Max Verstappen had a setback during FP2 at the Australian Grand Prix when his car needed repairs and a new floor after he hit the harsh Turn 10 exit kerbs at the Albert Park circuit. This has put him and Red Bull behind schedule.
Although Verstappen was quick on the medium tyre, he didn’t gain much time on the soft tyre. His best time was over four tenths slower than Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, who set the pace for the session. However, these times may not accurately represent their performance. Verstappen and his teammate Sergio Perez only completed eight laps of long running between them, with Perez handling most of the setup work due to Verstappen’s absence.
Red Bull has a lot of catching up to do before the FP3 session on Saturday morning. Verstappen reported understeer on both the medium and soft tyres.
Verstappen admitted, “Yes, I damaged the floor and the chassis. It cost us 20 minutes, even though the turnaround was quick. Ferrari is fast, but there are areas we can improve. Nothing to worry about.”
Could this be an opportunity for a non-Red Bull driver to secure pole position? If so, Ferrari is the top contender to take advantage of their rivals’ difficulties.
Following the trend of the first two races, the SF-24 seems to have a clear advantage over the other cars. Carlos Sainz made an impressive return after his recent operation, but it was Leclerc who dominated both single-lap runs and long-run simulations.
Both McLarens were almost as quick as Leclerc during the long runs, with Oscar Piastri’s average time only 0.1s behind despite completing nearly twice as many laps.
On a single lap with DRS activated, the McLaren appeared less impressive, losing over 0.8s to the Ferrari and falling behind the Mercedes of George Russell and the Aston Martins. Lance Stroll also showed unexpected strength, outpacing Fernando Alonso during the qualifying simulation. However, their long runs were conducted with different fuel loads.
Lewis Hamilton encountered various issues, including damaging his Mercedes’ floor during his qualifying simulation lap. After spending a significant amount of time in the garage, he started his long run but quickly realized that something was still wrong with the car.
Toto Wolff commented, “We haven’t unlocked any performance. In the second session, we made a drastic setup change on Lewis’ car, and it had a negative impact. Overall, it was not a good day.”
The choice of the softest tyre selection from Pirelli is expected to have a significant impact on race strategy. Opting for a one-stop strategy, starting on the medium tyre and switching to the hard tyre, is the safer but potentially slower choice compared to a two-stop strategy using the soft/medium/medium tyres. The latter option is more challenging but potentially faster.