Will you be in Melbourne for the race?

Can't wait for the race aswell. Will be there Fri-Sun.

Go Kimi!!

Excellent Pic's Gez.

I always enjoy these night races' it'll be about 3am when it starts over here.

Melbourne's F1 future in the dark, says supremo

By Chip Le Grand

ON the Friday before a race, there is no point trying to make sense of Formula One.

The cars appear on the track for practice sessions but the times are meaningless.

The engines are fast but the wheels do not keep pace with the furious spin of drivers and team boffins.

Everyone wants to know who will win but as Renault boss Flavio Briatore says: "Only God knows."

Yet there is one certainty about the Australian Grand Prix. If enough lights can be thrown on to the Albert Park circuit to safely hold the race after dark, it will happen in the next two years.

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone yesterday said Melbourne should think about holding the race at night.

Ecclestone is not God but in the F1 world, he comes close.

Ecclestone was careful in what he said about the future of the Australian Grand Prix. Having agreed reluctantly to a rare radio interview, the F1 president was intent on talking up the public support for the event as it stands.

But later in the day behind the team garages, Ecclestone made two points.

The first was that the Australian race did not produce the television ratings he would like.

The second is that a decision to hold the race at night would count in Melbourne's favour when the time came to consider an extension of its F1 licence beyond 2010.

Did this mean Melbourne had to shift to a night race to stay in the game?

"We won't say that, but yes, they should think about it," he said.

Australian Grand Prix chairman Ron Walker, the man who publicly floated the idea of night race this week, insists Ecclestone is not holding a loaded floodlight to his head.

"Mr Ecclestone is not saying either you take it or you don't," he said. "This has nothing to do with the renewing of our contract."

But there is no doubt that the push for an evening race at Albert Park is coming from Ecclestone rather than Walker.

While shifting the race to night would do nothing to improve the bottom line of the race for Victorian taxpayers - an estimated $10 million in lights would add to the cost of an event that is this year expected to lose $35 million - the benefit to F1 coffers in showing the race at a watchable time in Europe would be substantial.

"About a billion people could watch this in Europe, at a proper hour, rather than getting up at 5am, if we embraced night racing," Walker said.

Walker says there is much work to be done before any decision to hold the race at night is taken.

As a starting point, a feasibility study must be done to determine whether the circuit could be sufficiently lit to safely hold a F1 race.

From there, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation board would make a recommendation to the state Government and the final call would rest with the Victorian Premier and cabinet.

In the meantime, the idea of a night grand prix has received a mixed reception from leading figures within the sport.

"I find the night race issue a little doubtful in my own mind," said Jackie Stewart, a three time world champion, broadcaster and former team owner.

"There is nothing negative about looking at it. But I think Formula One is unique.

"With its quality and prestige, I don't think it needs gimmicks."

Australia's most revered F1 driver, Jack Brabham, questioned the need to pander to European markets.

"The idea is so people in Europe don't have to get up early in the morning to watch it," he said.

"But we all have to get up early in the morning to watch their races so what is the difference?"

Any live watchers?

Well McLaren have a bit of work to do to close the gap to Ferrari. Kudos to Hamilton thou, great first race for the lad.

As for the race weekend - couldnt have wished for a better one. Awesome in every respect. Free drinks and food all day sat too - no sleep and great results!

You really need to attend one Gulli. Have you not been to Silverstone?

I've been their twice for testing but no races thus far. I'm going to try to get to Spa next year if I can, no chance this year I'll be up to my neck in work.

McLaren have had the clarification they wanted - sprung floors that move more than 5mm are verboten. Now, let's see if it makes a difference to their rivals.

After the opening grand prix in Melbourne it was interesting to see the reaction of the Ferraristas when McLaren sought a clarification on the 'moveable floor' rule.

Though the team didn't name Ferrari (or BMW who are believed to have the same device) they asked the FIA if they, too, could employ such a device.

There was a lot of ill-thought-out whingeing about Ron being a bad loser. However this was based on the fact that, if truth be told, he is a bad loser. Which is half the joy of winning for Ferrari.

In seasons past we've had Ferrari with too-flexy bargeboards, which move under load and give an aerodynamic advantage, and too-flexy rear wings,which move under load and give an aerodynamic advantage. Now we had a moveable floor that moves under load and, you've guessed it, gives an aerodynamic advantage.

Article 3.17.4 of the F1 technical regulations states that no bodywork, such as the floor, can deflect more than 5mm vertically when exposed to an upward load of 500 Newton.

McLaren pointed out that you could have a sprung floor calibrated to give just enough resistance to allow the floor to pass the FIA flexibility test when the car was in the pitlane, but then give way and move upward when the car was exposed to the higher forces out on the circuit.

Thus at speed going down the start/finish straight, the car's nose would bend up creating less drag and more top speed.

The team realised what Ferrari's device was doing at the beginning of the Aussie Grand Prix weekend and Mclaren's director of engineering Paddy Lowe wrote to the FIA Technical Delegate Charlie Whiting to see if they, too, could fit the device.

Now Whiting has written back to McLaren and copied in all the teams to make his decision known.

Whiting wrote: "The test described in Article 3.17.4 is intended to test the flexibility of bodywork in that area, not the resistance of a device fitted for the purpose of allowing the bodywork to move further once the maximum test load is exceeded.

"Quite clearly, any such device would be designed to permit flexibility and is therefore strictly prohibited by Article 3.15 of the Technical Regulations."

So, Charlie thinks that flexible floors are not good, and what's more, he's upping the test to catch out that naughty Mario Theissen or that impish Jean Todt, if they try and get too flexy. (And nothing is proven yet)

The delicious irony of the situation is that Article 3.15 is the same area that Renault got caught out with last year after their mass damper system was banned. And of course, though Ferrari denied it, everyone thought it was them that went to Charlie Whiting with the complaint.

With the long and wide straights of Sepang awaiting the teams next race, we will soon see if a more rigid floor dents the Ferrari and BMW teams' speed that much. With potential ambient temperatures of 40C we will also see how the Ferrari engine copes with the heat.

Though Kimi Raikkonen gave the impression that his win in Melbourne was just a stroll in Albert Park, we now know that he had water temperature issues near the end of the race as the team are contemplating an engine change for Sepang.

Felipe Massa was also keen to get out of the slipstream of the two Hondas down the Melbourne start/finish straight which might indicate that the Ferrari is fast but a bit too hot.

Though of course it might have been to make use of the Ferrari's fabulously bendy floor...