2017 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne, 24 - 26 March

[GPR-A duplicate2]

Either everyone agrees to hide everything until qualifying or 5s was an overly optimistic prediction.

And last year's fastest time of 1m23.837s in Q3 quali was set on Super Soft! Something is amiss! If the cars manage to be another 2 seconds faster by Q3, it's a massive let down! The simple evolution of last year's car would have fetched the same.

[Hail22]

Lance ole boy better ask his daddy for the credit card, I suspect it'll be swiping a lot this year.

[ferkan]

Last years SS were much less durable then this years US though

[danielk]

So currently half a second faster than last year's quali time.

Come qualifying I expect them to draw out another second bit certainly not close to 3 seconds faster

[Sevach]

Either everyone agrees to hide everything until qualifying or 5s was an overly optimistic prediction.

And last year's fastest time of 1m23.837s in Q3 quali was set on Super Soft! Something is amiss! If the cars manage to be another 2 seconds faster by Q3, it's a massive let down! The simple evolution of last year's car would have fetched the same.

It can't just be put down to sandbagging anymore, sure the big guys might be hiding their ultimate pace, but sandbagging 3s?
A team like Renault would've blitzed them by now.

[continuum16]

For me, it is nicer to broke record step by step, 5 second compared to 2016 is overkill

The goal is 5s from 2015, and pole then was 1:26.3. I think we could see around 1:22.0 in Q3. I do think it's interesting that with all this he downforce and grip and whatever the cars are still only about a second faster than last year...

[continuum16]

I think the surprise this weekend so far may be Haas, GRO was top 10 in all practices, MAG was in FP3, and neither used ultra softs. Also Toro Rosso looking good. Juicy midfield battle coming up...

[dans79]

Ferrari and Mercedes are still playing games!

[Singabule]

Ferrari and Mercedes are still playing games!

It is combination of sandbagging, mind games, and soap opera so viewer would think the gap is small

[dans79]

its definitely odd!
1) Vettel isn't much faster than last years pole given the regulation changes.
2) Hamilton was 2 tenths and some change slower than yesterday.
3) Hamilton was actually faster than Vettel in sector one and then gave it all away in sector 2 & 3. If you are off the pace by half a second, you are usually giving time away in every sector.

[wrcsti]

Wehrlein out due to ongoing issues from his injury during the winter break, replaced by Giovinazzi

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/wehr ... ix-885825/

damn that sucks, His crash looked a lot more tame on TV than live. I was surprised when he climbed out and kept walking around.

? that sounds all weird to mee?

i was at the ROC when he had his flip, his crash looked like he was gonna need to be put on a stretcher so we were all relieved to see him get up and walk away. especially with how open those "cars" are

[ferkan]

I think in comparison to Barcelona where they had to lift of in a big way last year, this year they are full throttle on it, in Aus its tighter and there is simply no corners to do the same thing plus their straight line speed is slower this year.

Pole will probably be low 22s high 21s.

[JonoNic]

Ferrari and Mercedes are still playing games!

It is combination of sandbagging, mind games, and soap opera so viewer would think the gap is small

If Ferrari or RB can knock the Mercedes team off pole, then the race is half won for them. Mercedes aero traditionally seemed to be more affected when they travel in a pack. It would be interesting to see a Mercedes 1st and 3rd on the starting grid and then where they will finish. One will be in clean air and the other not.

[ferkan]

its definitely odd!
1) Vettel isn't much faster than last years pole given the regulation changes.
2) Hamilton was 2 tenths and some change slower than yesterday.
3) Hamilton was actually faster than Vettel in sector one and then gave it all away in sector 2 & 3. If you are off the pace by half a second, you are usually giving time away in every sector.

Yea odd session. Although Ham was just 0.009 up in S1. In S2 it seems Ferrari is pretty much a match. S3 is weird Ham struggled somehow...

[JonoNic]

Lance ole boy better ask his daddy for the credit card, I suspect it'll be swiping a lot this year.

That could be true, or he could turn out to be another Montoya, who crashed quite a bit in the beginning then was brilliant later in that first season.