Rain may affect first qualifying of 2017

2017 Australian Grand Prix weather

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Formula One may have to wait until race two of 2017 to discover just how much quicker its new cars are as rain is forecast on the first qualifying day of the new season.

However it remains to be seen whether Saturday’s expected precipitation will arrive in time for qualifying. Some forecasts predict it will arrive late in the day, other models indicate it may arrive early enough and be light enough not to affect proceedings.

What the forecasts do agree on is that the first race of the year should be dry. And, unlike last year, so should Friday practice. Rain affected both the morning and afternoon sessions in 2016.

Despite cloudy conditions across most of the next three days, temperatures should pass the 25C mark consistently. The race does not start as late in the evening as it used to, but low light will be a challenge for drivers in the latter stages of the grand prix.

For more updates on the track conditions during each session keep an eye on F1 Fanatic Live and the F1 Fanatic Twitter account.

Location of Albert Park

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2017 Australian Grand Prix

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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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14 comments on “Rain may affect first qualifying of 2017”

  1. Cheeky bet on the youngest poll position in history, anyone?

    1. @hahostolze i don’t stroll’s up to it….

  2. I prefer a dry qualifying session for the first race, so we get a proper representation on where everyone is. Lottery qualifying weekends can come later in the season when we are tired of the status quo.

    Also, just about every Ferrari in the past 10 years bar the F2012 has been absolute garbage in the rain

    1. looks like you get 1 good ferrari on wet every 5 years then…
      2017 should be safe in this math

    2. The Australian GP isn’t the best predictor for the rest of the season anyway.

      It has mostly chuncky corners and as a street circuit it very different from the likes of China, Bahrain or Spa and Silverstone. It doesn’t even compare to other streetcircuits either. Often times the Australian GP isn’t the best predictor for the rest of the season.

      1. @jeffreyj, having looked at it, whilst it is often said that the Australian GP isn’t the best predictor for the rest of the season, it is not that dissimilar to the rest of the season.

        It is sometimes said that the Malaysian GP used to be a better predictor for the rest of the season when it was the second race of the season, whilst others cite the Spanish GP given that the teams tend to introduce major updates to that race as it kickstarts the European rounds of the season. However, over the past few decades, the percentage of drivers who would then go on to win the WDC after winning the Australian GP is fairly similar to that for the Malaysian and Spanish GP’s, so it is not actually that bad a predictor of the form of the teams in normal weather conditions.

        That said, in recent years there have been a number of races in Australia where, as is possible this weekend, there have been changeable conditions during part of the race weekend. Because of that, the race has thrown up a few abnormal race results in recent years – that, however, is more of a consequence of the variable conditions than the circuit itself being a poor indication of future performance.

  3. That photo looks wrong. The rear wing is too high.

    1. Tires too narrow, nose not open enough. It must be the RB12 then.

      1. Is the RB12 from, like, last centry? Looks ancient.

    2. From where was he supposed to get a picture of the rb13 in the wet, then? Similar liveries, so no harm done I suppose 😝

  4. Just wanted to remind those with rooted android devices that you can use lucky patcher to gain full access for the F1 app, namely for gaining full access for live timing info.

  5. Happy man.Weather great/ overcast sky no rain.Great view into first corner with screen in front.General admission area too.😎
    Five minutes to go.

  6. There goes my pole time prediction…good one for those who have no realized about the rules change…

  7. Don’t bet on a wet qualifying.

    This is the full forecast by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology:
    “Partly cloudy. Medium (60%) chance of showers in the early morning, easing to just the slight (20%) chance of a shower by the afternoon. Winds northerly 15 to 25 km/h becoming light in the early afternoon. Possible rainfall: 0 to 1 mm.”

    If you know how to interpret their language for the Quali session, it means there is a chance of ONE shower somewhere in the Melbourne area (which covers and area over 500km²). And that amount of rain will be negligible.

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