Red Bull off to a strong start as McLaren struggle

2013 Australian Grand Prix Friday practice analysis

March 15, 2013 at 3:52 pm by Keith Collantine

In recent seasons we’ve become accustomed to seeing Red Bull let someone else lead the times on Friday, before springing to the top of the tables once the real action begins on Saturday.

But the first day of practice for the 2013 season began with Sebastian Vettel leading both sessions, ending up over four-tenths of a second quicker than anything that wasn’t an RB9.

And that came despite him making an error on his first flying lap on super-soft tyres. Looking at the combined best sector times, Vettel had at least another two-tenths in hand over the opposition.

The consolation for his rivals is that they left time on the table today as well. Felipe Massa had a KERS problem which likely kept him from setting a quicker time than Fernando Alonso. And Lewis Hamilton abandoned his first effort on the super-softs after running wide at turn nine.

But the early signs are that Red Bull have begun 2013 in a stronger position than they ended 2012. That doesn’t mean the first race of the season is a foregone conclusion. Rain is expected to play a role in tomorrow’s action, most likely during qualifying, which will pose taxing set-up questions for the teams as well as present an additional challenge for the drivers.

Longest stint comparison

This chart shows all the drivers’ lap times (in seconds) during their longest unbroken stint:

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/charts/2013drivercolours.csv

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
Sebastian Vettel	92.731	92.856	96.587	94.065	93.281	94.07	94.283	94.823
Mark Webber	92.661	93.743	94.604	95.553	102.314	95.722	95.773
Fernando Alonso	93.734	91.615	93.224	94.301	91.784	94.593	94.485	99.541	99.035	91.796
Felipe Massa	91.894	91.54	91.689	101.947	91.662	92.154	96.573	93.284
Jenson Button	93.832	94.332	94.283	93.357	93.395	94.294
Sergio Perez	95.408	94.958	94.926	94.767	96.439	95.524	96.007	96.904
Kimi Raikkonen	92.196	92.124	92.844	94.963	93.207	93.077	93.132	93.82	95.216	94.291	93.332	95.451	99.145
Romain Grosjean	93.02	93.001	93.373	94.718	94.818	93.868	93.754	97.123	93.11	93.739	116.199
Nico Rosberg	94.255	101.627	93.718	92.936	95.367	97.18	97.197	96.223	94.258	94.728
Lewis Hamilton	87.882	100.192	101.252	87.469	103.173	92.105	95.553	86.776
Nico Hulkenberg	94.484	94.116	94.521	94.999	99.208	94.37	94.805	102.011	97.595	94.637	95.507	99.97
Esteban Gutierrez	90.667	102.251	90.184	89.79	98.492	88.825
Paul di Resta	94.182	93.521	94.735	93.333	94.832	100.487	97.882	92.938	92.752
Adrian Sutil	95.783	94.068	94.936	95.163	95.015	95.005	95.145	95.19
Pastor Maldonado	95.238	95.359	94.767	94.734	94.539	98.718	97.542	94.399	93.995	93.968
Valtteri Bottas	107.955	98.167	97.985	96.381	95.945	103.909	103.857	97.292	96.228	102.288	94.977	94.586
Jean-Eric Vergne	96.088	95.883	94.928	94.744	95.074	97.043	96.681	97.809	95.984	95.713	102.107
Daniel Ricciardo	95.676	95.642	95.415	95.814	98.344	99.183	97.128	96.74	96.739
Charles Pic	94.318	92.739	97.143	98.45	94.675	100.117	93.07	97.93	98.247	95.752
Giedo van der Garde	93.052	99.236	92.467	100.629	93.252
Jules Bianchi	96.352	95.344	96.289	95.797	98.524	98.954	96.66	97.006	98.575
Max Chilton	100.674	96.817	96.715	99.773	98.026	97.162	97.777	97.873	97.628	97.261	97.777	102.407	100.728	100.907

Pirelli’s aggressive 2013 tyre compounds appear to be performing as planned. The super-soft tyre has a very short life – the stints above were mostly done on the medium tyre.

However the considerably better performance of the super-soft – around 1s per lap quicker than the medium – will make it the tyre to qualify on. Expect those at the sharp end of the grid to do that (if it’s dry), then switch to the medium tyres early on in the race.

“From what we can see of the degradation so far, we’d expect the majority of the teams to stop twice during the race, with some of the faster cars maybe trying three stops,” said Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery.

Those who know early on they will have to do three stops may be able to return to the super-soft tyres for the final stint, providing the stint is short enough.

Sector times and ultimate lap times

Felipe Massa looked in good shape during practice, outpacing Fernando Alonso in the first before falling behind in the second largely due to a KERS problem.

Ferrari had the fourth-quickest car, which Alonso said was in line with their expectations: “We already knew we were not the quickest and that was confirmed today. The car responds well, but we know there is still much to do if we want to fight with the very best.”

