I wonder if the FIA had warned any of the other teams? If the meters were 100%, why bother warning Red Bull at all; they could have just said zero tolerance and black flagged Ricciardo.

 

I commented on this too; great looking livery on the Williams car. In contrast, McClaren's livery, albeit a 'limited edition' apparently to commemorate the partnership with Mobil 1, was as-dull-as-dishwater. It was difficult to identify the cat, let alone the sponsor's branding.

Apropos the engine note of the new cars, I suspect the engines may sound better in the flesh. There's a lot of wasted energy in the very high SPL's of the previous engine's exhaust

I find the technology fascinating and noted Rosberg's comment to Suzy Perry that there was a lot to think about about and do in the cars; sensory and cognitive overload may become as big a problem as physical fatigue. It will certainly sport out the brain-the-size-of-a-walnut driver's from those with a greater mental capacity.

 

Race was a little flat in places, but I suspect that's down to the team making sure they completed the first race. It seemed more like a testing session than a race at times. Sounds like the drivers are going to be busy behind the wheel this year.

If the pace of those Mercedes is accurate, then they are going to be hard to beat. Rosberg just cruised off into the distance never to be seen again. I was super impressed with Magnussen's first race, and Bottas was in fine form. Just a shame hi clipped the wall. Great to see some of the "lower" drivers getting a chance to shine. I think it could be a long tough year for Ferrari. They seem to have lost their way of late.

 

None of the other Renault engined teams seem to have the same problem.

I'm sure i've read somewhere that redbull complained about the use of this sensor on testing as well. I suspect there's a bit of 'we're cleverer than you' arrogance going on at Redbull.

 

Agree on the McLaren livery. Difficult to spot. Hopefully next year we will be back to Honda colours.

The technology is getting a bit play station I think. Extremely clever, but it's not driving like the old days. Watched Rush the other night. Bugger me they were exciting times, albeit dangerous.

 

What's more they would have known disqualification was likely, and still chose to ignore the FIA and argue about it later.

 

I think the engine note has a lot to do with the way the drivers are driving not just the rev range and engine tech.

Our cars (us S2000 owners that is) don't scream unless they are full throttle and they only go to 9krpm. The drivers aren't using full throttle anything like as much so what you're hearing is a lot of partial throttle application and short shifting. At full tilt I've no doubt a turbo charged engine hitting 5 figure revs would sound epic, but they are being nursed at the moment.

Give it a while for the downforce to come back and reliability to mature and no doubt they will start to scream again once the drivers are confident enough to nail it.

 

I quite like the noise, and I like being able to hear the crowd.

What isn't good is the lack of sense of speed.

 

What was driving like in the old days?

They've got much more torque and less downforce now, and you could see how much harder the drivers were having to work, especially in the wet on Saturday. There were corners at Melbourne that they now have to drive that would have been easy flat last year. And no traction control or launch control - did you see how much Magnussen skewed sideways at the start?

I find all the engine stuff fascinating, but perhaps most interesting of all is that it didn't make a lot of difference. Disqualifications and a couple of breakdowns aside, it's only really the noise that changed, and we didn't get (as the doom mongers predicted) drivers running out of fuel or having to slow right down.

 

Can't say I got that. Seeing the cars move around and watching the drivers have to use some skill is a better watch to me than the aero planted cars of the last few years.

More power than grip is the ideal setup for entertainment.