[pizza guy]

I'm certain Hamilton will have a brilliant season, but Alonso, having now gone back to Renault, it's hard to say, with him no longer being world champion, they can't have had that much money to play with compared to McLaren and Ferrari. But we shall see.

[AndyGanteks]

I cant wait for the new season.I think Hamilton can win it this year,although Kimi and Alonso are ofcourse to be his big rivals for the title.Kovalainen and Massa will be in top somewhere,and others,well not really into them,but they probably wont battle for the title.

[Stefan.]

By big 4 I meant Ferrari, Mclaren, BMW and Renault. Renault have Nelson Piquet Jr. now; if the name suggests that he will be as good as his father, plus with the talent of Alonso, than we can be assured that they could pose as an influence.

Well, practice is starting today. I'm at school though, but tomorrow lunch-time should be perfect for qualifying.

[Azazel]

I've always been a fan of Kimi Räikkönen, and was very pleased to see him finally take his first championship win last season. Before that I favoured Mika Häkkinen. I must have some sort of fetish for Fins.

[Stefan.]

QUOTE (Azazel @ Mar 14 2008, 08:21)

I must have some sort of fetish for Fins.

I hope you're talking about the girls.

I liked Hakkinen more than Schumacher, however I dislike Raikonnen. He has no personality; he's like a stale robot to me. That's the good thing about Juan Pablo Montoya; he had guts and he was fiery.

[Azazel]

QUOTE (Stefan. @ Mar 13 2008, 22:28)

Juan Pablo Montoya; he had guts and he was fiery.

Yeah, and left F1 to drive NASCAR.

[TheScorpion]

QUOTE

ITV to stream F1 live on the web ITV has announced a deal with Formula One Management (FOM) to acquire the UK online rights for Formula 1 on itv.com/f1 ahead of the new Formula 1 season, which kicks off this weekend (March 14-16) at the Australian Grand Prix. This significant acquisition will see itv.com/f1 become the online home of Formula 1 in the UK, supporting the broadcast coverage on ITV1, whilst offering interactive action and news plus post-race highlight packages – all located here at itv.com/f1. As part of the deal, itv.com/f1 will stream live simulcasts of the races, along with a live feed from Friday practice, which is currently not broadcast on any channel in the UK. The new content will include: * Premium video footage, including a post-race highlights package containing all of the action from the track with interviews and features hosted by the ITV team * Live online streaming of Friday practice – not currently available to UK audiences * Simulcasts of the race and qualifying * 30-day catch-up service of the F1 coverage on ITV * Clips from the post-event press conferences with the drivers Annelies Van den Belt, MD, Broadband commented: “We’re thrilled to be able to offer live streaming Formula 1 video action to fans. “Our coverage of the Friday practice will provide fans with direct access to all the action that they simply won’t find on TV. “The itv.com/f1 website has been established as one of the best sport sites on the web for a number of years, and this only strengthens our claim to be the top online destination for F1 fans in the UK." Mark Sharman, ITV's Director of News and Sport said: “We know from listening to our viewers that there is great demand from motorsport fans to watch F1 practice sessions and press conferences. “This is yet another example of how we are using ITV’s digital channels and new media platforms to extend our award-winning coverage of sport to complement the big events on ITV1.” Formula One Management said: “With UK Formula 1 audiences reaching their highest levels in many years, it gives us great pleasure to fuel this resurgence further with the introduction of online rights to complement ITV's broadcast coverage.” The success of Lewis Hamilton in 2007 drove ITV’s F1 viewing figures to their highest volume since 2001, with almost 11 million watching live as Hamilton narrowly missed out on clinching the world title at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

This is awesome news for us Brits seeing as we never get to watch Friday practice over here. It starts in about 1 hour and 15 mins, so I for one am definitely going to watch it.

Just posted incase anyone is actually interested in practice, it'll most probably only attract the hardcore fans

[Yatesyz]

Thanks for that info The Scorpion, I will check out the website now.

[Mark]

Sweet, that'll give me summin to do tomorrow when at work .

Winner in Aus? Gotta say Kimi. I hate to but I really feel Mclaren are on the back foot after a disastrous end to the 2007 season.

Kimi's different to most drivers, yes he's quiet, but he's still quite the party animal. His heroes include James Hunt and the rest of the guys that went out and got pissed during a race weekend.

Roll on this weekend I guess. I actually have Sunday off so I'll probably stay up and watch it in my usual pissed state that I reach at 3am.

[TheScorpion]

Friday Practice 1:

1. Räikkönen 1:26.461
2. Hamilton +0.487
3. Massa +0.497
4. Kovalainen +0.653
5. Webber +1.802
6. Alonso +1.899
7. Kubica +2.118
8. Glock +2.452
9. Vettel +2.496
10.Trulli +2.553
11. Button +2.663
12. Fisichella +2.769
13. Coulthard +2.840
14. Bourdais +2.902
15. Barichello +3.072
16. Heidfeld +3.100
17. Sutil +3.694
18. Piquet +3.896
19. Sato +4.587
20. Davidson +5.310
21. Nakajima +8.592
22. Rosberg no time

Friday Practice 2:

1. Hamilton 1:26.559
2. Webber +0.914
3. Massa +1.081
4. Kovalainen +1.124
5. Coulthard +1.478
6. Räikkönen +1.649
7. Trulli +1.733
8. Rosberg +1.793
9. Fisichella +1.910
10. Glock +2.023
11. Button +2.073
12. Heidfeld +2.172
13. Alonso +2.220
14. Barichello +2.290
15. Kubica +2.301
16. Nakajima +2.518
17. Sutil +2.602
18. Vettel +2.634
19. Piquet +2.959
20. Bourdais +3.046
21. Sato +4.104
22. Davidson +4.968


It's looking good for both Ferrari and McLaren. Ferrari are slightly ahead, but overall they're evenly matched. Hamilton made a few errors in both practices, but did some solid laps. Kovalainen is getting off to a great start for his first GP with McLaren, hopefully in qualifying he'll put a good run in. Kimi is quick, but in practice 2, both drivers were concentrating on the longer runs.

