2022 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne, April 08 - 10

[silver]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FP0QBgMXEAo ... ame=medium
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FP0QlsSWYAE ... ame=medium

Don't believe anything from Lawrence Barretto's report on practice performance on F1.com. The guy is almost always wrong.

[Sevach]

I also think RB know Ferrari got the a bit of hedge for pole if one of their driver makes a perfect lap (unlike in Jeddah), so they are focusing on the race, with 4 DRS zones and 10kph of extra-speed we'll see another battle with Verstappen or Perez coming from 0.9 to the tail of the Ferrari despite no significant pace advantage.

I might be wrong, but Ferrari seemed intentionally not deploying a whole lot to keep their porpoising under control (less speed less porpoising), if they arrive at a better compromise they'll cut this 10 KPH a bit.
To me they looked set for pole, Max had to try a lot more to get "close".

Let's see how easy overtaking will be in this race, it should be a lot easier compared to what we are used to in Melbourne, but still the pit straight and the following one remain fairly short.
The 2 DRS zones between 8 and 11 look more than enough however.

[chrisc90]

Been the same last races though. RB .3-.4secs behind then turn it up for qualifying and the race.

Wouldn’t read too much into the times

[basti313]

Been the same last races though. RB .3-.4secs behind then turn it up for qualifying and the race.

Wouldn’t read too much into the times

Absolutely. This was the case over many seasons now. Ferrari runs more power on Fridays and, thus, unlocks less on Sat compared to Merc and Bull since long time. It was just not visible in the last two years as they were not on the top in FPs by other reasons. But this was obvious in 2018, they use a bit of a different approach in FPs.

[search]

this is not what I have seen this year. If at all, Ferrari actually looked better in Qualifying than FP2 so far this season.

[Spoutnik]

Been the same last races though. RB .3-.4secs behind then turn it up for qualifying and the race.

Wouldn’t read too much into the times

Absolutely. This was the case over many seasons now. Ferrari runs more power on Fridays and, thus, unlocks less on Sat compared to Merc and Bull since long time. It was just not visible in the last two years as they were not on the top in FPs by other reasons. But this was obvious in 2018, they use a bit of a different approach in FPs.

You can't sandbagg power in corners. That's where RB is struggling atm.
If with 10 kph more in straight line speed RB is running his engine lower, in relative, than Ferrari, the delta will be 15 or 20kph tomorrow...

[Juzh]

leclerc fp2 1.18.978 - porposing like mad on back straight from 270+ kmh. Probably the worst I've seen from ferrari so far. Curiously it doesn't seem to be affecting them much on main straight.
https://streamable.com/09za8i


verstappen fp2 1.19.223 - just getting wrecked in S3 low-mid speed corners. Might have been affected a little by the car in front
https://streamable.com/uxy91h

[JPower]

LEC
MEDIUM/12 Stint 6.0: 2:4.947
MEDIUM/13 Stint 6.0: 1:23.810
MEDIUM/14 Stint 6.0: 1:22.910
MEDIUM/15 Stint 6.0: 1:23.586
MEDIUM/16 Stint 6.0: 1:24.420
MEDIUM/17 Stint 6.0: 1:28.976

SAI
MEDIUM/15 Stint 7.0: 1:23.700
MEDIUM/16 Stint 7.0: 1:23.863
MEDIUM/17 Stint 7.0: 1:26.447
MEDIUM/18 Stint 7.0: 1:25.411
MEDIUM/19 Stint 7.0: 1:24.799
MEDIUM/20 Stint 7.0: 1:25.554

PER
MEDIUM/9 Stint 6.0: 1:44.308
MEDIUM/10 Stint 6.0: 1:24.338
MEDIUM/11 Stint 6.0: 1:23.750
MEDIUM/12 Stint 6.0: 1:23.717
MEDIUM/13 Stint 6.0: 1:23.578
MEDIUM/14 Stint 6.0: 1:23.663

VER
MEDIUM/7 Stint 3.0: 2:16.080
MEDIUM/8 Stint 3.0: 1:23.780
MEDIUM/9 Stint 3.0: 1:23.465
MEDIUM/10 Stint 3.0: 1:27.839
MEDIUM/11 Stint 3.0: 1:22.920
MEDIUM/12 Stint 3.0: 1:23.101
MEDIUM/13 Stint 3.0: 1:23.858

race sim from the top 4 drivers, SAI for some reason is a bit behind.

Watched the onboards, Lap 3 of Sainz's run he locked up in 15 and had grip/graining issues from then on.

[silver]

This is becoming ridiculous by FIA!

[vorticism]

So that buys a few drinks for the FIA guys tonight. Job done. Honestly that's quite amusing to read.

Sidenote it would seem the scooter was not the issue, merely a driver setting foot on track during that time period. He'd have gotten the same penalty whether he'd scootered back, walked back, ran back, bicycled back, been chauffered back by a stewards car, roller skated back (unlikely, I know), pogo sticked back, been carried back by some random fans jumping the fence, rode a wild kangaroo within the vicinity back, been chased back by a drop bear, been hovered back by a few of the camera drones, been swept up and back by a pod of remaining porpoises, etc.

[maxxer]

This is becoming ridiculous by FIA!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FP0XVe5aMAc ... name=large

Vettel has been playing GTA too much stealing scooters now

[Mogster]

So that buys a few drinks for the FIA guys tonight. Job done. Honestly that's quite amusing to read.

Sidenote it would seem the scooter was not the issue, merely a driver setting foot on track during that time period. He'd have gotten the same penalty whether he'd scootered back, walked back, ran back, bicycled back, been chauffered back by a stewards car, roller skated back (unlikely, I know), pogo sticked back, been carried back by some random fans jumping the fence, rode a wild kangaroo within the vicinity back, been chased back by a drop bear, been hovered back by a few of the camera drones, been swept up and back by a pod of remaining porpoises, etc.

It was bizarre, been watching for 35 years and I can’t remember anything similar. If you need to return to the garage you use the access roads, not the track. At that point the track is for recovery/medical support vehicles.

Seb’s last year in F1?

[PlatinumZealot]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FP0QBgMXEAo ... ame=medium
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FP0QlsSWYAE ... ame=medium

Don't believe anything from Lawrence Barretto's report on practice performance on F1.com. The guy is almost always wrong.

It's not his numbers obviously.

[Sevach]

leclerc fp2 1.18.978 - porposing like mad on back straight from 270+ kmh. Probably the worst I've seen from ferrari so far. Curiously it doesn't seem to be affecting them much on main straight.

Downforce pushing the car down and the lateral load(it's easy flat but it's still a turn) pushing it further down perhaps? And once the bouncing starts it's hard to stop.
On the rest of the track the car seems right on the edge, a couple of hard grounding moments but no bouncing motion.

The car has a terrific balance and grip for cornering right now, in a league of it's own today, let's see tommorow if they change the setup minimize the bouncing.

[Shrieker]

This is becoming ridiculous by FIA!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FP0XVe5aMAc ... name=large

DAMN, that's one expensive scooter ride