2018 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne, 22 -25 March

[atanatizante]

Max lost a couple of tenths at that slide in turn 13 hence he could have been on second place at the start tomorrow ... and same issue with Seb (didn`t see his lap) ... so RB being 7-8km/h down the straights compensate with their chassis in the corners ...

But what was interesting to know is what Lewis said in press conference about their cornering speeds and their high power modes between them and Ferrari`s :

"It was a real surprise to see how quick the Ferraris were, from already Q1. The speeds they had on the straights; they’ve obviously made an improvement in their power mode. I think we were similar speed through the corners but definitely their power mode was quite strong. And that remained the same through the session"

And definitely the key for that lap (IMHO) was :

"... obviously getting out and getting the tyres working optimally and staying in the right zone through the whole lap was definitely difficult, it was always is here, particularly with the rears"

[ema00]

There`s been a funny moment between Lewis and Seb at the press conference:
Lewis : (answering at one question from the press guys) : "... I can assure you we don`t have a party mode ... I used the same modes from Q2 to end of Q3 ... so there was no extra button or extra mode that I engaged in ..."
Seb : (irritated and laughing): "What were you doing before, then?"
Lewis : (pause and turning his face towards him): " I was waiting to put a good lap in ... thus wipe the smile off your face!"

hamilton is a lier

Speaking to media afterwards Wolff confirmed “there is a party mode in the car, we switched the party mode on in Q3.”


https://www.racefans.net/2018/03/24/ham ... -confirms/

[LM10]

I think it was a shame Bottas crashed because it gives us less of a benchmark for the Mercedes performance - for my money, Hamilton had this kind of half second gap over him all weekend, so I personally think he would have struggled to get second (particularly if Vettel hadn’t made a mistake at 13, costing himself a few tenths).

I’m personally very positive for the season ahead - Ferrari still not 100% happy with the car but still close enough to make for an interesting session and imho likely split the Mercedes.

I think along similar lines.

1. Mercedes is in a very good shape already. They seem to have understood their car quite well.
2. Ferrari, on the other hand, gives the feeling of struggling to understand the behavior of their new concept car, yet.
3. Last year it was the other way around. Mercedes was struggling, Ferrari was unleashing most of the performance out of the SF70H.
4. Today's lap of Lewis was perfect. Everything came together and he managed to warm up the tyres really well. He himself told that the lap was as close to perfection as he could get - Hammertime.
5. Vettel's lap was not even close to being that good. He even made a mistake.
6.The lap of Lewis was an improvement of 1 second to last year (from a poor-behaved car to a well-behaved car). Vettel was just 6 tenths of a second faster in comparison to last year (from a well-behaved car to a poor-behaved car) -> there is room for improvement.

If we consider the points above and put them all together, it really doesn't look THAT bad. Normally being almost 7 tenths of a second faster is an immensely huge gap, but looking at it a bit unemotionally it does not make me already give Mercedes WDC and WCC.

However, Mercedes remain favourites and the hunted force, that's for sure.

[Schuttelberg]

Season over, Mercedes WCC/WDC yet again.
See you guys in March 2019. I am not watching another free WDC for Hamilton again.

That's quite sour of you to say free WDC. Best driver on the grid is in the best car and his team mate can't touch him. Sure, some competition is welcome but it is what it is and I find no reason to be sour about Lewis. The guy has earned all his success and deserves it.

[Sieper]

Hamilton will be on P1 backed by Bottas on almost every power intensive track. Bottas would have had P2 with 3 to 5 tenths behind Hamilton had he not put it in the wall.

The fact that both Vettel and Verstappen made a mistake is because they have to run on the edge with much less wing due to their power deficit. Less power deficit for Ferrari but still there.

[PlatinumZealot]

Oh my God! What a pleasurable display of dominance!

[f1316]

Here’s another thought: if you were Mercedes, would you really wait til the very last run to turn on that mode? I can get waiting til Q3 - and I suspect the red flag probably meant his first lap tyres not optimal - but i’m sure that first run in Q3 was in top mode, just not a very good lap.

Vettel really should have beaten the first lap, messing it up at the end, so it would have been a heck of a risk to wait to turn it up - what if there had been a red flag?

[Sieper]

You don’t showyour cards too early. Also, you want to use as little of the Total about 1,8 liter of oil as possible (so you can keep the rest for the race) Hamiltons last Q3 lap sector 1, which is mostly straight, was 4,5 tenths faster the the previous best time, in one sector, my goat. That is an engine mode setting.

[Fulcrum]

I'm pretty certain Hamilton's 1st lap in Q3 was in "party mode" or whatever its called. He was up by 4 tenths or so after the 2nd sector, then dropped the advantage in sector 3; should have been a 1:21:6 or so.

[Sieper]

Ok, so he made a mistake in sector 3 of his first Q3 run then?

I believe Hamilton (after treating Vettel like a .......) did state he ran the whole Q3 in the same mode, so you might be right.

[Morteza]

Each driver's remaining tires for the race tomorrow

[Jambier]

Interesting comparison

[Restomaniac]

I wonder if Ferrari told Vettel of Hamilton's time in his final Q3 run.

'Hamilton just did a 1.21.1'
'Your F........ Joking surely?'
'No Sorry Seb I'm not'

That's gunna put you off slightly. Maybe that explains why he qualified 3rd.

[Sieper]

Kimi was often a bit faster this weekend. Don’t forget, there are mere hundreds of a second between 1 2 3.

[bonjon1979]

Interesting comparison

https://i.redd.it/ogl3cy0qxon01.png

That looks a bit like Ferrari underperforming. You’d expect more than 0.6 improvement in a year.