2026 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne, March 06 - 08

[bluechris]

Merc gonna be lapping the field after about 20laps.

Unless nobody else has wound the engine up, but I’d imagine pretty close now.

Why? because they use more hybrid power in sector 2 where the rest use it elsewhere?

[Matt2725]

Merc gonna be lapping the field after about 20laps.

Unless nobody else has wound the engine up, but I’d imagine pretty close now.

Why? because they use more hybrid power in sector 2 where the rest use it elsewhere?

It wasn't even close across the whole lap in terms of lap time. Russell was on another planet even compared to Kimi who had a good stint himself.

[DGP123]

It’s what we all feared. Everyone knew it, hence the controversy about the engine. We’ve basically swapped McL domination for Mercedes. Field gap is big and the mid to back teams are an irrelevance. Disappointing

[FittingMechanics]

Some people are really jumping to conclusions.

[basti313]

Merc gonna be lapping the field after about 20laps.

Unless nobody else has wound the engine up, but I’d imagine pretty close now.

Why? because they use more hybrid power in sector 2 where the rest use it elsewhere?

It wasn't even close across the whole lap in terms of lap time. Russell was on another planet even compared to Kimi who had a good stint himself.

Yep...these Mercs are fast. Might be 1sec that they have on Ferrari.
Big question is still how quick the McLaren is, I fear that is the only current chance to see the or any real pace in the race.

Lapping after 20 laps is most likely not the case (the Astons might not make it that far) but catching the lower midfiel by half race distance would not be surprising.

[Aesop]

Lapping after 20 laps is most likely not the case (the Astons might not make it that far)

[ali623]

It’s what we all feared. Everyone knew it, hence the controversy about the engine. We’ve basically swapped McL domination for Mercedes. Field gap is big and the mid to back teams are an irrelevance. Disappointing

Let's maybe wait and see what the race brings first. There's nothing specific to suggest Mercedes domination yet, yes their long runs in FP2 looked very strong but none of the other top teams really managed to do any relevant running on theirs.

Field spread was always going to be big with a massive reg change like this, that's not surprising.

[Badger]

Why? because they use more hybrid power in sector 2 where the rest use it elsewhere?

It wasn't even close across the whole lap in terms of lap time. Russell was on another planet even compared to Kimi who had a good stint himself.

Yep...these Mercs are fast. Might be 1sec that they have on Ferrari.
Big question is still how quick the McLaren is, I fear that is the only current chance to see the or any real pace in the race.

Lapping after 20 laps is most likely not the case (the Astons might not make it that far) but catching the lower midfiel by half race distance would not be surprising.

I doubt it's that much. Once everyone turns up their PU and drives on the same fuel I would be surprised if it's more than half a second. Could be a lot closer too. Merc does seem the fastest though.

[search]

Tire update after day 1:

[Sbrillo88]

it's very early to jump to conclusions but, mercedes stint win p2 was quite impressive. I don't know but I think they will dominate the weekend and it's not only power. They have a great car.

[basti313]

It wasn't even close across the whole lap in terms of lap time. Russell was on another planet even compared to Kimi who had a good stint himself.

Yep...these Mercs are fast. Might be 1sec that they have on Ferrari.
Big question is still how quick the McLaren is, I fear that is the only current chance to see the or any real pace in the race.

Lapping after 20 laps is most likely not the case (the Astons might not make it that far) but catching the lower midfiel by half race distance would not be surprising.

I doubt it's that much. Once everyone turns up their PU and drives on the same fuel I would be surprised if it's more than half a second. Could be a lot closer too. Merc does seem the fastest though.

Well...I fear it is the other way round and Merc will turn it down. I do not think anyone can afford to turn it down for FP, they need to learn their engines.
Will be interesting to see how Willi is doing. They are not impressive at all, end of the midfield with Caddy. If Merc decides to turn it down tomorrow, Willis will be doomed.

[Badger]

Yep...these Mercs are fast. Might be 1sec that they have on Ferrari.
Big question is still how quick the McLaren is, I fear that is the only current chance to see the or any real pace in the race.

Lapping after 20 laps is most likely not the case (the Astons might not make it that far) but catching the lower midfiel by half race distance would not be surprising.

I doubt it's that much. Once everyone turns up their PU and drives on the same fuel I would be surprised if it's more than half a second. Could be a lot closer too. Merc does seem the fastest though.

Well...I fear it is the other way round and Merc will turn it down. I do not think anyone can afford to turn it down for FP, they need to learn their engines.
Will be interesting to see how Willi is doing. They are not impressive at all, end of the midfield with Caddy. If Merc decides to turn it down tomorrow, Willis will be doomed.

Not likely. If anyone turns it down for the first quali it would only be for reliability reasons. There is no way Merc is so comfortable at this stage they know they can beat Ferrari with a turned down PU. They don't know what others have shown either.

[FrukostScones]

Cars are great to look at! I don't care (yet) that they are slower through the turns.
Hopefully Merc is not too far away once all sandbags are off.

[motobaleno]

There is definitely too much hype around mercedes. Assuming that the real potential is what we have seen in FP2 (if not, anything could happen from 2s/lap merc ahead to haas winning). If the pecking in race laps is that of FP2 nothing is written yet... the other BIG if being Ferrari starting potential. If both Ferrari jump ahead at start then, as we have seen many times in the last years, few tenths advantage in clean air race laptimes do not grant overtake and victory.

[Chuckjr]

Captivating post FP1 interview with Merc, Aston, and Cadillac team leads. Newey looked white and about to pass out. Absolutely brutal. He explains the Honda situation and about Alonso. It really is incredible to see a man like Newey in this position. He puts it on the PU vibration as the problem. Wow.