Friday at Albert Park in Melbourne was dominated by the Silver Arrows. Nico Rosberg topped both sessions ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton whilst Sebastian Vettel was best of the rest. Both Vettel and Raikkonen were quick but also consistent on the race simulations however Mercedes remain the team to beat once again. It remains to be seen however whether Mercedes have shown their true potential. This article will analyse the times in detail, in particular the race runs completed by at least one driver from each of the nine teams.
Qualifying Pace
The second practice session provided us with a clearer picture of who is looking strong in terms of one lap speed. You guessed it, Mercedes were miles ahead of the rest of the field with Nico Rosberg setting the pace with a time of 1:27.697, a tenth quicker than team-mate Hamilton. Ferrari were best of the rest on Friday, Vettel was seven tenths slower than Rosberg. In the past couple of seasons, Ferrari tended to run slightly less fuel compared to the rest of the grid thus it remains to be seen whether Ferrari have what it takes to be the second fastest team at Albert Park.
The sole Williams of Valtteri Bottas was fifth fastest as the other car suffered a water-leak meaning Felipe Massa could not run at all in FP2. In 2014, Williams did not show their true potential in Friday practices however Bottas admitted the FW37 is lacking qualifying performance around Albert Park. Another team who looked handy was Toro Rosso, especially in the hands of Carlos Sainz. Sainz was fourth fastest in the opening session and was seventh fastest in FP2. Toro Rosso are serious contenders for the top ten shoot-out in qualifying and it looks like the STR10 is a handy package.
Further down the grid, McLaren continued to struggle to get to grips with their new Honda power-unit. It looks likely, they fail to make past Q1.
The performance delta between the yellow-striped soft (option) compound and silver-striped medium (prime) compound looks to be between 1.2 and 1.5 seconds. It does mean majority of the field will be forced to run the soft tyre in the opening segment of qualifying however Mercedes and potentially Ferrari, if their pace is genuine, will be able to make it through on the medium tyre.
To conclude, the battle for pole position, as it was for nearly of all 2014, will be between the two Silver Arrows. Ferrari look to have the edge for third on the grid however Williams and Red Bull are surely closer than their practice speed suggests.
Fastest Qualifying Times from FP2:
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Race Pace
In terms of the teams long-runs and race simulations, Rosberg had the fastest single lap (during his race stint) and the fastest average lap time. It is expected Mercedes are to be the fastest package on the grid however Raikkonen’s race simulation on the soft tyre was impressive. The Finn completed a 16 lap stint, which was very consistent but more importantly, very quick. His average lap time was a tenth of that of pace-setter Rosberg showing the Ferrari is good on its tyres and is competitive relative to the Mercedes. However, as stated earlier in this article, Ferrari tended to run less fuel in 2014 whilst Mercedes usually did not show their true hand until they needed too. Sebastian Vettel was the only driver to complete a significant number of race laps on the medium tyre. The German completed a race stint of 18 laps. On the whole, it has been an encouraging day for Ferrari.
Romain Grosjean’s 20-lap stint on the soft tyre was also impressive. In previous seasons, Lotus has been very kind on its tyres which helped them win the 2013 Australian Grand Prix. Lotus will be encouraged by their race simulation.
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Note: All calculations are my own. Averages have been calculated using the official FIA documentation released after the practice session earlier today. The stint length is the number of laps completed on high fuel rather than a collective total for the session as a whole.
It will be interesting to see whether this level of performance, by all of the teams, maintains itself over the remainder of the weekend. I expect Mercedes to extend their advantage over the rest of the field with Williams and Red Bull closing in on Ferrari. Massa and Ricciardo failed to complete any race simulations due to technical problems which may hamper them come Sunday afternoon.
Images Courtesy of Scuderia Ferrari
