2019 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne, March 15-17

[Hammerfist]

I know it is still early, but where are all the experts that swore Ferrari had a sizeable advantage? Merc looks like they are going to dominate here. Although we have not seen the best of Verstappen yet. What the hell is Ferrari doing in FP2?

Do you really think times for FP2 are representative of the order.

In the past Ferrari had a habit of setting fastest time in FP, then coming to qualifying they were out pace by the MERC. Less showboating and more focusing on their program.

Yeah but when one team sets the fastest time in FP1 and FP2 it's usually because they are fastest. I don't think the gap is what it looks like in FP2 though. It is probably closer to what we saw in FP1, but Merc has got the big difference maker in Hamilton, who absolutely loves this track...

[zibby43]

Toto wolf has played a blinder getting all media to believe Merc was slow lol then they do this to make it look like a heroic comeback. Everytime they have a bad race they do this then bounce back immediately which isn't possible unless you always have something in hand or something extra waiting to be bolted on. Maybe Merc are still playing with competition trying to make it look close so viewers don't get bored.

I am tired of this. Fortunately some of us have never believed Mercedes was in trouble. I had my doubts because of the different packages but I was expecting them to be strong here. Anyway, I hope Ferrari has the pace to beat them tomorrow.

How about the longs runs between Mercedes and Ferrari? who is the fastest one?

According to the broadcast, Bottas was about 5 tenths up on the fastest Ferrari.

Waiting for the stints to be posted.

[dans79]

If Ferrari are hiding pace, then their radio communication seems a little off.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/14212 ... actice-two

Pre-season pacesetter Ferrari had a subdued session, lapping well off the pace early on using medium-compound Pirellis, with Sebastian Vettel complaining over the radio that something felt wrong in Turns 1 and 4.

Vettel later bolted on softs and put in a lap of 1m23.473s to go fifth fastest, subsequently describing the car as "still a bit wobbly" over the radio.

[bosyber]

Toto wolf / Mercedes opinion - cut for relevance

[cut] Anyway, I hope Ferrari has the pace to beat them tomorrow.

How about the longs runs between Mercedes and Ferrari? who is the fastest one?

According to the broadcast, Bottas was about 5 tenths up on the fastest Ferrari.

Waiting for the stints to be posted.

I didn't have moving pictures (thanks f1tv pro, and Ziggo Go), but bbc 5live commentary said at one point Leclerc's stint on hards looked a lot better than Vettel on softs, and thus also quite good in comparison to Bottas (if I understood correctly). As you say, those stints will be interesting. Not sure why anyone would run on hards in the actual race though, given Hulkenberg/Renault thinking the softs can do 20+ laps (so, sandbags from Ferrari then?)

Do agree that Ferrari (Vettel) didn't sound quite confident on the radio. Quite odd. So, guess i have to find some sleep during the day so I can be up for FP3 then, hopefully that shows a clearer picture.

[KiLLu12258]

curious if helmut marko still think Redbull is ahead of mercedes..

[Javert]

If I have to guess, Ferrari puts too heat in the tires, so the good times in winter testing and on hards

If that is the case, it will be hard for them

[zibby43]

[cut] Anyway, I hope Ferrari has the pace to beat them tomorrow.

How about the longs runs between Mercedes and Ferrari? who is the fastest one?

According to the broadcast, Bottas was about 5 tenths up on the fastest Ferrari.

Waiting for the stints to be posted.

I didn't have moving pictures (thanks f1tv pro, and Ziggo Go), but bbc 5live commentary said at one point Leclerc's stint on hards looked a lot better than Vettel on softs, and thus also quite good in comparison to Bottas (if I understood correctly). As you say, those stints will be interesting. Not sure why anyone would run on hards in the actual race though, given Hulkenberg/Renault thinking the softs can do 20+ laps (so, sandbags from Ferrari then?)

Do agree that Ferrari (Vettel) didn't sound quite confident on the radio. Quite odd. So, guess i have to find some sleep during the day so I can be up for FP3 then, hopefully that shows a clearer picture.

Agreed - really looking forward to comparing the long run data. It's been an exciting start to the season, that's for sure!

More to come from Ferrari and Red Bull, but the Mercedes is going to find a pretty decent chunk of time as well. It wasn't looking fully stable and dialed in yet.

[Vasconia]

FP1 looked like the season we all are waiting for, FP2 looked like the season we don´t want to see in any case.

[bosyber]

https://twitter.com/AlbertFabrega/statu ... 6475668480

So, does look like Ferrari might have been putting a bit much heat into those tyres which means they could struggle a bit at times in the race, but, no reason to think they can't be faster in qualifying.

edit: how does one properly embed a tweet so it shows?

[zibby43]

If I have to guess, Ferrari puts too heat in the tires, so the good times in winter testing and on hards

If that is the case, it will be hard for them

Ferrari front left from FP2:

https://twitter.com/albertfabrega/statu ... 68480?s=21

[bosyber]

Thanks, yeah, that's the tweet

[KiLLu12258]

FP1 looked like the season we all are waiting for, FP2 looked like the season we don´t want to see in any case.

Ferrari, Alfa, Renault and Redbull on the same level sounds quite interesting for me.

[zibby43]

Thanks, yeah, that's the tweet

We must've posted at almost the exact same time. Good find

[Schuttelberg]

Mercedes are not the fastest. Ferrari and Red Bull are faster and even the Williams might be a challenge.

[zibby43]

https://twitter.com/andrewbensonf1/stat ... 5807884289