2022 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne, April 08 - 10

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Didn't think Seb's start to the year could get worse!

Ham's incident was brushed over by sky. Got very close to a similar accident to vettel there.

Ferrari porpoising is extreme again today. Would not be surprised if they have reliability problems as a result at some point

[dialtone]

I agree with them. No run off area, long left hander, Merc has a lot of wheel wobble, Ferrari porpoising a lot, other teams probably not being so stable, I can't imagine an overtake being super safe there without the wing, and it's long enough that it could even happen with 3 cars for maximum unsafety.

Might porpoising become worse with the wing closed in this section now?

Yeah, it probably gets worse and probably makes the new track worse for Ferrari in a single lap but most of the race would be with the DRS closed there anyway so it has to be dealt with anyway.

[chrisc90]

Is that Hamilton with a nose stud still in? Thought jewellery was now against the race director rules?

[BlueCheetah66]

Do lap records count for free practice. If so, congrats to Charles Leclerc for the lap record around Albert Park

[JPBD1990]

Looks like a trickier session for Ferrari today, relative to redbull. Despite the several bets I have on Ferrari this weekend, my pick right now would be a redbull pole.

[Spacepace]

Looks like a trickier session for Ferrari today, relative to redbull. Despite the several bets I have on Ferrari this weekend, my pick right now would be a redbull pole.

Verstappen is struggling with balance

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Ok now Lance has crashed. Both AM cars crashed and caused red flags in FP3 - not a good day for them. End of FP3.

No soft run for Max ultimately as he aborted both attempts made thanks to understeer in his first and oversteer in his second. He is struggling to set up the car to his liking

[dialtone]

Exciting FP3, the change in DRS has thrown everything back up for the taking. RedBull is clearly struggling with setup still, Ferrari seems to be having a hard time too, they may have stiffened suspension to deal with porpoising but it compromised S3. Good to see Alpine and McLaren up there. Exciting stuff.

EDIT: the Blue B1 on Lando's car is because they were running on literal empty, Seidl said on Austrian TV that he was out of fuel.

[elMaestro]

Max having issues with set-up, Ferrari is bouncing like crazy, Alonso and Mclaren are close to the top and Mercedes is seemingly startin to work somehow.. im quite excited for qualy. The only thing that leaves to be desired is the broadcast, it is pure garbage.

[LM10]

Looks like a trickier session for Ferrari today, relative to redbull. Despite the several bets I have on Ferrari this weekend, my pick right now would be a redbull pole.

Ferrari was not even close to being on the limit. Also RedBull wasn’t, but seemed to have some balance problems.

Alpine and McLaren in the mix proves that the others have not shown their hand yet.

[JPBD1990]

Looks like a trickier session for Ferrari today, relative to redbull. Despite the several bets I have on Ferrari this weekend, my pick right now would be a redbull pole.

Ferrari was not even close to being on the limit. Also RedBull wasn’t, but seemed to have some balance problems.

Alpine and McLaren in the mix proves that the others have not shown their hand yet.

This is what my gut says too - a McLaren at the top, after the last two races, cannot be indicative of actual pace/order.

But then again ya never know. It’s only 2 races in but I guess I’ve already grown accustomed to Ferrari and redbull being clear of the pack. That is certainly not the case today at the very least.

[PlatinumZealot]

Agreed, but Sky and F1TV will continue to compare Hamilton's lap time to Leclerc and Verstappen every 10 minutes...

It's a story. Mighty Mercedes has fallen!

[PlatinumZealot]

Is that Hamilton with a nose stud still in? Thought jewellery was now against the race director rules?

https://ibb.co/wr51Bdx

Likely the ruling is for Jewelry that can ensare
and crush like rings, chains, big body peiricings, large earings. That knob is no different than a big wart on his face.

[ferrarifire]

Ferrari and redbull is saving the car for the qualify and avoid costly incidents due to tricky nature of the circuit ....

Looks like a trickier session for Ferrari today, relative to redbull. Despite the several bets I have on Ferrari this weekend, my pick right now would be a redbull pole.

Ferrari was not even close to being on the limit. Also RedBull wasn’t, but seemed to have some balance problems.

Alpine and McLaren in the mix proves that the others have not shown their hand yet.

This is what my gut says too - a McLaren at the top, after the last two races, cannot be indicative of actual pace/order.

But then again ya never know. It’s only 2 races in but I guess I’ve already grown accustomed to Ferrari and redbull being clear of the pack. That is certainly not the case today at the very least.

[dialtone]

FP3 telemetry from the top 3.

The way Lando is throwing the car into the corner is quite extraordinary, I think he can afford it because the car is very light, but it's still very impressive, T1, T6 and T9-10 are really done a lot faster.

Nice and sharp corners from RedBull as usual, and Ferrari is back to having rounded corners like in Jeddah, and MCL also has some rounded corners at the end of long straights, sign of starting energy recovery probably.

PER really slow in the first corner, probably a sign of the same struggles that VER has been having on setup, they don't look as slow in S3, but S2 is a bit closer between the 3.