren can tune their radical design properly then it could be interesting.

Not sure what I make of the new regulations, particularly the moveable rear wing which can only be deployed for a certain amount of time provided you are within 1 second of the car in font. Oh, and KERS is back.

On one hand I want F1 to be a sport without such "add ons" to provide more overtaking. On the other the whole science behind aerodynamics means the sport would (probably) be more of a snoozefest without them.

Snore fest

The new tracks such as Valencia and Singapore are boring but you can't beat a bit of Monaco or Spa.

Cant wait. Friday should be fun after being up all night watching practice!

Cant see anything other than Red Bull winning comftably, but with all the new regulations and unpredictable tyres, you never know. I am also looking forward to seeing if Brundle and Coulthard works.


I just hope it doesn't make overtaking too easy, just cruise up to the car behind and drive past. Shall be interesting to see how the FIA tweek it throughout the year.

Valencia wasn't too bad last season when Mark Webber spontaneously decided he'd rather be a pilot than an F1 driver.

whoop whoop!

boring alert!

I wonder if the team with the most money will win?????? Ermmmmmm? Its going to be close!!

The SPL with petrol...

The PL is only slightly less tedious....interestingly, yesterday's 2 squads at Chelsea v Man City  cost the most money ever for a football match....499,000,000 GBP.  You don't get much bang for your buck these days.

I'm also glad Brazil is the last race again, because Abu Dhabi, while being an incredible venue, is a terrible track.

When was the last time Ferrari won?

Getting my ticket for Spa at the end of the month. Couple of days up in Amsterdam followed by a drive down to Belgium for the Friday practice :D

Sounds quality, always wanted to go to a race abroad, looking forward to Silverstone this year, hopefully sitting in the new section as it was quality last year even when I just sat there on Saturday.

Meh, waiting for the first weekend of April, the British Touring Cars at Brands Hatch. Going to the third round st Thruxton, I do wish there were more South-west-ish circuits...

Me too, Thruxton I mean.

Mclaren seem to be panicking:


The regulation regarding the 'movable rear wing' seems to be an exercise in confusion - perhaps that's the point, I dunno

Got a voucher to drive a Porsche around Thruxton on one of these driver experience session things at some point in the summer.

Isnt Thruxton one, if the not, the fastest circuit in the country?

Hopefully Ecclestone will die at some point during this season.

Agree with all the posts about the dire new tracks.

Mclaren look like they have improved drastically, which was a nice surprise.

They took a step back to move forward and reverted back to a simple design.

Not that Friday's performance necessarily shows the full picture.

True, still think Red Bull are comfably fastest, dont think they showed their true pace today.

Quali is only a few hours away..guess we'll find out then. RB, Ferrari, Mclaren and Mercedes in that order for me...

Eeek: 6am start. Think I'll Sky+ it :)

Haven't decided yet, still quite tired from last night but reckon I will get up for it!

I'll be up for this, the first race is always the best because it's still a bit of a mystery as to who is any good.

and with the first race being Melbourne we can expect a gooden.

So McLaren werent joking when they said they were hoping to be quicker. Should make the race and the season very interesting indeed.

Oh great synchronised driving is back on telly *yawn*

So Quali is 6am BST Sat and race time is 7am BST Sunday.

Yes Batch.

Dont forget clocks change on sunday which could catch a few people out.

Have to say the idea that you can tweak the rear wing from inside the car is Ok, but the fact that in Qualifying you can use it as and where you want, but come to the race can only do so in one specific zone, and then only if you are within 1 second of the car in front (in race terms & not based on track position), makes the whole thing a bit of a mockery.

As for the aerodynamics, I actually think that is part of the problem. if you could somehow reduce the amount of down force produced at the front end of the cars maybe then they could run close enough to the car in front to enable them to be able to overtake without the need for all the other gizmos.


As for Bernie, at last he's said something sensible when he suggested bringing in sprinkler systems :doh: