Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham, Melbourne, 2012

2012 Australian Grand Prix practice in 100 pictures

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Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham, Melbourne, 2012
Heikki Kovalainen, Caterham, Melbourne, 2012
The first practice session of the season began with damp conditions.

The track dried throughout the course of the first 90 minutes and drivers were able to use slick tyres in the second half of the session.

In between the two sessions the clouds dumped yet more water on the circuit and the second session was even wetter that the first when it began.

The tricky conditions caught out a few drivers including Felipe Massa and Heikki Kovalainen – as you can see from this collection of pictures.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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36 comments on “2012 Australian Grand Prix practice in 100 pictures”

  1. Complaints about Mclaren pics in 3, 2, 1…

    1. epic timing :)

  2. Why are there never any pictures of the McLaren? Even throughout testing there was hardly any.

    1. At the moment the eighth picture on this page is of a McLaren.

      And, as it currently says at the top of the gallery, more images will be added here.

    2. Talk about a broken record! Here you go… http://f1.imgci.com/PICTURES/CMS/13800/13815.jpg (Just incase anyone’s forgotten what the McLaren looks like). Personally I reckon the photographers just can’t keep up with the McLaren’s lightning speed ;)

      Fantastic dedication with the Oz coverage Keith, I’m guessing your sleep pattern has gone a bit haywire these past couple of days.

    3. Plenty up there now…

  3. Arijit (@arijitmaniac)
    16th March 2012, 12:35

    @Ike: Wow! I think your countdown worked! :)
    @DerekMurray: No offense meant to you sir! I just found the timing of your comment with respect to Ike’s comment highly amusing :) Just a minute later!!

  4. I’ll have to get used to Heikki’s new helmet. First I thought that Jarno was back & in the gravel…

    Talking about the picture itself, it looks as if Caterham’s ‘angry bird’ has just landed after being aimed at the green pigs & launched.

    1. It was exactly was I thought … Nice to have picked that one as “main pic”, it looks quite angry bird attitude to me ;)

  5. no williams? I want to see if they’ve ruined their livery

    1. More images will be added here.

    2. According to the team on Twitter, there are no plans to change from the testing livery, which I’m glad to hear.

  6. Ross Brawn seems happy enough. He’s hatching a plan :-)

    1. @uncleben Ha! Uncle Ben. Nice.

      Brawn always looks jolly :)

  7. I really love the pictures at Albert Park, especially those at turns 1 & 2 (I never understood if those are actually the turns pictured – this is what I’m talking about), but the kerbs look strange to me. Not many years ago the yellow-green pattern was used at Interlagos (which was well-matched with the Brazilian flag) and they look out of place here. Have they got to do with a sponsor? Qantas is still the title sponsor, and as last year proved red and white are their colours, not green and yellow.

    1. Australia has a thing with Green and Gold, tends to be a traditional sporting colour.

    2. i personally dislike any kerbs that aren’t the traditional red and white.

      1. @jleigh I like how circuits embrace their nationality. Valencia and Italy make a great effort with their national colours. Red and white is just dull! :P

        1. Some time ago I had the same opinion of @jleigh, but now I like different patterns – I dislike blue and white (Jerez, Hockenheimring), or yellow and red (Spa) but I like yellow/white and orange (Valencia), green, white and red (Monza), green, yellow and white (Interlagos) and the usual red and white. This yellow/green combination has never particularly fascinated me, either at Interlagos years ago or now here.

  8. Excellent, McLaren have finally released some pictures. Now I can begin building my 2012 desktop background :-)

    Last year I had a slide-show of McLaren’s 2011 season in chronological order… *dies of geek overload*

  9. Well, I’m way too excited about Kimi having his own bird in the new Angry Birds game (Angry Birds Space):

    http://kimiraikkonen.com/angry-birds.asp

    You can see it in photos of both sides of the hat he was wearing in the garage:

    http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2012/03/16/2012-australian-grand-prix-practice-pictures/lotu_raik_melb_2012-6/

    http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/image/73139.html?page=1

    Thanks, I needed to get that news out of my system! ;-)

    1. Cool! Thanks for sharing @aka_robyn!

  10. Hekkis new helmet degin is pretty good and all – but now every time I see a picture of him I instantly think its Jarno in the car!

    1. Well at least it’s good that we won’t be having red helmets in both Caterhams.

      Ricciardo and Vergne, on the other hand, are going to be hard to discern from each other.

  11. Well at least that’s confirmed that Ferrari have won The Ugly Cup this year. Mind you, the FI and Mercedes aren’t far behind.

  12. Sangeen Khan
    16th March 2012, 18:00

    The Ferrari is a thing of beauty,as is the redbull.The mclaren is a bit meh and looks fat.Nothing striking about it.But that’s just my taste.

  13. I love the Mercedes in the picture – http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2012/03/16/2012-australian-grand-prix-practice-pictures/merc_rosb_melb_2012_3/

    Even with that nose, I think it looks fantastic (from that angle at least), and the front wing looks so technical as well.

  14. Why have some teams not bothered to put race numbers on their cars? I don’t understand why some cars have numbers on the nose and sides ( McLaren, Redbull, Lotus, Williams) , some just on the nose ( Sauber, Ferrari , Merc) and some (FI, Marrusia,) no numbers at all, I have a therory that as soon as F1 cars become nicer to look at and cool again, i.e. racing numbers are for racing cars…perhaps some sponsors will return..

    1. I know Force India have always had them in the middle of the front wing, and from the little I can see from the pictures I think Marussia as well.

      1. No wonder we can’t see them! How daft when there is all that black space on the Marussia and just coloured pattern on the FI !

  15. DK (@seijakessen)
    16th March 2012, 20:31

    No pictures of the Williams cars?

    1. I tried to take some, but the car is so ugly that it broke my camera.

      1. DK (@seijakessen)
        17th March 2012, 0:29

        LOL…really?

        Geez I was hoping for a throwback Rothman’s livery. :(

  16. I thought that the platypus noses were hard to stomach from trackside photos, but seeing them from onboard shots, they are downright horrendous. Particularly the mercedes, which looks like some kind grey lipstick tube or something… which is a shame because the mercedes is otherwise a very elegant and attractive car.

  17. Yesterday during the Australian coverage, the commentators drew attention to a quote inscribed on Daniel Ricciardo’s helmet, “There is blood in the water”, and they pointed out that it is from the song Boneyards by metalcore band Parkway Drive (it’s mostly just screaming).

    I have to ask … where’s your sense of class, Daniel? I mean, really – Parkway Drive? I mean, it it were my helmet, this is what I’d have inscribed:

    With Atë by his side come hot from hell,
    Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice
    Cry ‘Havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war.

    Where’s your sense of showmanship, Dan?

  18. The Lucozade branding on the Mclaren rear-wing makes the car look a lot meaner! Maybe gave it all the extra speed too, haha. ;D

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