2012 Australian Grand Prix practice in 100 pictures

F1 pictures

March 16, 2012 at 12:16 pm by
36 comments

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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Images © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo, Lotus F1 Team/LAT, Williams/LAT, McLaren/Hoch Zwei, Mercedes, Daimler/Hoch Zwei, Getty Images/Red Bull, Force India/Sutton, Sauber F1 Team, Caterham/LAT, Marussia, HRT, Pirelli

Read more: 2012 Australian Grand Prix | 2012 F1 season | F1 Pictures

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36 comments on 2012 Australian Grand Prix practice in 100 pictures

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  1. Ike said on 16th March 2012, 12:22

    Complaints about Mclaren pics in 3, 2, 1…

    Reply

  2. DerekMurray said on 16th March 2012, 12:23

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

    Reply
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    Arijit (@arijitmaniac) said on 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!!

    Reply
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    Girts (@girts) said on 16th March 2012, 12:41

    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.

    Reply
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      Jeanrien (@jeanrien) said on 16th March 2012, 17:49

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

      Reply

  5. davros said on 16th March 2012, 13:09

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

    Reply
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    Uncle Ben (@uncleben) said on 16th March 2012, 13:11

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

    Reply
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    Fixy (@fixy) said on 16th March 2012, 13:37

    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.

    Reply
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      Mike (@mike) said on 16th March 2012, 13:49

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

      Reply
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      Jake (@jleigh) said on 16th March 2012, 14:03

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

      Reply
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        AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner) said on 16th March 2012, 19:13

        @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

        Reply
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          Fixy (@fixy) said on 16th March 2012, 20:24

          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.

          Reply
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    McLarenFanJamm (@mclarenfanjamm) said on 16th March 2012, 15:00

    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*

    Reply
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    aka_robyn (@aka_robyn) said on 16th March 2012, 15:29

    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! ;-)

    Reply
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    Banburyhammer (@banburyhammer) said on 16th March 2012, 16:49

    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!

    Reply
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      Daniel Bengs (@dbengs) said on 16th March 2012, 17:32

      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.

      Reply

  11. Katz, Tim said on 16th March 2012, 16:52

    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.

    Reply

  12. Sangeen Khan said on 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.

    Reply
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    JamieFranklinF1 (@jamiefranklinf1) said on 16th March 2012, 18:11

    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.

    Reply

  14. DirkWar said on 16th March 2012, 20:20

    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..

    Reply
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      Fixy (@fixy) said on 16th March 2012, 20:28

      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.

      Reply

      • DirkWar said on 16th March 2012, 20:33

        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 !

        Reply
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    DK (@seijakessen) said on 16th March 2012, 20:31

    No pictures of the Williams cars?

    Reply
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