Not a classic race, and the jury's out on whether the new adjustable rear wing makes much of a difference to overtaking, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Probably cos I've been waiting for the first race for what seems like forever!

What do others think about the new pairing of Martin Brundle and David Coulthard? I must admit, when I heard about the changes earlier this year I was a bit concerned that the commentary would be too technical and geeky, but I'm delighted to have been proved wrong. I thought they got the balance just right between the technical details and the general chit-chat of two mates down the pub. I liked Martin's "So, David, between 99 and 100%, what percentage of that would you say is Barrachello' fault". I think as the season goes on, we'll hopefully see more of that - which is partly what was lacking in the Jonathan Leggard and MB pairing (plus the fact that JL often didn't know what was going on and would just babble nonsense!). Overall, I was impressed with DC and MB, and Martin slipped into the lead role comfortably.

I love having two former drivers in the commentary box, the geeky aspect wasn't too much of a concern for me; being something of an F1 anorak. I was already on record with my views of JL being all at sea in the box, so it's all good.

DC and MB make a great team, and after the race they join Jake and Eddie for the forum, so theres a feeling of continuity too.

I loved the DC MB combo! The geekiness was just right for me. Aswell as the general banter.

A lot better than JL used to be.

Been thinking more about the DRS thing. I think it works (clearly it does from looking at the couple of overtakes that were made using it) but I also think the positioning of it needs changing to make it more beneficial.

Implementing it out of a slow corner and a not very high speed straight into another slow corner basically minimises the benefit in all ways possible.

If they were to implement it after turn 2 (I think) or on the long sweepeing left hand curve (where Button got penalised) it would make a hell of a difference.

Loving the DC/MB combo too, they did make me laugh out loud a couple of times and as already mentioned being good friends they can bounce off each other really well.

The DRS is a good idea but why restrict it to one area? Bit of rule tweaking needed me thinks....

Quote of the weekend went to Vettel imo - when asked why he didn’t use KERS in his qualifying lap he replied "I couldn’t find the button" Quality answer (I may get to like the bloke with one liner’s like that).

Reference Button – on his second and successful attempted at overtaking Massa he saved all his KERS for the final straight giving him the power with the DRS engaged to pass easily and cleanly. I noticed that at the start of the race when he was trying to get pass he was nearly out of KERS by the last corner. Although fuel, tyres etc all change the method of approach I suppose…..

Definitely.

I don't think unrestricting areas of use is the answer though.

More intelligent choice of usage area is a definite must.

http://www.formula1.com/races/in_detail ... agram.html

Going by the above diagram I think a better use of the DRS would be to time check at the info point just before turn 9 and allow use of DRS (unless under braking or activation once past the opponent) up until turn 13.

It's a fairly straight part of the track, high speed, a long time flat out and allows the set up and completion at a couple of points.

I'm not expert but I would say something like that would allow for better use of the DRS than it is currently set up. Although looking at the speed trap info it looks like they have just set it to be the straight leading up to the fastest point on the track.

Surely if you were defending for your life and you knew on the straight they were going to deploy DRS then you'd kit your KERS?

Yes but the person behind would also have KERS and the amounts left in each "tank" may not be the same.

Question though, is KERS optional this year or is it a requirement?

Optional. What I meant though is the person in front who's expecting to be overtaking is likely to save up his KERS for that moment. Of course the car behind may also have it but if you deploy yours at the same time the overtake is not going to be guaranteed.

Look at Button Vs Massa. Button used his wing-thingy and he couldn't get passed.

Yes but that's what I mean about having the DRS at that specific point. To put DRS on a straight when coming out of a slow (ish) corner and going into a slow corner minimises any effect of the DRS.

By having it in a place where overtaking is almost possible without it (i.e. the places I mentioned above) it would maximise the benefit of the DRS system.

I think the system works it just needs to be used at the correct places (or more like have the places where it can be used selected more intelligently than just by saying "the straight with the fastest top speed").

The thing needed most when trying to accelerate quickly away from a corner is downforce over the rear wheels. By implementing DRS at the start finish of Melbourne it removes the downforce and slows the acceleration down.

I enjoyed the race despite. I was quite surprised to hear the RBR were not running KERS though the explanation made perfect sense. Nice to see Petrov get a podium. Shame for Perez to lose his points.

KERS has been around for 3 seasons now, it was only the teams all deciding together not to use it last year that stopped us seeing it. Maybe they needed that year to perfect the technology?

Though I heard somewhere that Williams had the best KERS system having brought into a company so they could perfect the technology

I like the idea but as Red Bull demonstrated power of weight is a close call.

BTW I thought Adrian Sutil's demonstration of deploying DRS to early was interesting, amazing control to catch the spine though…

Lewis Hamilton's set for Cars 2, apparently - http://jalopnik.com/#!5786349

Good race, plenty of battles on track.

The Red Bulls were awesome, considering their KERS failed.

Oh, and I want a poster of Petrov's aerial escapade - it looked stunning; and probably a bit painful.

Yes, excellent race! Lots of action!

The shot of petrov from in front when he took off was amazing!

Drs was working perfectly this race. As dc pointed out, it isn't a device used to get your car in front of the opponents. It's used to get a nose ahead but the rest of the overtake is then down to you.

Looking forward to china now.

Good race all round not sure I agree with Hamilton, Alonso penalty's though.