The season begins on the Australian land circuit to dispute the first official sessions in order to prepare the single-seaters for qualifying and the race. The Australian GP of Formula 1 2017 has left us... the word is not surprising, since some things were already sensed, such as that Mercedes is still ahead and that Red Bull is behind Mercedes despite the false optimism of Ferrari in this preseason.
In fact Flavio Briatore already warned that optimism and Ferrari's performance in preseason were not believed. I think they gave everything or almost everything, showing the potential of the car and saving little, while Red Bull and Mercedes saved too much. So we start more or less as last season ended, with Mercedes dominating and Red Bull behind them, while Ferrari seems a little further behind than expected (although in practice 2 they have come closer), despite the fact that it is the first year of the last decade in which it seems that they have taken risks with design and have presented something innovative for the first time…
As for the Toro Rosso seems to be doing well and Carlos Sainz Jr. has commented that they still have room for improvement, so good feelings for them. McLaren-Honda has had some problems, but less than the catastrophe that was expected from what was seen in preseason. They have been able to roll without reliability problems and Alonso has been able to be 14th and 12th, without reaching those last positions in which some placed the MCL32. Behind them there are other teams with problems… But it is certainly not a pleasant position to see a McLaren and I hope they improve enormously or else they are going to rain down even more problems. Of course for this race the improvement will not be seen, because Alonso has said that he has always gone flat out, so that pace is not at all optimistic.
Ferrari has had problems with the hydraulic system of the DRS or with the activator of the same and they have practically not rolled. The little they have rolled, say the pilots who seem to be happy with the car. Although the first sensations are as expected, this is only free practice, and maybe tomorrow in qualifying we will see a totally different scenario, although I think that the order of the first is the one I mentioned in previous paragraphs: Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari. It must also be said that it is the beginning of the season and that the layout also has an influence, so we can see this panorama here and in the next race the grid will move.
Free practice results 1
| Position | Piloto | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1'24 "220 |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1'24 "803 |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1'24 "886 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1'25 "246 |
| 5 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1'25 "372 |
| 6 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1'25 "464 |
| 7 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1'26 "142 |
| 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1'26 "168 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1'26 "183 |
| 10 | Sergio Pérez | Force India | 1'26 "276 |
| 11 | Carlos Sainz jr. | Toro Rosso | 1'26 "450 |
| 12 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1'26 "514 |
| 13 | Lance stroll | Williams | 1'26 "734 |
| 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1'27 "116 |
| 15 | Marcus Ericsson | Clean | 1'27 "348 |
| 16 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | 1'27 "656 |
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1'27 "667 |
| 18 | pascal wehrlein | Clean | 1'28 "536 |
| 19 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1'28 "585 |
| 20 | Stoffel vandoorne | McLaren-Honda | 1'28 "695 |
Free practice results 2
| Position | Piloto | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1'23 "620 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1'24 "167 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1'24 "176 |
| 4 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1'24 "525 |
| 5 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1'24 "650 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1'25 "013 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz jr. | Toro Rosso | 1'25 "084 |
| 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | 1'25 "436 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1'25 "478 |
| 10 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | 1'25 "493 |
| 11 | Sergio Pérez | Force India | 1'25 "591 |
| 12 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1'26 "000 |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | 1'26 "145 |
| 14 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1'26 "331 |
| 15 | Marcus Ericsson | Clean | 1'26 "498 |
| 16 | Lance stroll | Williams | 1'26 "515 |
| 17 | Stoffel vandoorne | McLaren-Honda | 1'26 "608 |
| 18 | pascal wehrlein | Clean | 1'26 "919 |
| 19 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1'27 "279 |
| 20 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1'27 "549 |
Having said this and given the times, we urge you from ActualidadMotor Don't miss the session free practice 3 and tomorrow's classification. I hope that tomorrow the situation improves for the Spaniards, although Fernando has already warned that not being in the top 5 is not a reaction in the form of a wake-up call for Honda... I also think that the teams wanted to test their potential here for the uncertainty of the new regulations and I think that they are not normal free practices in which everyone is very careful. By the way, the suspensions of Red Bull and Mercedes have been inspected by the FIA due to Ferrari's complaint that they cannot imitate the system and have finally passed the approval.