Australia: Free Practice 2
So the first attempt at commenting / chatting went pretty well, smashing all previous discussion records in the process.
We’re opening up a new thread for the second session, partly to give the server a break and partly because it seems like a sensible approach. After a very brief investigation, there appears to be a whole bunch of improvements we can make to ensure live commenting is faster and smoother in the future, but for now we’ll go with what we have.
Live timing is running and the cars are on the track. As ever this is all about the opinion, so we’ll throw our observations into the ring as we go.
Yell if you’re still awake!
March 14th, 2008 at 3:04 amChristine said:
Both the Williams’ are out early this time round.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:05 amSteven Roy said:
Am I the only person who looks at those double white lines and thinks of Scalextric?
March 14th, 2008 at 3:05 amme said:
hello, you woked up
i see the pictures a lot better this time out. fixed the problems, or is everyone asleep?
March 14th, 2008 at 3:06 amlou said:
wow i woke myself up again! i am gonna be shatterd by the bend of the weekend, but its all worth it!! have i missed much?
March 14th, 2008 at 3:08 amlou said:
yep its started as ut finished with great coverage.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:08 amme said:
i learnt something new…
after this session ends, teams have exactly two hours to select their gear ratios for the rest of the weekend and inform the FIA.
so we’re all about the gears now.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:08 amJourneyer said:
Yahoo! Of course I’m still awake, it’s only 11 AM here! Hahaha! Fortunately for me, I don’t go to the office until 1 PM here. More than enough time to finish FP2.
Williams making up for lost time, but can they make up for lost setup time? They’re off the pace so far.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:08 amOut_Reach said:
Hi, i stayed awake too, this is really quite fun….
March 14th, 2008 at 3:10 amChristine said:
From a distance, the Force India looks like a McLaren. Dammit.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:10 amlou said:
thats interestubf, so fisis has number 2 status at force india - hence the yellow camera bit?
March 14th, 2008 at 3:12 amJourneyer said:
You’re off by a key to the right, lou.
Fisi got the yellow cam because he’s “newer” than Sutil in the sense that he only came in this season (although it’s his 3RD stint in this franchise).
March 14th, 2008 at 3:12 amSteven Roy said:
At least FIF1 have got rid of the stupid tungsten colour from their sidepods. It looks much better now
March 14th, 2008 at 3:13 amlou said:
aha sorry about the speling slips - u can’t tell im tired!!
March 14th, 2008 at 3:13 amme said:
still there isn’t it? just smaller and more subtle.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:15 amme said:
slippery track. aussie v8’s were out during the break. maybe greasy?
March 14th, 2008 at 3:17 amme said:
that top lap by hamilton was fast, anyone see what tires he was running?
March 14th, 2008 at 3:19 amJourneyer said:
Yay! Watching FP2 on Wheels on TVU (delayed by 1 minute). You can watch this from anywhere in the world.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:20 amme said:
good stuff. does it have any commentary?
March 14th, 2008 at 3:21 amChristine said:
No sign of Super Aguri yet.
Or Piquet, weirdly.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:22 amme said:
are they actually going to race?
there’s some rule that says a driver must take part in some form of practice. they have tomorrow i guess.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:24 amJourneyer said:
Yup, SPEED TV commentary.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:25 amSteven Roy said:
I have both feeds running. Wheels is running 2 mins 20 behind. Normally it is 40 - 45 seconds behind the ITV TV coverage
March 14th, 2008 at 3:26 amChristine said:
Apparently, Davidson is out now.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:28 amme said:
hallelujah. it’s good to see that car again
March 14th, 2008 at 3:29 amSteven Roy said:
Rosberg has done 11 laps so I guess the problem has been fixed
March 14th, 2008 at 3:31 amme said:
a good sign that, and great lap from webber!
March 14th, 2008 at 3:32 amChristine said:
I like the shot from his knees through the steering wheel to his helmet. Where the heck is that camera?
March 14th, 2008 at 3:34 amJourneyer said:
P1!!! Wow. F1 while having lunch. Can’t get much better than that.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:35 amme said:
agreed, that is very cool.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:36 amSteven Roy said:
I hate those shots. They don’t tell you what is happening. They used to have one that showed a close up of the front of Mansell’s helmet/face all the time. Utterly pointless because you had no idea where he was on the track.
