Thought it be worth starting a new thread, the old one is looooong. I'll lock the other one and link to here.

So, Qualifying in just under 9 hours. Unless Mclaren are playing the worlds biggest bluff they are seriously down on pace, slower than the Force India drivers. Apparently they'll have more scope with this car to improve over the season than the last car, but will that be too late? If Red Bull are as quick as the look then they'll be long gone I fear. Closest cars that could take a fight to them seem to be the Lotus or the Mercs at the moment. Rosberg and Raikkonen both looking quick. Ferrari are maybe slightly behind them at the moment, but if Alonso carries his form over from last season who knows. Massa seems to be back in the groove too. Sutil quicker than Di Resta after a couple of years out? Fluke or sustainable pace? Hulkenburg's side step to Sauber appears to have moved him nowhere up the field yet, all the midfield seem roughly the same order as last season. Williams seem a little further down the field than last season and the Marussia's might have closed slightly on the rest of the field.

All speculation obviously, no one knows fuel loads etc. I'm just praying someone can take the fight to Vettel, even if its Webber.

Anyone but Vettel! Kimi was a bit tentative at the start but was always close despite having a few years out and managed a good win. Hoping it's the Iceman's year now he's got his eye in

Oh no not vettel again getting friggin boring, all the times so far are just sandbagging quali and the race we will soon know, watch out for the mercs ( not the button lot )

It does seem that the mercs and McLarens have swapped roles at the moment. Very interesting to hear that Hamilton only accepted the drive on the condition he could put his preferred brake disc manufacturer on the merc and that that Rosberg has adopted the same discs also. Hopefully they can iron out reliability issues from FP2. Good to see Massa seems to back at his best, hope he shows up the Spaniard this year. I do think however that Raikkonen is probably the person most likely to trouble the Red Bulls. Grosjean will be too busy crashing to show the cars potential. Very much looking forward to qualifying and the race even if it does mean missing out on sleep.

Also one of the best things I have seen Sky Sport F1 do in a long time has had me in stitches the numerous times I have watched it today!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5k1QCwJVcI

Hope they carry on this feature throughout the season

Edited 15 March, 201313 yr by Kartman

* YAWN * here we go . .

* YAWN * here we go . .

Sky go on, tablet for live timing. The rain should make it interesting! Hope they don't have anymore power cuts at the tv centre.

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Indeed, amazing given the technologically advanced the sport is that they have a simple power cut.

Rain is certainly going to mix things up a bit! mega excited now

Q1 was certainly interesting and exciting . Was about to say if it stays dry, I can see drys by q3, but just seen it's started raining as the session is over.

I can see them calling it off until tomorrow. It will start to get dark soon. Maldonado whinging his car is crap. Was good enough for Bottas to get into Q2, the only rookie to do so

Oh send em out and get on with it!

This is stupid they're not going ng to get done by the time it gets dark they may as well call it off till tomorrow now

Send em out! They're supposedly the 16 best drivers in the world. I've karted in much much worse conditions that they have and have never had a race delayed or called off! I shall be ran out of tea bags at this rate as they will be daylight!

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To quote Kravitz from earlier 'Nothing clears water like an F1 driver'. Get them out there already!

Exactly! Got up for nothing. Might as well go to gym and reassemble my interior now I'm up.

Incase anyone missed it just now Q2 and Q3 will be on 11.45pm tonight. The race better be worth it for all this sleep deprivation.

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BBC will show the quali highlights at about 5am so just enough time to watch that then see the race on Sky. I'll be going to bed then staying off Twitter

We all know that we will not see the true pace of all these cars until Q3 and the all crucial pole lap.

But I honestly do think it's going to be;

Redbull

Ferrari

Mercedes

Lotus

Mclaren

The regulations haven't changed much this year from last so there is not much technical scope to get one over on the other teams.

Redbull look the strongest, but it is awesome to see that Ferrari and Lotus have caught up.

I'm gonna stay up, got some crabbies to keep me going, few hours kip then back up for the race.

^ Dedication or what ?

Is BBC showing Q2 & Q3 tonight or is it just highlights tomorrow?

BBC is showing the highlights of Q2 & Q3 at 5:15am. So I/you could watch that then straight onto the race afterwards, but I want to see it live!!

I'm knackard, went gym this morning then build at table and chairs so no time for a power nap. Mrs has just gone off to bed so I'm all alone now, aside from the Crabbies.

Raikkonen's reply about the delayed Qualifying was that he will miss his lay in hahahaha.

Well I think that was obvious when the track started drying out. Hamilton done very well though, hopefully he can do something in the race but I'm not holding much hope.

Back in 5 hours lol

Track clearly drying towards the end of Q3, see what the race brings...

For me it's a couple of hours kip and back up at 5:45am :'(

Track clearly drying towards the end of Q3, see what the race brings...

For me it's a couple of hours kip and back up at 5:45am :'(

Same here. Yes Matt hammy did out perform. Fingers crossed for the race. Should be good

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Really hope this race/season isn't just a Red Bull showcase. I mean, don't get me wrong, even if it is, I'm sure the rest of the pack will be very entertaining, just not the same when it's a foregone conclusion. Roll on 6am!

Good first race! Glad there was no red bull domination! I'm half asleep tbh but a few points that stood out from the race.

Sutil done a great job in his first race back, truely gutted for him dropping so much time in that last little bit. That said, two solid points finishes for Force India isn't all bad.

Mega pleased with how close it was between the top 3, fingers crossed it'll last the season. Mclaren looked as slow as we expected tbh, Merc not as quick as they seemed in qualifying either. Alonso's form seems to have carried over from last season, some good moves from him. Chuffed for Kimi & Lotus though, well deserved win, everything crossed they can continue the form.

Decent first race and pretty much echoing Matts comments here.. Tired now though