The situation at McLaren is far worse: “Our short runs weren’t particularly encouraging, to be honest,” said Jenson Button. “We’re a couple of seconds off the pace, by the looks of things.”

Sergio Perez can’t have been too pleased at ending his first day for his new team behind his old team.

But Sauber have problems as well, according to Nico Hulkenberg, who said it had been a “challenging day” for the team: “On the first day there are always a few things you need to work on and improve.”

“We still have some homework to do,” he added. “I think we can still improve our time.”

	Car	Driver	Car	Sector 1	Sector 2	Sector 3	Ultimate lap	Gap	Deficit to best
1	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	28.459 (1)	22.968 (1)	34.223 (1)	1’25.650		0.258
2	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	28.581 (2)	23.176 (5)	34.393 (2)	1’26.150	0.500	0.022
3	9	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	28.602 (3)	23.312 (7)	34.408 (4)	1’26.322	0.672	0.000
4	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus-Renault	28.808 (6)	23.156 (3)	34.397 (3)	1’26.361	0.711	0.000
5	10	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	28.615 (4)	23.343 (8)	34.453 (5)	1’26.411	0.761	0.361
6	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	29.058 (8)	23.167 (4)	34.455 (6)	1’26.680	1.030	0.000
7	3	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	28.817 (7)	23.136 (2)	34.795 (7)	1’26.748	1.098	0.000
8	4	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	28.754 (5)	23.219 (6)	34.799 (8)	1’26.772	1.122	0.083
9	15	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	29.087 (9)	23.423 (9)	34.925 (9)	1’27.435	1.785	0.000
10	11	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber-Ferrari	29.133 (11)	23.496 (11)	35.316 (12)	1’27.945	2.295	0.242
11	5	Jenson Button	McLaren	29.139 (13)	23.563 (13)	35.350 (13)	1’28.052	2.402	0.242
12	6	Sergio Perez	McLaren	29.129 (10)	23.530 (12)	35.424 (15)	1’28.083	2.433	0.483
13	14	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	29.308 (14)	23.490 (10)	35.460 (16)	1’28.258	2.608	0.053
14	12	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	29.359 (15)	23.739 (15)	35.226 (10)	1’28.324	2.674	0.448
15	19	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	29.512 (16)	23.704 (14)	35.282 (11)	1’28.498	2.848	0.129
16	16	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	29.133 (11)	23.751 (16)	35.667 (18)	1’28.551	2.901	0.301
17	18	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	29.744 (19)	23.829 (17)	35.385 (14)	1’28.958	3.308	0.010
18	17	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Renault	29.639 (17)	24.038 (20)	35.499 (17)	1’29.176	3.526	0.210
19	22	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Cosworth	29.852 (20)	23.939 (19)	35.824 (19)	1’29.615	3.965	0.081
20	20	Charles Pic	Caterham-Renault	29.998 (21)	24.070 (21)	36.097 (20)	1’30.165	4.515	0.000
21	23	Max Chilton	Marussia-Cosworth	29.709 (18)	23.889 (18)	36.716 (21)	1’30.314	4.664	0.286
22	21	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham-Renault	30.718 (22)	24.571 (22)	37.030 (22)	1’32.319	6.669	0.131

Complete practice times

Williams compared their different aerodynamic packages today and decided to keep the FW35 in its launch specification, which they believe it is a better fit for the track and conditions.

Adrian Sutil out-paced team mate Paul di Resta on his return, but chief engineer Jakob Andreasen pointed out that di Resta was hampered by floor damage in the second session.

A similar problem caused Hamilton to go off late in second practice, according to Mercedes, while a gearbox glitch forced Nico Rosberg to stop shortly afterwards.

	Car	Driver	Car	Best lap	Gap	Stint lap	At time	Laps
1	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1’25.908		3/3	55	33
2	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1’26.172	0.264	1/2	48	31
3	9	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1’26.322	0.414	1/1	53	26
4	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus-Renault	1’26.361	0.453	1/3	49	38
5	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1’26.680	0.772	2/2	57	32
6	3	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1’26.748	0.840	1/1	46	35
7	10	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’26.772	0.864	2/2	64	28
8	4	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1’26.855	0.947	1/2	49	32
9	15	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1’27.435	1.527	1/3	50	35
10	11	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber-Ferrari	1’28.187	2.279	1/1	51	34
11	5	Jenson Button	McLaren	1’28.294	2.386	1/2	51	30
12	14	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1’28.311	2.403	1/3	50	37
13	6	Sergio Perez	McLaren	1’28.566	2.658	4/4	12	33
14	19	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1’28.627	2.719	1/3	55	31
15	12	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	1’28.772	2.864	1/5	50	33
16	16	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1’28.852	2.944	1/4	26	36
17	18	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1’28.968	3.060	3/3	32	36
18	17	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Renault	1’29.386	3.478	1/3	24	39
19	22	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Cosworth	1’29.696	3.788	1/3	41	32
20	20	Charles Pic	Caterham-Renault	1’30.165	4.257	1/3	59	37
21	23	Max Chilton	Marussia-Cosworth	1’30.600	4.692	2/2	37	36
22	21	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham-Renault	1’32.450	6.542	2/2	32	11

Speed trap

Straight-line speed is the only thing McLaren have going for them at the moment while Red Bull assume their usual place near the foot of the speed table.