It’s like doing a close up of Beckham’s left ankle in a football match.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:36 amme said:
even kovi couldn’t match it.
who’s been sandbagging all winter then?
March 14th, 2008 at 3:37 amChristine said:
To be fair though, not a lot is happening. And it makes a change to get a close up of what it’s like inside the cockpit.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:37 amme said:
split screen might help, but you could see exactly how much movement there was going on as he bounced over the kerbs.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:39 amlou said:
ths is going to sound very stupid but its something that bugs me every time i see the cars. from the camera above the drivers head u can see abit of the car too with some cars eg, ferrari there is a small N or Z in a circle but with others its not threr. why is this? what does it do? is it just a sponsor thing or does it have a purpose? this has bugged me for ages!
March 14th, 2008 at 3:41 amSteven Roy said:
I get the impression that a lot of TV directors forget that they are supposed to be showing the sport and not auditioning for Steven Spielberg. I also hate the shots of the back of Ron Dennis’s head and the mechanics sitting in the garage.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:42 amShashank said:
watchinng it on TVU…
Webber’s doing gr8
March 14th, 2008 at 3:42 amSteven Roy said:
It is a button that selects neutral in the gearbox so it is an N
March 14th, 2008 at 3:43 amJordan said:
What the….. Webber in first????
Oh, wait, he hasn’t crashed yet…..
March 14th, 2008 at 3:43 amlou said:
thanks!!!
March 14th, 2008 at 3:43 amme said:
thank you, recalling that was hurting me poor brain cells
i think all teams have them, but they may be positioned differently? not sure.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:44 amJourneyer said:
Steven, I think lou means the one on the nose. If that’s the one you’re referring to lou, it’s a fire extinguisher, from what I remember. It goes off when it senses a fire.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:46 amJourneyer said:
And Webber pops an even faster lap!! Now 2 tenths up on kovi.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:46 amSteven Roy said:
There is one marked E (in a circle) for extinguisher which can be triggered by a marshal or by the driver from another button in the cockpit but the one with the N in a circle is the neutral selector
March 14th, 2008 at 3:47 amJourneyer said:
Ah. Yes, you’re right, Steven, but what is the N on the nose? This is different from the one on the steering wheel.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:47 amlou said:
right im back off to bed so i will have to drag myslf away or i wont be able to keep my eyes open for the next 2 days. thanks for trying out the chat/ commenying thing! as i have said soo much fun! thanks guys!
March 14th, 2008 at 3:48 amme said:
that fif1 car does look like a mclaren, jeez. didn’t we have that problem with midland not so long ago?
March 14th, 2008 at 3:48 amShashank said:
Alonso seems to be struggling….
March 14th, 2008 at 3:49 amme said:
same time tomorrow!
March 14th, 2008 at 3:50 amlou said:
yep thats the one! thanks
March 14th, 2008 at 3:50 amSteven Roy said:
The N on the nose is a button that lets marshals select neutral on a parked car
March 14th, 2008 at 3:50 amlou said:
can’t wait!
March 14th, 2008 at 3:53 amJourneyer said:
AH! Okay, now it makes sense. Thanks steven!
Off to bed now, lou. 
March 14th, 2008 at 3:53 amme said:
new honda livery doesn’t look too bad on track
March 14th, 2008 at 3:54 amSteven Roy said:
Does anyone know what Piquet’s problem is. He has only done 3 laps
March 14th, 2008 at 3:57 amme said:
nope, haven’t seen any garage shots for a while.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:58 amJourneyer said:
Steven, SPEED says he’s having brake problems. They’re bleeding the brakes now, trying to get him out for a run before the session ends.
Funny how the commentators keep tripping up on Kubica’s name.
March 14th, 2008 at 3:59 amSteven Roy said:
Thanks
March 14th, 2008 at 4:02 amme said:
a great middle sector from hamilton, but he lost 5 tenths in the last sector.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:04 amSteven Roy said:
Trulli has just gone P5 ???
