2020 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne, March 12-15

[SiLo]

I don't know how they came to that conclusion, but surely not because of some chicane cutting. In their first week's analysis they claimed Ferrari to be fastest in slow speed sections as well. It's not based on sector times, though. Otherwise Alfa Romero should have been up there as Kimi had the fastest S3 time by cutting the chicane.

Yes good point. It must be from gps, but with teams doing test session programmes the data simply don't mean anything, with whatever laps they chose

Pretty sure it was just one site that seemed to claim Ferrari were fastest in slow corners and every other one that Mercedes were faster.

I'll be amazed if Mercedes aren't still the kings of slow speed corners this year.

[kalinka]

No rain please, at least not now!
Let's first see who is who....

You won't see it anyway. Every team seems to agree that this race is quite unique in the calendar, and not representative of the real pecking order.

[etusch]

No rain please, at least not now!
Let's first see who is who....

If we were going to see who is who from first race Bottas were wdc with big margin from driver side. It showed true team.

[dxpetrov]

No rain please, at least not now!
Let's first see who is who....

If we were going to see who is who from first race Bottas were wdc with big margin from driver side. It showed true team.

I wasn't talking about the drivers, but cars.
The Australian GP 2019 gave us pretty decent picture about the strengths of the cars in 2019.

[godlameroso]

No rain please, at least not now!
Let's first see who is who....

P2 will be a washout. Saturday should have a bit of morning rain, don't worry P3 and all Q will be dry.

[godlameroso]

No rain please, at least not now!
Let's first see who is who....

You won't see it anyway. Every team seems to agree that this race is quite unique in the calendar, and not representative of the real pecking order.

Qualifying p1 in Melbourne is usually a good sign.

It is a unique track, however it does test a car in a variety of ways. 3-5 section tests grip and direction change as well as trail braking. 11 & 12 test high speed downforce and this sequence puts serious heat in the tires. 13 is a very difficult turn because of the awkward exit forcing you to sacrifice the apex on entry. 14 is nearly flat and easy to damage the floor or suspension on the kerbs. Final turn is a tire killer as you're fighting slip until just past the apex

The various straights mean lots of full throttle, Melbourne is a thirsty track, hard to do the race distance under fueled.

Last year Melbourne pretty much showed the pecking order. Hamilton damaged his floor otherwise, it was pretty much correct. Mercedes had the fastest car followed by Verstappen and then Ferrari.

[kalinka]

Yeah agree, I think when they mean unique they mean for the track not being permanent, so low grip and bumpy - means a sensitive car can suddenly go way better at next venue in Bahrain. But if a team produces a good all-around car that will still shine in Melbourne ( Merc )

[djones]

My predictions for the race are:

Mercedes way ahead, but both cars have engine issues in the race.

Verstappen is left fighting with a Racing Point for the win.

Ferrari is the 4th best team not too far ahead of Mclaren and that will be a fun battle all season with them fighting for best of the rest. Renault potentially in that mix too.

Qual:
1. Bottas
2. Hamilton
3. Verstappen

Race:
1. Verstappen
2. Perez
3. Vettel

[Shader]

My predictions for the race are:

Mercedes way ahead, but both cars have engine issues in the race.

Verstappen is left fighting with a Racing Point for the win.

Ferrari is the 4th best team not too far ahead of Mclaren and that will be a fun battle all season with them fighting for best of the rest. Renault potentially in that mix too.

Qual:
1. Bottas
2. Hamilton
3. Verstappen

Race:
1. Verstappen
2. Perez
3. Vettel

I respect you opinion, but I think it's a bit of wishfull thinking. Ferrari ain't that bad and Copy Point can't be that good. As for McLaren, I would personaly like to see them step up their game and fight Ferrari on merit, not due to luck or Ferrari issues. Ferrari is still in top three I believe.

[f1jcw]

People are over exaggerating mercedes reliability, they had oil pressure issues after running the equivelent of about 3/4 GPS

[Bill]

You should tell that to Claire Williams,they had four issues.Mercedes two

[Sevach]

If the problems are indeed confined to single subsystem Mercedes will 100% have it patched up for Melbourne, testing spec isn't a lock, they can make quick changes and correct fragilities.

As for everything else i think Red Bull will debut their larger wings and shock everybody.

[etusch]

People are over exaggerating mercedes reliability, they had oil pressure issues after running the equivelent of about 3/4 GPS

They encountered cooling problem in 2019 winter testing. I don't remember if it were discussed here. It caused them during season. Now they have more and who can say it wont go worse.
When we look back, expecting more reliability from them is logical but we have to keep other possiblity in mind.

[izzy]

Ferrari ain't that bad and Copy Point can't be that good. As for McLaren, I would personaly like to see them step up their game and fight Ferrari on merit, not due to luck or Ferrari issues. Ferrari is still in top three I believe.

Racing Point could be very good. They've got W11 suspension and the whole drivetrain and packaging, they can easily upgrade their W10 copy to W10.5 at least, and they've already said they'll look completely different from testing. If they wanted to they could probably bolt on DAS too. Apparently Lawrence and Toto are great mates these days and travel together, and obviously it'd be great for Mercedes if an RP could beat a Ferrari and even a Red Bull sometimes

[GPR-A]

As for everything else i think Red Bull will debut their larger wings and shock everybody.

Would it be better than one race special "Suzuka Wonder" PU last year?