2026 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne, March 06 - 08

[motobaleno]

leclerc after pitting was gaining. All the falling happened after last VSC. After restart leclerc times for several laps increased...similar to last year actually when Ferrari tyres temp dropped...had the scent of an ancient problem that continues also after big car change...similar to McL front graining.... . What we factually know is that all people expected both mercedes flying away after lap1 and we had ferrari 1st for many laps and mercedes did not manage to gain the position on track...so for "ominous" I will wait and see.

[amr]

It's a game of cat and mouse. Merc slowed down to prevent making the case for ADUO for other teams. Ferrari realised this, and also that they can't really catch and overtake, and it's better to slow down and be just about in the Merc pit window with "protected" tyres while making the case for ADUO. Kimi just did not realise this, is young and eager and no match for the old foxes like Rus Lec Ham. Ham was free to push as he was not damaging the ADUO case since he was not the leading Ferrari.

[bluechris]

It's a game of cat and mouse. Merc slowed down to prevent making the case for ADUO for other teams. Ferrari realised this, and also that they can't really catch and overtake, and it's better to slow down and be just about in the Merc pit window with "protected" tyres while making the case for ADUO. Kimi just did not realise this, is young and eager and no match for the old foxes like Rus Lec Ham. Ham was free to push as he was not damaging the ADUO case since he was not the leading Ferrari.

We will see many scenarios if this trend continues... they can let Ferrari for example to lead in China and pass them in the end with Toto & Russell saying "we fought hard", "it was not an easy race for us", "we have problems", "we rised from the ashes", "Ferrari is better than us" etc or they can even sucrifice a win ... the point is that the old foxes here we know all this from 2014 and afterwards and history will repeat itself

[AR3-GP]

We will see many scenarios if this trend continues... they can let Ferrari for example to lead in China and pass them in the end with Toto & Russell saying "we fought hard", "it was not an easy race for us", "we have problems", "we rised from the ashes", "Ferrari is better than us" etc or they can even sucrifice a win ... the point is that the old foxes here we know all this from 2014 and afterwards and history will repeat itself

A leopard never changes its spots.

[motobaleno]

It's a game of cat and mouse. Merc slowed down to prevent making the case for ADUO for other teams. Ferrari realised this, and also that they can't really catch and overtake, and it's better to slow down and be just about in the Merc pit window with "protected" tyres while making the case for ADUO. Kimi just did not realise this, is young and eager and no match for the old foxes like Rus Lec Ham. Ham was free to push as he was not damaging the ADUO case since he was not the leading Ferrari.

We will see many scenarios if this trend continues... they can let Ferrari for example to lead in China and pass them in the end with Toto & Russell saying "we fought hard", "it was not an easy race for us", "we have problems", "we rised from the ashes", "Ferrari is better than us" etc or they can even sucrifice a win ... the point is that the old foxes here we know all this from 2014 and afterwards and history will repeat itself

so the old foxes will be convinced only if Ferrari wins a title...or maybe they could consider that mercedes can even sacrifice WCC for WDC..

[AR3-GP]

[f1316]

Here’s something I don’t understand: why did so many drivers complain about no battery at the start? Shouldn’t they be charging all the way to the grid and then again on the formation lap (during which it’s surely ice only)? What am I missing?

[bluechris]

It's a game of cat and mouse. Merc slowed down to prevent making the case for ADUO for other teams. Ferrari realised this, and also that they can't really catch and overtake, and it's better to slow down and be just about in the Merc pit window with "protected" tyres while making the case for ADUO. Kimi just did not realise this, is young and eager and no match for the old foxes like Rus Lec Ham. Ham was free to push as he was not damaging the ADUO case since he was not the leading Ferrari.

We will see many scenarios if this trend continues... they can let Ferrari for example to lead in China and pass them in the end with Toto & Russell saying "we fought hard", "it was not an easy race for us", "we have problems", "we rised from the ashes", "Ferrari is better than us" etc or they can even sucrifice a win ... the point is that the old foxes here we know all this from 2014 and afterwards and history will repeat itself

so the old foxes will be convinced only if Ferrari wins a title...or maybe they could consider that mercedes can even sacrifice WCC for WDC..

Nope, the old foxes want racing no matter who wins.

[AR3-GP]

Here’s something I don’t understand: why did so many drivers complain about no battery at the start? Shouldn’t they be charging all the way to the grid and then again on the formation lap (during which it’s surely ice only)? What am I missing?

New regulations, new systems, first formation lap at this circuit (important detail), they got the recharging strategy wrong. It will be fixed in China.

[.poz]

Here’s something I don’t understand: why did so many drivers complain about no battery at the start? Shouldn’t they be charging all the way to the grid and then again on the formation lap (during which it’s surely ice only)? What am I missing?

They need to warm up the tires through acceleration and braking and perform a couple of burnouts before lining up in their grid slots, which is at odds with the need to preserve battery charge.

Some didn't have a charged battery, while others had cold rear tires, which triggered a lot of wheelspin.

[AR3-GP]

[AR3-GP]

Alright, I know we are stuck with rules that are not pleasing, but is there any comparisons in the data that people are making? Better ways to compare the cars? What metrics are people looking at?

[basti313]

It's a game of cat and mouse. Merc slowed down to prevent making the case for ADUO for other teams. Ferrari realised this, and also that they can't really catch and overtake, and it's better to slow down and be just about in the Merc pit window with "protected" tyres while making the case for ADUO.

I think it is most obvious for Leclerc. Usually you get about -1sec on the new tire over the old tire. For Verstappen on his last stop (with still less tire age than on the Ferrari) it was even -1.5sec.
Lec on the other had basically did not improve on his new tire, -0.4sec at best.

They were just cruising it home...same for the Mercs.

Kimi just did not realise this

I do not see it at the end. But Kimi made clear what pace they have once he opened up the throttle a bit to catch Ham in the first stint. There he pushed three 1sec faster laps than the rest until he was behind Ham.

leclerc after pitting was gaining.

Not on Kimi.

[f1316]

Here’s something I don’t understand: why did so many drivers complain about no battery at the start? Shouldn’t they be charging all the way to the grid and then again on the formation lap (during which it’s surely ice only)? What am I missing?

They need to warm up the tires through acceleration and braking and perform a couple of burnouts before lining up in their grid slots, which is at odds with the need to preserve battery charge.

Some didn't have a charged battery, while others had cold rear tires, which triggered a lot of wheelspin.

That makes a certain amount of sense. But seeing that charging the battery is of such great importance with these cars, I’m surprised it wasn’t more of a priority. Russell said he had 0% - did he use all the battery warming his tyres? surely you could warm the tyres using only ICE? Even if not, why not hold at least a little bit in reserve?

As a separate but related point: I also don’t understand why they didn’t design these regs so batteries could be charged in the garage/on the grid (as you would for a plug in hybrid at home). It would save a lot of hassle with out laps (and extra charge laps) wouldn’t it?

[upsidedowntoast]

It's a game of cat and mouse. Merc slowed down to prevent making the case for ADUO for other teams. Ferrari realised this, and also that they can't really catch and overtake, and it's better to slow down and be just about in the Merc pit window with "protected" tyres while making the case for ADUO. Kimi just did not realise this, is young and eager and no match for the old foxes like Rus Lec Ham. Ham was free to push as he was not damaging the ADUO case since he was not the leading Ferrari.

ADUO is tested on a dyno, no? I don't understand how sandbagging in a race performance would affect this. Merc's rationale for sandbagging was probably to preserve the long stint on the hard tyres + engine life.