March 14th, 2008 at 4:05 amJourneyer said:
Yes, he has. Good pace so far.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:07 amme said:
glock is well off the pace by comparison
March 14th, 2008 at 4:09 amme said:
hamilton’s soft tyres looked half eaten away.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:11 amJourneyer said:
Not anymore. He’s P8. Surprising how well Toyota is doing.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:11 amSteven Roy said:
Glock is now 3 tenths behind Trulli
March 14th, 2008 at 4:11 amChristine said:
Piquet is out now.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:14 amme said:
massa… predictable
March 14th, 2008 at 4:15 amChristine said:
It’s not even raining.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:16 amme said:
sato made it to double figures
March 14th, 2008 at 4:16 amSteven Roy said:
Massa had just put in a really good lap and I guess he no knows he can’t beat it.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:20 amSteven Roy said:
I guess Trulli just had another mood swing.
The FIF1 car looks evil. Sutil was sawing away at the wheel like Massa in a Sauber
March 14th, 2008 at 4:22 amJordan said:
And Trulli’s out…Will Someone check on his mindset now?
March 14th, 2008 at 4:24 amme said:
massa calling it a day? scared himself silly maybe.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:27 amme said:
hamilton on softs, finally going to bump webber?
he does
March 14th, 2008 at 4:28 amChristine said:
I’ve never seen quite so much gravel flying around.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:30 amSteven Roy said:
Coulthard P5
March 14th, 2008 at 4:31 amme said:
welcome to the world of the standard ecu.
well, that and a green track.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:32 amme said:
a fine effort, that fin paying off for the team by the looks.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:33 amSteven Roy said:
You always get a lot more incidents in practise than in quali or race. It’s the Gilles Villeneuve approach to finding the limit. Keep increasing the speed until you go off then back oof a bit
March 14th, 2008 at 4:34 amJordan said:
Well, It’s only Practice….
March 14th, 2008 at 4:35 amme said:
never seen FP before
i see rbr’s reliability returns!!
March 14th, 2008 at 4:35 amJourneyer said:
Red Bull are the biggest winners today. What pace there!
March 14th, 2008 at 4:36 amme said:
piquet’s season is starting out like kovi’s last year
March 14th, 2008 at 4:36 amSteven Roy said:
Some very odd positions
Fisichella P9
Button P11
Barrichello P14
Alonso P13
Heidfeld P12
Kubica P15
Didn’t expect any of those
March 14th, 2008 at 4:39 amme said:
you’re right. alonso did more laps that anyone bar vettel. fissi did an amazing job. bmw were nowhere.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:41 amSteven Roy said:
Just saw Trulli’s accident. Tried to brake with his outside rear wheel on the grass and went straight to the scene of the accident.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:44 amme said:
ahh, figures. a bit embarrassing though.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:44 amSteven Roy said:
I need to be up for work in three hours and I haven’t had any sleep yet. So it’s good night from me.
March 14th, 2008 at 4:45 amme said:
agreed.
major thanks all who joined us this eve / morning, it’s been wild.
more, much, much more from us tomorrow
March 14th, 2008 at 4:49 amAuryn said:
Wow, that has got to be the best practice session I’ve seen thus far! Cars spinning and sliding all over the place and some amazing car-control by some.
The difference between last years and this cars is so visible in terms of maneuvering…you can see how much the drivers really have to work at it.
March 14th, 2008 at 5:33 amBhav said:
We need better commentary! i used speeds coverage for my commentary while watching the itv stream- but all speed want to do is- go for a ad-break!!!!!!!!! perhaps someone here would like to broadcast something instead?? could be quite funny- but dont ask me cause i just swear at the red cars! lol
March 14th, 2008 at 8:53 amChristine said:
Never has the snooze button been more enticing!
March 14th, 2008 at 9:56 amJourneyer said:
Good morning, Christine.
Enjoy your Friday! You’ll need your rest for quali tonight. 
Which I’ll miss. 
March 14th, 2008 at 9:59 amSteven Roy said:
By race day we will all be on Aussie time so the race will be easy for us. The downside is we will all have jet lag on Monday.