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What does Friday say about the rest of the weekend in Australia?

What does Friday say about the rest of the weekend in Australia?

15-03-2019 20:00
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Nicolás Quarles van Ufford

One of the three days of the Grand Prix weekend in Australia is in the books, and with two more to go, we've decided to stop and ask ourselves: what have we learned from Friday, and what do FP1 and FP2 say about the rest of the race weekend?

Ferrari still shrouded in mystery

After FP1, we think we saw a glimpse of Ferrari's pace, although they couldn't quite catch Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton topping the session closely followed by the Scuderia. However, in FP2, when longer runs were done, Ferrari were an entire second off the pace. Of course, this isn't representative at all. Ferrari are playing their cards close to the chest and not showing their 'true pace' just yet. In that regard, we don't really know yet how the top three teams stack up, as we've only seen one of the three really going for it.

Alfa could be dangerous

Remember in 2018, when Haas suddenly put their cars on P5 and P6 during qualifying? This could be Alfa Romeo. Matter of fact, they could be best of the rest this year. The data from Friday suggests they have the best race pace in midfield, and Kimi Raikkonen has put his C38 on P6 in both FP1 and FP2.

Antonio Giovinazzi might not be there quite yet, but Alfa could be dangerous this season, or at least at the start of it.

Williams... what's there to say?

Genuinely... what's there to say? Their race pace is 3.4 seconds off the Mercedes pace per lap, and over a second and a half slower than the second slowest team in Toro Rosso. Robert Kubica has said some of the parts are damaged, which could be one of the causes for the lack of pace, but things are looking incredibly bleak in Grove.