Sergio Perez briefly lost the lead to Fernando Alonso at the start but soon recovered and led the remaining laps to easily win the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Max Verstappen recovered from 15th to 2nd. Fernando Alonso finished third despite a post-race penalty that was reversed later in the evening.
Is there any logic to the idea that if a team is happy with their car and set up, these FP will always look better for them (aka Redbull)? Whereas, a team like Ferrari, who clearly are still figuring this car out will look inconsistent and mediocre as they test. Like one team can refine and others are still triaging the extremes of their setup.
I am trying to avoid the prevailing sentiment online that redbull are simply untouchable (so wrap up this season, on to the next) and Ferrari/Merc are an incompetent mess. Not to say Ferrari/Merc is likely to win, but looking at these early season practice sessions as anything other than practice seems shortsighted is all.
It feels like Ferrari and Mercedes dropped the balls rather than RB themselves getting this ahead. Ferrari surely has more pace in hand than Mercedes for quali and race but they're closer to midfield than RBs, especially Mercedes
Looks like some time to be gained at T13 and T27 there. T1-2 and T22 looked good in particular
I'm shocked anyone can recognize any corner here outside of T22 from the onboards. I get immediately lost after the first corner, with "kinks" counting as corners and what not.