Possibly a Ferrari pole on Saturday, but you never know in Formula 1. I'm hoping it's the McLarens locking out the front row, but even those Red Bulls could stir things up. They're looking mighty compared to last season.

[Stefan.]

My tips for qualifying:

1) Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes)
2) Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
3) Kimi Raikonnen (Ferrari)
4) Mark Webber (Red Bull Renault)
5) Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren Mercedes)
6) Niko Rosberg (Williams Toyota)
7) Jarno Trulli (Toyota)
8) David Coulthard (Red Bull Renault)
9) Timo Glock (Toyota)
10) Fernando Alonso (Renault)
11) Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber)
12) Jenson Button (Honda)
13) Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India Ferrari)
14) Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso Ferrari)
15) Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber)
16) Rubens Barichello (Honda)
17) Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso Ferrari)
18) Adrian Sutil (Force India Ferrari)
19) Nelson Piquet Jr. (Renault)
20) Kazuki Nakajima (Williams Toyota)
21) Takuma Sato (Super Aguri Honda)
22) Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri Honda)

By the way, the race-time has changed this year (just for you Brits, in fact); the race is commencing at 15:30 local time, which translates to 4:30 GMT (or 5:30 in Europe). So in the end, it's not such an early wake-up as it was intended. (Next year it's 17:00, and after 2010 it's 10:00).

This post has been edited by Stefan. on Friday, Mar 14 2008, 09:35

[Yatesyz]

Update to first post - Fantasy league.

[Maverick.]

QUOTE (Yatesyz @ Mar 15 2008, 04:44)

Update to first post - Fantasy league.

It says you need to be in the UK.

[WhoooMan]

QUOTE

To access the ITV F1 fantasy game you will need to be in the UK.

[Yatesyz]

QUOTE (Maverick. @ Mar 14 2008, 18:00)

QUOTE (Yatesyz @ Mar 15 2008, 04:44) Update to first post - Fantasy league. It says you need to be in the UK.

Just type in a fake address and say your from the UK.

[Stefan.]

Actually, we can't. It reads our IP Address, so there's no use in actually typing in a fake address.

The BMW's took the front 2 positions in practice today; woot! They left it until the end, but nonetheless, we're top for now.

[TheScorpion]

Awesome quali. Need I say more?

Pole for Hamilton

Q3
1. Hamilton McLaren 1:26.714 14
2. Kubica BMW 1:26.869 15
3. Kovalainen McLaren 1:27.079 13
4. Massa Ferrari 1:27.178 12
5. Heidfeld BMW 1:27.236 16
6. Trulli Toyota 1:28.527 17
7. Rosberg Williams 1:28.687 21
8. Coulthard Red Bull 1:29.041 18
9. Glock Toyota 1:29.593 17
10. Vettel Toro Rosso no time in Q3 18

Q2
11. Barrichello Honda 1:26.173 13
12. Alonso Renault 1:26.188 10
13. Button Honda 1:26.259 13
14. Nakajima Williams 1:26.413 13
15. Webber Red Bull no time in Q2 8
16. Raikkonen Ferrari no time in Q2 3

Q1
17. Fisichella Force India 1:27.207 9
18. Bourdais Toro Rosso 1:27.446 10
19. Sutil Force India 1:27.859 9
20. Sato Super Aguri 1:28.208 9
21. Piquet Renault 1:28.330 6
22. Davidson Super Aguri 1:29.059 9

Unlucky for Raikkonen I suppose, aswell as Webber. Mark never seems to have any luck, I really feel for him at times.

I'm made up with Hamilton's pole though, hopefully he can bring it home! Kubica did outstanding aswell, and Heikki made a great start for McLaren

[Stefan.]

Heidfeld did OK; made it to 5th. I feel a tad sorry for Webber, but honestly I don't really care. I feel sorry for Kubica; had he not ran wide at turn 12, he would have gotten pole! Oh well, well done to Hamilton; he is a good driver, after all.

[Yatesyz]

Good start to the season for McLaren with Hamilton getting pole position and Kovalainen getting third.

Unlucky to Raikkonen though and I'm slightly shocked about Alonso not reaching the top ten. BMW seem strong and may pose a threat to Hamilton.

[Jay]

QUOTE (TheScorpion @ Mar 15 2008, 19:46)

aswell as Webber. Mark never seems to have any luck, I really feel for him at times.

God man, in Australia we feel sorry for him all the time.

But I suppose it is much better than him failing on a constant basis because he is a rubbish driver.

Anyway, @tomorrows race: Hard pressed to see Hamilton not win this. I'd like to see Bourdais make a run for it. I always hated him in Champ Cars, but now he's made the switch, I like the lad.