2008 is on! First F1 session starts…

Posted on

| Written by

The 2008 Formula 1 season is finally under way as the first free practice session at Melbourne begins.

I’m watching the session on ITV’s new live stream. Leave a comment if you’re watching it as well – especially if you got it working outside Britain!

Australian Grand Prix session times and other information

Author information

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...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

72 comments on “2008 is on! First F1 session starts…”

  1. Playback very stuttery so far and has dropped the connection once or twice – this on an 8Mb connection. Hopefully just teething problems…

  2. Watching as well =) The feed went a bit funny for a few minutes, but it looks like it’s going again now. Love the idea of the live feeds though.

  3. It’s very flakey and stuttery so far.

  4. Its like Sky on a windy rainy day !

  5. Not aloud to get it here it Sydney, Bugger!

    Will be firing up the LCD for 2pm.

  6. I think ITV are using one of those time-lapse video recorders

  7. Other people on t’internet saying there’s issues at both ITV’s and FOM’s ends?

    But got a clear patch for a minute, can hear all the pit guys talking to DC!

  8. Yes that’s very cool. It looks like the basic picture quality is good and if they’d just clear up the stuttering it’s be excellent.

  9. Is kimi awake yet?

  10. Can’t get the live video feed to work at all here (USA)… tried a few proxy servers, but none were nearly fast enough to handle the challenge.

    I am watching via F1 live timing however…

    Looks like Bourdais was the first to complete a flying lap.

  11. How is BMW’s pace in the early session so far?  This Canadian living in the US has no access to live feeds of the action      

  12. As usual FOM is trying to keep F1 to itself!  No ITV in Australia…Live Timing not working.  I suppose they think I’ll jump in the car and drive six hours to put some money in Ron (I’m Bernies best friend) Walkers back pocket.

    IF he’s Bernies best friend why is he getting such a hard time from Mr E?

  13. So far only Vettel and Bourdais have done timed laps – everyone else bar the Ferraris and Williamses have done installation runs. Can you not get the live timing on F1.com Brent?

  14. Keith,

    Thanks for the tip… it wasn’t working before, and then when only Vettel and Bourdais were the only two showing up I figured it still wasn’t working right, but since you confirmed they’re the only 2 doing hot laps I guess it is working after all… thanks!     

  15. Go Alonso GO!!!! Hes gonna win this championship!!! Thanks god i finish my work at 4:00 am, sooooo im gonna watch it… good luck alonso!!! cheers

  16. The Ferraris’ non-tobacco livery looks rubbish.

  17. Ooh ooh ooh it’s alive! I have found a great stream, watching raikkonen I think!

  18. Massa’s really fighting that car….

  19. http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/index.shtml

    60-second delayed timing & commentary.

  20. Great piece of onboard with a Toyota – the cars really look a handful.

  21. Forget the banning of electronic aids; the best addition to the new season is this wonderful move by ITV. It’s a rare treat to be able to listen to the cars stream around the track without James Allen’s ‘input’, and eavesdropping on driver’s discussions with their engineers too – brilliant!

    I just hope ITV can fix the buffering issues…

  22. A really clear piece of DC talking about the headrests, and a great onboard of Kimi putting a wheel on the dirt and nearly losing it, this is great and I hope noone minds me yammering on about it!

  23. I just found out that the practices and races will be in HD in the US (or at least this weekend’s will be)… same thing in the UK?  Now I’m looking forward to it even more (if that was possible!)

    Any idea why so many teams aren’t even on the track?  I really want to see if BMW was sandbagging or not damn it!     

  24. Anyone going to stay up for P2?

  25. Robert… keep it coming, if only for those of us in the States/Canada

    Scott, I am but it’s on at 11pm here so not really tough to stay up     

  26. I’m just not that dedicated.

  27. Massa had been quickest on a 27.5 but Hamilton posted a 27.3, one lap after having a minor off – it’s early days but it’s an encouraging sign the McLarens and Ferraris are close on pace. Raikkonen looked quicker than Massa until he had a moment at turn three.

  28. Looks like the techs are on the case… As of 23:46, there’s been no more stuttering video for me.

  29. I’ve still got massive stuttering, and have tried another machine but no joy there either.

  30. Ok, I give up on commenting for tonight!

    As soon as I hit ‘Submit’, the video started stuttering again after a good few clear minutes!

  31. anyone feel there should be some commentry….

  32. Looks like DC might need an engine change…

  33. No, actually, I really like just being able to watch it, hear the engine noise and team radio, and keep an eye on the times for myself. It’d be nice if they offered commentary but I’d want it to be optional. But before that I’d like the video to work properly.

    Meanwhile Coulthard’s had some sort of minor fire in the pits.

