A 2

WEEKEND SCHEDULE:

Fri 24 March 2017
Practice 1 (Thu) 21:00 - 22:30
Practice 2 (Fri) 01:00 - 02:30

Sat 25 March 2017
Practice 3 (Fri) 23:00 - (Sat) 00:00
Qualifying (Sat) 02:00

Sun 26 March 2017
Race 01:00


CIRCUIT INFO:

Lap data
Lap length 5.303km (3.295 miles)
Race laps 58
Race distance 307.574km (191.118 miles)
Pole position Left-hand side of the track
Lap record* 1’24.125 (226.934 kph) by Michael Schumacher, 2004
Fastest lap 1’23.529 (228.553 kph) by Sebastian Vettel, 2011
Maximum speed 312kph (193.868 mph)
DRS zone/s (race) First and second straight
Distance from grid to turn one 380m

Car performance
Full throttle 71%
Longest flat-out section 843m
Downforce level High
Gear changes per lap 54
Fuel use per lap 2.5kg
Time penalty per lap of fuel 0.1s

Strategy
Quickest complete pit stop in 2012 21.91s by Ferrari (see full list)
2013 prime tyre**: Medium (2012: Medium)
2013 option tyre**: Super Soft (2012: Soft)

*Fastest lap set during a Grand Prix
**Pirelli’s compounds are softer than those used in 2012

Data sources: FIA, Williams, Mercedes

A 2

Voted Daniel Ricciardo and hoping he is the first Aussie to break the curse of no Aussie ever winning the home race. My head tells me it will be Lewis by a mile

zdave87

Voted Vettel.
WAG- HAAS will score points, as will McLaren. One of the Mercedes won't finish the race.

A 2

Antonio Giovinazzi was impressive subbing for Pascal Wehrlein. Ferrari seems to have a good future driver

Hidef1080

Lewis for the win.
Bottas 4th.
Vettel and Ricciardo 2nd & 3rd in any order.
Wildcard Verstappen.

The Raptor

So did I.

Hidef1080

Great start to the season.
China will be interesting in setting the tone, I think.

I like these new cars!

JHo

Well, I'd love to say great race. I missed the most critical parts because NBCSN kept showing a "Programming will resume momentarily" on Sling TV. Missed ALL the mid race action.

The results look promising for the rest of the year if I can find a way to watch the race and not commercials.

A 2

I was expecting the person in P2 to make a great start as he usually does. Little did I expect the driver starting on pole would make a great start too. Apparently the latter has practiced starts over the off season.

It also seemed apparent that the lead drivers in both teams at the front seemed neck and neck. Great strategy call to leave out the guy starting in P2 when the guy leading the race pitted for tires on lap 18. I was wondering what they were thinking when they decided to call in Mr P2 right after Mr. P1 got stuck behind the enfant terrible. And that pit stop execution was perfection as he came out ahead and stayed ahead comfortably.

I think the winners made a great strategy call to call to win the race. It will remain to be seen if they can match the silver car on raw pace through out the season. Feeling bad that my pick for the race had gearbox trouble and then DNF'd his home race. But all said it was worth staying up to watch the race.

The Raptor

Congrats to Vettel. Hamilton was very gracious post race.