Ferrari enjoy “most positive” Friday yet but don’t expect to challenge Red Bull · RaceFans

Does Formula 1 really need three hours of unrestricted practice on a grand prix weekend?

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In F1's endless meandering between whatever contentious topic is currently dominating discussions in the media pen as well as backroom meetings in the paddock, it's now the turn of Friday's free practice sessions to come under scrutiny. Regardless of how traditionalists may feel, it seems the era of three unrestricted hours of running each race weekend may not be long for this world.

It's ironic, then, that despite two sessions taking place around Albert Park on Friday, there is such little meaningful data to use to paint a true picture of how the rest of the Australian Grand Prix weekend is likely to play out. Through a tumultuous blend of a green track, GPS glitches causing traffic problems, plus red flag disruptions and rainfall, teams found themselves more unsure than usual about their performance after Friday's practice day.

Fast and loose

But one conclusion that was neither a mystery nor a surprise was that Red Bull have serious pace, demonstrated by Max Verstappen recording the fastest time on Friday. His best lap of 1'18.790, achieved on soft tyres, not only topped the charts in the first practice session but also remained unmatched throughout the second. Fernando Alonso was closest behind, registering a time merely a tenth of a second slower in the second practice, albeit on the theoretically slower medium compound tyres.

As one of the fastest circuits on the calendar with equal emphasis on front tyre load in corners and traction out of the few slow corners, Melbourne should be well-suited to the RB19. Indeed, Verstappen and team mate Sergio Perez topped the speed trap through the day – by 6km/h over Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes and almost 10km/h over Alonso's Aston Martin.

"It was quite tough to switch the tyres on" he explained, "so that was difficult when you want to push immediately.

"There were also quite a few interruptions with the red flags, so we never really got into a rhythm. It was difficult to tell how the car felt as we never got a window where I thought we were on top of the tyres."

It's difficult to accurately assess how Perez compares. In the initial session, Perez primarily ran with the medium tyres, while in the 15 minutes before rainfall disrupted the second practice, he could not get a lap in without being frustrated by traffic which he later eloquently described as "a bit mental".

"It felt like a lot of people still had issues with their GPS data…" he joked. "I think tomorrow there's more or less plenty to do – too much to do in FP3. So I think we're going to be somehow going a bit blind into the race, which should be interesting."

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Who can catch Red Bull?

As is the pattern in 2023, Alonso and Aston Martin were closest to the Red Bulls on the times sheets as Friday drew to a close. As there is no real long run pace to compare them with, even comparing Alonso's fastest lap to Verstappen's overall best reveals little.

Alonso was also one of many drivers who dedicated a large part of the first session to running tests on upgrades, rather than dialling in their set ups for this weekend, leaving him none the wiser as to how he may compare to the Red Bulls.

"We concentrated on some test items that we wanted to tick the box," he explained. "And then in FP2, it was just a 20 minute session only. So still some jobs to do tomorrow, especially on the tyres into the race, some long runs or something that we were obviously missing today. But so far I think the car seems to behave well."

Ferrari may not have made headlines with their performance during the opening day of the weekend, but after a frustrating start to the season, Charles Leclerc came away saying his car felt better than at the opening two rounds.

"It's probably our most positive FP2 of the season," he said. "Which doesn't mean much, but at least it's a Friday that finishes on a positive note."

But despite his satisfaction with the feeling of the SF23, his team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr was keeping modest expectations of the team's chances of competing against Red Bull, Aston Martin and Mercedes over the rest of the weekend.

"I think it's fair to assume that in quali we will play with them," was Sainz's assessment. "But then in the race we should assume also that we should be one step behind like we were in Jeddah."

Lewis Hamilton was also keeping a realistic perspective of Mercedes' chances despite a lack of representative running to directly compare them to their rivals.

"We won't be competing against the Red Bulls," Hamilton offered frankly. "I think we've got pace to be around fifth area – the same as the last race."

Hamilton's team mate George Russell concurred. "I'd say that's a fair assessment," he said. "I think if we really pull everything together, the third row – probably between P5 and P8 – I think is where we're looking at the moment."

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Tricky Tarmac and tight traffic

As expected, the Albert Park street circuit was extremely green as drivers took to it for the first time. Even the benefit of Formula 2 and FIA F3 here this weekend is unlikely to offer substantially more rubber on the public roads that make up the circuit – especially now that rain has washed away so much of what had built up on Thursday and Friday.

Already drivers have been struggling to keep out of the way of their rivals around the circuit. But according to Russell, getting a lap spoiled may not necessarily be as much of a problem here as during a typical qualifying session, thanks to the type of asphalt – or 'bitumen', to use the local term – used on the roads.

"I don't know if the fans watching know too much about it," he said, "but the difference in Tarmacs from the different races we go to has a real substantial effect on the car and the feeling. Saudi and Melbourne have a similar Tarmac, so you can really push the tyres hard. And you're seeing you're able to do one, two, three laps on the soft tyre – which is unique in a way."

That ability to push the soft tyres for multiple laps could even come into play during the race. After the C5 soft tyre was virtually ignored during last year's race, this weekend has the C4 nominated as the softest compound, which may prove far more viable.

Heading into Saturday, there are more questions to be answered than usual after two hours of practice. But before teams commit to their set-ups for qualifying, they are set to get a solid hour of final preparation that will likely reveal far more about the true state of the order than is currently known. The question Formula 1 needs to ask itself is, does it want to head into more Saturdays in the future with this same level of uncertainty over how strong each of the ten teams are and, if so, will cutting down its current three hours of practice be the best way of achieving that?

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First and second practice times

Position	Number	Driver	Team	FP1 time	FP2 time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1'18.790	1'19.502		29
2	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1'19.317	1'18.887	0.097	36
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1'19.223	1'20.323	0.433	37
4	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	1'19.293	1'20.083	0.503	34
5	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1'19.378	1'19.332	0.542	26
6	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	1'19.505	1'19.695	0.715	32
7	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1'19.536	1'20.176	0.746	36
8	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	1'19.646	1'20.206	0.856	34
9	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1'19.699	1'19.672	0.882	43
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1'20.175	1'19.725	0.935	32
11	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1'19.766	1'20.579	0.976	34
12	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	1'19.766	1'21.182	0.976	39
13	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	1'19.777	1'20.380	0.987	46
14	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	1'19.806	1'20.194	1.016	38
15	21	Nyck de Vries	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	1'19.933	1'20.600	1.143	33
16	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	1'20.074	No time	1.284	21
17	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	1'20.399	1'20.220	1.430	32
18	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1'20.419	1'20.312	1.522	43
19	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1'20.569	1'20.470	1.680	44
20	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1'21.147	1'21.266	2.357	35

Teams' progress vs 2022

2023 Australian Grand Prix

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Ferrari enjoy "most positive" Friday yet but don't expect to challenge Red Bull · RaceFans have 1709 words, post on www.racefans.net at March 31, 2023. This is cached page on Auto News. If you want remove this page, please contact us.