Analysing all that happened during and around the first 2 Free Practice sessions of the Australian Grand Prix, 2022 as Formula 1 gets ready to race once again at Albert Park, Melbourne.
Formula 1 is finally back and setting lap times in Australia and this time it is two red cars leading the pack on a Friday, in what is the first time that Australia is there on the calendar but is not the first round of the season. The track has also changed, with a widened and faster pitlane, some widened corner entries and a whole new layout with the chicane of Turns 9 and 10 now inexistent. There have been heaps of changes to Formula 1, to the track and where Australia is during the season, but one thing that has not changed is that on a Friday, it is still time for 2 individual Practice sessions, but even then there is one change as in 2019, there was 3 hours of total practice on a Friday but in 2022, there is only 2 hours of total practice on a Friday.
Here is what The Friday Sense tells us:
- Scuderia Ferrari have had the smoothest start and practice sessions with no significant issue plaguing them. Red Bull have had their turn in and acceleration out of corners issue, and Verstappen unhappy which is concerning for them as Ferrari, although do have Sainz who is still not very comfortable with the car, he can take advantage of this situation. Ferrari’s customer teams have also not had the smoothest of time with Haas lacking pace and Magnussen suffering some health issues overnight. Alfa Romeo have not had a very bad day but would have liked Zhou to be able to get in better.
- The big change is that the whole back section of Albert Park circuit, which does not have the Turn 9 – 10 chicane now, has become a straight which has a curve but is technically a straight as there are no turns. That is a section that can make a lot of difference, and during the race it also possesses a very valuable and healthy overtaking opportunity. You could be very fast through the turns and other sections but that is a very healthy overtaking opportunity and that is where Red Bull have an advantage over all the rest, because after completing the corner exit, they accelerate smoothly and very rapidly and keep accelerating till about the 9/10th of the straight for a 320+ kmph top speed there. (Data not sources from Formula 1, sourced from other reliable sources such as FastF1)
- At the same time, Ferrari, whose engine or car setup mode seems to be turned down just a bit from their true potential in order to limit their top speed capability jut a tad bit, not a lot because they do seem to have that limit, are having their pace beaten by Haas. And it does not seem that Ferrari have much more in their bag. Even their fuel load being high, which is a possibility, it does not explain their pace. It is in that 313 kmph – 318 kmph range and is being matched by Mercedes and Haas, indeed it is Hamilton who is faster than Leclerc in that track section.
- In the race, at the start, Mercedes could have some porpoising and handling issues with their car on the straights and hard breaking zones but towards the end, they should be able to use their low downforce setup on wings to get some good performance, especially if their strategy works well, since the two drivers are able to maintain the tyres very well.
- Alpine have been strong and in Australia also them seem to have their drivers getting the full potential out of the cars. The car is moving around good and has been going very well. It has shown strong pace and could well enough again keep a smooth performance in the race if they are able to work out the reliability which hasn’t been an issue through the two sessions.
- Aston Martin had the issue with Sebastian Vettel’s car which has set back both Vettel and the team. This is Vettel’s first race of the season and he has missed out on crucial running data while Aston Martin who would not have gotten the data they would have planned for over the last 2 races with Vettel not there, were also hampered. The race and quali could once again simply become feedback sessions for them.
- Not a lot of teams have brought significant upgrades for the Australian GP, there isn’t a lot of difference on that front but the minor changes can be expected to have a lot of effect on how drivers feel in the car and this could be a crucial Gran Prix in that context as this is the first Grand Prix after a short break with their being two weeks in between this and the last round.
All in all, the Australian Grand Prix with 4 DRS Zones, fastest ever Australian GP lap times and being host to cars who have been developed over two Grand Prix already could become very fiery and interesting during both the quali and the race with the quali possibly being very very close.
|LET THE RACING IN OZ BEGIN|
spielens 