AMuS explains Ferrari deficit to Mercedes in Australian GP qualifying. AMuS explains Ferrari deficit to Mercedes.

Just as they have for so long, Mercedes has dominated the Grand Prix weekend at Albert Park, and Lewis Hamilton is on pole position for the race, with team mate Bottas alongside for a Mercedes front row. It did look, for a short while in Q3, that Bottas might have bested Hamilton for pole, but the Brit came back with a lap just 0.112s faster to take pole.

Behind the Mercedes frot row it’s Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari starting in third – 0.704s behind – with the Red Bull of Max Verstappen alongside in fourth.

Sebastian’s new team mate, Charles Leclerc, could only manage fifth, ahead of the Haas cars of Grosjean and Magnussen, and McLaren’s new driver – Brit Lando Norris – did a sterling job to grab eighth, with Kimi Raikkonen, now behind the wheel of an Alfa Romeo (Sauber), in ninth and Perez in 10th for Racing Point (Force India).

The margin between Mercedes and Ferrari on Saturday was more or less the same as it was last year, yet Ferrari had left pre-season testing with what appeared to be the fastest car. This was not a media fiction. It was what Mercedes’ own internal analysis of their performance had told them.

According to leading German automobile magazine Auto motor und sport (AMuS), the GPS analysis provides a surprise. Four of the seven tenth that Sebastian Vettel lost to Mercedes happened in four corners. One tenth in Turn 1, two tenths in the combination Turn 3/4 and one tenth in Turn 13. The German driver explains: “We have a suspicion why, but still have to confirm.”

The balance was lost in the slow and medium fast corners. Vettel: “On the straights and in the high-speed corners we are as good as the Mercedes.” In the Topspeed 2 to 4 km/h were missing. According to AMuS, the time loss in the slow corners is new for Ferrari, as it didn’t happen in Barcelona during the pre-season testing session, as confirmed by Sebastian Vettel: “The two tracks are difficult to compare. Barcelona is smooth, Melbourne bumpy. And here in Australia it was 15 degrees warmer. Our car did not feel as good here as in Barcelona.”