The first day of track action in view of the 2024 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix was undoubtedly interesting, set against the beautiful backdrop of Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit. Emerging at the top of the standings, but more importantly with particularly positive sensations, was Scuderia Ferrari: Charles Leclerc setting the fastest time in FP2, but most importantly, during both practice sessions the SF-24 car showed more strengths than weaknesses at this venue.
A car that proved to be stable and consistently found pace in the hands of the two drivers, without even showing major uncertainties in terms of setup, apart from the obvious refinements on the track. The impression is that the Prancing Horse’s car behaves according to the engineers’ intentions, and therefore, as a result, the work done in the simulator ahead of the Australian weekend becomes particularly fruitful. Looking at the data, we can notice some interesting findings, starting from the outright lap time, with the direct comparison between Charles Leclerc, the fastest of the day and Max and Verstappen, who finished with the second fastest lap time.
Source: formulapassion.it
Max Verstappen – Charles Leclerc Telemetry
From the telemetry of the fast lap, we immediately notice a few things. The first is the minimum speed at mid-corner, where Ferrari prevails almost throughout the entire circuit. Then, we see from the FP2 data that, for now, Ferrari’s strength in braking is confirmed in Australia, evidently assisted by a particularly solid front end that gives great confidence to the drivers. The only section where Charles Leclerc loses significantly to Verstappen (about 1.5 tenths) is the very fast change of direction of turns 9 and 10, but the limit in that section is still far away for everyone, so it becomes difficult to understand if there is a performance gap or if the difference is simply due to greater caution in driving.
From the data, we also see that regarding aerodynamic load, all indicators favor Ferrari, which has a higher load index and a lower standard deviation of speeds compared to Max Verstappen’s respective values. Compared to the first free practice session, however, we note that Red Bull seems to have approached the second part of the day with a particularly conservative engine mode, and even in the long straight leading to turn 9, where in the first free practice session Max Verstappen was significantly faster than Ferrari, Charles Leclerc is seen gaining something against his Dutch rival, a situation that will most likely change on Saturday when Red Bull turn the power up.
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Others: McLaren Close
The general impression is that Red Bull is therefore still the favorite for the Australian Grand Prix weekend, but with Ferrari close behind or at least the second force. Not far behind the red cars, however, seemed to be the McLaren cars of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, which once again expressed a high level of aerodynamic load and good performance in the fast corners. The team led by Andrea Stella also starred in a good race simulation, as we can see from the telemetry relating to the long runs tried by the teams in the second free practice session at the Albert Park circuit.
Source: formulapassion.it
So, McLaren has really performed well over the distance, but with a potentially better Ferrari on the outright lap and still very similar on pace. Red Bull appeared still imperfect, for example, with poor degradation shown by Sergio Perez’s car and with a Max Verstappen decidedly more inconsistent on lap times than the usual metronomic beat. Aston Martin then appeared decidedly more competitive on the outright lap than on race pace, with a potential resurgence of tire management issues seen in Bahrain, while Mercedes continues to struggle to make the car work, especially in the high-speed corners, with George Russell sixth but Lewis Hamilton even eighteenth, as the British driver spoke of one of the worst sessions ever for him. The engineers in Brackley are evidently seeking answers and correlation, a process that seems to be dangerously late in arriving.
In conclusion, the impressions are those of a Red Bull with still a good level of potential to extract, but which must do its homework correctly overnight to improve a setup that is not optimal for now, making Ferrari, excellent on the first day, very close and potentially in contention at least for pole position.
McLaren will try to join the party, while Aston Martin should be close in qualifying but forced into greater tyre management in the race, while Mercedes remains an unknown but an unpromising one. The foundations for at least an interesting qualifying session are there. Carlos Sainz, in the process of healing but still with some pain, said that qualifying will be more similar to FP1 than FP2, and considering that in the first session among the top 8 there was no relative gap greater than 25 thousandths, the spectacle seems promising. We will see, therefore, what choices the teams will make in terms of load and mechanical compromises and who will do the best job in view of qualifying and the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday.
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