The cars of 2017 may be much faster than last year’s in the races but it seems the fears drivers would find it hard to overtake have been realised.
Fernando Alonso supplied one of the clearest indications how hard overtaking has become by holding up a string of cars for much of the race until a problem developed on his McLaren.
Nico Hulkenberg closed rapidly on this group but was unable to do anything about them despite a considerable performance advantage.
However it’s true Melbourne has always been a circuit where on-track passing is tricky. There wasn’t a greater number of on-track passes during last year’s race either. It may take a few races to gauge how serious this problem is.
2017 Australian Grand Prix lap chart
The positions of each driver on every lap. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan, click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
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2017 Australian Grand Prix race chart
The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:
2017 Australian Grand Prix
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Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
26th March 2017, 17:22
Did Ocon have any kind of problem? he wasn’t any faster after Alonso dropped out… or maybe he was too busy defending from Nico…
F1 in Figures (@f1infigures)
26th March 2017, 17:27
Last year there were almost 40 on-track overtakes and this year only two, so I guess the rules are more of a problem than the track.
Andre Furtado
26th March 2017, 18:04
Where did you get two from? I’m pretty sure I saw more than that.
Neil (@neilosjames)
26th March 2017, 18:59
I definitely saw at least three proper overtakes on TV… although one of them was a double, Ocon and Hulkenberg on Alonso. The other one was Stroll overtaking someone. Then there was Ricciardo passing a few people, but never for position as he was several laps down.
But yeah… it’s worrying. Trying to be optimistic that it was at least largely down to the crap track, and that it might be better elsewhere!
F1 in Figures (@f1infigures)
26th March 2017, 19:34
@neilosjames The overtakes on Alonso weren’t counted because he was already slowing down with a suspension problem, so it was just Stroll passing Ericsson early in the race and Pérez passing Sainz after their first stop. Even drivers on different strategies couldn’t overtake, as the Mercedes team found out.
Also the fact that there were almost no position changes at the start reduced the overtaking potential (Ricciardo was severely missed in the midfield).
@F1-liners (@f1-liners)
26th March 2017, 18:07
Quite interesting to see that both Bottas and Verstappen gained on Vettel after the pit stops.
It will hopefully be a 3-team and a 5-6 driver championship season this year.
DanielY
27th March 2017, 9:20
I thought Vettle was just managing the gap to Lewis and pacing himself.
Ifar
27th March 2017, 15:07
hmm, then the lack of pace of Lewis is interesting.
Did he pace himself also, because he didn’t believe he could pass Vettel if he wanted to?
Ian Stephens (@ians)
26th March 2017, 19:55
Many of the drivers have commented how hard it was to follow, let alone to overtake. Was it really, or are they just seeing what what they have been told they will see? Hopefully the forecasts are wrong and the new technical regulations will be less of a problem away from street circuits but don’t hold your breath.
faulty (@faulty)
26th March 2017, 23:45
The second graph shows everything that’s wrong with F1 at the moment.
It is not a competition if 7 of the 10 cars can’t compete.
Tricky (@tricky)
27th March 2017, 11:52
I am amazed how off the pace Raikkonen was, nearly a second a lap slower than Vettel in the first stint, and it was Vettel who was being held up.
marcelh
27th March 2017, 13:27
Nice graph good to see that indeed Raikonen lost time in his first stint but remained at the same distance in the his second stint. He clearly has some work to do on the balance with softer tires. That soved hey can cleary compete for 1st. Massa best of the rest but 1+ seconds of the pace :(
cartwheel (@cartwheel)
27th March 2017, 15:36
A whole lot of “following 2s behind” traces in that graph… that isn’t good.
It is interesting to see how Bottas narrowed it up at the end- I wonder if the pit wall asked him to hold position…
David (@def9125)
4th May 2017, 21:36
I want to know what was the exact time of Ricardo’s first lap? 5 minutes??