  34. some timing and scoring i think is needed i would like commentry to perosnally

  35. A lot of smoke coming from DC’s RBR.

    Keith, try this:

    http://itv-80.vo.llnwd.net/d1/broadband/f1/simulcastPlayer.swf

    ??
    Though it has just deteriorated again.

  36. With you on that Keith! Loving the sounds.

    One of Radio 5’s digital extra channels might be doing commentary today, but I am not sure I will check.

  37. Scratch that, it’s all Cricket! Groan!

  38. Robert – that link works in the US… well, kinda… I see one still right now and a lot of buffering…

  39. Robert, I’ve tried various of the itv-80.vo… URLs (change the 80 to any number from 10-99) and none seem to be consistently better than the rest.

    Dave: For timing, there’s Live Timing on formula1.com, however it’s a bit annoying that they don’t sort the drivers by time, but by car number.

  40. FYI… video is now working 100% here in the US :)

  41. its died toally

  42. Yup totally gone on mine too.

  43. Robert McKay
    14th March 2008, 0:03

    Died for me. Shame. Obviously teething troubles to be sorted. Still, when it does work, it’s pretty cool. And the new cars look tricky.

  44. Could everybody please stop watching so I can get more bandwidth. Cheers.

  45. Scott Joslin
    14th March 2008, 0:04

    Wouldn’t it be great Keith if you could embed the stream via F1Fanatic! The you YouTube police would have something else to keep them busy!

  46. guess I jinxed it… just died here as well

  47. It’s dead here too, no matter which URL you use.

    Wild technical speculation: Some weird bug due to it just turning midnight perhaps?

  48. LOL Toby

  49. Scott: It’ll be interesting to see how the watch-for-the-next-30-days things work.

    If it’s just Flash video like currently, you should be able to just download the stream to your computer and watch at your leisure.

  50. Can I remind everyone there will be F1 Live Comments on Saturday during qualifying and on Sunday during the race. It will follow exactly the same format as this – just come to the site and look for the F1 Live Comments post. Look forward to hearing from you all.

  51. oooh, I dont think they’d like us to have copies of the f1 footage.

  52. Robert McKay
    14th March 2008, 0:09

    Looking at the live timing, which still works (yay), red flag! Plus Heidfeld and Piquet stopped!?

  53. http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/results/live_flash/ says that Piquet spun, seemingly blocking the track?

  54. Red flag is due to Piquet. Seems you can also see coverage of the practice here:

    http://www.tvlizer.com/content/view/203/335/

  55. Quality of that Tvlizer stream looks pretty rubbish i have to say.

  56. Scott Joslin
    14th March 2008, 0:14

    I notice on that link Keith they have on screen timing. I wonder if it was designed to make the ITV stream without it so they have to go to F1.com

  57. ITV now back for me – much smoother than before, though not perfect.

  58. It’s back! And smooth… for now.

  59. Robert McKay
    14th March 2008, 0:16

    It’s alive and with graphics too!

  60. Neither Super Aguri has done anything more than an installation lap with 10 minutes remaining. Davidson said they were very low on parts and would restrict running. Rosberg is the only other driver not to have set a time yet.

  61. Yes, very smooth so far. And with a shot of Lewis calculating his earnings for the season on a laptop.

  62. Scott Joslin
    14th March 2008, 0:24

    Ha ha Christopher! I thought he was logging on to to here to post a comment!

    Williams have had a slow start to the weekend

  63. Haha! That or playing Minesweeper.

  64. Kimi is blitzing round the track now.

  65. Raikkonen fastest in all three sectors – 26.4, 23.3 and 34.7 for a 1’26.461.

  66. Just what I expected…. Kimi on top, then the rest of the ferrari’s and mclaren’s… then a totally mixed-up midfield (which includes force india), followed by s.aguri.

    Williams is worrysome though with their gearbox issues… hopefully it’s just teething problems.

  67. Session ends with Hamilton and Massa P2 and P3 with 26.9s, then Kovalainen on 27.1s. Webber and Alonso 1.1s further back in fifth and sixth.

    Only Rosberg failed to set a time, Nakajima was second to last on a 35.0 – the Williamses only did six laps between them.

  68. Robert McKay
    14th March 2008, 0:33

    The gap between the top 4 and the rest is huge – the midfield is nowhere!

  69. Scott Joslin
    14th March 2008, 0:35

    Glock’s done ok in his first session for Toyota. That gap between the top 4 and the rest is very interesting.

  70. It’s interesting to see how the TV coverage works.

    They’re just playing a bunch of "highlights" of the session now.

  71. Mega Laps from Webber and Button!
    Isn’t it great to have racing on again!

  72. Scott Joslin
    14th March 2008, 0:39

    that sideways moment from Massa in the highlights made me smile!

Comments are closed.