Hey! You made a thread about the 2012 Formula 1 season! Nice one waluigi! =P

I'm really looking forward to this year's F-1 season as it 'could' be the make-or-break point for Michael Schumacher and how he will proceed from hereon! He has a good chance, given that the car is decently progressing from last years version, and will surely be aiming for the GP wins, if not for the championship! But I do have to admit that I'm a bit scared of Vettel having another dominant year this year... let's hope another driver (preferably Schumi of course! Heheh...) can provide somewhat of a fight and break his streak! =)

So... to warm up a bit for the first race coming Sunday, I pulled out the Senna documentary to get into the mood a bit and see some footage of the era when F-1 racing was still about racing at first and at that point began to turn into a political game, which progressed to the current state of backstabbing and moneymaking games that are played in the world of Formula Uno! =/

Let's forget that last bit and just enjoy the fast paced, adrenaline rushed, breathtaking mother of all motorsports, called Formula 1!

Gentlemen... start your engines!! =D

Massively crushed that Istanbul's off the roster. I haven't really kept up, so can somebody tell me why?

I'm still holding onto that faint hope that something will go Webber's way. That, and he somehow fixes his abysmal launch issues that have plagued him since 2010.

Of course, I'm particularly interested in Ricciardo, after a promising performance with HRT I see he's now sitting in Toro Rosso's first seat. I'll be looking forward to seeing how he stacks up against the more senior racers. I also wonder if Kobayashi will give us more of his thrilling kamikaze racing, I was a big fan of it last year!

Oh! I forgot to mention a fun fact and renewed first (it's actually a sixth 'first', because it has happened 5 times before) in F-1: they hired a female driver for the Marussia team! =)

To elaborate, there have been female drivers before in F-1, but aside from Lella Lombardi who finished 6th at the 1975 Spain GP and thus getting 0.5 point, none of them were able to make a lasting career in the F-1 Championship. Desire Wilson has been able to win a GP, but it was for the "British Aurora F1 series" and is therefor not counted as a genuine F-1 Grand Prix race. =)

And the first qually has been finished with some unexpected result for me! (o.O)

Mercedes GP has a new rear wing with an integrated F-duct in it, which made sure Schumi has secured the 4th position, but Ross Brawn has stated that they were a little dissapointed about the results of the new F-duct wing, as they expected it to be better than this...
The new F-duct wing is circumventing the F.I.A. rules that were changed since last year, preventing a driver to be able to open and close an F-duct in the rear wing by hand. But Mercedes GP has managed to link this system to the 'DRS' system, having it open and close whenever the 'DRS' is used and thus making is a passive system, which is completely within the rules of the F.I.A. as Charly Whiting has officially stated...
There already have been two teams, Red Bull Racing and Lotus, who have already asked the F.I.A. to reconsider allowing Mercedes GP to use this modified rear wing. They are even considering making an official protest for this with the F.I.A., but this is not confirmed yet...

Hamilton was asked to give a view ahead of the first Grand Prix of Australia coming and said that he wouldn't want to speculate too much as he was absolutely not sure where McLaren would stand and end up after the qualifying... and the results are: #1 and #2! How surprising! =0

A new 'threat' has been opted for the Bahrein Grand Prix of this year's Formula 1 calender... the "Coalition Youth of the 14 Feb Revolution" has send a message to Bernie Ecclestone to cancel the Grand Prix held April 22nd this year. Wonder what that will be in the end... will revolution win over money? =/

I will post the results for the qualifying next up, I just hve to go look for them online and grab the info... hang on! =D

So here we have the official results for the Qualification of the Australian Grand Prix held at Melbourne - Australia tomorrow, March 18th, 2012! =)

1. Lewis Hamilton     McLaren - Mercedes    1:24,922
2. Jenson Button     McLaren - Mercedes    + 0,152
3. Romain Grosjean     Lotus - Renault    + 0,380
4. Michael Schumacher     Mercedes    + 0,414
5. Mark Webber         RedBull - Renault    + 0,729
6. Sebastian Vettel     RedBull - Renault    + 0,746
7. Nico Rosberg      Mercedes    + 0,764
8. Pastor Maldonado     Williams - Renault    + 0,986
9. Nico Hülkenberg     Force India - Mercedes    + 1,529
10 Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso - Ferrari    -???-
11 Jean-Éric Vergne     Toro Rosso - Ferrari    + 1,507
12 Fernando Alonso     Ferrari    + 1,572
13 Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber - Ferrari    + 1,668
14 Bruno Senna          Williams - Renault    + 1,741
15 Paul Di Resta     Force India - Mercedes    + 2,164
16 Felipe Massa      Ferrari    + 2,575
17 Sergio Pérez      Sauber - Ferrari    -???-    
18 Kimi Räikkönen     Lotus - Renault    + 2,836
19 Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham - Renault    + 3,757
20 Vitaly Petrov     Caterham - Renault    + 4,096
21 Timo Glock         Marussia - Cosworth    + 6,001
22 Charles Pic         Marussia - Cosworth    + 6,748

NQ Pedro de la Rosa     HRT - Cosworth    1:33,495
NQ Narain Karthikeyan     HRT - Cosworth    1:33,643

I just checked and the final result have been given out to be the starting grid as well for tomorrow's Grand Prix. No changes were made to any of the positions of the drivers...

Looks like some real big surprises / huge dissapointments here! I'll highlight the biggest surprises and developments for me personally... (o.O)

Vettel is only 6th, behind his team mate Webber! Will Mark have the upper hand over Sebas this year? That would be deserving for Mark anyway! Could give him the shot at the titel he surely has paid for in advance last year! =)

Grosjean in 3rd?! Now THAT's a real surprise! I expected the Lotus would be a good car this year, one to watch out for, but this good?! And Raikkonen still has to adjust to the car as it seems... or he has been away from racing F-1 for too long! Weird... =/

Schumacher has outperformed his team mate Rosberg for this race and I'm sceptical enough to not cheer for a complete domination by Schumi over him, even after a better race result for this race... I learned from last year where Rosberg has proven to be a driver to recon with! Nevertheless, great result in 4th place! ;)

Ferrari... Ferrari..? Ferrari..! *sighs* ...oh my! What has happened to them?! The red car has seem to have lost it's horse power and fallen back in this year's field?! Luca de Montezemolo won't be happy I'm afraid! I bet he's raging like a fierce wild black stallion about the 12th and 16th place for a result by Alonso and Massa! Yikes! (o.O)

Too bad De la Rosa and Karthikeyan are not capable to drive the HRT over the required minimal time limit and enter the race... I thought it would be the year we could see De la Rosa race for real again, but the HRT has proven to be a bad car, not able to compete with the rest of the field! At least not for this Grand Prix... let's hope for the best! =/

Qualification is still ongoing right now, but I have to leave for work RIGHT NOW! Already late... aaaarrgghhh! =/

Schumacher and Rosberg are actually looking good for the front row at the moment! Oooohhh... how sweet this would be! It would show that the times they drove in Australia were no fluke and they are actually up there with the "Big 'uns" YEAH! =D

I'll check in later on today to see what you guys think, ok? =)

And good to see you're back and active again Pixie214! =D