I'm also completley ready for the season to start.....every year is so full of promise and expectation, and this year is no different. However this year we have HOW many world champions driving? yikes, it's gonna be fun to watch! Lots of new and unexpected performances this year, that's the only thing I'll predict!
Another American sneaks into F1, sort of. Isn't an F1 test role these days basically an invitation to spend the season not driving for the team? Fortunately he gets to keep his full time gig as well. Rossi secures Caterham test role (Crash.net)
That is wonderful news to hear Robert Kubica is back in a rally car. I hope his GP career is not over. :fingerscrossed:
Ughh.. I'm dragging now. I stayed up and watched the 2nd practice broadcast. Why, cause I felt like a kid at Channukah...
Almost turned it on after watching Senna but knew I would be stuck until the wee hours... Highlights?
It was weird. Both the 1st and 2nd sessions started wet and ended dry. HRT is still a backmarker Red Bull - Vettel was not happy, he was like 10th and 11th I think, odd. Webber was not much better. Schumi lead the 2nd session time sheets. But it is really hard to gain any insight. Tires were a real mix. Some ran the soft, some the hard compounds. I don't think we will really see where they all stand till qualifying.
I didn't stay up for the second practice but I did watch the first (live online at speed.com). Interesting to watch without any commentary. There are some surprises on the time sheets but, as always, it's just practice and you don't really know which drivers/teams are trying to find the limits on what types of fuel loads and which are just working through their test programs. Throw in some rain during both sessions and who knows? Still, I'm enjoying the speculation.
Steve Matchett's Chalk Talk is back for another season. First round is about the conflict between 2012 technical regulations re nose height and the desire for flow under the car causing those broken or platypus noses. I wish he would talk about why McLaren went the other way and what trick they're using to get good performance anyway but I don't imagine he has a good explanation for that yet. :wink: Australian GP Chalk Talk - 2012
The 3rd practice session (11pm ET / 8pm PT) will stream live on SpeedTV.com. If it's like the first practice it will be video only with on-screen data but no commentary and better sound quality from the track than I remember ever hearing when the commentators were on.