Race was a total train wreck. So many drivers unable to cope with the wet. It wasn’t a flood, it was wet/oily slick. I know those are treacherous conditions, but come on…THESE ARE THE BEST IN THE WORLD!!! I expect fewer crashes in the wet at the kart track than we saw this weekend.
At least the yellows kept Max in play, otherwise Lando would have driven out of his life completely. Hoping Sainz and Williams show out, had hopes until he went and looked like all the rookies…ouch. Looks like Mclaren will be class of the field this year. Ferrari still doing Ferrari things…Hamilton is so screwed. Lawson is going to struggle with the handle, leaving RBR with a 1 man team. Merc will swoop in and pick up the pieces and might grab 2 or 3 in the constructors even if they aren’t the 2nd quickest car.
To be fair, I imagine driving an F1 car on a slick street circuit in the wet is a fair bit harder than a kart in the wet… they only have grip if they can build tire temp and downforce which is much harder in the rain. Also a 1000 hp turbo engine under your right foot is a bit more than our KAs. 
Those cars look super snappy. It seems like any\all slides were sudden and severe.
Martin Brundle kept talking about torque surges after Hadjars and Doohans accidents, then Sainz said over the radio that there was a torque surge. So sounds like some need to work on their wet mapping.
Its all the white lines, trees (with slippery leaves on track) and the general greasiness that makes it so treacherous. Even karts with limited power throw it off on white lines on the edge of the track, try them across the track all over the place.
I felt bad for RB, Hadjar qualified well then had his accident. Tsunoda qualified fantastic, solid in the race and just pitted at the wrong time (along with Ferrari).
Visibility-wise, a downpour is more difficult than a light rain, but the racing surface during a light drizzle is far more treacherous to drive on than a race track drenched by a heavy rain.
Both of you are 100% correct. Paved surfaces with lots of rubber, in high heat (Aus end of summer), or long duration between rain are extremely treacherous. I recall running and sliding across the pavement in my tennis shoes after late summer rains. The oils in the asphalt get worked up to the surface and with some fresh rain make a perfect combination for some sliding!!!
That being said, still supposed to be the best drivers in the world piloting the most advanced motorsport on the planet. Rain is hard, mixed conditions can be harder and always results in some mis-steps, but the number of issues this weekend was surprising. A bit disappointing to see quite so much struggle in the wet.
How about using traction control for very wet races? Do they allow anything like that?
Booooo!
Ok jeez. 
Didn’t they all just effing crash because trying to put 1000hp down on cold wet tires is pretty much not gonna happen? I thought I saw a clip of the vast majority of the field piling up in t1. Thus the jokes about the safety car winning. Seems like an expensive way to entertain us, but I’m not against it if they wanna let Lance and similar just cause chaos.
Punishing mistakes isn’t a bad thing. The cars being hard to drive isn’t a bad thing.
It adds stakes and jeopardy and a vital compoant to the dynamic of motorsport.
There were three spins in the first few laps. But definitely not the majority of the field.
It’s not usually an issue for the drivers but Australia was a street circuit and a few were caught out by just touching slippery paint lines.
Hey, no badmouthing Stroll! He kept it on track and got a respectable P6, proving that he is the best wet weather driver in history.
In all seriousness, the rookies looked like…rookies on track. Hadjar and Doohan’s crashes were unacceptable. Bortoleto did better but still had his own moment in the end. Bearman was dragging it on track trying to stay out of the walls. The only one who impressed was Kimi, the boy is special.
As usual, I did not watch. But I did see one fairly impressive crash that looked like 10 cars disintegrating. 
. I’m sorry I badmouthed Lance when he wasn’t at fault, my bad for assuming it.
I wasn’t trying to start a war either! I recalled that at some point there was a limited form of TCS which got banned.
Haha no worries, I’m just joking 
Stroll is such a fascinating driver to watch. His driving style reminds me of fighting with understeering rental karts and he has those weekends once in a while where he looks like a genuinely good driver. You never know what to expect from him.
There indeed was limited TC in F1 cars, but it was banned in 2008. While it certainly made the cars tougher to drive and made good throttle control more important, I love those V10 era onboards with drivers stabbing the throttle so early in the corner.
Looked about the same as us shifter kart guys out in the rain on slicks. Quite the handful, but a lot of fun.
You have these F1 cars confused with high technology race cars.
Like lmp stuff? Isn’t there some point at which it’s so powerful that there is some level of computer making it manageable? I understand that some our warplanes can’t be flown without active management from computer systems. Are there cars like that?
In terms of f1, the older cars like senna etc drove seem like our karts… dead simple with nothing between you and the tires. I liked those in sim a lot. Felt familiar. But are the newer cars like that? I tried the formula 1 car Lewis drove in sim (Mercedes) and the gear shifting alone was incredibly busy. (But holy heck, those brakes…. Addictive).
Are you saying that the f1 cars aspire to be like gokarts (low tech) in terms of driving, and rules try to keep that simplicity alive while also allowing for the cars to progress in an interesting technological manner? And, is that mainly about aero (the development bit)?
Some questions for the experts.
Did Piastri make a meal of his entry back onto the track, or was he a passenger? I get the challenge, and the split second decision making, particularly with Max bearing down on his right side (and presumably an instinctual desire to maintain track position in front of Max), but did he have choices, did he apply power too soon, could he have backed off, let Max pass and then re-taken him later etc? Or was the outcome pre-ordained once he left the track at that angle and re-entered on a wet slippery surface with what ever he picked up on his tyres on the way though. In other words, would an Alonso say have made a different re-entry choice, or would anyone (no matter how experienced) just be a passenger at that point?
The video footage that I’ve seen of Bortoleto hitting the wall seems a bit odd. As he’s rotating but before he hits anything, his right rear wheel seems to be doing something really weird. Did something break before he went off/hit the wall?