	#	Driver	Car	Engine	Max speed (kph)	Gap
1	10	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	Mercedes	313
2	5	Jenson Button	McLaren	Mercedes	312.1	0.9
3	6	Sergio Perez	McLaren	Mercedes	312	1
4	11	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber	Ferrari	311.8	1.2
5	9	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	Mercedes	311.5	1.5
6	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus	Renault	308.9	4.1
7	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	Renault	308.3	4.7
8	15	Adrian Sutil	Force India	Mercedes	307.6	5.4
9	23	Max Chilton	Marussia	Cosworth	307	6
10	14	Paul di Resta	Force India	Mercedes	306.9	6.1
11	22	Jules Bianchi	Marussia	Cosworth	306.8	6.2
12	12	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber	Ferrari	306.5	6.5
13	4	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	Ferrari	306.5	6.5
14	21	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham	Renault	306	7
15	3	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	Ferrari	306	7
16	20	Charles Pic	Caterham	Renault	305.6	7.4
17	16	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	Renault	304.4	8.6
18	17	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	Renault	304.3	8.7
19	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	Renault	301.4	11.6
20	19	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	301.4	11.6
21	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull	Renault	301.2	11.8
22	18	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	Ferrari	301.1	11.9

2013 Australian Grand Prix

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44 comments on Red Bull off to a strong start as McLaren struggle

craig-o (@craig-o) said on 15th March 2013, 19:03

As a McLaren fan, I am incredibly concerned. They may be further away from the front than Ferrari were this time last year, and there’s no way that car in its current state suits Jenson. Thankfully they have Lew… Oh.

- BasCB (@bascb) said on 15th March 2013, 19:14
  
  It seems Button already mentioned a hope of rain. And its supposed to be raining not far from the track right now, so who knows!
  
- Max Jacobson (@vettel1) said on 15th March 2013, 21:53
  
  @craig-o – they’ll have their work cut-out to do that badly, but yes I do see them being off the pace. I think a double points finish would be a great result for them looking at FP but I wouldn’t lose faith: McLaren are great at development. So I still fully expect a McLaren win at some point during the season despite the mediocre driver line-up.
  
Martin (@aardvark) said on 15th March 2013, 19:15

Looking at the long run times, Button’s were very even compared to the others. It suggests he is cruising around in his comfort zone rather than pushing the car to find the limits.

King Six (@kingsix) said on 15th March 2013, 19:26

Paul Di Resta already looking like he’s been found out, might be a long season for him.

Carl Craven said on 15th March 2013, 20:25

Re Mclaren, it looks deceptive. While they don’t look fast over a hot lap and might struggle to qualify well, it doesn’t look like their long run pace is that bad if you actually compare. Infact, as I have often claimed, Button’s long runs are always far more consistent than many other drivers and while one might start of slow, their pace dips dramatically and Button’s does not.

Even compared with Vettel it’s not THAT bad.

We shall see.

Palle (@palle) said on 15th March 2013, 21:10

The difference between HAM’s ultimate lap and his actual lap pushing him 2 places down, could indicate that he isn’t comfortable in the MERC as of yet.
Surpricing to see McLaren so far down the pecking order, and I didn’t think RBR would be that dominant here in P1 and P2. Can’t wait till tomorrow. In my timezone I have to get up at 0600 to see P3 before qualifying (RTL – german television, not the same quality as Sky, but very cheap compared).
Compared to last years P1 to Quali delta, this year should give us a Quali time around 1:24.575 oposed to 1:24.927 last year. But the rain might ruin that prediction as well as every other prediction:-)

PlutocalypseNow (@asenna84) said on 15th March 2013, 21:13

Wow, van der Garde is way off the pace. I wonder how long he lasts before Caterham dump him for a better driver with equal or more money. Maybe Petrov will be back before 2014 after all. Who knows, maybe even Karthikeyan at mid-season, just in time for the Indian GP. Now that Fernandes and TATA are tied up, Karthikeyan would make a lot of sense from a marketing perspective.

wigster (@wigster) said on 15th March 2013, 23:34

I’m slightly worried for Mclaren as I don’t think Button and Perez are the best at dragging performance out of the car if its hard to find or not there, as it seems to be at the moment. Hoping they don’t spend the season in mid grid obscurity.

It’ll also be interesting to see come quali just how much closer Caterham and Marrusia have got to the back of the midfield. It looks like there’s still a gap, but they have to bridge it at some point, and it will make things more interesting when one or the other does.

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