2017 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne, 24 - 26 March

[evered7]

Is there any way we can compare those longer stints by Hamilton/Vet/Raik/Bottas if FP2?

Honestly, Merc is going to clobber everyone in qualy. That's a given, but we should be looking at race pace here.

If the Ferrari and RB race pace is good, well then it might not be a Hamilton run away by any means.

That´s my only hope right now. Another forum mate has already mentioned that Hamilton´s long runs were clearly better but I have no data to confirm this.

FIA website has released the data already.
http://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula-o ... rmation-19

[Vasconia]

Vettel:

1:29.217
19 1:28.872
20 1:29.369
21 1:28.849
22 1:29.100
23 1:29.565
24 1:36.924
25 1:29.082
26 1:28.862
27 1:28.615
28 1:28.580
29 1:28.933
30 1:29.450
31 1:30.664
32 1:29.258
33 1:40.050
34 P 2:20.282
35 1:52.268

Hamilton:

1:27.577
17 1:27.526
18 1:27.911
19 1:28.232
20 1:34.978
21 1:28.051
22 1:28.653
23 1:28.361
24 1:41.140
25 1:33.623
26 1:28.055
27 1:28.145
28 1:30.054
29 P 1:47.134
30 1:34.501
31 1:28.372
32 P 1:48.158
33 1:34.318
34 1:27.821

[Gerhardsa]

That's depressing.
So, maybe a race for second?
Hopefully its the case of "Melbourne is a different type of track", but I doubt it. I have never really seen this effect of Melbourne not giving a good indication of what is to follow for the season.

[Mansell89]

Danny Ricc seemed hugely optimistic in his post FP2 interview, and he reckoned some of the Merc advantage was just pure Lewis, saying Valterri was "in their pack". The super soft run bodes well.

Both Vettel and Raikonnen continued their understated interviews and downplayed expectations once again. I got the impression that Ferrari are running very conservatively with a view to turning up the wick on Saturday and Sunday- something we will see more of due to the 4 engine restriction.

Of course that means Merc also have more in the locker but we should see really close race pace between them on Sunday

[gandharva]

After watching P1/P2, I think Hamilton is going to stomp the competition. Looks like Bottas is half a second slower... If we are lucky we will see a nice fight for P2.

[Vasconia]

Danny Ricc seemed hugely optimistic in his post FP2 interview, and he reckoned some of the Merc advantage was just pure Lewis, saying Valterri was "in their pack". The super soft run bodes well.

Both Vettel and Raikonnen continued their understated interviews and downplayed expectations once again. I got the impression that Ferrari are running very conservatively with a view to turning up the wick on Saturday and Sunday- something we will see more of due to the 4 engine restriction.

Of course that means Merc also have more in the locker but we should see really close race pace between them on Sunday

Optimistic to be second as I can see...

[djos]

Well Ferrari's pace seems worse than I was expecting and RBR have bolted on some pace with all the new parts that arrived this morning!

'

Back to established order ..

It does appear that way, I cant wait for Qually to see what the real pecking order is.

[carisi2k]

It is still only Friday and both Red Bull and Ferrari are struggling on this temporary circuit. Red Bull admitted they made an error on setup in the second session and the RB13 does look better on the SS's then the US's. Hamilton's speed over his teammate is ominous and he will be the benchmark this weekend.

[ripper]

Well looks like that it can only be a fight for second place.

[FrukostScones]

Well looks like that it can only be a fight for second place.

yeah, will still be interesting seeing how BOT will get mobbed by the RB/FER/TR? pack.

[iotar__]

It is still only Friday and both Red Bull and Ferrari are struggling on this temporary circuit. Red Bull admitted they made an error on setup in the second session and the RB13 does look better on the SS's then the US's. Hamilton's speed over his teammate is ominous and he will be the benchmark this weekend.

- Yes, people get excited too much about practice, early days and usual overnight work will be bigger, it's only Australia.
- Having said that: what happened to Red Bull's magical suspension everyone in test thread spotted from pictures and other non specified tricks? No amount of reality can match Bull S... in RB, "they will bring completely new car", how? Can you count days? Now it's set up. For Ferrari - the car didn't "feel right". I thought Vettel already won WDC?
- Hamilton was ominously quicker in '16 in Aus or indeed '14.

[bonjon1979]

I find it odd that Hamilton was the only one to go quicker than last years pole time? In theory the cars should be considerably quicker than this. Might every one be running in conservative mode or the track is dirtier than usual. I find it strange anyway.

[Mr.G]

Hamilton maybe compensating some part of the testing program he loss ...

[ripper]

Well looks like that it can only be a fight for second place.

yeah, will still be interesting seeing how BOT will get mobbed by the RB/FER/TR? pack.

TR? That would be a great surprise!

Anyway yeah, if there's going to be fight for 2nd place it will be still better than last year. Is there any idea for how many stint there will be? Will some of the top team risk a one stop strategy with SS-S? Qualyfing in Q3 with SS for FER/RB should be doable

[Restomaniac]

I find it odd that Hamilton was the only one to go quicker than last years pole time? In theory the cars should be considerably quicker than this. Might every one be running in conservative mode or the track is dirtier than usual. I find it strange anyway.

I'm not sure that we can use last year to learn anything.
Remember that we had that silly qualifying that meant nobody wanted to run towards the end.
In fact IIRC Ferrari refused to run late on in Q3.