The second free practice in Australia ended with two Ferrari drivers in the top three. Charles Leclerc was especially notable for his advantage over Verstappen – although Helmut Marko partially attributes this to engine modes. However, Red Bull’s struggles go beyond power unit mappings.
Even last year, Verstappen’s weekend in Melbourne was not perfect, prompting tinkering with the RB19 in practice. However, the Austrian machine’s superiority disguised these weaknesses. The centre of analysis after Free Practice relates to whether Ferrari can take advantage.
On the other hand, McLaren, Mercedes and Aston Martin are a few steps behind. The SF-24 starts from a significantly better baseline in Albert Park. Nobody used the two allocated hard compounds on Friday, suggesting that a two-stop strategy will be viable on Sunday.
FERRARI WITH FEW LIMITATIONS, RED BULL MUST IMPROVE GRAINING
Ferrari are very competitive in the medium and low-speed corners. Leclerc managed to bring his tyres into the correct temperature window almost immediately, going more than two tenths faster than Verstappen in the first sector.
This strength will be important to maintain at a circuit with so many DRS zones. All in all, it was a positive day – something confirmed by the drivers and Fred Vasseur.
The SF-24’s main weakness is fast changes of direction, especially the fast chicane of turns 9/10 and the final corner. DRS efficiency is also an area where lap time is being left on the table.
Meanwhile, Red Bull must improve – particularly in the medium and low-speed corners. Verstappen outlined his perspective:
“I think Ferrari is fast, but we still have several things to improve. From this point of view, there is nothing crazy or worrying.”
The gap should be reduced tomorrow as Red Bull increases its engine settings. Regardless, Leclerc has already set his sights on Pole Position.
Leclerc’s long runs even amazed Helmut Marko, who said, “In the long runs, they were impressive. As far as we’re concerned, our set-up isn’t great yet. ”
Max Verstappen completed just a few laps, and Leclerc was faster than Perez in his simulation, especially due to the graining that occurred on the Red Bull number 11. The Mexican commented:
“I think the degradation was not optimal in that long run, so there’s some work to do, and we’ll build on that.”
The engineers at Milton Keynes will have to work on this area to avoid previous issues.
On the other hand, Ferrari has so far worked very well in limiting graining in the race simulations. Maintaining this quality will be important because this weekend. Despite the drastic track evolution at Melbourne, Pirelli warns this will not be enough to offset degradation.
On the subject of strategy, one-stop and two-stops are both under consideration. This is reflected in the tyre selections from most teams.
Further back, Aston Martin, Mercedes and McLaren seem quite closely matched. Stroll and Alonso set good times in the single lap, but the AMR24’s difficulties come with the high fuel.
The super DRS available to the Silverstone-based team will be a crucial boost in qualifying. Melbourne’s four activation zones will be hugely beneficial.
However, Aston’s poor balance and aerodynamic load could be costly in race pace compared to Mclaren and Mercedes, who are their rivals. Their front wing upgrade seems to have satisfied the English team’s technicians.
The Mercedes W15 was disappointing today, even with a floor defined by the team as ‘launch spec’. This change was made to understand the high-speed issues in Jeddah.
Unfortunately for Mercedes, the problems in the high-speed corners remained, and incorrect choices between FP1 and FP2 in terms of set-up destroyed Lewis Hamilton’s second hour of free practice.
For McLaren, there were small steps forward, thanks partly to a slight update to improve efficiency. Of course, like Mercedes and Aston, it lacks speed almost everywhere compared to Ferrari.
Still, their race simulations are encouraging.
FP2 AUSTRALIA, THE MIDFIELD: TEAMS CLOSE AS EVER, WILLIAMS SEE AN OPENING
Alex Albon’s FP1 accident in the first free practice session put Team Principal James Vowles in a very difficult position. Without a spare chassis available, the former Mercedes engineer made the decision to withdraw Sargeant in favour of the Thai.
This decision, however cruel, confirms the Grove team’s hopes for points. Sargeant set a time four-tenths better than Yuki Tsunoda, who dictated the pace in midfield, and the FW46’s race pace seemed more positive.
Albon is now tasked with his team’s chances of scoring points in a very crowded midfield where, as Volwes said, milliseconds can make the difference.
The fight between Racing Bulls, Haas and Sauber is fierce. Williams believes they are capable of points, as evidenced by their cut-throat decision.
Racing Bulls, in addition to good times on low fuel, also did well in the long runs. Alpine looked reasonable, although their engine deficit is always lesser during practice. Gasly complained about the drop in performance from the mediums to the softs, which could complicate his qualifying.
